@LuckyNicky Nice pic, where is that? I'm glad it was hot this weekend and not next, for the first weekend of cricket umpiring. Pass some of those gin and tonics over next Sunday night. I'll need them before the lactic acid hits.
Thanks for the blog. Love the articles about creative writing. I'm new to comping and loving the WOL. No luck yet. :(
Lol, I get requests from friends and family for specific prizes, and then I have to hunt down competitions that have those prizes. They don't enter them themselves because they say they're not as lucky as me, but I think they're just lazy. I much prefer just entering the comps I'm interested in. I don't like entering girlie comps as it looks funny when a man's name appears as the winner, hehe.
@divergent lol. Know what you mean. Hmm I entered a "mums" prize thought it would be great for keeping my bits and pieces in for cricket. I think you'll find a good majority of winners overall are women. Go guys. :)
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Another competition got it from the link off the yarratrams competitition. Thou I can't find the terms and conditions for it so far. It asks for a WOL answer thou not 100% sure if random draw etc. If anyone can find the T&C's.
Reminds me of the TCL current competition. They corrected it after I pointed out they forgot the T&C's.
This is a little 'I'VE WON', and a little question. In the last three weeks I've won two WOL prizes that equate to approximately $1100 worth. Now I don't need congratulations or a pat on the back, but question: how often have you won with a WOL answer that you feel is sub-par? I feel that there were more entertaining entries than my own, so it got me pondering :)
@tbone999 Congrats. I think any creative WOL win is worth a congrats. Damn two wins must have that winning formula or instinctive creative streak. :)
What were they competitions for? Is it possible to share winning examples? I think I've got to find a balance for what the judges are looking for and humour. From what I've seen if it looks good for marketing point of view then it wins.
Still X fingers for a couple of competitions waiting on the winner announcement. No wins thou only recently been comping. God please don't tell me it was for the recent Optus caption competition. I still have to do a letter to their marketing department for that one. So plagiarized.
@tbone999 I can understand if don't want to post your winning examples. Any chance to get a taste of the other entry/s and why you thought they should/could of won.
I think comes back to the post I did regarding creativity. It's not the idea but the execution.
@JulieD Yeh creative competitions are subjective by nature. My only gripe is concerning originality lol.
I hope for the yahoo 7, unbreakable AFL moment WOL competition, the judges have got the tissues on standby. The first thing that came to mind was the tribute the hawks and pies did for Adelaide's coach Phill Walsh, joined in unity at the center of the MCG.
@Lemond You probably have a good point with the 'marketing point-of-view' for WOL entries. I guess the judges are marketers, so they have these jingles running around in their head all day, and see potential based on what they read. That might also be why a lot of rhyming entries win as well.
I often hear myself singing little jingles in my head after listening to the ads in the background while I'm on the computer (my mother always has the TV going). "Nobody beats, Super A-Mart" or "Nobody does chicken like KFC" are good clues to what marketers like to hear. Just keep it rhymee and make the product stand out like it's "the best thing since sliced bread." I'm going to give that a go!
@divergent Yeh which is why for one comp just finished which haven't published the winner I don't think I'll win. Idea was there, but lacked in execution to make it marketable. It was for the street art prize, if anyone entered. Looks great. Loved the evil bunny. I might make that my next profile pic. :)
I'm not 100% sure with rhyming and not all poetry has to rhyme. I feel it depends on the competition and what inspiration you get.
@Lemond I think poetry that doesn't rhyme requires a little more effort to say it correctly in your brain as you read it. I may be wrong, but I've read some poems before that didn't make sense, but once a true poet read it out loud it just clicked. Rhyming is a poor man's poetry, almost like a limerick, but it get's the job done - mostly.
Roses are red, violets are blue, rhyming or not, it'll have to do! Lol
@tbone999 I assumed that its the first answer they like which is randomly picked. The only reason 25WOL answers occur is because the organisers don't have to apply for special conditions when running a competition. Please correct me if I'm wrong. To satisfy the 25WOL condition promotors can ask questions instead. I don't think there is an awful lot of thought going into judging the 25WOL answers and I assume only two or three people would have to agree. I've won with sub-par 25WOL answers and think its great. Sometimes I put in heaps of effort and sometimes I don't. It's enough that a promotor receives all our details which boosts their contacts/customers in exchange for their product or incentive. Don't assume the entrant is getting a raw deal with all the loops we have to leap through. Its great when people win and actually get their prizes.
