How exactly do you write the answer?

A_little_stressed!!

I am a little confused! When answering a competition on the internet how exactly do I write the answer in the box? Eg;

What is the capital of France?

a) Paris
b) London
c) Berlin

[ ]

Do I write

a) Paris or Paris

Another 1 I just got stuck by;
how many grams of unsalted butter in a brownie?

Do I just write 75, as its already stated it is grams?
Or 75g?
Or 75 grams?

OR DOES NONE OF THIS MATTER, THE COMPUTER RANDOMLY PICKS A WINNER & A REAL PERSON CHECKS THE ANSWER THEREFORE ANYTHING GOES?
Ahhh! HELP!:mad:

P.s. Are there any competitions for dumbest person? I'm sure I cud win that!!!:rotfl:

sparky61

I would put a) Paris and 75 grams just to be on the safe side.
:beer:

hrafndot

what a lovely discussion, keep this going, please,these are all things that have occurred to me and a sticky on comping etiquette might be an idea.

If you are emailing an anwer, the more specific you are the better, I think. i.e. a) Paris. and always stay on the safe side.

Don't correct their spelling or suggest that their answer might be wong. It has never worked for me yet. LOL

snitterling

If it helps, I sometimes run comps on my own website, so I can tell you the way I do it; presumably other sites do the same.

If the comp is a draw, none of the entries are read (so if entering by email don't request a read receipt, you won't get one and many company servers automatically delete messages that request them). They are just numbered, and after the comp closes a random number is drawn and that entry only is opened and read. It doesn't matter how the answer is written as long as it is correct. If it is wrong, another random number is chosen and so on until a correct entry is found.

The other entries are kept until the winner has received their prize then deleted (still unread).

A few more things to remember when entering by email:
1. Don't include any correspondence as it won't be read - if you have a query about a comp email the webmaster separately.
2. Don't "decorate" your entry. I have sometimes recevied entries that were in fancy HTML, even ones including animations. I only opened them because I'm a nosey b***** who wanted to see why i was receiving such a huge entry, but in general they won't be read and many company servers delete messages over a certain size so your entry may not even be considered.
3. If a subject is given for the email, use it EXACTLY. Making changes to it to "make your entry stand out" means it won't be filtered correctly and will probably be deleted.

fluffynit

hrafndot wrote:

what a lovely discussion, keep this going, please,these are all things that have occurred to me and a sticky on comping etiquette might be an idea.

If you are emailing an anwer, the more specific you are the better, I think. i.e. a) Paris. and always stay on the safe side.

Don't correct their spelling or suggest that their answer might be wong. It has never worked for me yet. LOL

I think a sticky would be a good idea, as I am sure there are a few compers wondering the same thing. Recently we have had questions like "Any winners with hotmail addreses" and "Have you won a different ISP related competition ?"


fluffynit

p.s OP, I would agree with Sparky61 when answering questions

AnnieH

I use a hotmail address specifically for comping and freebies, and I've won loads:)

furndire

How likely are reply emails to be dropped straight into my spam, and deleted without us receiving them. I have just had a look in my Tools on outlook express, and there are items put in there which I havn't done.

snitterling

I check my spam folder every day, just in the last month two WEMs have been put in there which I might have missed.

A_little_stressed!!

Thanx everyone, i would feel so frustrated if I'd spent all this time entering competitions only to write the answer in the wrong way!!

Do any of you do postal comps? (take a break etc)
Do u have to put answers on a postcard? Or just a page set out like the entry form in an envelope?
Thanx

Strepsy

I always wonder if people only enter the ones that they'd like to win or if they'd just sell the stuff that they won anyway.

I only enter ones that I would actually want at the moment.

sparky61

A_little_stressed!! wrote:

Thanx everyone, i would feel so frustrated if I'd spent all this time entering competitions only to write the answer in the wrong way!!

Do any of you do postal comps? (take a break etc)
Do u have to put answers on a postcard? Or just a page set out like the entry form in an envelope?
Thanx

They do generally state if a postcard is required, although in the past when I didn't have any I used a sealed down envelope and wrote on the back 'Sorry I didn't have a postcard'

A tip to maybe get your postcard pulled out as a winner is to use jazzy or unusual ones, they can be picked up in bundles from most cinema foyers and of course they're FREE :j