Giveaway ideas - have your say in how we run them

[Bad Ninja]

I don't see how huge spam threads, not even remotely vaping related, benefit the vendor.

They don't.
In fact they show the vendor that their advertising would reach more customers elsewhere.
It also eludes that ECF advertising isn't a strong as we appear.

 

[hittman]

I'm not upset about not winning when I don't and I have won in two of the contests. I have to admit that I've noticed the pattern of the same handful of people making a majority of the posts in the contest threads. I've gotten to the point where I will enter and make a total of a few posts simply because there is no way I can keep up with reading the pages and pages of posts by mostly the same people. It doesn't bother me so much that they want to chat but if they are truly posting for enjoyment then it shouldn't bother them that the giveaway isn't based on post count.

 

[USMCotaku]

I'm not upset about not winning when I don't and I have won in two of the contests. I have to admit that I've noticed the pattern of the same handful of people making a majority of the posts in the contest threads. I've gotten to the point where I will enter and make a total of a few posts simply because there is no way I can keep up with reading the pages and pages of posts by mostly the same people. It doesn't bother me so much that they want to chat but if they are truly posting for enjoyment then it shouldn't bother them that the giveaway isn't based on post count.

telling isn't it?

 

[spartanstew]

I'm not upset about not winning when I don't and I have won in two of the contests. I have to admit that I've noticed the pattern of the same handful of people making a majority of the posts in the contest threads. I've gotten to the point where I will enter and make a total of a few posts simply because there is no way I can keep up with reading the pages and pages of posts by mostly the same people. It doesn't bother me so much that they want to chat but if they are truly posting for enjoyment then it shouldn't bother them that the giveaway isn't based on post count.

It also shouldn't bother them if posts in giveaway threads don't count toward total post count.

 

[Wow1420]

Hi everybody, I thought I'd put this out in the open and encourage some ideas around how we keep these threads fun and give everyone a fair shot at winning.

Lots of people have contacted me asking me to look at how we run things because not everyone has all day to spend on their post count, and it does end up with a lot of the same faces winning each time in the current format.

If someone posts a great idea please like it so I can get an overview of everyone's opinions.

Remember there's no such thing as a bad idea, we just need some fresh inspiration, because there are lots of vendors waiting to do these.

We could do these completely randomly, not weighted by post count, but that doesn't encourage a fun giveaway thread - which is really what makes the manufacturers want to come here and get their products in front of you all.

Thanks for your help!

LTN

Hey LTN, thanks for asking us. And thanks for implementing a change!

 

[Bad Ninja]

Most of us including staff will agree the Innokin contest was probably the best one so far.
It was extremely fun, professional, very active, lots of random winners, and I'm sure even Innokin will agree it was a huge success.
It drew more vendors to ECF and more contests.
@low_tar_neil
I suggest using the Innokin contest as a template.

If it ain't broke don't fix it.

 

[jseah]

I agree with DC, you will always have someone complaining no matter how you do it. Also, many of those who complain about not having time to do a contest thread have no trouble posting a whole lot in other threads. I think you should do what most benefits the vendors/manufacturers. After all, that's why we have these contests. No one here is owed a prize.

I never win the lottery. I also don't have the money to buy 50 tickets a week. Not fair? Sure it is. If it weren't for those who do have the money we wouldn't have a lottery in this state. And I would have no chance, however small, of ever winning one.

There are a lot of contests here with challenges other than posting, ie poems, favorite post, best piece of computer art, etc. Some of those I have no chance in but I don't complain. Just move on to one that I do. No one owes me a prize here or even a fair chance.

Thanks ECF and low_tar_neil for all the work you do to get us these contests. And, for any vendors reading here, thanks to those who bring numerous contests to ECF. There are many, many chances to win in this forum so that no one should complain.

Marina, It's really hard to compare the contest thread to the lottery. With the lottery, there can be literally 50-100 million different number combinations that can come up, so whether you buy one ticket, or buy 500 tickets, the odds are still so high that it is nearly the same (1 chance in 50 million versus 50 chances in 50 million). However, if you have a drawing where it is weighted by posts and you have 20,000 posts, but one poster posts 5,000 of those posts, then you know that the odds are pretty darn good that that person is going to win. This is why you will see with the earlier drawings that you get a higher percentage of one post posters winning while in the later drawings, you get a higher percentage of high post count posters winning. I think if you look at one of the previous large contests, by the time the contest had ended, something like 15 of the top 20 posters (based on post count) won. And if you looked at the post count, those 15 posters accounted for something like half of the posts in the thread. When you have a thread that can have anywhere from 20k to 50k posts, how can you have that many posts that are on topic?

I once joked that I could almost guarantee a win by reciting the entire bible in posts, with one verse per post (that would be a total of 31,102 posts if I actually wanted to spend all that time posting). I was warned that I better not spam like that. And yet you have thousands of silly meme pictures posted and they each count as an entry. Now I've won in the past, so this isn't sour grapes. Honestly, I've lost interest in the contest threads since it is almost impossible to keep up with when you leave and come back an hour later and there are 50 new pages of posts, and by the time you go through all 50 pages, there are another 20 new pages of posts. And of those 50 pages of posts, there are maybe 10 posts that might actually be on topic.

