E: 10/11 Chromebook - Slight Effort

CXL

Sorry to jump in.. I too stopped bothering with this comp a few weeks ago after thinking it probably isn't legit competition.
One thing that bothered me was something mentioned on a thread (that I guess has since been deleted) - somebody said they had found the prize and emailed them more or less straight after the 8am start and yet didn't win.
The competition runners replied something along the lines of "well if somebody has found it so quickly we know that they are cheating and so their entry is void" - bearing in mind that it was obvious to many that the images were being updated the previous night, thus giving anybody who is willing/has the time to search the pages throughout the night the ability to get their entry in first thing in the morning - yet for doing that they would be accused of cheating and have their entry dismissed? totally unfair.
Plus the emails (which I still receive, clues etc.) one week stated that the prizes would be smaller in future due to expenses.. yet they are back to fairly expensive items? quick turnaround!

vanpopple

Ok ive just spoken to andy and heres what he's said:-

Oops!

As you all know the competition starts at 8am every Monday. However this Monday the hidden image did not upload as scheduled at 8am (we tried a new automated ftp uploader that DIDN'T WORK!), however we did spot it soon after and uploaded it manually at around 10.46am the same morning. So, just this week, the competition started at 10.46 am as obviously no one could have found it before then.
We are sorry for any inconvenience guys we'll stick to uploading it ourselves until we find a reliable uploader.

Most of you will get that email..

Now this thoughts on my ideas:-
DIRECT FROM ANDY...
Thank you for your thought out email. We are going to think about this over the next couple weeks (not rush into anything as we've been advised)
We are also now talking with the IPM as I have also asked them which is the best way to do a random prize drawer.
It's likey we will do a couple more "first to find it wins it" comp weeks before all the bases are covered enough and we can move onto random prize drawer. Thanks again for your thoughts and we'll let you and all our email subscribers know when we have made a decision.
Kindest regards,
Andy

And finally he sent me another quick email just to say-
The chromebook Isnt an expensive prize..
Samsung Chromebook Wifi (Latest Model - Launched Oct 2012)


Price: £229.00 & this item Delivered FREE in the UK with Super Saver Delivery
Very very reasonable price i thought myself they were dearer.

So there we go folks you are all upto date with whats happened and gone on, and fingers crossed in a couple of weeks there will be more details of a newer comp.
But in the meantime, dont share any knowledge and if you do spot any errors (as i know some of you are mega hot on) please please email them directly, rather than risking voiding a comp as that would be unfair on anyone who may well spend hours looking.

(and dont forget BLUE LINKS - They ALWAYS MEAN THEIR OWN blue links, it will NOT EVER MEAN THE ADVERTISING LINKS - Unless they actually say it)

Good luck comping

tgroom57

If they wanted to run a fair free draw they could just random draw from the emails.

I'm guessing they are sticking with the 'find image' format competition because they want their website to seem popular with people crawling all over it. Does that improve their google ratings and where they appear in search results? so you are doing their 'advertising ' for them by making the website seem popular- more visitors.

yes, you can see I know too little about this.

vanpopple

tgroom57 wrote: »

If they wanted to run a fair free draw they could just random draw from the emails.

I'm guessing they are sticking with the 'find image' format competition because they want their website to seem popular with people crawling all over it. Does that improve their google ratings and where they appear in search results? so you are doing their 'advertising ' for them by making the website seem popular- more visitors.

yes, you can see I know too little about this.

To be honest im not sure how clicking to sites work myself, and if they are getting thousands of hits then i have 1 question - Why not sell tons of items, seems like a missed opportunity to me.
I dont play the game as Ive already said, but if i see flaws in a site then I always email offering my opinion.
I enjoy comps that are more than just a prize draw, but when i saw the fact that people were winning after minutes of going live I felt i needed to say something.
I just want fairness for everybody in every competition and have always said that from the beginning of when i started comping.
My overall stance on any comp anywhere is it should be 1 PER IP address for any comp.
Its like the voting comps i never do them either simply because too many say facebook compers deliberately have hundreds of friends for the purpose of voting, again totally unfair on normal honest people who maybe dont want comping friends on their facebook (although facebook are slowly shutting down peoples accounts who are doing this - even though they are re-registering with a slightly different name, but if i see where someone has done this i will report them instantly)
I just want to know that any comp i enter i have the exact same equal chance as everybody else - a level playing field.

