Wednesday, December 31, 2008
YellowPages.com Mobile Ultimate Giveaway
"This promotion ended on December 31, 2008
Looks like you just missed it. We hope you had a chance to enter."
Yes, giveaways can pull their entries early, but usually it's a case of an error in programing the date.
It was very easy to enter, while it lasted.
Monday, December 29, 2008
LG Rumor is True
Sunday, December 28, 2008
The Barber Foods Sweepstakes and Philips "FREE Dental Care For Life" Sweepstakes
Saturday, December 27, 2008
AT&T Rewards for Referrals and Play it Safe
Which brings to mind, I tried entering Play it Safe today and couldn't get past JavaScript disabled message, so I tried in IE and then found out I had already entered the sweeps for the day.
These are administered by ePrize, but you can tell AT&T has total control.
ePrize
You can pretty much tell when you are entering a sweeps that ePrize not only administers, but has designed. Register once then you log in each day to enter, play the game. They usually have a pretty clean look and there is an option to not play the game (click here if you have Flash disabled) on the ones that offer instant wins. That leaves a good impression not only for ePrize, but the sponsoring companies.
ePrize also administers some "surveys", many times sponsoring the large prize. In this case you just take it for what it is, either you take the time to go through the "survey" or not.
The others, you can tell the company sponsoring the giveaway has the control and ePrize is just the administrator. In many of these, to have a chance to win the instant win, you have to play the game or answer trivia question.
Wednesday, December 24, 2008
Sites that limit entries by IP and the use of multiple identities
I've mentioned this on a site I set up for friends and family, but it is something worth mentioning here as well.
It would seem that sites that limit entries by IP address would exclude those who use public computers. There are other ways of determining cheating or someone using an entering service. Besides, it's way to easy to work around at home. Just turn off your modem and turn it back on or in the case of dial-up, disconnect then reconnect, and viola, a new IP. Not very effective.
A little twist in IP tracking. Bravenet services are tracked by IP. At one time I entered about half a dozen different daily sweeps that used Bravenet and would receive a warning that I might be banned, it was seeing my entries as possible spam.
Another example, when I visit my Dad, I use his computer to enter some of my sweeps. Had he entered the same sweep limited to one entry per IP, it would have been a duplicate IP, even though it's two different households.
Using multiple identities
Using multiple identities is cheating, plain and simple. However, my roommate also enters a few sweeps, some, the same as me, as long as it's not a one per household. How is it determined that we are two different people? Are we disqualified because the entries originate from the same IP? That would lead to the same problem as above. Do they use cookies? Again, not very effective. Many people, like me, have their browser set to delete cookies when the browser is closed. If you have more than one person using the same computer and only have one user set up or you are using a public computer this wouldn't be the answer.
If someone has a mind to cheat, they will find a way to cheat.
ABC Family Channel 25 Days of Christmas and Lifetime's FaLaLaLa Sweepstakes
The same with Lifetime's FaLaLaLa Sweepstakes. Simple and straightforward.
Both leave a very good impression.
Rue 21
You can use Robo to log in after registration.
Thursday, December 18, 2008
Valpak Sweeps
You can usually enter by phone, but that is beside the point.
Tuesday, December 16, 2008
HP Magic Giveaway Winding Down
Some of the sites required membership, which is no big deal, many sites offering giveaways require that. You also can't blame them for wanting to increase traffic. I have found a few sites that will prove useful in the future that I would not have thought of visiting prior to the giveaway. There are some I would not visit again.
I'm really glad for the blogs that after meeting their minimum requirements, which in most cases were easy to follow, used a random draw to choose the winner. A lot fairer way to all involved. I personally stayed away from the contest type and the ones wear the blog owners were looking for a "best" story. Many of us have plans to giveaway a portion of the prize, but just don't have the ability to write a WOW story. For many of us, giving to family and friends is more important than to give to an organization, which seemed to be what a few of the sites preferred (many of the ones looking for the WOW entry). I do believe that the majority of us that entered have intentions of sharing, one way or the other. Question. How do you make I want to give (these items) to my dad just because I love him, he would have fun with them and it would give me a warm fuzzy feeling inside, sound exciting?
I am curious about a couple of things, on most of the sites, it was said the prize was supposed to be to one winner, but there were three of the blogs that split up the prizes and ran the giveaway as a contest. Two blogs (one for sure) dropped out of the competition. I wonder if HP will find a way to distribute those prizes.
Congratulations to those who have won and the best of luck to all of us for the final draws. Thank you to the blogs hosting the giveaway, they had a lot of extra work on their hands.
ABC Water Cooler Moments
Sunday, December 14, 2008
GE Appliances and GE Lighting
Saturday, December 13, 2008
Loser?
When I have found I have not won something, in my case, a giveaway of any sort, I figure that I didn't win this one, maybe next time. My day will come. (Especially for the big one). That doesn't mean that I might not be a bit disappointed at times, I just move on.
It seems to me that the ones who consider themselves a loser make excuses, they whine and complain...the same behavior as a bad sport.
What's your attitude?
Good sport?
There was one post however that caught me off guard. He whined and complained about not being the winner. It's nothing new really, we've all seen that before, in anything that is competitive, but that kind of behavior sucks. Personally, after seeing his post I'm glad that this person didn't win.
Are you a good sport, or are you one who whines and complains about not winning?
Sunday, December 7, 2008
Winners Lists
Opt out buttons under submit button
Palm's CLAUS Santa's Gone Centro
If you use your mouse to enter the first field, then you either have to select and delete the existing text or backspace it away.
Saturday, December 6, 2008
MasterCard Overjoy of Giving Sweepstakes
Those who have contacted customer support have not received any real support. They've almost always been told it's their computer or settings. Too many of us have a problem to be that. For me, this not only happens me on my computer, but on my dad's when I went to visit him.
Shouldn't a company that deals with banking have a game that works smoothly? From others comments, their customer support for this issue sucks. Personally, I never even received a reply.