Magazine 'thread' competitions

comping_cat

bluesooz wrote: »

Don't think you can really compare thanks

Actually i think you can. Whats on TV, before the new thread, posted on the main board -

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/4518539 369 thanks

Post 72 (actually a prize worth more than the above) posted soon after the thread was set up -

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/4601135 54 thanks - the amount of thanks have not greatly increased in the more recent posts either.


My point isnt that the people using the thread prefer it,of course they do, my point is by having them all together in this way, and not being listed individually is very obviously stopping the majority of compers accessing them. You cannot use the 'not all people thank' excuse - if they dont thank the new post in the thread, im sure they dont thank a new thread on the board either! Yes, lots of people have different ways of comping (end dates, most recent etc, using the daily/weekly boards) but i would bet my cats that the majority of compers just go onto the main board and enter what they like from the titles that they see.

I thought the whole point of the competition board on MSE was to give access to competitions, not be hiding them away for a select few.

What next, shall we band all the facebook and twitter comps together (tried a few times and always fails), maybe i should put all the ITV comps together, elver man should put all the 'Great Magazine' comps together, what about all those radio comps, loads of those that could go together!

I'm sorry, as far as i can see this is a failed experiment - unless of course you use the thread and are happy to make sure it stays exclusive to a few so you have more chance to win.

mumto2boys

I think that the majority now prefer the way the magazines are done, Cornishpasty ran a poll for a couple of months to see and the majority of people preferred it, and also by the time the poll had finished and people had got used to the new way, several people came forward and said that they now liked/preferred the new way after they had settled into it but they had originally said on the poll they didn't like it.

I would think that if a new poll was to be run now, the stats would be much higher in favour for it than before, especially seeing as how everyone who has replied to this thread so far is in favour too.

In an ideal comping world the thread would be better as a sticky so that people could easily find it, but I know Cornishpasty has requested this but was told no (cornishpasty has no forum functions at the moment so can't reply to this post at the moment).

Also to tie in another hot potato at the moment, if the huge amounts of daily magazine comps were on the main board again now as they used to be, that would also mean even more dead comps laying around after they had expired with no BG's actively expiring comps at the moment. As it is, Cornishpasty clears the thread each day and adds in the new ones normally early morning and clears out the dead ones so that mags are fresh for people every day.


As you can probably tell I am a big fan of this new way also, and I find it much easier than before as the comps would be split all over the board once they had been bumped for whatever reason, at least now they are all in one place.

I don't believe people should be hand-held for every competition, they are there and can be found by searching by mag, searching for Cornishpasty1's posts, adding a subscription or by bookmarking to your own computer which is how I do it. I don't think the thanks count really relates to these as a lot of people go by the front page as that is really as far as you need to go to get the links and answers.

I'm getting off my soapbox now anyway!

blackmidnight

I don't like the 'new' thread so I never use it. I just bookmark the magazine pages themselves and enter directly from there. If I don't know the answer to the question it takes 2 seconds to search for it and then I remember it for every other day.

I don't understand why they are posted in one thread though when no other comps are posted in that way.

I think the poll was ran in the the thread itself though (I might be wrong about that) so the people who didn't like it might not have voted so wouldn't have gone into the thread?

P.s. should probably add I don't really care how they are posted as I just find the way that is easiest for me which is not to use the thread - i'm not saying it should be removed

BlueBella

I completely agree with mumto2boys says - I love the new way the mags are posted! And my heart goes out to Cornish Pasty at the moment as she is locked out of MSE due to the email notification probs!

nanto3girls

BlueBella wrote: »

I completely agree with mumto2boys says - I love the new way the mags are posted! And my heart goes out to Cornish Pasty at the moment as she is locked out of MSE due to the email notification probs!

Ditto..............

mumto2boys

The poll was in the thread that's correct and it had 400+ votes from what I can remember so people must have been able to find it ok.

The main reason for it all being in one post really was one of the main posters (tinktinkerbell? sorry the correct name eludes me at the moment), posted that they needed to stop doing them as they were taking up far too much time each day, so a discussion on this chat board happened and the idea of it all being in one thread evolved from that as it lightened the load for the mag posters.

Also back then they all got posted in the daily thread that Glad runs as well, so that was double handling too and Glad also has a lot on with other BG duties so that was another person that the new thread could save time for.

Blulu

I am torn about this one. I didn't want it to be changed, but I now prefer it - from my own selfish point of view, it is much easier to use.

I think the comparison of the different number of thanks is flawed, because I genuinely think that a number of people who ticked thanks using the old system, don't using the new one. It's true for me, and others who have posted here. I used to tick thanks to each mag daily comp I entered under the old system. But I stopped doing that when it changed, because I now don't access the new posts to do the comps. I only use the OP, so don't even see new posts.

Having said that, I still think that Comping Cat makes a good point. The fact that this system is easier to use (for me and clearly for others too) does not negate her point about whether newer forum users are missing on seeing the thread. That, I think, is the key issue.

I don't actually know whether they are more likely to miss the thread since it's changed, but if they are, then personally I think it's right and fair to set up comp postings so that everyone gets to see them.

Is it worth another poll to find out whether newer users are finding the thread?

Blu X

hamsterfan1

I just use the mag link from the dailies & then enter all the comps I want from that link so I never see the posts

comping_cat

But the facts speak for themselves - more people thanked when posted on the main board than now. The excuse about people not thanking as its a thread is moot to me, you are either a thanker or not - are people really suggesting there are hundreds of people now not thanking, just because its a different type of thread, because that is the difference in thanks?!

Martin often puts how they are trying to make the forums easier so they keep the people who register - people DO need hand holding in these cases and how many times do i see newbies getting confused and upset on the main board.

I cannot put this thread on the main board, it will just be moved (rightly) back here - and so far the majority of people commenting are the same names i see all the time - what i am meaning there is that its regular people who probably have a bit more time or are organized with the little time they have. The majority are not like that, and most (and i class myself here, i have vary rarely come onto this board before, or any other than the main board, i just dont have time) will not see this thread or have time to put forward a point of view (for fear of being shot down in flames, which normally happens in these threads, they always, and ive seen a lot of them in my years here) A lot wont even care, because, and again i class myself here, there are so many comps on the main board it keeps the majority busy without missing these.

However, even though im happy to get up in the morning and find ive 3/4 pages of comps to enter rather than 6/7 when they were all put individually - i believe in running things for the majority, not the minority and the way the magazines are now run, it is very obviously a minority using it.

There would always be someone prepared to post the comps if a regular pulls out of doing it (look how many dupes are posted by a newbie wanting to 'give back')

I would be very interested if someone would be honest enough to admit who many times they have won since this new system has been added......

blackmidnight

Just remembered, when Best and Reveal were added to the list I had no idea as I never entered the thread as I'm sure many don't. The only reason I found out about the two new mags was because someone mentioned it on twitter. If they had been posted on the main board then they wouldn't have been missed. I don't think the list is very user-friendly for new users.

Regarding the time it takes to post the comps, no one makes anyone posts them. There doesn't have to be a 'regular' poster for the mags if someone doesn't want to be one. Even if someone does post them regularly it shouldn't stop them searching to check that it hasn't already been posted anyway.