I guess one of my ongoing sweeps is no longer active. I tried opening the page from a bookmark in IE and was directed to the home page. That's no biggie. However, this is an error message I received when trying to open the same page from a bookmark in Foxfire (with referrer blocked):
403 Access Denied
Access to the requested resource has been denied. We suspect you are using an automated process to access this website. Please retry with a regular browser.
I do believe they could come up with something more appropriate and much less offensive. They could just state that you need to allow private headers.
Wednesday, January 28, 2009
Monday, January 19, 2009
HGTV Dream Home Entry Form Disappointing
The HGTV 2009 Dream Home Giveaway could use a change in their form. Really disappointed in it.
If you tab through the fields, it skips over the state field. It does it in Internet Explorer and Firefox. You should be able to use your keyboard to get to a field. In addition, at one time (not this particular sweeps) the phone field was one line and they wanted it formatted as (xxx) xxx-xxxx. The phone field has been changed to three fields (area code, prefix and last four numbers), but the notation for how they want it formatted has not been updated, and the area code field is not large enough for (xxx).
If they're worried about automated entries, they should put in a security code. (An easy to read one please)
The prize is great, the form sucks.
If you tab through the fields, it skips over the state field. It does it in Internet Explorer and Firefox. You should be able to use your keyboard to get to a field. In addition, at one time (not this particular sweeps) the phone field was one line and they wanted it formatted as (xxx) xxx-xxxx. The phone field has been changed to three fields (area code, prefix and last four numbers), but the notation for how they want it formatted has not been updated, and the area code field is not large enough for (xxx).
If they're worried about automated entries, they should put in a security code. (An easy to read one please)
The prize is great, the form sucks.
Friday, January 16, 2009
Disappointed in Kimberly Clark Room-a-Day Sweepstakes Rules
According to the rules, [...]Every online entry submission must be manually keystroked and manually entered by the individual entrant; automated and/or repetitive electronic submission of entries (including but not limited to entries made using any script, macro, bot or sweepstakes service) will be disqualified and transmissions from these or related e-mail or IP addresses may be blocked.[...]
It's the manually keystroked part that bothers me. For the normal person, no problem. But doesn't that seem like it might leave out people who have a hard time with a keyboard? I quite often have difficulty with keyboarding, comes from a "vascular event" that occurred in my brain. What about those who have difficulty seeing a screen? People rely on form fillers for a lot of different reasons. Doesn't it seem like they are actually trying to alienate the same people who buy their products?
For those who use the capabilities of their browser, Internet Explorer as an example, to remember their user name and password; if you were to go to the site and your browser fills in the fields you've just disqualified yourself.
I use RoboForm, sometimes for entering data on a form. As much as possible, I use it to enter user name and password fields. Personally, for online business and shopping, I shy away from sites where I cannot use RoboForm, especially for my user name and password. RoboForm is one of my means of protection in addition to be a handy form filler.
The instant win game is a disappointment as well. Instead of of quick 1-2-3 your done game, or better yet an option to skip the game and see if you are an instant winner, you have to match up the products, like concentration. You cannot advance to see if you're an instant winner until you have matched all of the products. It's like 10 or 12 products to match up.
That doesn't mean I won't enter the sweeps, the prize is too good. It just means I'm disappointed in the wording of their rules and the game. Doesn't leave a great impression of the company.
It's the manually keystroked part that bothers me. For the normal person, no problem. But doesn't that seem like it might leave out people who have a hard time with a keyboard? I quite often have difficulty with keyboarding, comes from a "vascular event" that occurred in my brain. What about those who have difficulty seeing a screen? People rely on form fillers for a lot of different reasons. Doesn't it seem like they are actually trying to alienate the same people who buy their products?
For those who use the capabilities of their browser, Internet Explorer as an example, to remember their user name and password; if you were to go to the site and your browser fills in the fields you've just disqualified yourself.
I use RoboForm, sometimes for entering data on a form. As much as possible, I use it to enter user name and password fields. Personally, for online business and shopping, I shy away from sites where I cannot use RoboForm, especially for my user name and password. RoboForm is one of my means of protection in addition to be a handy form filler.
The instant win game is a disappointment as well. Instead of of quick 1-2-3 your done game, or better yet an option to skip the game and see if you are an instant winner, you have to match up the products, like concentration. You cannot advance to see if you're an instant winner until you have matched all of the products. It's like 10 or 12 products to match up.
That doesn't mean I won't enter the sweeps, the prize is too good. It just means I'm disappointed in the wording of their rules and the game. Doesn't leave a great impression of the company.
Monday, January 12, 2009
Dove Flash Based Site
In the course of the last couple of weeks, I've entered a couple of giveaways that required me to go to the Dove site and then come back to the hosting site and make a comment.
I use Dove products and I really like them, but I hate their Flash based site. The Dove site is really no different than the other Unilever Flash based sites, not user friendly. Thank goodness for sitemaps because it's the quickest way to navigate the site.
Edit 1/16/09
I went to their Suave site yesterday and it's just as bad.
I use Dove products and I really like them, but I hate their Flash based site. The Dove site is really no different than the other Unilever Flash based sites, not user friendly. Thank goodness for sitemaps because it's the quickest way to navigate the site.
Edit 1/16/09
I went to their Suave site yesterday and it's just as bad.
Saturday, January 10, 2009
Woman's Day Entry Forms
Well, it's nice to see, Woman's Day changed their entry forms. The state field is back to a drop down and you can tab to the field and use the down arrow to select. Not quite a nice easy traditional form yet, still cannot tab through the optional information like you should be able to. Until then, still a thumbs down.
Friday, January 9, 2009
HTC Fuse
HTC Fuse has a sweeps running that is entirely Flash based. I have FlashBlock installed in Firefox and cannot enter. It must use a sniffer code, because it tells me a file is missing. Stupid. Without the code and error message I would be able to enable Flash for the site. I can use another browser to enter, but just an example of lousy coding.
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