In my opinion, I think it would be more fair to limit it to one entry per poster. You don't need to limit it to one post per poster as an entry (although I'm sure that would make it a lot simpler to randomize based on the post number rather than trying to randomize based on the username). And since you are breaking out the prizes into groups (i.e. 5 or 10 per week), then you can randomize it by only picking from the usernames that posted during that period (to encourage people to come back and post regularly). Knowing that one post during that period gives you just as much chance to win as one thousand posts isn't going to stop people from hanging out and chat, but it will cut down on the spam posts that are made just to bump up the post count.

 

[jseah]

In one of the competition threads I saw quite a few members say they will post once to enter the competition but they won't be hanging around because of the 257997467807 posts.
They were active members on the forum so they wasn't just posing just in the competition thread.

For my chit chat I post in threads which are specifically for that purpose. I have great conversations with other people and getting to know them.

This is pretty much what I do now.

 

[Marina2]

Marina, It's really hard to compare the contest thread to the lottery. With the lottery, there can be literally 50-100 million different number combinations that can come up, so whether you buy one ticket, or buy 500 tickets, the odds are still so high that it is nearly the same (1 chance in 50 million versus 50 chances in 50 million). However, if you have a drawing where it is weighted by posts and you have 20,000 posts, but one poster posts 5,000 of those posts, then you know that the odds are pretty darn good that that person is going to win. This is why you will see with the earlier drawings that you get a higher percentage of one post posters winning while in the later drawings, you get a higher percentage of high post count posters winning. I think if you look at one of the previous large contests, by the time the contest had ended, something like 15 of the top 20 posters (based on post count) won. And if you looked at the post count, those 15 posters accounted for something like half of the posts in the thread. When you have a thread that can have anywhere from 20k to 50k posts, how can you have that many posts that are on topic?

I once joked that I could almost guarantee a win by reciting the entire bible in posts, with one verse per post (that would be a total of 31,102 posts if I actually wanted to spend all that time posting). I was warned that I better not spam like that. And yet you have thousands of silly meme pictures posted and they each count as an entry. Now I've won in the past, so this isn't sour grapes. Honestly, I've lost interest in the contest threads since it is almost impossible to keep up with when you leave and come back an hour later and there are 50 new pages of posts, and by the time you go through all 50 pages, there are another 20 new pages of posts. And of those 50 pages of posts, there are maybe 10 posts that might actually be on topic.

In my opinion, I think it would be more fair to limit it to one entry per poster. You don't need to limit it to one post per poster as an entry (although I'm sure that would make it a lot simpler to randomize based on the post number rather than trying to randomize based on the username). And since you are breaking out the prizes into groups (i.e. 5 or 10 per week), then you can randomize it by only picking from the usernames that posted during that period (to encourage people to come back and post regularly). Knowing that one post during that period gives you just as much chance to win as one thousand posts isn't going to stop people from hanging out and chat, but it will cut down on the spam posts that are made just to bump up the post count.

Thank you. I wasn't comparing the chance of winning the lottery to the chance of winning the contest here but, rather, the participation necessary to ensure we have these contests. Without those buying tickets there'd be no lottery for me to have even a miniscule chance of winning. Without massive participation in these threads, there'd be no huge giveaways on ECF from these companies.

I've seen enough of the contests here to know that threads die after the required posts are made. People don't hang around to chat in them. To me, 50/50 is the best solution to ensure that all get a fair chance. If you don't like to hang around and chat or if you don't like what you call "spam" you can just leave after putting in your post. If you like all the chat, senseless banter, humor, friendship, helpful advice and spam then you can stay.

My input is for admin. It's not for the purpose of arguing with members. As I've given my input I won't engage further in this thread.

I would like to add that the spam in these threads is not as horrible as it's made out to be. Coming in there and reciting the bible would never go over in these threads. Most of the people that speak of how horrible the spam is don't really stay around and engage in these things. Yes, there's spam but there's much more of a whole lot of other stuff and they're quite fun if you bother to hang around and see.

 

[Bunnykiller]

lol... umm gather up all the ECF Guru status users into a database and then randomly pick from that group??

hey... I tried

 

[gpjoe]

The 1st competition I entered was the Cloupor Mini and I heard people say it there and it has been said in all the other competition threads I've been in.

In my opinion I don't think all the people have said it's rigged are jealous because they didn't win. I've seen some people who have won some competition say it in other competition threads.

I posted exactly one time in that thread/competition and won a Mini (thanks again ECF ). I am most definitely NOT a forum favorite.

Then, (once I realized that my odds increased with my post count) in another give-away I was posting numbers to increase my chances...literally my first post was "I'm in.", second post was "2x" (to signify two times the odds/chances), third post was "3x", etc...and I actually got quite a few likes on those posts from some folks that noticed my bald-face attempt to increase my odds.

Personally, I think weighted odds are a bad idea and I don't want to have to feel compelled to post a lot of nonsense just to try and level the field.

