[Other] Contest Discussion(s)

[ronin1701]

- How would we do that - it would have to become a repotrable "offense." - But I get where you are coming from.

Pretty much, just like the obvious referral links are currently reportable.

Perhaps this is something that should be made "illegal" throughout RFD, since it's not just an issue for us?

Could probably just make it a suggestion in SC&S Forum (after the current crisis is nailed down, of course).

[ronin1701]

^ Sure.

And if they don't go for it, we could still try to implement that here (in Contests) ourselves.

What do other people think?

[ronin1701]

^ Maybe - I thought about that, but Discussions is more about general contesting, and this thread (and its predecessor) is more about "rules setting" in Contests Forum. I'm not fussed either way if you want to move it.

Perhaps the thread could be re-titled "Contest Posting Rules" or something like that?

[ishfish]

Contest posting rules makes sense - the title currently is titles only.

[vilmark]

ishfish is right this thread is only on contest titles (it is what replaced the other contest title thread as agreed by admins) moving to contest discussion. and yes best in site comments

[ronin1701]

ishfish is right this thread is only on contest titles (it is what replaced the other contest title thread as agreed by admins) moving to contest discussion. and yes best in site comments

That's fine. As I said before though, perhaps it could be more generalized as the "Contest Posting Rules" thread - really, titles are only one part of the story (an important part, but only one part).

Edit: also, what are your thoughts on this (shortened URLs)?

[vilmark]

I hate the short urls, I find no need for them, and I try my best to check each one for hidden referals. Id love them to go away.

[vilmark]

and really the only ones that use them are the bloggers and the odd newbie. (either then the few that try and hide the referal that is, oh and tyinvr, lol)

[ronin1701]

I hate the short urls, I find no need for them, and I try my best to check each one for hidden referals. Id love them to go away.

and really the only ones that use them are the bloggers and the odd newbie. (either then the few that try and hide the referal that is, oh and tyinvr, lol)

Yeah, they're an annoyance and totally unnecessary when you're not tweeting a 140 character tweet.

Every time I see one, that raises red flags for me. You see a lot of people trying to sneak them in when posting Group Deals and Hot Deals, lol.

[vilmark]

I guess really the only thing we can do is continue to check them and hopefully the conversation will make people aware.

[ronin1701]

^ Hopefully, although that would really only help with the folks who are doing it out of ignorance, not the ones who are doing it on purpose in an attempt to circumvent the existing rules.

[gbamber]

I'm well aware of Goodreads. I don't enter any of them though.

I did send their link to gbamber a while ago when he inquired if any of us knew of any good books contests - I wonder how many of those he enters?

Some of them actually have a reasonably low number of entrants, but I've already got enough unread books waiting for my attention.

I was winning at least one book per week from goodreads. I enter most of them (except romance, yuck!).

They don't draw entirely from random... "If more people are interested in a book than there are copies available, we will pick the winners at our discretion. The factors that go into our algorithm are: randomness, site activity, genre of books on your shelves, current phase of the moon, and more."

It helps quite a bit to rate and write book reviews.

[gbamber]

How do we post a contest with no expiry date? ie. an ongoing never ending set of draws?

Should we say (Other) 2020/12/31 so that it will be sorted?

[ronin1701]

How do we post a contest with no expiry date? ie. an ongoing never ending set of draws?

Should we say (Other) 2020/12/31 so that it will be sorted?

I usually put "ONGOING" in place of the date. Since it's not going to expire any time soon, it's not a big deal if it doesn't sort to the top.

[vilmark]

i like ongoing