New Comps Board Guidelines Discussion

VelvetGlove

'Scuse me for jumping into the middle here...

comping_cat wrote: »

Im sure Velvet Glove will be able to add it to their excellent guide for all to see.

Firstly, thank you

Secondly, I'm poised to do (what I think will be) quite a major overhaul of the Comping Guide to bring it bang up to date with new buttons & guidance etc, the only thing stopping me is that I'm waiting until this is all sorted as I don't want to have to overhaul twice!

Marg2k8

Thanks VelvetGlove - I think that is an excellent idea and much appreciated.

comping_cat

purplecatlover wrote: »

something for the wickend, the prize changes quite often. its usually candles and stuff, so to that end its a similar prize each week, but its not an identical prize each week.

would splitting up into even more sub forums not completely defeat the purpose for all those who wont use regs because they dont have time to go to one more area to look for comps? more sub forums would mean more areas to go to so more clicks which is what people dont want?

Im not sure about others, i can only comment on my reasons, but the reason i dont do the weekly or monthlies is because it really takes too much of my time. Having to go into a link, bring up a thread and then enter takes too long, when you have so many listed. If, like the dailies there are just a handful that i want to do its ok, but with such long lists having the extra 'click' really does add so much time. Also, you cant hover and see any additional information that may or may not influence whether i want to enter the comp or not, so its only seen once you have actually clicked the first link. I feel quite ungrateful because those who run the stickies do such an amazing job, but those are the reasons i dont use them:o
If they were set out like the main board then once a month, or week compers could just go down the list and see what they want to enter, just like they do the main board. If you have time during the week/month you could see the date they were posted to know if it was a new one to enter.

Ive just been thinking of other options, to try and make sure as many competitions are available to as many compers as we can. Of course this might not be something MSE are able/prepared to do, and people may not like the idea! I just thought it saves the problem of what is a regular, where should it be posted etc.

timmmers

Al_Mac wrote: »

I wish people wouldn't pick on FB and twitter as if they were odd. They aren't. They are just another website.

But if we really want that much granularity, could I suggest a list of websites I don't do, because I'm a bloke, because I don't have young children, because I'm not a child, because I'm not old etc

No they aren't just another website. They are social networks.There is zero value in knowing people who are members of a normal website, say Carling for example...however knowing a great many people on both twitter and FB is vital as comps fire up and die within hours sometimes and are generally much faster.
Only a blind man would look at this last 6 months and not notice the VAST number of comps moving over to these social networks now, it's far easier to set up there for the companies, and they get huge benefits from FB especially so it's going to keep growing.
You sign up for countless email newsletters, do you read them?
You follow a company or like their page...they reach you whenever you're online with little effort.

Twitter and FB also require some small knowledge, and this puts people off when it shouldn't. Help on here would be a great thing.
In fact, here are the numbingly obvious benefits of these being central or seperate here;-

Numbers: We have a huge group here, there is power in numbers for voting, for following, for finding out about new comps, and last but not least...for being told when you won and they don't email or msg you (often happens)...we watch for each other so that doesn't happen.

Questions and knowhow: People are wary of both FB and twitter and need help to get used to it, a section to ask here or a group of MSE mates to contact would sort that out.

Speed: It's fast. Too fast for random reading on the board...a comp can be over when they get to 100 followers and we can do that just with MSE people...and that just happened today. The search function here sucks already but no way it will keep up with twitter and FB.

The future: Both these, and probably other networks are the future of comps, there will always be others but even now the lion's share in on there. It's rare for me to see a list of winners without MSE names in it. The rest who aren't involved are missing out right at the time it's manageable. Don't forget, the normal people who don't do comps like we do can also see these comps easily now and are beginning to enter them. Why not, it's just one click. More entries= worse odds for us eventually.

