This will be my third season of running the Spring League so I wanted to get some feedback on what people think of the format and the way in which the qualifiers are determined, so I've set up a poll. I'm not promising that whichever gets the most votes is what will be implemented - I'm just trying to get a feel for where people's' thoughts are, which may lead to some tweaking.
First though, I should start with an explanation of how we've ended up where we are and what I've been trying to achieve with the way the league is currently run (with apologies to those who may have read much of this before).
That brings us to where we have been for the last couple of seasons with a large number of teams relegated each year, but several different qualification streams through which they can get back in again. Qualification is still quite tough and there's a real chance that good players who have been in the league for many years find themselves missing out.When I first joined FISO the Spring League was billed by Tacalabala as FISO's Premier competition. You had to be a FISO member for at least a year, have played FPL for at least the previous 2 years and be an active contributor to FISO just to be eligible to attempt to qualify, and qualifying involved a tortuous route through the FISO cup which usually meant winning a very tough qualification group and then playing off against other group winners to try and get 1 of just 3 places that were usually available.
At the end of the 2017/18 season Taca felt that due to only 3 people being automatically relegated from the Spring Leagues each season a large portion of the entry were people who were not really considered as regular contributors any more and that there was a growing number of newer and more active posters who were unable to get in. His solution was that only the 16 who qualified for the Super League would be automatically qualified for the next season and everyone else would have to earn a Spring League license either by posting on the FISO FPL forums at least once every month or by some other contribution such as running a sidegame.
When Taca disappeared and I took the game on I had to decide which way I was going to go on selecting the entry to the leagues. The problem that I had with Taca's License system (apart from being pretty admin heavy) was that some of the people who were getting excluded seemed to me to be people who I considered regulars who were missing out on a technicality of not making a post in one calendar month. I decided instead to go for something more like the Masters Golf Tournament, which is promoted as an invitational event, but in reality there are a lot of different routes through which people can qualify for an invitation on merit.
So this is how I'm trying to make it work:
First, everyone in the Super League will automatically qualify for the next season.
Second, everyone in the three Streamed Leagues who qualifies for the playoffs (ie the top 8)
Third, the 9th and 10th placed finishers in each streamed league. This means that those finishing in positions 11-16 are effectively relegated from the Spring League giving a turnover of 18 places each season.
Fourth, I'll find space for previous champions who haven't qualified through any of the above and still seem to be around.
Fifth, performance in other FISO FPL sidegames such as the H2H Leagues, Swiss Cup, FISO Cup, 5AS H2H, Mirror League, Formula 1, Divisionals. At least the winners of each of these games will be invited if they haven't already qualified and I may go down as far as 3rd/4th place in some of them. It all depends on how many have already qualified and how much duplication there is across the games as it's often the case that if someone has a good season then they do well in several competitions.
Finally, any places still left after all that will be filled through the FISO Cup. This is a nod back to when Taca was running both the Cup and the Spring League and the Cup was the route through which spaces would be filled.
After that the 3 Streamed Leagues are formed based on a coefficient which is the sum of people's FPL scores from the previous 2 seasons plus the score for the current season up to GW12. This is the same as what Taca used to use.
it's likely that some people who have been invited wont take up their places for various reasons and I'll have to look for replacements. This is where the process becomes a bit more subjective and I throw back to something a bit like Taca's License System. My aim is to try and give priority to those who contribute the most to making FISO what it is. So first I will look to give places to those who run sidegames and then those who give up their time to act as moderators on the forums. After that it's really down to who I can make the best case for being a 'regular', so in no particular order I'll be looking at things like recent posting, posting frequency, Spring League participation, participation in other side games and so on.
So the question is are people happy with this state of affairs, or is there a consensus for something different?
Would more stability in the participants be preferred? (Less automatic relegations, but tougher qualifying)
Rather than trying to keep it as an elite invitational competition would it be preferable to just let most people in who want to play? (Expand the league)
Give more preference to regular contributors rather than results based qualifying (places reserved for regulars, but tougher for newcomers to get in)
Cast your votes on the pole and feel free to post any comments and suggestions below. If there's a consensus to change things then I can hopefully take some guidance from that on the way to go. Everyone can vote or comment regardless of whether or not you are a current spring League participant or if you've never been involved before. You can recast your vote if you change your mind after having a think about it or being persuaded by someone else's argument.
And please try to vote for what you actually want rather than just what suits your current position, as that may be different by the time any changes may happen (If you vote to pull up the drawbridge now because you're currently in the league then you may regret it next season if you're relegated and facing a tough route to get back in
). 
) i fear i could be missing out on the spring league for the first time in many a year
), but I couldn't extend the same courtesy in the Swiss Cup as teams were already playing their first fixtures in that competition by then.
