Competitions Discussion Thread Part 12

purplecatlover

One-Eye wrote: »

Something in THIS POST caught my eye.

It seems that to sabotage other comper's entries, some people go so far as to edit facts on Wikipedia so that others enter with the wrong answer. :eek: :mad:

toniq wrote: »

It's sad, but it has been done before a few times, I remember on the classic fm thread this year when i spent a bank holiday helping search on that thread that some answers were recently removed on wiki,
It is petty and pathetic xxxxxxx

indeed it is petty and pathetic, but is why i always try and confirm answers (or any other statement) form a source other than wikki...... it can be edited by anyone, so even referneces etc which may have been correct when it went up originally could have been changed to incorrect facts. some people think its a great joke to muck wikki pages about (even when its not to make other compers enter with the wrong answer).

if an answer here has been posted and source was wikki i always double check it with google for a different source before i enter using it.

purplecatlover

am i the only person who finds it hard to spot if answers given in email comps mean that the answer is option a or the a is short for the word answer?
i keep finding things like

question that needs to be answered?
A) whatever the answer is

but then have to go to the actuial page to find out if that a is one of the options so i need to put my answer as answer: A) whatever or if its simply the answer in which case i need to put answer: whatever.

theres so many posted like that though that there must be an easier way to tell? (having just spent 5mins trying to find the competion page itself as linky went to a general page showing the most recent comp not the specific comp and i was finding said site difficult to navigate around).

(and i dont mean to sound ungrateful or anything like that to the peoiple who take the time to post, i really do appreciate your doing so)

princessmoneysaver

I know what you mean purplecatlover which is why for all the email comps I post I always say either A, B or C exactly as it's listed HTH x

One-Eye

Worst one I have seen was something like:-

What kind of animal is Garfield?
a cat

Is the answer "cat", "a cat" or "a) cat"

princessmoneysaver

If it was listed as A cat B dog C fish for example then I'd list it as A Cat without the ) as it's listed, does that make sense?

purplecatlover

One-Eye wrote: »

Worst one I have seen was something like:-

What kind of animal is Garfield?
a cat

Is the answer "cat", "a cat" or "a) cat"

thats exactly what i mean

princessmoneysaver wrote: »

If it was listed as A cat B dog C fish for example then I'd list it as A Cat without the ) as it's listed, does that make sense?

but would you also list the b dog and C fish as well to make it obvious that the question was a multi choice answer with a smiley or the bolding to identify the correct answer?

if only the question and the A Cat as its listed its still unclear is the answer option A cat, or "a cat" if you see what i mean. going on just the info of question and one answer i cant tell that there were also options b and c. its obvious when the answer is option b or c but when its a its not.

princessmoneysaver

I do understand what you mean & although I don't mind writing out the whole question with answers I really don't think it's needed tbh, if I put A cat (with the A as a capital) that's how it's listed in the mag & to me it's obvious the answer is option A rather than 'a cat'. When I do the DWA mag I usually don't have the mag for long enough to get the whole options from my DD, she often takes the mag to friends & sends the answers to me via text or email from elsewhere depending where she's reading it. Due to the amount of people winning from these posts I know the answers she's giving are correct so don't need to ask her for the other options ITMS x

P.S If I'm copying from a website rather than the mag I try to give all the options x

purplecatlover

yeah i agree all the options arent needed, a capital A could also be an abbreviation for the word answer and i have seen some posts on here where it is used as such rather than it meaning option A, hence my having to check the actual website unless its stated that it is option lol probably just me being dimwitted again, i more wanted to know if other people had the same problem trying to figure out which it stood for or if i was missing an obvious clue. if my memory was better id probaly be able to remember that magazine x usually has 3 options for answers and website y doesnt usually have choices so would know that way which it was, but my memory sucks.

Amilucky?

if op's didn't abbreviate the word answer then there would be no problem i.e. if they posted this way

email:
subject:
answer:

I must admit I do have some problems with the way some of the email comps are posted my biggest gripe is if there is a multi-choice answer ie: A) or C) some OP's only post the answer and don't include the A) or C) which I feel is part of the answer and should be included

like you purplecatlover I often find myself rechecking the email details on the comp site however I think that it is often good policy to do so as sometimes the comp organisers change the Q&A before the comp end's

Best of Luck

princessmoneysaver

I would always but the A B or C but in the mags there is no ) so although I don't know if it would make a difference or not I don't include it. I do agree with Amilucky? if the email comps were set out in a standard way it would be easier. I always try to write the word 'Answer' to make it easier as well though.