Mag Dailies

pinkfairy27x2

Blulu said:

pinkfairy, you are definitely not being thick. It's probably easier to do than to explain, but I'll try. So, as Jambo posts these comps on the main board, I copy the links for the ones I want to enter onto my 'comping document', it's an ordinary Word document, with the answers, where I think I won't remember them. I'll paste a sample...

Woman’s Own

More than 150

https://comps.womansownmagazine.co.uk/competition/Tapicarpetsandfloorsnetwork_network.php

 

https://comps.womansownmagazine.co.uk/competition/LifeCoachingSecondBrainPsychologynetwork.php

 

Woman's Weekly

More than 150

https://competitions.womansweekly.com/competition/Tapicarpetsandfloorsnetwork_network.php

 

https://competitions.womansweekly.com/competition/LifeCoachingSecondBrainPsychologynetwork.php

 

So, for this sample, I would click on the first link for Woman's Own and log in there. Once I'm logged in, I would click the right answer and click to enter. But then, instead of waiting to get "Congratulations for entering", I go back to my list and click on the second link for Woman's Own. It will open that comp in another tab. I then enter that comp. Then I immediately go back to my document again and click the first link under Womans Weekly and log in there. Then, instead of waiting for it to log me in, I go back to the first tab, which will now be showing "Congratulations..." so I close that, then close the second comp. By then, the log in for Women's Weekly will have finished, so I can start entering comps there.

The main point is that I don't wait for any of my clicks to process before I click on the next link, other than the very first one to log in to the first magazine. It means that while my laptop is processing all my clicks, I am already clicking on the next one. So from start to finish, I'm never waiting for anything to load, I just keep clicking to enter, and popping back to shut down the pages that are done with, when they're showing 'Congratulations'. Sorry if that's still as clear as mud. If anyone else gets what I'm saying and can explain it more simply, please do.

GL

Blu XXX

So, I tested your way agaisnt  mine and they are very similar, however the main difference being is that you are entering individually from a doc, therefore you are focusing only on the ones you want to enter and bypassing all the ones you don’t want. This means you don’t have to filter your way through lots of unwanted comps that is a time saver and where your system wins over mine.

At the risk of seeming even more thick and being an even bigger pain can I just ask, when you save the link to your doc is there an easy way to make it clickable form the doc?  I promises I will shut up after this. 

Blulu

Bless ya, you are not being thick or a pain - ask away. It's usually me on the asking side, so this makes a nice change. Yes, there is a very easy way to make links clickable - in Word anyway - I copy and paste the link and with my cursor at the end of the link address, I just press the spacebar once. It makes the link clickable.

Blu XXX

pinkfairy27x2

oooh thank you so much I googled it and fell asleep reading it it was so long and boaring. Off to try it now thank you

libra10

Thanks for the useful information.

Using Chrome, I have a similar system, but save each competition in a folder, called (surprisingly) Comps.

When a comp is listed, I save it in my Comps folder, stating magazine (or abbreviation), answer, then closing date.  I make sure all the comps are listed by date order, and delete them on closing date.
If a post with several mags daily are listed, I save the MSE post in the folder, and click the links from there.

There are currently around 20 mags daily in my folder, which I try to enter each day.

Blulu

libra10, that defo sounds like a similar system.

Out of interest (and yes, because I'm a sad dude) I timed myself doing them today. It took me 12 mins to do 46 comps over 17 magazines.

Blu XXX

libra10

Blulu, your speeds are amazing!

Like yourself, I used to open each competition, and keep moving on while the videos are running, then returning to them to close.  
Unfortunately, at present, I'm having problems with my PC with videos not opening and having to wait for each one to load.
Therefore, it's taking a while at present.
I'm doing around 20 mag dailies currently, and it's taking much longer than it used to.
Trying to sort out my laptop and get it running faster again.

