New Comps Board Guidelines Discussion

One-Eye

If we want polls where an absolute majority (ie over 50%) has voted in favour of the winning solution then the only way is to have JUST TWO OPTIONS in any vote. My suggestion is below. I have used daily competitions in the wording, but a similar process with slightly different questions could be applied to weeklies and monthlies. It might look complex, but go through it stage by stage and you will see that each question in itself is simple and (hopefully) gets us toward a definitive answer.

We all have different preferences for the way we think regulars should be posted, the main test of these potential poll questions is "Can your favoured solution be reached with a particular sequence of results?"

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Poll number 1 – Daily Regular Competitions – Vote for either A or B

A) Post a daily regular comp in a single thread for the duration of the promotion. New posts can be added to this thread for any new Questions/Answers/Links/Prizes. Post a link to the thread in the daily sticky.

Post the comp as an individual thread each day for that day only. No link is needed in the daily sticky so it becomes redundant.

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Poll number 2 – Daily Regular Competitions – Vote for either C or D (Polls 2, 3 & 4 are void if ‘B’ wins poll 1)

C) ALL daily regulars should be posted on main. Promotions with a fixed duration have a real end date. Ongoing promotions have a made up end date, and the thread is periodically renewed.

D) The daily regulars board is retained for at least some competitions – exactly what will be decided in poll 3.

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Poll number 3 – Daily Regular Competitions – Vote for either E, or F (Polls 3 & 4 are void if ‘C’ wins poll 2)

E) Post ALL daily regulars on the regulars board. Any posted on main will be moved.

F) Post daily regular Promotions with a real end date on main. Ongoing promotions are dealt with in poll 4.

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Poll number 4 – Daily Regular Competitions – Vote for either G or H (This poll is void if ‘E’ wins poll 3)

G) Post ongoing promotions on regulars including any that need new Questions/Answers/Links/Prizes.

H) Post ongoing promotions that need new Questions/Answers or Links or Prizes on main with a made up end date. Post on regulars only those ongoing promotions where the Question/Answer and Link and Prize stay fixed.

fnc63

OMG OMG OMG !!!
hasnt this been flogged to death enough already ?
i had no idea this was still ongoing, but i'll try and keep the brief as brief as possible
to quote one-eye you can really only have a poll with two options, so heres my 2

1) slog on and on and on some more with a several hundred divided opinions and about half a dozen polls, wait 1-2 months & repeat

2) have everything back to the way like it was 6 months ago

because i shall never be returning to this thread and tiresome indecision making, i choose to cast my vote now and it will be #2

afaik & imo whilst maybe it wasnt working perfectly 6 months ago, i certainly dont feel it was broken and there was way much less discussion, whining, complaining, tantrum throwing, stroppiness, argument, upset, disillusionment, bickering, resignations etc etc that would indicae to me that the way things were 6 months ago were all fine 'n dandy, by comparison to this ongoing debacle that we find ourselves in at this present time

thank you & goodnight...

Marg2k8

I haven't been around much recently, due to other stuff getting in the way of comping, but I see that this discussion has progressed and there is now talk of a further poll. I see that a lot of people have spent time working out suggested rules for posting and I think that these are very helpful, as we do need rules to stop us getting confused. My suggestion for a poll would be to take two opposing view points (or three?) and each of these people comes up with their recommended rules. Then the rest of us merely have to vote whether we wish to vote for say Mamzies rules, or say Purplecatlovers rules. We are never going to get something that suits us all, no matter how long is spent discussing it. Do you think that this would be a way forward?

purplecatlover

ive only skimmed quickly....so apologies if im repeating things or such like

fb/twitter/blog

tbh id rather see them on main with all the other comps rather than in a whole separate section/sub forum. at least those that last for longer than one day. (an example, the big yellow comp that has an end date and is linked in dailies).

as someone above said, some blog comps are also enter by fb and/or twitter, to list them as 3 separate comps woudl just complicate matters?

