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.
telling isn't it?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.
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.
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
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 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.
This is pretty much what I do now.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.
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.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.
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.
Thank you TurtsYa 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.
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?
careful...talk like that will get you bad mouthed in other threads
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.
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.I'm British and I like to speak my mind ...