The social aspect: Unlike any other type of comping here, we make friends on these networks..not just filling in forms and trawling the threads ...we have fun. That alone makes it worthy of a section IMO.

t

Glad

thanks for the input everyone

nice as it sounds we won't be able to have a sub board for each different type of comp but when velvet updates the guidelines we can include a section for tags to be added to title eg FB, Twitter, Blog

in this poll 378 people voted, and over 50% voted for an option that involved keeping the regs board in some form

most comps regularly receive under 500 thanks although the most popular comp I can find has 911 thanks (a Take a Break thread), and looking at the names a lot of people only come on to mse comps to enter and click thanks, so I think the above poll was pretty fair

so what we need is an agreement on what should be posted on regs and what should be posted on main board

I hope no one minds but I'm going to read through this and other discussions again and try to put something together that could work for compers of both boards and BGs
I know some users want all on main board and others want a regs board with ongoing threads so will try to find a middle ground, then see if anyone has major problems with it

Glad

E: 29/04 Asda April competitions

I've linked to the above thread after just reading it as an example of how, even on a small scale of one particular comp, different compers have different ways of comping and ideas on how posting a comp would work best for them

so on a much bigger scale ie how to define a reg/ongoing comp and where it should be posted, we are never going to find an idea that suits all,
hopefully some 'middle ground' suggestions will be accepted though

Glad x

grannybiker

:T Thanks for trying to sort this muddle out Glad :A.

As you say, we're unlikely to resolve it to everyone's complete satisfaction, but some middle ground must still be there somewhere under the constantly muddied waters !

As I see it, the biggest divider and cause of all the kerfuffle seems to boil down to the definition of an ongoing comp. Many, many compers, myself included, have indicated that they consider if a comp has separate prizes / draws, then they should be viewed as new each time. I think that's what prompted Andrea to suggest that even daillies were posted separatley, to even "Everything on main!" staunch supporter's' horror :eek:! It was also what prompted the outcry last year when they began to be moved to regs .
This common ground could therefore be, as you suggested all those weeks (or was it months:eek:?) ago that these controversial comps could remain on main in newly posted threads if they were weekly / monthly, but dailies should be treated differently given their much higher frequency, and updated if / when anything changed. Yes, I know it's treating them differently, but the bottom line is, they ARE different!

There will always be some comps that just don't seem to fit in any particluar box perfectly, so we'll have to adopt a common-sense, (Remember that, folks? Sadly not so common at times :rotfl:!) approach with you / other BGs making a final decision :A.

Whatever happens, I'm sure we'll adapt and our comping will continue to prove a fun and sometimes fruitful hobby :beer:.
GBX

Glad

thanks GB

I'll be posting later and hope your 'common sense' is catching xx

grannybiker

Oh and just to add....
Now that so many more folk are much more aware of the regs board, posting a link in the relevant sticky should happen with much greater regularity. (I can fully understand the frustration of end-date compers when this didn't always happen before.)
If it doesn't happen, for whatever reason, perhaps we could treat the error gently by popping a polite reminder on and posting that we've sent a link, just as we do with inadvertent duping and merge requests?

purplecatlover

grannybiker wrote: »

Oh and just to add....
Now that so many more folk are much more aware of the regs board, posting a link in the relevant sticky should happen with much greater regularity. (I can fully understand the frustration of end-date compers when this didn't always happen before.)
If it doesn't happen, for whatever reason, perhaps we could treat the error gently by popping a polite reminder on and posting that we've sent a link, just as we do with inadvertent duping and merge requests?

im sure thats what happens most of the time anyway :cool:

or we just go add a link if its not too late, as in the last draw only available now for entry so no point in adding it, despite the fact that many of the hundreds of thankers could clearly see form op it was a daily/weekly and know how to add but ignore it :rotfl:

if those of you who comp by newly posted would be so kind as to add the linsk to new regulars even if you havent personally posted them instead of just thanking it and moving on that would help those posters who dont know about the sticky threads to learn to add too :A


and *if* this was a dig at me for my "shame it wasnt added and its not worth doing so now, or ill add it for the last few days" comments. they arent intended as nastyness, and are a heck of a lot politer than many comments left re "the comp police" and similar :eek: but yes, certainly now that more people are aware and people are not concerned comps will be hidden on regs if they add them, things are being added much more and i havent replied saying its a shame in quite a while and can refrain form doing so and just let them go again, like i used to, or phrase it full of cuddles and fluff instead of stating the facts so bluntly so long as people dont go back to telling me they didnt want to highlight it and have it moved and thus lost in regs....its a two way street re being nice about comps being posted in the wrong place or wrong way:rotfl: