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Anyone, even if they sign up after the drawing is announced?

Someone who is a Member before the drawing is announced?

A Member with X amount of post? (You will have to make a comment on how many X is.)

I have a suggestion that is not listed. (Again, you will have to comment.)

[DE]

Just throwing this out there for discussion or food for thought. I recall joining and researching Pellet Grills for almost a year, reading only before I made a decision to purchase the PG1000 in June of 2011.  I might have asked a question or two, but certainly did not post as an "active member." Now I'm saying this only to bring up the possibility of using "data" from a profile, i.e. "Total Time Spent Online." Could this be of value in determining commitment?  Like I said, just throwing this out there...

Doug

[Canadian John]

 
 More answers than fleas on a dog! Some good ones too.. As once said; you can't please all of the people all of the time, only some of the people

some of the time.

[Clonesmoker]

I go to a lot of trade shows and have people drop in their business card as will give away a cooler, jacket, etc. The thing is though we never announce the winner at the show. We get home go through the business cards and look at the ones where they have purchased from us before. That way it's going to a customer and it is a good way to build a relationship with the customer.  Not every show is that way, but we know which shows we can do this at.

Keep your customers (members) happy!! They will keep coming back.

[mowin]

I voted member before contest was announced.
Not a fan of # of posts needed, or those with more posts get more chances. Just because someone is more vocal doesn't mean they should have a better chance at winning.

Some people don't like to post frequently. I read a ton of posts on here but don't comment. Is that wrong??

Maybe someone newer to the forum, who is looking for their first pit wins. They will tell others about where they got there pit, resulting in additional members.

[Kristin Meredith]

Two things I am curious about:

1.  If a lot of you don't care whether someone has made even one post, then why care if someone signs up after a contest is announced?  Someone who is a "member" but who never contributes is not distinguishable from a "guest" who just views constantly.  Why the membership distinction for a freebie?  Isn't that being exclusive and not inclusive?  To me, if it is open to all members, then I don't care when the person signed up. As one of the forum owners, if a non-contributor is going to have a chance at it, then I may as well get the benefit of an increase in the body count because I have yet to be presented with an argument as to the difference between a member lurker and a guest lurker.

2.  Re; exclusivity.  This forum is already exclusive because, as pointed out in a prior post, about 15% of the members are doing the posting and contributing for the other 85%'s enjoyment and education.  So folks are happy to consume "exclusive" content they just don't want to be "exclusive" if there is a freebie to be had is the way I read it.  Why not reward those content providers?

[GrillinGlen]

For sure you should be a member prior, I'm leaning toward having a minimum number, but on the low side.  25 doesn't sound to bad. 

[Kristin Meredith]

For sure you should be a member prior, ....
 

Why?

[GatorDave]

    I think it should just be if someone is a member at the time of the drawing.  One way to ruin this site is to have a few thousand people show up and just start making useless posts in order to qualify for a drawing.  Trust me, it will happen.  We will have to wade through post after post of random "hey what pellet grill is the best" and "pellet grills are awesome" posts from people just trying to qualify. Then, as soon as the contest is over, they will go away.  It is better to use contests just to get the word out about the site.  Yes, it's possible that someone that isn't a regular might win, but it will also likely bring in a lot of new posters that wind up sticking around and make the site better.

[GrillinGlen]

For sure you should be a member prior, ....
 

Why?

With the idea of keeping people from signing up just to be able to enter

[slaga]

To me it comes down to 1 thing. What is the purpose of a "Pellet Fan Giveaway"? Are you trying to get new members to join, whether they contribute or not, or are you trying to reward members that have contributed to the site that helped make it what it is? Personally, I am a fan of a minimum number of posts (use you lawyer wording skills to minimize padding the post count), which ensures the winner has made some meaningful contribution to the site. I have never been a big poster, and I doubt I ever will be. If I do not have enough posts, so be it. It is my own fault for not contributing enough.

If you let any new member be in the drawing, without some minimum number of posts, what prevents a member from logging in under 25 different new handles and giving himself 25 times the chance to win than the other members that have contributed to the web site for years and only log in under their real handle?