I've often thought I was a worthy winner and sometimes I've thought my winning entry was a bit ordinary. Most of the time, when I've got to see the winning entry it has been good but sometimes I've thought it wasn't anything special. I like Facebook and blog comps where all the entries are listed. It is easy to see what not to enter because often the answers are very similar. I think before you're concerned about rhyming, punning, or being funny etc you must have an original idea.
@jrob71 Yeh a good idea helps. You'll find given the same material you get very similar ideas. I feel execution plays a big part. It's Not What You Say--It's How You Say It!
Agree about facebook and blog comps where you can see entries for what not to enter. Usually about 4 or 5 might stand out of 100. Thou if its multiple entry you may be limiting yourself. Tossing up if I doing that myself. I usually go off on a tangent to be original. Probably missing the mark.
Thinking thou my caption this week might be hmm risky with double meaning. I'm torn with another more general appealing one that might work. After doing mine I realized what another post meant. Same idea just I missed its meaning initially. Still I got my to idea in a round about way.
@jrob71 I always tend to look for the winner's entry to see what was so special, and sometimes been disappointed after reading it. It just highlights the fact that it meant more to the judge than it did to me, perhaps hit their funny bone in someway, but went mostly over my head. So there is no absolute best entry per se, except in the eyes of the judge.
You know what I really like about facebook WOL competitions. You can check out what other competitions people enter. Wow was madly doing quick entries for random draws that didn't know that existed.
Guessing the will give my facebook away its a mess of competitions tagged. Just use it to bookmark competitions.
Yeh Finally can see an enter button. Not 100% sure what solved it. Changed browsers and turned off all security settings possible. God the hardest parts for some competitions is working out how to submit. Lesson is DON'T leave entries to the last minute.
@Amybb Is there a way to see what it looks like? Not the most friendly of sites to browse must say. Was checking out your competition. Why should your cake win in 25 WOL? :) Or do we get a taste test? Sounds good for afternoon tea, when umpiring cricket starts in week. :)
@Amybb Nice one. Is it coloured layers or fruit in the colored layers? Argh last year for a surprise for a friends birthday tried doing a rainbow cake. Found out fruit in cake makes great man hole covers, hard to balance the acidity. Some layers worked well. Also the day was stinking hot, and the frosting didn't work well. Looked pretty with the different coloured layers and fruit. So did the kitchen walls. :) lol
@Amybb I haven't yet. I like my arm to be at least slightly twisted. Do have a pic what it looks like? :)
Sounds like it might make a good arvo tea. Argh next weekend looks like going to be a long one with cricket umpiring. First week always the hardest physically. :(
Cheers Di_D for the vote,I wish I knew how I was scoring from this competition is the oddest competition I have entered a family member that voted was quick to point out the spelling mistakes ;)
Argh the 6th time in the last 24 hours I think "smart mortgage" called up. God if only I could recall which competition it was I would say steer clear. I hope they got the hint do not call back!
That's an interesting question. I didn't know about the Nielsen Consumer Panel before you mentioned it and I googled it. I currently use the IRi Aztec Shopper Panel, and it's a real hassle to scan everything with my phone, although they do have a scanner, I just thought it would be cheaper for them if I used my phone, but it's a pain typing in the amounts. I might give the Nielsen scanner a go as it might be quicker. I'll be able to compare between the two companies as well. Anyway, it means that I can't just put my groceries away when I get home. I have to spread them all out and go through my shopping list scanning each item and entering the price. It's a pain, and I'm not sure it's worth it for the points you get. I'll see if Nielsen have a better ROI.