i very much would like titles to identify them, as well as those that are email.

i could see the benefit of another sticky thread for posting the short end date comps on those sites in though. the one off comps that spring up as giveaway when we hit 500 followers and thats likely to be within a day or two, or other flash comps that end later that day or within 24hours say.

the weekly one day only comps, like twitter tuesday, facebook friday etc on whatever day they run im more than happy to keep adding to that section of the daily thread if people tell me about them. im not allowed to direct link so they do have to be posted in an ongoing thread but i will link that, then there is a point of reference of what sites/pages to check for comps on what day.

another thing i would love to see is site name being used instead of the word clicky. there are some sites i cant log into no matter what i do, while most people do identify the site somewhere in an op, there are some occasionally that merely say win this item click here or similar.

i really like the use of guessedenddate where an end date is guessed because normally comps form that site run for x weeks for example, or because the cmp says its running for 5 weeks but there is no official end date given.

i would much rather that ongoing regulars just got posted with the w/d/m tag and ongoing in t he title if necessary rather than guessed. if only because eg the E:31/12 always ends up being what 70 or 80 pages of comps that end then anyway without adding heaps more as that would be the most likley guessed end date used? how many of them are actually ongoing regs that will be moved to go or out of sticky threads because they ahve reached the guessed end date and then be missed/forgotten about for a month or two? if we either get regs board set so no comp in their gets locked we can update them when necessary, we can ask a bg to move them to game over. it means they wont have to be reposted every say 5 weeks or 3 mths or whatever. they wont have to be moved into and out of game over repeatedly etc.

i alos want to point out for the people who think that an ongoing thread means a thread that ends up being as long as the postals or discussion or inn.....that doesnt necessarily have to happen. an average monthly would have 1 post in it a month (check out the bear daily, its been updated every month for a couple of years and is still only a few pages long), a weekly normally only 1 post a week in it. we could also limit to say when it hits 5 pages long a new thread is started and the previous one moved to game over to ensure we dont end up with extremely long threads? the current ongoing threads are slightly different, inn and disc are discussion threads, the postals is a fast moving thread too so. the tab and puzzler threads are more fast moving than 1 post per week/month....so they cant really compare to what an ongoing weekly or monthly thread would end up like.

beffffff

Mamzie wrote: »

No offence, but I don't think we really need to get bogged down in the define a reg debate again, as that was more to help decide which actual boards comps were posted on, and now we all know that they are posted mostly on main, unless there is no end date.

I can understand asking for polls re the ongoing comps, and how to post monthlys - but I thought people were pretty much settled on how to post dailys and weeklys, already.

NO offence taken. I'm very open to debate and don't mind people having a different opinion to me

But I think if we want to be thorough then we should sort everything out once and for all and know for sure it is a concensus opinion so if people whinge or moan down the line we can just refer them abck to any poll results. Because the last thing I want is this to carry on any longer when the next set of compers is upset just because we felt that we already knew what the majority wanted on some points.

And I don't think defining a regular WAS sorted.

For example. I still think if a comp is run every month, even if it is a different question and/or a different prize that it could go in monthlies. Just so it isn't forgotten about. I know for certain others agree with me. I also know for certain others don't. But I don't know how many are on which side of the fence.

If we want a decision that we can fall back on and say this is a majority decision, put up with it or move on to another board, then I really think we should cover all angles so we can always be confident that whatever we say is the new rule really is what the majority wants.


And re: thinking people were settled on how to post dailies/weeklies/monthlies I would have said so too until a few days ago. But clearly Andrea got some contradictory messages based on her post yesterday saying she thought people wanted every regular comp posted each day. So again for thoroughness, and the sake of a few more A) or type polls I personally think we should get that covered off too.

And I'm sorry if that has caused any offence. it really wasn't intended to

fire**fly

MSE Andrea

As someone else put very well.... STOP!

You're absolutely right. I don't understand what you guys want at all.

I looked at what several people were asking me, tried to get my head round it and obviously utterly failed because they were all asking me different things.

The point is, when this originally all "blew up" you contacted me saying please give us strict guidelines from MSE that we can follow, despite me wanting you guys to sort it out for yourselves as it's you that know best what you all want.

From the last few posts it really sounds like you're all very much capable of sorting it between yourselves so please, do whatever you all need to do to sort it amongst yourselves, then ask a BG to pop it as a sticky at the top of the board and unstick mine because bringing me into the equation has obviously just confused things completely all round.

The aim, at the end of the day, is for you guys to establish the best way of comping for yourselves and in a way that will minimise anything any forum user "has" to do, whether it's someone updating stickies or a BG "having" to move threads.

So, I really think it's best I bow out of this gracefully (hopefully).

But as I've said several times, everyone, please keep it friendly, and try to work it out calmly. Jumping at perceived "digs" at each other doesn't help anyone.

Andrea

#1573
MSE Andrea
Today, 12:06 AM


...................................


korkythekat

thank you, does this mean we can keep the puzzler/ tab monthly comps on one thread please

http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/...6#post41917296


#1575
korkythekat
Today, 12:26 AM


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MSE Andrea

Not my call Korky, please sort it out amongst yourselves, it's your board.

#1576
MSE Andrea
Today, 12:32 AM

............................................

korkythekat

thank you, the comps for them particular mags have always been posted on one thread, the ops pay/subscribe to the mags to share for us all & keep the issues flowing each month & have had loads of pm's from ops who post the comps on them threads worrying that they'll have to be posted separate, makes a lot more sense to keep them as they are,
thanks for clarifying this :A

#1578
korkythekat
Today, 12:41 AM


...........................................................




princess pixiedust

Agree that i think its totally unfair that the minority want this all changed, the mag comps are totally different from online comps as people are buying them and in my view i love having the puzzle mags all in one thread as i am often behind and can find them all on one thread, this board is just turning into a mess sorry but things were fine the way it was before, every day there is aggro about threads/posts etc and its now getting to the point where its getting stupid

I suggest people pm the bg's/andrea to put your point across and not korky as it has nothing to do with her

as andrea doesnt comp, then cant see how she thinks these changes are going to be welcomed, sorry but cant be bothered with this anymore, comping is meant to be fun and not like this at all

#683
princess pixiedust
Yesterday, 9:47 PM


.................

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/41925254#Comment_41925254


as being one of the longest respected mag/comp/contributor poster on mse for as long back as i remember ppd said in a few words what most of the mag compers/posters were thinking, after numerous pm's last night &
a few more this morning + replys on the thread, it seems majority want the tab/puzzler comps kept as one thread each as opposed to being posted separate,
bearing in mind a lot of the puzzles take a lot of time to complete, find the answers, do the puzzles etc, so having them on one thread helps the ops find the last issue easier/update the comp & make any necassary changes,
hope this makes it easier for anyone who doesn't do the mags to understand why we feel the need to keep them all together

mulle

One-Eye wrote: »

Here's what I'd prefer...

1) Post ALL comps on the main board. Please search beforehand to ensure it has not already been posted by someone else. Note that postal/text/phone competitions have their own section.

2a) Post a daily regular comp in a single thread for the duration of the promotion (or for a maximum of ** days if the promotion lasts longer). State “Daily” in the thread title. New posts can be added to the thread for new questions/answers/links. Post a link to the thread at the end of the daily sticky.

Got an issue with the daily ones though... to be posted once on the main board, not to be bumped every day (unless there's a new answer every day).


3a) Post a weekly regular comp in a single thread for the duration of the promotion (or for a maximum of 52 weeks if the promotion lasts longer). State “Weekly” in the thread title. New posts can be added to the thread for new questions/answers/links. Post a link to the thread at the end of the weekly sticky.

3b) Post the comp as an individual comp with an end date for that week only. A new thread will be required the following week, and no link in stickies is required.

Either would be fine... to keep it less cluttered I'd prefer A, and just to be bumped once a week.


4b) Post the comp as an individual comp with an end date for that month only. A new thread will be required the following month, and no link in stickies is required.

On monthly, I think i'd go for individual threads... as over the span of a year you're only taking about 12 threads.

To me... the ideal set up of the forum would look something like this (if I've done it correctly, it should be a clickable link for larger view):

Three subforums on the top... "main board" (as it is now), with all the comp showing just like it is now...

Sub forum one: This again has a few different forums on it (forgot to add GAME OVER... try to picture it with GAME OVER on it. lol!)... for example "I won", "comp discussions" and "chit chat". In all those three forums you can start new threads, just like in the "I won" forum that exists already here. It would be nice with a proper comp discussions forum... if anyone asks a questions how in the discussion thread it's easy to over look. By having a subforum by itself, it would be easy to see new threads/questions and also if it's been replied to. Chit chat is just what it says on the box...

Sub forum two: This is for the dailies... 2 different categories - one for dailies with a new prize each day... one for comps that allow multiple entries, but only with the one prize when the comp finishes.

Sub forum three: Again, different subforums for phone/SMS (not everyone enters those), postcards (not everyone enters those) and forms (again, not everyone interested... these can be mag forms, or from shops). Would also be handy for making stickies on the top of forums on whom posts what in these categories...

Mamzie

I am finally back home after lots of kids sports clubs and a 65th birthday party,

fnc63 wrote: »

OMG OMG OMG !!!
hasnt this been flogged to death enough already ?
i had no idea this was still ongoing, but i'll try and keep the brief as brief as possible
to quote one-eye you can really only have a poll with two options, so heres my 2

1) slog on and on and on some more with a several hundred divided opinions and about half a dozen polls, wait 1-2 months & repeat

2) have everything back to the way like it was 6 months ago

because i shall never be returning to this thread and tiresome indecision making, i choose to cast my vote now and it will be #2

afaik & imo whilst maybe it wasnt working perfectly 6 months ago, i certainly dont feel it was broken and there was way much less discussion, whining, complaining, tantrum throwing, stroppiness, argument, upset, disillusionment, bickering, resignations etc etc that would indicae to me that the way things were 6 months ago were all fine 'n dandy, by comparison to this ongoing debacle that we find ourselves in at this present time

thank you & goodnight...

Sorry, but I have to point out that there was bickering, and niggles 6 mths ago, I'm sure someone better at searching than me could post links to various comp threads and posts in the discussion board to show that. I think if any bg, just moved all the d/w/m threads that have moved into main, back into Regs, we would have WW3 on the board.

edited - to give more background on why the debate has reopened....

Did you read back and see that this currant discussion is as a result of MSE Andrea posting new guidelines that asked for every reg comp and every comp to be seperately and for Regs multiple posted, ie; dailys - new thread for same comp every day, weekly new thread every week, etc... All postals/texts seperate, tab/puzzler mags seperately...

Mamzie

Sorry Mulle, but I don’t think many people would support splitting any comps away from the main board.

I wasn't suggesting that the FB/Twitter comps actually move from Main to have their own place - Just that previously we couldn't have any more stickies anywhere. So a sticky or even just a thread each for these in Regs/Compers Corner forum , could link to their actual comps threads in main. Just like the reg threads do atm. Of course that would depend if there was a willing victim volunteer to help collate the list.

I know I am finding the extra info that PCL is very kindly adding to the bottom of the dailys thread very useful - theres links to fb, purchase required comps, twitter comps, Enter on one day of the week only comps....

Plus, possibly there could be a thread for the fb/twitter comps that last literally just for a few hours - and often get very few entries. Very few people would come across these if they were posted in main, unless they happened to be comping by new posts, and at exactly the right time. It could be more similar to the postal text thread - ideally it would be better on main, but I am unsure if anyone would like another sticky on here.

