I Want to Promote Your Work

posted Aug 1, 2016, 2:25 PM by Robert Vollman

I'm jealous of baseball fans.

Baseball fans have a wide variety of statisticians, stats, books, and websites from which to choose, while we hockey fans have always had to hunt and scrounge for every little stat. And, once we find a great resource, they usually get hired by an NHL team, and it disappears.

That's why I want to promote your work.

That's why there are hundreds of references in the pages of Hockey Abstract.

That's why I have referenced the work of about a hundred different analysts over the years, whether they just a beginner, or one of the grizzled veterans.

That's why I organize and promote hockey analytics conferences.

That's why I hunt for the new names, rather than just reinforce the established ones.

That's why I want as many people involved as possible.

Ultimately, I want to be able to find interesting statistical perspectives of our sport, both quickly and easily. Some day, I want baseball fans to be jealous of us!

With that in mind, please don't be shy or subtle about letting me know what you're working on, or if you're aware of someone else whose work could use a louder voice.

It doesn't matter if you're a beginner, or a seasoned pro, because I'm happy to spread the word however I can. I just have a few rules:

Don't trash players, teams, or colleagues in your work. Of course, you can take a critical view of someone's performance, but don't be overly harsh or abusive about it -- be diplomatic.
Likewise, don't troll people on social media. Have fun, by all means, but I can't promote your work one day, and then see you bullying someone on twitter the next day.
Always credit your sources. I can't promote your work if it's heavily based on or borrowed from someone else's (unless it's me!), even if your own contributions are both insightful and original.
Pay it forward, and promote the work of others, too. Not just that of your friends and those whose work you admire the most, but those who could really use the boost.

I also don't mind if you're making a few bucks on it. You deserve whatever assistance you can get, and I'm more than happy to promote your fundraising efforts, and to make a contribution of my own. After all, my philosophy has always been to re-invest any profits I make on my own books back into the community in one fashion or another.

We have some truly brilliant people in our field who are doing some amazing work, and there are plenty more getting their start. Please join me in spreading the word as best we can, and continue building our community into an ever-richer network of great ideas!

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