Competitions Discussion Thread Part 13

purplecatlover

korkythekat wrote: »

"but it might be worth thinking about putting a note to say that you've changed it so that people know"

agree & think it's a good idea the bg's should add/put amended post on the post if they've done it, would be very helpful

my concern about that would be complaints re the post being bumped to say its been fixed, AND its more effort and time for a bg to add a note rather than just change it.

id assume as well that if the same name keeps making the same mistake not only would a bg pm them to tell them how to do it correctly but im sure there are members who spot and do the same?

fire**fly

purplecatlover wrote: »

thanks korky, its when i hit the comps before they end, its a pita to log in and out for each one if there are a few......but i never know how many of the end tomorrow are going to come up, sometimes its one and sometimes its 3 or 4 and sometimes the next page or two of comps will have more ...i try and keep a tab open to it in a different window so i remember to log out when ive finished ending tomorrow....but i dont always remember so was hoping

i generally go to

elver man 's profile as is easier to hover on his 'all posts posted' & see the yours ones so can do them all together or
when i see the first one posted do the
yours.co.uk in search & all of them come up can do them that way alltogether,

http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/search.php?searchid=98455038

if that makes sense

fire**fly

purplecatlover wrote: »

my concern about that would be complaints re the post being bumped to say its been fixed, AND its more effort and time for a bg to add a note rather than just change it.

id assume as well that if the same name keeps making the same mistake not only would a bg pm them to tell them how to do it correctly but im sure there are members who spot and do the same?

when i first came on here i made loads all the time & was very very grateful to the ops who pm'd me with help/rules/where/how to post etc, but never had one from a bg, it was just the members,
i've ofted pm'd others to try to help if they've done the same as remember very well how confusing/hard/worrying it is when first posting, some are nice & say thank you but some, well, i won't say

Amilucky?

purplecatlover wrote: »

my concern about that would be complaints re the post being bumped to say its been fixed, AND its more effort and time for a bg to add a note rather than just change it.

id assume as well that if the same name keeps making the same
mistake not only would a bg pm them to tell them how to do it correctly but im sure there are members who spot and do the same?

Think that Al Mac hit the nail on the head when he said
Folk still need to be educated


From the comping guide here,

As far as I'm aware Glad is the only BG who alters incorrectly formatted end dates and is to be commended for doing so however we shouldn't just rely on Glad to amend them because a) the OP will just carry on posting comps incorrectly if they are not told how to post correctly and b) as we are the first line of defence (so to speak) maybe the onus should be on us to tell the OP that they have posted incorrectly by adding the above message while the comp is still on the first page and while the OP is still on-line this in turn will help the already over worked BG's

fire**fly

Amilucky? wrote: »

As far as I'm aware Glad is the only BG who alters incorrectly formatted end dates and is to be commended for doing so however we shouldn't just rely on Glad to amend them because a) the OP will just carry on posting comps incorrectly if they are not told how to post correctly and b) as we are the first line of defence (so to speak) maybe the onus should be on us to tell the OP that they have posted incorrectly by adding the above message while the comp is still on the first page and while the OP is still on-line this in turn will help the already over worked BG's

have done that many times as well AIL,
bearing in mind a lot of the ops don't go back to their posting,
so it doesn't get seen by them,
have seen lots of here used to post that & /or add the comping guide rules/how to post comps
on the reply to them,

but, if the op doesn't go back to the posting it doesn't get noticed so it was suggested
(a long while back) that a pm would be in order as well

Amilucky?

What would be great and much better for everyone involved would be when new subscribers sign up to the comping forum, they are greeted with a welcome message and instructions on how to make there first post and how to post in the correct format instead of just being thrown into the deep end (as it is now) which can be very daunting to newbies and stops a lot of them from making there first post

fire**fly

Amilucky? wrote: »

What would be great and much better for everyone involved would be when new subscribers sign up to the comping forum, they are greeted with a welcome message and instructions on how to make there first post and how to post in the correct format instead of just being thrown into the deep end (as it is now) which can be very daunting to newbies and stops a lot of them from making there first post

that's a brilliant idea & has been suggested many times, but,
unfortunately it's never been done

Amilucky?

korkythekat wrote: »

that's a brilliant idea & has been suggested many times, but,
unfortunately it's never been done

Maybe if Glad reads our post's she might hopefully suggest it to Andrea?

Glad

LizB62 wrote: »

Thanks Glad - that explains something from the other evening

I'd PM'd someone asking (nicely I thought) if they could correct the format of the end date as people comping by end date would miss it.
When they checked their post, the format was correct - I said maybe a BG had done it and the rather curt reply I got was:
I know how to post comps and the date was there all along

Now I know how it changed without them changing it

Don't get me wrong, I'm more than happy that you're correcting them as it improves it for everybody, but it might be worth thinking about putting a note to say that you've changed it so that people know

I'm not sure if it's happening more, or whether we're just better at spotting it?

I don't think it's newbies either - most people who are new to the board seem to be quite open about it and say they haven't posted many comps so could someone check that they've done it right.

I always thought this was a nice mutually cooperative board where we all help each other out, but that was the 2nd dig that day and it got to me....

We're all human and we all make occasional mistakes, which is why I've always liked this board as there is always someone who will come along and help with answers or suggest how to get into a problematic site

I'll continue to post where I spot merges (and send the merge requests) as that hopefully stops us disqualifiying ourselves from some comps if we accidentally entered more than once.
Anything else though, I'll think twice before posting.

Thanks for the messages

Hi
I always wonder when the user will get back online and if people ever check back on comps they have posted, so that's why I usually just edit them, I don't want anyone to miss out
if it's a regular comper I presume it's just a keyboard mistake (and there are the odd few from very senior compers ), if it's a newbie I try to send a pm explaining and ask them to look at the comp guide

re the one you mentioned maybe the user went back and edited then didn't want to admit they'd ever got it wrong

Glad

Amilucky? wrote: »

What would be great and much better for everyone involved would be when new subscribers sign up to the comping forum, they are greeted with a welcome message and instructions on how to make there first post and how to post in the correct format instead of just being thrown into the deep end (as it is now) which can be very daunting to newbies and stops a lot of them from making there first post

new users sign up for MSE forums as a whole and I'm not sure how to identify people visiting the comps board before their 1st post

I do pm people re correct title formats and link to the comping guide, and if I see someone asking for help will post with the link

most new compers don't repeat mistakes as they get used to the board, but there's new people posting every day, I'm not sure what the answer is but am open to suggestions