My suggestion: Just set the rules (whatever they are) and make sure they are prominently posted at the start of every thread, and tune out the noise. Nobody here is entitled to anything.

 

[Vchick]

Read this when the thread was at a page yesterday, liked a few ideas and was going to come back and give my ideas.

The thread exploded just like so many of the contest threads with chat and groans.. I don't have or want to spend the time to go thru the 16 pages since I first viewed it and pretty sure most of it is chat and reactions to others posts rather than answer the op question. childish.

Whatever is decided, I hope it's unique and appealing to most members and not a like or the most posts wins, jmtc

 

[ppeeble]

Omit all posts that have a vowel in them....
Omit memes from post count....
Give everyone a freebie....
Omit all posts that quote previous posts....
Only count posts if they're from the UK....
Please note; not all of those suggestions are genuine (unless you agree with them).

I wonder if the people spamming the giveaway threads even want whatever it is they're trying to earn. Sorry, 'win'.

 

[VapingTurtle]

Ya know,

Nearly 40% of the replies in this thread have been made by the top 5 posters up to this time. 350+ replies in this thread, and about 3 or 4 suggestions responding to @low_tar_neil's request. The rest has been jibber and back-and-forth.

Y'all oughta chill and speak up only if you've got a suggestion for Neil. If any new ideas came up, they would surely be lost in the static.

There are many places on ECF for social interaction, and many places on ECF for discussion and even civil argument. But when a specific request for information is made, as Neil did, it is awfully disrespectful to turn his thread into what this thread has become.

.

And, by the way, Neil, the one post in this thread with the most 'likes' (by far) is still the post very early on suggesting one entry per username. Just for what 'likes' are worth.

 

[AG51]

Ya know,

Nearly 40% of the replies in this thread have been made by the top 5 posters up to this time. 350+ replies in this thread, and about 3 or 4 suggestions responding to @low_tar_neil's request. The rest has been jibber and back-and-forth.

Y'all oughta chill and speak up only if you've got a suggestion for Neil. If any new ideas came up, they would surely be lost in the static.

There are many places on ECF for social interaction, and many places on ECF for discussion and even civil argument. But when a specific request for information is made, as Neil did, it is awfully disrespectful to turn his thread into what this thread has become.

.

And, by the way, Neil, the one post in this thread with the most 'likes' (by far) is still the post very early on suggesting one entry per username. Just for what 'likes' are worth.

Thank you Turts

 

[Ms.Sue]

This forum is for all members, even those that signed up a month ago. Why wouldn't you take notice if a newer member thought things were unfair?

You don't understand what I meant.

Ok
Hypothetically say if Tom signed up a month ago and entered the last contest with one post which closed a week ago and he didn't win so he went in to another thread and started saying he thinks the contest is unfair because he didn't win and blah, blah, blah..
He wouldn't of known people have been saying it's the same people winning nor would he of know some people have been saying it's a fix or whatever as he only made that one post.
So if I was in the same thread as Tom when he said about the contest being unfair I wouldn't of taken any notice of him saying that.

Now if Jerry has been a member since 2014 and he was a ECF Guru or Veteran and he done the same thing as Tom, but he had entered say 10 contests and he never one so he says he thinks the contest is unfair as he has seen the same names in all of the contests so then I will start to think maybe he is right.

 

[Ms.Sue]

careful...talk like that will get you bad mouthed in other threads

I'm British and I like to speak my mind
If people don't like what I say and then they want to bad mouth me?, then cool.
I don't think I'll be losing any sleep thinking about that lol.

 

[Daddy]

So if I was in the same thread as Tom when he said about the contest being unfair I wouldn't of taken any notice of him saying that.

Now if Jerry has been a member since 2014................ I will start to think maybe he is right.

I was actually in a private discussion with a member back around Christmas who told me they believed the competitions were rigged in favor of the new members. The theory was that this person believed ECF and other vendor ran competitions would award good prizes to new members in hopes it would help them get off and stay off of tobacco where as the veteran members were most likely already off tobacco and didn't need the help.

I thought it was just as ludicrous as every other "the competitions are fixed" posts I've read.

 

[VapingTurtle]

I'm British and I like to speak my mind ...

Jeeebus, @Ms.Sue, go make a thread of your own to, umm, "speak your mind". You are the top poster in this thread, yet I don't believe you have offered Neil one suggestion. Your first post was about how some folks feel that the contests are fixed, and you have blabbered on ever since. Offer Neil a suggestion and leave it at that.

 

[markfm]

I've been an ECF member since July 2010. I won two vendor contests in 2011 (one was a next-post-wins, and I happened to be reading the thread right when the supplier posted), nothing else until Oct of last year.

random.org is a very widely used, trusted, random number generator for picking contests. "Luck of the draw" is an honest term; I had a multi year cold streak, have been blessed with multiple wins lately. It'll change again (the nature of random things).

I do believe there have been a few common themes that keep popping up in this thread, wish the ECF staff all the best in sorting through it. These contests have to be a huge headache for staff, a lot of hours organizing, running, following up. (That's why they get paid the big bucks )