What system do you use to enter competitions?

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


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.

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.