This win look dodgy?

MillyVanilli

Here's how I see it...

I run a blog, and have had giveaways in the past where a lot of entries have been from people I do know of already, who have followed me on Twitter for a long time, and I chat to regularly. I don't allow family/my partner to enter and winners are picked completely fairly using Rafflecopter with no bias.

I think it's a slightly different situation to a company running a competition.

If someone I work with in my day job enters a blog giveaway I run, as far as I'm concerned, whether I work with them in my 9-5 doesn't come into it - I run my blog completely seperately to my employment, therefore in the context of the blog (where the competition is being held) they aren't a colleague..

If it was a comp ran by the company he worked for, then a colleague shouldn't win, of course. But this is a competition run on his own blog, nothing to do with the company he works for. So in the context of his personal blog, the winner would be considered a 'friend' - someone he knows.

Now, if individuals have to ban friends from entering comps, exactly where is the line drawn on what you consider a friend? A bloke you occasionally chat with on Twitter or the woman you say hello to in the canteen? I enter competitions from bloggers I engage with regularly, and expect just as fair a chance to win as anyone else. I'm pretty sure a lot competitions by companies don't exclude 'friends of employees' regardless, just family members/partners, as it's a bit of a ridiculous thing to have to try and police.

I think, in this case, it sounds like he's done a fair draw and kudos to his honest response, and the people responding nastily on Twitter should probably find something better to do with their time (says the girl who's spent ten minutes of valuable comping time writing this...!)