And i agree some sort of random draw from correct entries is probably the way to go.
But a comp like that takes time and i dont really have time to spend hours searching for something when i could enter 50 other comps for say the same prize, especially when by probably 5-10 minutes after opening someone will have found it whether by fair means or foul.

If they do change it someday i may enter if i get bored of trawling through the net, but like i say for every comp on the net whether for a laptop or a kindle, there are say at least another 50 of the same comps where its just enter your details.

Anyway im defo not going to spend a single minute on any find it first comp - unless we all know its 100% fair on everyone who enters - which again would have to mean a draw of some sort....

Happy comping

mnkyhngr

vanpopple wrote: »

I just want fairness for everybody in every competition and have always said that from the beginning of when i started comping.
My overall stance on any comp anywhere is it should be 1 PER IP address for any comp.
..........
I just want to know that any comp i enter i have the exact same equal chance as everybody else - a level playing field.

Happy comping

But with many Internet Service Providers dynamically allocating IP addresses, it is possible for two completely different people to have the same IP address (albeit at different times).
If I switch my router off, the next person to connect to the ISP could be given the IP address I had.
Admittedly, with "always on" internet IP adress recycling is becoming less common but it does happen.

Please amend your stance

sofaloafz

vanpopple wrote: »

Ok ive just spoken to andy and heres what he's said:-

Oops!

As you all know the competition starts at 8am every Monday. However this Monday the hidden image did not upload as scheduled at 8am (we tried a new automated ftp uploader that DIDN'T WORK!), however we did spot it soon after and uploaded it manually at around 10.46am the same morning. So, just this week, the competition started at 10.46 am as obviously no one could have found it before then.
We are sorry for any inconvenience guys we'll stick to uploading it ourselves until we find a reliable uploader.

Most of you will get that email..

Now this thoughts on my ideas:-
DIRECT FROM ANDY...
Thank you for your thought out email. We are going to think about this over the next couple weeks (not rush into anything as we've been advised)
We are also now talking with the IPM as I have also asked them which is the best way to do a random prize drawer.
It's likey we will do a couple more "first to find it wins it" comp weeks before all the bases are covered enough and we can move onto random prize drawer. Thanks again for your thoughts and we'll let you and all our email subscribers know when we have made a decision.
Kindest regards,
Andy

And finally he sent me another quick email just to say-
The chromebook Isnt an expensive prize..
Samsung Chromebook Wifi (Latest Model - Launched Oct 2012)


Price: £229.00 & this item Delivered FREE in the UK with Super Saver Delivery
Very very reasonable price i thought myself they were dearer.

So there we go folks you are all upto date with whats happened and gone on, and fingers crossed in a couple of weeks there will be more details of a newer comp.
But in the meantime, dont share any knowledge and if you do spot any errors (as i know some of you are mega hot on) please please email them directly, rather than risking voiding a comp as that would be unfair on anyone who may well spend hours looking.

(and dont forget BLUE LINKS - They ALWAYS MEAN THEIR OWN blue links, it will NOT EVER MEAN THE ADVERTISING LINKS - Unless they actually say it)

Good luck comping

This is all well and good, but if they knew this on Monday morning, why didn't they send an email out straight away to inform people and apologise. I bet some people were looking from 8am on the dot. This has only come about since we started something about it on here.

Personally, and I have said this before, I will not enter unless it is a random draw from all correct entries. I agree that we should not share it on here or anywhere else too. I think it's fairer that way, then people can actually stand a chance of winning.

The problem is that they have never done a random draw from all entries, so a lot of us on here probably won't trust them until that happens and if we actually get an MSE winner who receives the prize I think we will all more more inclined to give it a go! (I am aware this part may not happen though!)