EnglishWelshie

I do it in a similar way but I have a folder on my bookmarks folder and inside I have sub folders for all the magazines. I then just drag and drop the MSE competition post url into the correct folder. I then just open all links from one sub folder at a time and go through them by using the mse comp link. Once I have gone through that folder I will close the links down checking they have gone through ok and start on the next folder.

I find it easier doing it that way as I then have all the answers without having to write them down.

The comps with multiple links on Celebs, Woman etc I will put in the one folder. I will do the same with those by opening them all at one and then using link clump browser extension I will open all comps from each post I have bookmarked one lot at a time.

I have adblock plus disabled as it won't work with it enabled but I use Kaspersky Internet security and have private browsing enabled which I think helps in blocking the videos as I don't see any and I can get through them pretty quickly.

Blulu

EnglishWelshie, that's a really good point re the adblock thing. I don't think these techniques will work without using some sort of adblock, because then you'd have to wait for the videos to finish before entering. Interesting re the Kaspersky one. I will investigate that, thanks. My adblock works with the mag dailies 99.9% of the time, but it does leave my screen very messy as blank frames and stuff shows. Occasionally, one of the mag videos slip through the net. When this happens, it won't reach 'congratulations' if I switch to another screen. I usually leave it till the end, then I will either wait for it to finish, or I will refresh the page, which usually goes straight to the 'congratulations'.

Libra10 I do get the same thing sometimes, I had it once yesterday while I was timing myself. But it doesn't really slow me down. This is another one of those things that is much easier to do than to explain. If anyone doesn't relate to what Libra10 said, save yourself the brain cells and ignore this next bit.

So, when a magazine is, sort've, stuck on loading - you can tell pretty much straight away when this is happening - I ignore it and keep going. Suppose it happened with "Magazine A". I would just keep opening the next link/links whether for the same magazine or not. Then I would open the link to "Magazine B" and still keep going. You can see when the processing for "Magazine A" has finished. When it does, I go back to the first link for "Magazine A" and log in and/or enter. Now then, this is the complicated bit, then I will go to the second link for "Magazine A" it might show me as logged in or not. If I'm logged in, I enter the comp. If not, I refresh the page and then enter.

And if anyone is tearing their hair out at all of this, I promise, it is much easier than it sounds. I do it on autopilot. Just save links to any mag dailies you want to enter, either on a Word document or bookmarked as Libra10 and EnglishWelshie do. When entering daily, just don't wait for any processing to finish before clicking the next link - as long as you have an ad blocker enabled. I suggest, why not try it for a month, just following what I've said in this paragraph.

Sorry if anyone is now reaching for the paracetamol.

Blu XXX

libra10

@Blulu I find that same as you regarding Adblock.  

Unfortunately, at present, my laptop is definitely on a go slow, and thinking of reinstalling the whole shooting match.  My old laptop was 8 years old, still working well apart from a broken Page Down key.  I decided to replace with a new PC, and there seem to be some settings which aren't as they should be. 

When going through Mag dailies, often vids are either slow to load or refuse altogether, and I get Error code 102404.  The whole system seems sluggish compared to my old laptop.  I think if AdBlock was turned on for Mag dailies, They would refuse to load altogether.  I've wondered whether my ISP is responsible for the slow down.  Some of the speedtests are refusing to load or give a meagre 5mbps downoad speed, though my ipad is working much faster.

I really appreciate all the hints and tips you've posted @Blulu they're really helpful.  Now I'm undecided whether to try various things to get my laptop back to its previous speeds or 'go for broke' and reinstall.

Blulu

Thanks Libra10. It's so frustrating isn't it? Wish I could help, but I'm rubbish at tech. I know some compers are really savvy about things like this. Is it worth posting a question asking for advice? My guess is that some kind comping soul would suggest something. I remember the 'good ol' days' when the main issue with technology was deciding when to replace the ribbon on the typewriter.

Hope you win something fabulous to make it all worthwhile.

Blu XXX