This song amuses me. And in a very round about way fits today’s topic. Sort of. Well not really but it amuses me.
Although that whole name thing in the leather seats?!? soooooooo wrong! Don’t leave proof it was you or point the finger to yourself. sheeze… unless of course you are being all Catherine Tramell
So back to today’s topic, lol like I have topics everyday *g*. Lets talk about socks, contests and multiple computer users.
The question I have been trying to answer is… well there are a few.
1. Should multiple people be able to enter a contest using the same computer, hence the same IP.
2. Should one person be able to enter a contest for ‘another’ person or say four people.
3. What is fair and responsible to expect a person to provide once they win.
4. What is my purpose for doing contests.
5. How wide spread is cheating in the romance community?
6. What rules should I put into place regarding contests?
I am going to break this down into a few posts. But before I do that I wanted to get your take on it. You… being reader or author or both. You being the person entering the contest and you being the person having the contest.
Of course you can’t answer #4 for ME but I would love to hear why you do or why you enter. Or why you don’t.
Cheating?
Gee, it’s never occurred to me someone might cheat, so I’ve never even thought to check!
You’ve ruined my innocence, Sybil, and when I run my next contest, I’m going to be awfully paranoid.
To use one of my heavily overused phrases – here’s my thing about contests – you can make them as tight as possible against cheating and people will still cheat. I don’t know why, but I suppose it’s human nature for some.
When I do a contest I say a few things – one entry per person per household, if not, you get fifteen from the same person and yes, that is cheating if you say one entry. I add the over 18 thing and recently I’ve had to add a bit about claiming within 2 weeks. My husband, who LOVES contests, tells me I need to add a bit asking sweepstakes places not to list the answers on their boards and that reputable places won’t.
Still? I love doing contests. I like giving readers a chance to win stuff because who doesn’t like to win? And I’m bound and determined not to let cheaters ruin the shiny of winning stuff for others.
As for #4, I like to win stuff too! I don’t enter a lot of contests for other authors because I like to leave it for readers to win but I do from time to time (I won an ARC from Alison Kent recently).
hmmm I didn’t think about that claiming thing….
I want Kents ARC!
It never even crosses my mind to cheat!!