Facebook rant!!!

boris3428

Just needed to have a bit of a rant .. and thought here might be a good place to do it!!!

I set up a 2nd facebook account years ago as a bit of a joke, and when I started comping this year, I thought it made sense to use that account for comping. I didn't want to bombard all my friends with stuff on their news feed, and I don't see what is wrong with having a second account for this (assuming you only use one of them for comping, which I do).

Anyway - today I have changed the name on the account, as I have been thinking about it for a while. It looked like a fake name, so I wondered if it might hold me back in winning prizes, and I saw a thread of people commenting on it, saying that they thought it was fake, and I guess accusing me of cheating. Which is not true, as I have only ever used this one account for entering competitions, so I only have as much chance of winning as anyone else.

So ... I made the decision to change the name on my facebook account, and I suspect now that it will be investigated and probably closed down. Fingers crossed for the next 24 hours (which is how long the name change takes to be approved!)

Why do I feel like a criminal?! Have I really done anything that wrong?!

Barnabysue

Unfortunately what you have done wrong is break Facebook rules. They do state that you can only have one account and you have two. Whatever reason you have for it, people are going to see it as suspect if they spot it.

boris3428

Yeah, I get that I have broken facebook rules. Slap on the wrist for me!

Guess I will just have to lump the punishment - whatever that maybe!!

It's those evil competitions (and my lack of willpower) .. luring me in, and making me 'like and share things'!! Or maybe I should just care less about irritating my friends!

Oh well .. it is done now!

coocoo51

Agree with you Boris I have set up an e-mail for my comp entries and hate having my facebook hi-jacked just because I want to enter a comp. - and it reveals my 'real' e-mail so I get all kinds of sh..t going where I don't want it. So much for personal choice. If the rules are only one A/C I suppose there is no way round - but a facility to include in the name something like 'comp entries only' would be fantastic. Why is it that people jump to the conclusion one is cheating because one wants to isolate different parts of their social media? And if one is preprared to go through all the stages of registering and clearing junk mail from differnt accounts why should it matter - they are putting in extra effort to enter the comps. and it isn't as if it is an automated entry that unfairly skews the result.

StokieBecks

All the companies using like and share comps are breaking facebook terms themselves. I only enter the comps o facebook that have a proper form to fill in with your details and if it has a share option i have a group on my friends list called MSE Comping and i just share with them because with a form the share is optional not a condition on emtry

boris3428

Thanks coocoo51, really nice to hear a friendly voice as I am feeling pretty bad over here!

The facebook competitions are so annoying. It really just means that competitions on facebook are only open to those who don't mind inundating their 'friends' with comping spam. Which discriminates against those people with actual accounts and real friends.

I know there are people on facebook who do cheat, so I guess that is why people are quick to jump on anything that they think falls under that definition, but it made me sad! (I am WAY too sensitive!)

Agreed - a facility like that would be perfect.

boris3428

Thanks StokieBecks - if I am allowed on facebook after this whole incident (!) then I might just follow the same system as you!

JimmyTheWig

boris3428 wrote: »

The facebook competitions are so annoying. It really just means that competitions on facebook are only open to those who don't mind inundating their 'friends' with comping spam. Which discriminates against those people with actual accounts and real friends.

You could argue that the competitions are only open to those who really do like the company / product in question.

I really like Foxes biscuits. I would have no problem "liking" a Foxes biscuits page and my friends seeing that I had liked it - especially if it meant that I might win some.
While I have nothing against McVities, I don't rate them as highly as I do Foxes. So I wouldn't want all my friends seeing that I had liked their page because it would just be pointless.

The companies aren't giving away prizes because they think it would be fun. They are giving away prizes because by doing so they will increase their exposure.
Someone using a comping account (whether it is the only account they use for comping or not) won't be giving the company any exposure, as their real friends won't see it.
So the more people who do that, the less it becomes worth companies doing competitions which is bad for compers in general.
That may be why people don't like it.

StokieBecks

Boris if they haven't changed your name straight away it wil ltake ages (have you already changed it before?)

When i got married it took them three weeks to accept my name change and i had to show them the wedding certificate and proof of ID to show it was me (as i had already had a forced name change on my only account because they dodn't like i didnt use my full name)

boris3428

Hi StokieBecks - my name has changed, but it says it can take 24 hours to authorise.

When I changed the name on my other account, as I got married, I didn't have to show any ID or anything. Maybe that happens when you have to change it twice (for whatever reason).

JimmyTheWig, I understand what you are saying, as I get that is one of the reasons why companies put on competitions, but I don't understand why it would offend any other entrants?! There are other benefits to running competitions than direct publicity - if you win the competition then you are more likely to buy from them, and you would probably recommend them to friends, and so on.

I seriously doubt that everyone on this site only enters competitions for companies that they like! All the people who enter Nuts competitions for example .. are they all massive fans of the publication?! (Maybe they are .. but I suspect that some of them would just like to win the prize).

JimmyTheWig

boris3428 wrote: »

I get that is one of the reasons why companies put on competitions, but I don't understand why it would offend any other entrants?!

Because it means companies will be less likely to offer prizes next time as it may not seem worth it if the "likes" they are getting are not being seen by others.