Hi, Lemond. I haven't been successful yet in joining the Nielsen panel, even after several separate invitations to enrol in the programme. Just not part of the demographic they're targeting currently. I had joined Nielsen/Net Ratings some time back where you download software on your computer running in the background to monitor your online usage. Individuals' data are pooled. More global trending stuff than individual scrutiny. A rewards/incentive programme is attached to the panel. There was a known issue with their software on Apple Mac machines (corrupted audio stream) though engineers were working on that. I had since removed the software. I'm not sure if the issue has been resolved for Mac users yet. Here's the url: http://au.nielsennetpanel.com/pnl/au/p11.p1?p_session_id=&p_language_id=61 Just another option for you...
@toxicgherkin I completed the final stage for sending out the equipment this morning. They called me about two weeks back and this morning got a email to remind me to complete the final survey. I was seeing what people thought about it etc, if the rewards are worth it. I think they are based in New Zealand from my conversation. Was great to talk to and caught me at the right time. I.e. that was after problem solving with Optus chat for an hour to work out how post for their comp.
I already got a $50 coles e-voucher for a long, long, long.... survey a month back. They must of got my details from that.
Hmm @divergent if didn't tell Neilson how would they know.
I've been lazy on the surveys last few weeks while doing WOL comps :).
@toxicgherkin Reluctant to install any software to chew up my limited download at the moment. I.e. just using mobile to tether to the pc. Lucky its an old 5GB plan.
I also installed the Nielsen software on my phone a couple of times, but despite their assertions that it wouldn't change anything, it did slow down my internet activity and even stopped some websites from displaying with a message saying 'Go Away' (different sites, same message). I've installed some survey software on my desktop as well (Valued Opinions, e-Rewards), with similar claims of it not changing anything, but have found that they still do something that kills my connectivity. The points they give you in return are just not worth the hassle of having to repair your operating system after uninstalling their app (severe google searching required),
@divergent Valued Opinions rings a bell somewhere. Thanks will steer clear.
Regarding fixing OS. I find it best if got the space partition the hard drive in two. Same for backup drives. First thing I do when I buy a drive is to plan how to partition it. Doing it later you can run into complications.
That way can install a spare OS to switch to in case of emergency. A couple of days ago I was having trouble with bluetooth, and my mouse wasn't connecting. It gets tricky trying to fix and operating system etc without input devices as an example.
Saves the frustration of having a non working PC and trying to fix it from DOS and can google the problem. A lot of times its just easier to start from scratch from a new OS then work out the problem. And having a backup OS you can relax and get back to work straight away.
Yes - I've been a member of the homescan for about 4 or 5 years now. I scan all of my shopping and I do it as I put my shopping away so no problem and it has also saved me a lot of money as when I am looking at the receipt and putting in the price I often notice I have been overcharged (which I wouldn't have realised if I just popped the shopping away without looking at the receipt).
It is a lot of effort - you don't get more points if you do bigger shops that cost more money. AS long as you scan at least once a week you will get a message on your scanner telling you how many points you have earnt (usually connects automatically on a sat night). I usually earn 2 x $50 prepaid eftpos cards per year, but you could be lucky enough to win one of their mystery comps that will give you some points to boost you up. Hope that helps.
Oh and each Christmas they send you a little prezzie as a thank you for being a member.
@Lemond lol about direct quote - all my own words and all true :) wish my words sounded that good in wol comps lol.
This is scanning for Nielsen Home Scanning Panel.
You get about 40 points per month, 50 points per family member (I am only a 2 person household) on their birthday to add to points total, 100 points per year on the day you joined plus an odd little survey here or there worth 10 points. There is also the chance by just scanning that you may have scanned their "mystery" product and win some bonus points.
@bops18 hehe maybe it was your own quote I read from somewhere else. Sounded very familiar. Hmmm sounds like as much fun as umpiring cricket. lol. Thanks.
Morning, Lemond. Points tally resets for the start of each month. To gain a point in the new month you must first view a listed competition. That will be your restart. Remember to view competitions.com.au 's promoted competition to get your 200 points as well. Your daily login and daily number guess points will add to your tally too. Hope this helps.