[slaga]

    I think it should just be if someone is a member at the time of the drawing.  One way to ruin this site is to have a few thousand people show up and just start making useless posts in order to qualify for a drawing.  Trust me, it will happen.  We will have to wade through post after post of random "hey what pellet grill is the best" and "pellet grills are awesome" posts from people just trying to qualify. Then, as soon as the contest is over, they will go away.  It is better to use contests just to get the word out about the site.  Yes, it's possible that someone that isn't a regular might win, but it will also likely bring in a lot of new posters that wind up sticking around and make the site better.

Easy enough. Any new member that spams the web site or pads their post count with senseless posts as you described gets banned, period. This is not a democracy. No one has the right to be here. If you build your post count with meaningful posts, you stay. Simple as that.

[GatorDave]

To me it comes down to 1 thing. What is the purpose of a "Pellet Fan Giveaway"? Are you trying to get new members to join, whether they contribute or not, or are you trying to reward members that have contributed to the site that helped make it what it is? Personally, I am a fan of a minimum number of posts (use you lawyer wording skills to minimize padding the post count), which ensures the winner has made some meaningful contribution to the site. I have never been a big poster, and I doubt I ever will be. If I do not have enough posts, so be it. It is my own fault for contributing enough.

If you let any new member be in the drawing, without some minimum number of posts, what prevents a member from logging in under 25 different new handles and giving himself 25 times the chance to win than the other members that have contributed to the web site for years and only log in under their real handle?

I really really really don't like the "meaningful contribution" part of this post.  Does this mean that someone is going to check all of your posts and decide whether or not they are good enough to count?  That seems very arbitrary to me, and open to bias, which, if we know anything about people today, is going to cause a huge stink when someone thinks they would have won if their posts counted.

As far as logging in under 25 different handles, that is easily enough checked by the IP addresses that people signed on with.  Only one entry per IP address.

[Kristin Meredith]

    I think it should just be if someone is a member at the time of the drawing.  One way to ruin this site is to have a few thousand people show up and just start making useless posts in order to qualify for a drawing.  Trust me, it will happen.  We will have to wade through post after post of random "hey what pellet grill is the best" and "pellet grills are awesome" posts from people just trying to qualify. Then, as soon as the contest is over, they will go away.  It is better to use contests just to get the word out about the site.  Yes, it's possible that someone that isn't a regular might win, but it will also likely bring in a lot of new posters that wind up sticking around and make the site better.

Not really following why there would be spam.  If all we say it anyone can enter, no post count required, then folks sign up, and their first and last post is "Enter me in the contest."  I saw it all the time on PH.  No spamming, just lots of people who were brand new members making one post to enter the contest.

Still have not heard any explanation of why someone who signs up after a freebie is announced and whose first post is "Enter me" is different from someone who has been a member for months and their first post is "Enter me."

[GatorDave]

    I think it should just be if someone is a member at the time of the drawing.  One way to ruin this site is to have a few thousand people show up and just start making useless posts in order to qualify for a drawing.  Trust me, it will happen.  We will have to wade through post after post of random "hey what pellet grill is the best" and "pellet grills are awesome" posts from people just trying to qualify. Then, as soon as the contest is over, they will go away.  It is better to use contests just to get the word out about the site.  Yes, it's possible that someone that isn't a regular might win, but it will also likely bring in a lot of new posters that wind up sticking around and make the site better.

Not really following why there would be spam.  If all we say it anyone can enter, no post count required, then folks sign up, and their first and last post is "Enter me in the contest."  I saw it all the time on PH.  No spamming, just lots of people who were brand new members making one post to enter the contest.

Still have not heard any explanation of why someone who signs up after a freebie is announced and whose first post is "Enter me" is different from someone who has been a member for months and their first post is "Enter me."

If people are required to have a certain number of posts before they can enter, then they will quickly make a bunch of posts in order to qualify.  This is the spam that I'm referring too.  This is why I think requirements should be that people are a member before the contest rather than a post count.

[LowSlowJoe]

Now some of us come and are active for a period of time, then go dormant in terms of posting...   so I say this with some hesitancy...  since I voted for someone with x number of posts , I feel a need to explain...


I don't know if there's a easy way to do this... or really even if I feel it's a great idea.  But it might be nice if you could limit to someone who's had... say 5 posts in the last 6 months...   Basically the idea being that if you went by posts alone, without regard to when the posts were made, someone could come in, post enough to reach that goal and then never contribute again.  Where if they had to be somewhat recent posts, that would be more indicative of a active member.