These competitions run by abneyandteal have always got on my nerves. I think the clues should never say "Blue links" because there will ALWAYS be some people who are not computer literate who will go clicking on all the advertising links, and this will gain revenue for the company.

It infuriates me for them to take advantage of so many people this way, especially if it's kids who are entering and they will click whatever they're told to in order to try and find it.

If they are going to say "Blue links" it should have something else stating "only blue links to pages on the sites, not blue advertisement links."

I think that's my rant over for the night!

JakeEy

I just had to post, vanpopple I really cannot see how you can sit there and defend them.

On the thread that was deleted a few weeks ago now 'Andy' did come on and post a reply (think it was him) and I broke down his entire post and dismissed and questioned everything.

Now I missed any replies as I had to go to work but clearly my reply had no impact on how they run any competitions.

The clues they give are miss leading and could easily end up having their adsense account blocked for giving the 'blue link' clue out every time.

Before you do reply, I have helped run websites/forums, I have gained some small sponsorship from large companies, I know a heck of a lot about networks, IP addresses, computers and how they work so feel free to reply

vanpopple

Im not defending them ive just said what their rules are, and ive said i dont even play as i think it is a stupid game 'first to find'
All ive done is wrote and told them that unless they change it their viewership will go down and down.

Not defended never had never will unless its changed - but ive said all this in last posts.
My advice if someone asked is whats the point in playing by 8.01am it would be too late????????

(just had to re-read my posts to make sure but no i havent stuck up for them just said what their rules are for people who missed the rules)
And your point about you running this and that - so what?
Whats that got to do with us or them or the points made, which are just putting their rules.....lol defend them - i dont even visit the site - im not that daft until i see a legitimate winner.....In 17,000 pages visited by me in the last 30 days ive been on 2 of their pages - last night to see the pics above!!!!!!!!!
(and jakey if you re-read my posts 'slowly i guess' you'd see im trying to make things better for us compers, couldnt give a sh*t about any site on the internet and whether it goes bust or whatever)

Comping_Rich

CXL wrote: »

Sorry to jump in.. I too stopped bothering with this comp a few weeks ago after thinking it probably isn't legit competition.
One thing that bothered me was something mentioned on a thread (that I guess has since been deleted) - somebody said they had found the prize and emailed them more or less straight after the 8am start and yet didn't win.
The competition runners replied something along the lines of "well if somebody has found it so quickly we know that they are cheating and so their entry is void" - bearing in mind that it was obvious to many that the images were being updated the previous night, thus giving anybody who is willing/has the time to search the pages throughout the night the ability to get their entry in first thing in the morning - yet for doing that they would be accused of cheating and have their entry dismissed? totally unfair.
Plus the emails (which I still receive, clues etc.) one week stated that the prizes would be smaller in future due to expenses.. yet they are back to fairly expensive items? quick turnaround!

I would just like to bring out the point here about the prizes being smaller in the future, I personally think £229 is expensive for a prize, last weeks was an iPad Mini. I think the cheapest prize were the amazon gift vouchers. We have all suggested ways of running the competition as a draw but it seems to be falling on deaf ears, and they will never be able to stop people finding out when the page or picture was updated, you can find out when any website was updated one way or another.

vanpopple

Definately agree the main reason i dont visit the site is the amount of posts we have made about this comp and suggestions we have made never seem to be heard, and even when i pointed out to them that there is software that can tell you if a page has been updated they made no comment.
Also as we all know (especially this week - the answer was posted on here) yet they still send clues and still say 'the comps still on'????

Whats the point we know it has 10000000% already been won by monday lunchtime?
And thats why im not even bothering opening any clumails until i hear its changed.
And i think £200 or so is not an expensive prize - but there again i dont really comp to win a dvd or a mug/t-shirt etc.
Its just as you know rich we could both sit here for 24 hours a day for the next month and enter comps with prize values over that and prolly still not run out.

Its up to whoever if they want to post next weeks but if it is posted i for one wont be visiting.