There's another thing I keep bringing up. It's not a deal breaker in my opinion. But I mention it because people have discussed various options that include the concept of "turns vet in 2012".
My question is: How do you know?
I'll use me as a (fake) example. Take my account.
<--- look at the post count. The profile page says.
Join Date: 07-08-2010
Now I make an entry into the contest for this year (Yes, I'm a vet already).
I can't? Why not? I tuned vet this year. Reeeeeeeeaaaaalllllllly I did. Suuuuuure! What happened was:
I had 10,000 posts in July 2010 -> May 2011 (I talk a lot). Then I was called away to take care of my sick brother in Alaska and he had no internet connection. I just got back yesterday. (Ohhhh.... it was such a tragic story... but I'll save you the trouble). I logged in today a while ago for the 1st time in ages and found out I could enter the contest. Cool. Thank you all for allowing me to celebrate my "new" vet-hood! You all are soooo nice. I just turned vet just an hour ago, and made my own welcome thread and contest entry. Cool! Thanks.
Basically, if they have already turned AND they are one of the ones that have a join date prior to Jan 1, 2011... how do you know? Maybe you need to qualify it with a join date range. But then the complaints could fly too.
Just an FYI.