What do you do?

mansey

Do you enter competitions by End Date or do you just Work through the Boards?

What are the pro's and con's to each?

tgroom57

Not really interested in the pros & cons - just results. What do the winners do ? Or are they all running scripts on the click to wins ?

hamsterfan1

O end date to mop up & them do the main board, or atleast I do when I'm feeling well currently end dating mainly - notice no difference in number ot wins- but on the whole eithe books or better quality as I donlt enter quite so much crap

hdh74

Try to keep up with what's new on the boards (though never manage them all) and mop up by end date. No idea what's best for winning but just do what works best for me for getting them done.

Caela07

I do them by end date, I'm always a few days ahead and I also have a second window up for new comps posted so any for the dates I've already done I do them so I don't miss any. If that makes sense

mjm3346

From a previous post in Jan 2014, not included in the list of advantages is the fact it is also quicker to enter without needing to sort the board by end-date

If a competition is properly run it makes no difference when you enter.

When it comes down to the best way to enter it has to be enter early - stay away from end dating as the advantages are almost none and the risks of missing out are many -

Comp closes early (or just sometime before midnight on the final day)
Comp website has problems (even worse if it's a weekend)
MSE forum goes down
Your broadband and or computer/laptop etc go down
Real life events take out comping time
Also unless you use the subforums you will miss out on the enter early ones where you get included in draws from the day/week of entry up to the competition end date.

The only possible advantage to end dating that I can think of is that someone posted about poorly run twitter competitions being more likely to pick later entries.

By entering early the comps closing early are not a problem and there is more time to overcome all the other issues above.

(Early entry would be after the post has been up a little while so if there are any problems they will have been noticed - self-promo/spam sites/wrong answer etc unless you are happy to check things like that out yourself)

If you do daily comps where nothing changes then bookmark them direct so you don't need to go through the forum to enter (it's a way to go now but the same applies for most advents) cuts down entry time and it doesn't matter if mse goes off-line.

Another disadvantage to entering by end date are the large peaks in the number of competitions that close on Fridays and on the last day of a month (There will be a huge number of competitions ending on Fri 31st Jan). Entry closer to when they are added gives a more even number to enter and allows more time to deal with any peaks that might arise.

Added - "dead" comps past their closing date don't matter as they are out of the way down the board.

Also cut your cloth accordingly, if there are regularly too many for the time available then raise your standards and enter fewer. If it only happens occasionally then drag n drop the comps into a folder and enter when time permits - by having folder you don't need to go back through the board and just carry on from where you left off.

cristalfiona

I comp by end date but try to stay about a week ahead. Each day I do the more recently started comps for that day then jump to the day I'm up to. It also means if I miss a day or two it's not a big deal

rceebear

I'm an end dater but nearly two weeks ahead. Working towards clearing the board and entering new comps daily. I managed to get there once before and due to some free time am hoping to do so this week. Fingers crossed. Even though I'm two weeks ahead I'm still finding comps that have already closed so am missing out. For that reason I definitely would prefer not to be an end dater anymore. Having cleared the board it gives me more time to give a little back by posting comps and helping out expiring closed comps, getting answers etc.

mjm3346

Just been through about 150 added since I last looked, reported a self-promo, checked a purchase one, entered three and dropped one (radio multiple entry) on to my bookmarks bar to enter while I am having tea and biscuits - job done - probably clear out the 15 or so in my comps folder as there wasn't much of interest added since I last looked.

dan-dan_2

I always enter ones ending on the same month on the day i find them

any that end in the next few months I always bookmark for a later date

becky004

I prefer to work through the boards, but find life gets in the way! At the moment am end dating and doing all those recently added so that at some point I will catch up with myself.

Don't know if it's coincidence or luck, but I seem to have more wins when I am up to date rather than when I end date. However this could be because I do the dailies when I am up to date, but I don't when I'm end date comping as I don't have time.