game over now cus were cheats lol

poodledoodledoo

I absolutely love the fact that MSE has been singled as cheating in some way when the VERY SAME PAGE is advertising Loquax and The Prize Finder :rotfl::rotfl::rotfl:
Priceless!!!!!
So it's alright to enter her comp via those sites but not from here? OK then....
I won't be buying anything from that site in the future and will encourage others to avoid too.
Oh, and so this shows up in google
http://www.rainbowdreams.co.uk
rainbow dreams

EverDecreasingCircles

Do they have any idea just how many people would have visited their site as a result of their comp being posted on here? And she calls us idiots, shame on you Heather.

I certainly won't be forgetting www.rainbowdreams.co.uk - or buying from there! Can you imagine the response should you have a problem with a purchase!!! I'm thinking Customer Service isn't her strong point!

EDC

heavenli

I apologise for calling anybody an idiot. I was absolutely furious that a link was given with my email address and the answer to the question thus enabling anyone to completely bypass the site. I am struggling to make ends meet and a competition is a cheap way to get peeps to my site. If links are given that mean no-one is even visiting then I am just giving stuff away and I can't afford to do that. There are links to other comp sites because they are advertising the comp only and not giving answers etc. I have no gripe at all with MSE advertising the comp just the fact that nobody would be actually visiting anyway - truthfully, how many of you would actually visit the site if all the info is there for you already. As far as not buying from my site - no problem - this incident has just made my mind up for me - I'm shutting it down. Can't afford to keep it going. Be kinder to other small sites please and just list their comps not the answers and email addresses!

clairesims1978

Apology accepted. It is a shame you didnt just pop on and ask nicely that the email link and answer be removed, other sites have done just this and msers always respect those wishes. Then you would have been recieving the extra traffic to your site you so desired.

soapyjoe

The way I see it, is if you were prepared to give away one prize it's simply cost you one prize. Yes, you may have had more entrants than normal who've not looked at the site but you have their email addresses to send other promotional offers too and after hearing from you a few times people will become familiar with you and be interested, which is why most promoters offer the prizes.

Marketing is all about taking the rough with the smooth in any business and any free publicity is a bonus, except when you've smeared it in this way.

CheekyLittleMonkey

heavenli wrote: »

I apologise for calling anybody an idiot. I was absolutely furious that a link was given with my email address and the answer to the question thus enabling anyone to completely bypass the site. I am struggling to make ends meet and a competition is a cheap way to get peeps to my site. If links are given that mean no-one is even visiting then I am just giving stuff away and I can't afford to do that. There are links to other comp sites because they are advertising the comp only and not giving answers etc. I have no gripe at all with MSE advertising the comp just the fact that nobody would be actually visiting anyway - truthfully, how many of you would actually visit the site if all the info is there for you already. As far as not buying from my site - no problem - this incident has just made my mind up for me - I'm shutting it down. Can't afford to keep it going. Be kinder to other small sites please and just list their comps not the answers and email addresses!

No more Rainbow Dreams for Heather. Plenty of Wetting Yourself Dreams now though. How to stab yourself in the foot whilst in a recession. Alienating people and throwing away 'free marketing' and 'promotion'. Not everyone want something for nothing, some would have actually bought something whilst browsing after being directed there.

Who's the idiot now?

poodledoodledoo

heavenli wrote: »

I apologise for calling anybody an idiot. I was absolutely furious that a link was given with my email address and the answer to the question thus enabling anyone to completely bypass the site. I am struggling to make ends meet and a competition is a cheap way to get peeps to my site. If links are given that mean no-one is even visiting then I am just giving stuff away and I can't afford to do that. There are links to other comp sites because they are advertising the comp only and not giving answers etc. I have no gripe at all with MSE advertising the comp just the fact that nobody would be actually visiting anyway - truthfully, how many of you would actually visit the site if all the info is there for you already. As far as not buying from my site - no problem - this incident has just made my mind up for me - I'm shutting it down. Can't afford to keep it going. Be kinder to other small sites please and just list their comps not the answers and email addresses!

I visit hundreds of sites with the intention of entering competitions posted on them but it also introduces me to the site. Surely that is the intention of running a competition in the first place - to promote your site. Many people who use MSE would have entered your competition, remembered your site and then referred back to it if they required any product or services relating to your business.
If you wanted the email address and answer removed, all you had to do was ask
BTW I know for a fact that many small businesses are MORE than happy to have their competitions running on MSE. Many have posted on here without creating an issue. Any advertising where you are getting the name of your business known and circulated should be positive, surely?

glowgirl_2

truthfully, how many of you would actually visit the site if all the info is there for you already

.

Truthfully, lots of us, thats why other sites large and small actually encourage comps on mse.

As far as not buying from my site - no problem - this incident has just made my mind up for me - I'm shutting it down.

Before you do that I would respectfully suggest that you hunt around mse for advertising, marketing and maybe even customer relations advice or help, up your income is a good board for such things as is small biz etc, mse people are usually honest, sometimes blunt but very helpful.

Be kinder to other small sites please and just list their comps not the answers and email addresses!

As said before we do not post answers if requested.

I apologies for calling anybody an idiot.

Giving you the benefit of the doubt I presume that this apology also includes calling us cheats, apology accepted, everyone makes huge mistakes at some time, lord knows I have;)I think the fall out you receive from this will be a hard enough lesson. Best of luck for the future:).

md63

The thing that makes me laugh, is the fact you register your name as heavenli to post comments which are far from :rotfl:

In the original post for your competition it did have a link to your website, which I visited, and probably most others did too. With christmas coming up, It's always good to look out for ideas for gifts.

Now you've learned a hard business lesson, I hope you use it for future success. Good luck

Amilucky?

Heather

I admire your courage for coming back on mse and I wholeheartedly accept your apologies,

I can only imagine how hard it can be to run a small business in the present financial climate,

we on mse are not a rotten bunch, cheats or idiots but we are very understanding and helpful and will try and help anyone who ask's for help

I was going to say a lot more but I think glowgirl's summarization #40 was perfect and I couldn't really add to it

it is still not to late to re-instate the competition or for that matter for future competitions to be posted on mse now we know how you feel about email links and answers being posted we will now take note and ensure that only the competition link to your site will be posted

I hope that you can continue with your business and sincerely wish you every success for the future