Mamzie

One Eye, I love the way you have worded your polls. But does anyone feel we should hold an initial poll to validate that the original polls which resulted in all End Date Regs moving to Main was the first poll, while Ongoing comps remained in Regs.

I really like poll options 1 and 4 that you have suggested – but would like fewer steps to decisons than 4 so that people don't get annoyed at 2 many polls. I agree, it would be a good idea to run them with just 2 options, and to run separate ones for d/w/m decisions on comps. As Beffffff said earlier, it would be very useful to get definitive decisions and to be able to refer back to the polls in the guidelines.

I also think that is should be made very clear that if Ongoing comps were given a guessedenddate, there may be a danger of them not getting reposted.

I had altered the suggested guidelines after input on the comps discussion thread, so will repost them again here, for people to read through, hth.

================================================== ==============

Possible Comping Board Guidelines

1) Post all single/limited entry comps and Reg comps comps with an End Date in the Main Board. NB postal/text/phone competitions have their own Sticky Thread. Please search beforehand to ensure it has not already been posted by someone else. (Please make sure a link plus comp info is posted at end of relevant sticky thread in Regs Sub-Board if needed).

2) Post Daily reg Comps in a single thread per comp - - State “Daily prize/entry” in the thread title. New posts can be added to the thread for new questions/answers/links. Post a link to the thread at the end of the daily sticky.

3) Post Weekly comps in a single thread per comp - State “Weekly prize/entry” in the thread title. New posts can be added to the thread for new questions/answers/links. Post a link to the thread at the end of the weekly sticky.

4) Post Monthly Reg Comps in a long thread for each comp or as individual comp threads every month. State “Monthly prize/entry” in the thread title. New posts can be added to the thread for new questions/answers/links. Post a link to the thread at the end of the monthly sticky. Use your common sense with posting and ask on discussion thread if advice is needed.

5) Post all comps using the Expiry Date Format eg. E: 01/01 Win.... If unsure of end date, then use your best estimate and put guessedenddate anywhere in the thread.

6) Post Ongoing comps with no End Date in the Reg Sub Forum - State “Daily/Weekly/Monthly prize/entry” in the thread title. New posts can be added to the thread for new questions/answers/links. Post a link to the thread at the end of the correct sticky.

7) Please note that only Threads linking to a Competition may be posted on the Main Comps Forum. There are Sub Forums to the Main Comps Board at the top, where you can post a thread in when you win a prize, etc.

8) Do not c&p entire articles from sites due to copyright issues.

9a) Posting on Comps threads is discouraged unless communicating information to fellow compers, as this causes threads to be bumped, and can affect the way that people view the threads to enter. Please ask any comping questions on the Comps Discussion thread. Please use the Compers Inn for chatting.
or
9b) Please use the Compers Chat Sub Forum to ask all Questions, chat, etc in. Posting on Comps threads is discouraged unless communicating information to fellow compers, as this causes threads to be bumped, and can affect the way that people view the threads to enter. (Possible if Regs Forum allowed Comper Chat)

10) Please use suggested Title Tags when posting a new comp (see below), to help members decide which comps to enter and assist with searching the Comps Forum.

11) Please note that most Magazines have regular poster, as these involve people committing to buy the magazine regularly and to solve each issues puzzles. Puzzler/Tab magazines are posted in one thread due to answers crossing over different issues. Most ITV.com comps are posted by Comping Cat to avoid dupes on the board.

12) Remember to be polite and helpful to fellow posters.

Suggested Title Tags, to help people Enter Comps

a) Please mention Kids, age guidance, photos/purchase required, effort, email, text, postal, phone, newsletter sign up, etc in title if entry requires these.

b) Please mention FB, Twitter, Blog if the comp is hosted on these sites.

c) Please remember to add Daily, Weekly or Monthly when posting a comp with multiple prizes or entries. These also need to be linked with the relevant Sticky