Hello I'm a new comper

andrew.77

Hello. I have recently started comping and have encountered a couple of problems I'm wondering if anyone can offer suggestions for.

Firstly, I have been entering a lot of Gleam competitions over the last few days and suddenly I'm being asked CAPTCHA questions on EVERY new competition, I've left it 24 hours and they're still coming, does Gleam permanently have me down as a robot now?

Secondly, a lot of Gleam competitions ask you to tweet and retweet messages which I've been doing, but now Twitter has flagged me up for automated behaviour and wants to verify me via telephone. I have given my number numerous times and I'm not getting the verification call, maybe it has me down as a lost cause?

I have setup separate twitter, facebook, etc accounts purely for comping, and never give out my home address. I also run everything inside a virtualbox for extra security (also good for making websites think you have focus on a video!).

Andrew.

mjm3346

It's almost certainly the captcha system not gleam specifically (I don't enter them so I don't know what type they use), so it will happen on any sites using the same firm to provide them, if they are the Google ones it's a common occurrence (or so it seems) for the counter to not reset so it just gets worse until one day it's fixed until the next time.

There is a thread here about issues some people are having with twitter


https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/5675095

Facebook rules only allow one account per person.

Ms_Dee

Welcome to the world of comping Andrew!

Unfortunately CAPTCHAs often appear, no matter how many competitions you do, I find some days I receive more than others. Twitter has recently locked down on tweeting more so than ever and you must unlock your account with your number. Have you tried your home number or your mobile? You do not need to include any spaces in it, if it isn't working I'd try another number if you have one, it worked for me first time on my mobile, sorry I can't help, only Twitter will be able to sort the issue for you.

Unfortunately it is against Facebook rules to have more than one account and if they find out they may remove both of your accounts and many competitions will need your home address, as often prizes get sent directly to your address either with or without notifying you, so if you are able to give out your address you'll be open to many more competitions.

This site is generally good at sorting out the good from the bad competitions from spam and unwanted sites etc. Just make sure you read the tick boxes very carefully when entering and you shouldn't have any trouble with Junk Mail, only to your email address but you can usually unsubscribe to that.

I wish you all the best with comping and hope you enjoy it and win some fantastic prizes.

andrew.77

Thanks for the replies and the welcome! I have tried unlocking Twitter using my mobile, like my home address I'm reluctant to give out my home number too. I'll keep trying but I guess I could just setup another account as I only set it up yesterday anyway, but presumably any competitions I've entered using it could now be void?

I have deactivated my second Facebook account now, I don't really want my primary one removed - thanks for the save! When competitions ask you to share information on Facebook, does it matter if your privacy settings are set to "Only Me", so my friends don't get flooded with unwanted competitions? I'm aware that that's what the competition runners want, but would it actually be detected?

On Rafflecopter and Gleam competitions it also looks like you don't need to enter ALL the tasks? I know you get more entries, but you'd still be entered if you don't do some of them, i.e. ones that ask for home address and/or telephone numbers. I never do the Snapchat tasks.

Andrew.

mjm3346

andrew.77 wrote: »

! When competitions ask you to share information on Facebook, does it matter if your privacy settings are set to "Only Me", so my friends don't get flooded with unwanted competitions? I'm aware that that's what the competition runners want, but would it actually be detected?

On Rafflecopter and Gleam competitions it also looks like you don't need to enter ALL the tasks? I know you get more entries, but you'd still be entered if you don't do some of them, i.e. ones that ask for home address and/or telephone numbers. I never do the Snapchat tasks.

Andrew.

FB privacy, it depends but if the company cannot see your share and they actually check may not know you have done it (they are breaking FB rules in the first place by asking for one).

RC and I presume Gleam should say if a task is mandatory, if it isn't you don't have to do it and I don't recall seeing many of them that wanted a phone number and/or address.