@toxicgherkin Thanks, so it should be ok once I visit my first competition? I was avoiding doing anything until it was fixed. I did logged in early and did the guessing game. At the time I noticed it hadn't reset the competitions to click on as all set to viewed. I see the 200 points thanks. My first full month coming up. :)
@Lemond You get an additional point for every competition you view that has been added within the same month. If you want to get to the top of the leaderboard then make sure you view every competition added each day.
@Lemond ..hehe....if only !!! though there'd be a mutiny on Admin's hands!!! I've been lucky to gain a place at month's end once (third place). There's a long queue of aspiring winners - no losers here!!! ;)
@toxicgherkin. lol. Well I did wish you luck for the monthly ladder, over a week back. Wanted to see a pic of the mug full of whisky after the win. :)
Thanks for this morning, I didn't realise it wouldn't show your points until you had clicked on a new competition. I thought I'd lost the early morning points for the guessing game and daily bonus in the reset.
@toxicgherkin Ok time to start doing the next WOL, thou doing it bit the last minute. Usually like to mull over them for a few days. Like the AFL unbreakable moment think I've got an idea, and the Applicances online one for the sporting moment idea is brewing away.
Hate doing travel WOL's. I just can't get the inspiration for those, or T&C's don't included the spending $$$.
Now this weeks caption. hmm see someone got a similar idea I had. doh. I need to work of that and this time be funny. Think that's whats lacking in some of my WOL.
@toxicgherkin I definitely need to do a funny WOL entry next. Just finished my WOL for today. :) Thou it say's I can do multiple entries. Don't want to end up rehashing my original idea.
@jrob71 lol. Yeh hoping x fingers to tear up my membership as soon as I can work out how to post my entry to yahoo. Grrrr cant find the submit option. Carefully ticked all boxes and personal information. Register a yahoo account.
Hi there totaldiva! Companies advise in different ways. Sometimes who'll get an email that normally starts with Congratulations in your inbox though not always. Good idea to check your spam folder as well as it may go there depending on your security settings and e-mail settings. Sometimes you need to check back on the site and sometimes it just shows up! If you've been hanging out to see if you've won, you can also try sending them a friendly e-mail asking for the winners name. Sometimes how a winner will be advised will be in the T&Cs. Facebook is different, you may get a PM or have to check back. I always try to check back as lots of winners don't get PMs. Lotsa luck : )
@fourleaf Thanks. It needs a sticky post about what a winning email looks like. With all the spam emails and some deceiving to claim a win or possible winner. I've switched mainly to gmail from hotmail on the advice of this forum blog. Plus my hotmail has got 7000 unread emails to sort through.
I think if you get any emails from Janeatyourturn.com which is a sponser of planet 49 its a scam its said i was potental winner of kitchen aide. looked at google and alot people are saying scam , there is a car competition and other stuff associated with planet 49. Has anyone ever won from here?
That rings a bell. I get a lot of those which make you think your a winner/potential winner Doh! I quickly bin those. You got to read the terms very carefully usually they require joining some subscription service or $$$$$ per min for a trivia contest. I stay well clear of those.
Thanks made me think about a link I just found. Re UWheels I highly suspect that's a scam and have removed the post. Apologizes to all. Argh I'm sure it is after going to the real facebook page.
Great pickup there, Alittlebitoffun. I won a set of their Tencel sheets recently. They feel very luxurious. I've washed them but not tried them out yet. Enjoy.
Guessing my delicate topic regarding using existing ideas in verbatim and plagiarism , was too hot to handle. Have any compers come across similar incidents where a response to a creative WOL competition was a clear case of plagiarism? If so did the organizers of the competition take the appropriate action etc?
Yes, I did, it stood out like a sore thumb and the "entrant" who put the original response, which won, notified the company directly and they rectified it. It's still a shock to see and it makes you wonder why people do it. It takes all kinds! Happy comping.
Lol I've seen my OWN answers recycled and used by others, which I soon point out. There's a few that are well know for it. And same with photo comps. I've seen people win with photos taken straight off the net
lol about own answers recycled. Yes I've look at winning ones just to get an idea what the judges are looking for. Just the overall style. New to WOL.
Argh for photo competitions you can easily do an image search. I did it for the caption competition first time. Then thought best not to let that influence me. I'm sure they would be aware of existing captions for it.
