keeping track...

beenherebefore1212

hi everyone,

i've been wondering about this for a while.

i've seen people mention that they use other comping sites such as loquax, my question is, are all of the comps different on there to the ones on mse? if not, how do you keep track of the ones you have entered on the different sites so that you are not entering more than once?

Thankyou:p

weeowens

beenherebefore1212 wrote: »

hi everyone,

i've been wondering about this for a while.

i've seen people mention that they use other comping sites such as loquax, my question is, are all of the comps different on there to the ones on mse? if not, how do you keep track of the ones you have entered on the different sites so that you are not entering more than once?

Thankyou:p

Just use the one site.I suggest that it would be MSE :-)

Other comp sites are OK for checking answers,chatting to others & posting amusing signatures etc.
MSE has more comps than any other UK portal & the tracking facilites on here ensure that you do not dupe your entry.
To use other sites to enter comps seems a bit of a pointless exercise given the above.

weeowens

The tracking I talk of is mentioned on the Comping Guide:

Comping Guide - Getting Started & Other FAQs

2 How do I keep track of which comps I’ve entered and what are the green ticks and red crosses for?
Do make sure you are a member of MSE because when you are logged in it will make keeping track of the comps you have already entered a lot easier.

Note: If you are not logged in ‘Thanks’, ‘green tick’ and ‘red cross’ buttons do not appear.

When I look at the forum, I can sometimes tell from the title of the thread if it is a comp that I would be interested in entering. If I see a comp that I don’t want to enter then I click the faded red cross button to indicate to myself that I have already made a decision about entering and have decided to skip it.



If I can’t tell from looking at the title if I want to enter, I open that thread and read more to make my decision. If I don't want to enter, then I click the 'Thanks' button (since I’m in the thread anyway) to thank the OP (Original Poster) for sharing. (It is hard work to find a comp that hasn’t already been posted!) I also click the red cross button to let me know that I’ve already checked out that comp and decided to skip it. Either of the red crosses that you can see on the post will do the job!



If I decide to enter, I click the 'Thanks' button to thank the OP, but will also click the green tick button to show me that I've entered.



By using the red cross and green tick buttons, I can very quickly see the comps that I haven’t yet reviewed. If you click any of these buttons by mistake then click again to reverse the action.

Some comps will void your entries if you enter more than once so I strongly recommend using these buttons to help you keep track.


When you return to the main forum page, you will see which comps you have skipped/entered as they will have a red cross or a green tick. You can focus your comping time and energy most efficiently on the comps with just a faded red cross as these are the comps that you still need to review.



Please note: Don’t reply to the post "thanks" or "just entered" etc. This will bump the thread back to the top of the Forum which can result in eager MSE Compers entering again by accident. This is very frustrating as they can then potentially disqualify themselves. ‘Bumping’ is also against the Forum rules (which I asked you to read in the Introduction). Don't be a bumper!

Before we had these buttons, the only way we could try to keep track was by subscribing to the threads themselves once the decision to enter/not enter had been made, (as well as click the ‘Thanks’ button to show your thanks to the OP). That displays a symbol beside each thread subscribed to. This is not something I would now recommend as it is clumsy and takes a more clicks than our lovely new buttons. (Please see insert below from MSE, as having too many subscribed threads can cause issues).


MoneySavingExpert.com Insert: Could compers please try to ensure you subscribe to no more than 10,000 threads please as it can slow down the forum. Many thanks!

weeowens

Mind you we are are free to comp as we choose & could employ datebases,notebooks & Post it notes etc when comping via multiple sites to keep a note of what we have entered.

Personally I stick with MSE for entering competitions.