Well I think more for the Optus competition in the heat of having fun get lot non serious plagiarised entries. I know I did one TV show quote was watching at the time. Right at the end of the comp when I was relaxing. It wasn't meant to be taken serious. Was kinda throwing off the entrant from copying my ideas I posted. Argh was the same person that "won".
Looking at who to contact in Optus in PR. Hmm thinking go from the top down in marketing. I see they have a facebook account. Just need to be very diplomatic to be taken seriously. So far no response from the Optus community. Apart from the "winner" pointing fingers to distract . Another participant very annoyed.
At Uni I dropped the hint about an assignment going around from a previous years to the lecturer. I was living in the halls of residence and group of mates where coming to me to debugged a mess of an assignment. Spaghetti code. Nowhere new my standards. I Did it very diplomatically not mentioning any names. Result was a friendly warning on plagiarism at the next lecture.
I just did a photo comp earlier in the week. It was only open to residents . Was about what local living means to you. Did it bit at the last minute. Luna park with Tram, and beach scene with view towards the city, my view to the town hall, town hall at night. Hmmm could of been more thought put into it. Least got me to work out how to use the camera on the phone and bit of fun. Figured how many residents would actually bother to enter. For $500/250 thought why not.
Good article/videos. It made me think of the programming course I'm currently doing. The instructor is giving me all his knowledge and techniques, and surely I'll develop my own, but his teachings will form the foundation on which all future developments will be based. Is this plagiarism, or is this simply a passing of skills from one to another, so that they grow and become greater? At the start, the Hello World apps will look identical for all students, but as the skills grow, the future apps produced will diverge into a myriad of different looks and feels, but with the same underlying foundation.
So what is creativity? Is it the entire thing, or is it just the interpretation? If I took someone else's work and felt I improved on it, should not the improvement be considered the creative part, with the foundation simply being the ladder upon which I climbed to a greater height? Certainly musicians who cover the songs of others, and make a new but similar song with their own interpretation could be considered to have plagiarised the original artists work, but to those of us who enjoy the new interpretation, do we really care? Lol.
Imagine a person who entered a poem into a competition, but it lacked something, so it didn't win, but later someone found where it lacked and improved on it, and it won. Was the first person creative for putting together something that didn't work, or was the second person creative for watering it and allowing it to grow into something beautiful? Perhaps it's all in the interpretation. ;)
Computing especially at uni very tempting for students to copy work, especially with time constraints. I always approached what is the assignment trying to teach you. So I tended to go overboard. That's putting it lightly. Recall a COBOL assignment over 250 pages after documentation. 4000 lines of code v about 400 lines for most students. That was with extensive code reuse, data driven etc.
Never really thought about creativity in programming. Unless the count the process of breaking down problems into smaller ones, ultimately into functions that do only one thing, Also how you anticipate the unexpected.
The way you break down the problem, techniques used eg the sorting method chosen, the design of interface being intuitive etc etc, guess can be described as a creative process. Can go on and on how about code reuse, data driven etc to make your program flexible.
Overall you can tell if someone just plagiarized a program. In the end you just cheat yourself from the purpose of being there. To learn, verses getting that piece of paper.
Yeh it is an very interesting site on what creativity is. New to creative WOL so finding them fun.
For the poem I guess depends on what was changed does it transform it in some way. Like just changing the subject matter say from dog to cat and keeping the rest bit like the Optus WOL competition. Thou I'm still undecided if this would be called plagiarized. Thou I know where they got the idea, and and see they put virtually no effect in. Thou ideas/creativity can come in a flash. I struggle to see what creative input they had. But does that make it plagiarized?
@divergent Agree about the hello world app initially they may look all the same due to the level of knowledge. There may be subtle differences like hard coding the string, or using a constant, using a function and passing in the value to say allow formatting e.g. centered, or which language to display etc, to be data driven/ code reuse. Also maybe use of design techniques like Object Oriented verses Procedural. "Simple" design decisions taken initially may limit the flexibility or ease of maintenance of the application later on.
Sigh the winner of the Optus WOL Comp just plagiarised another similar caption. :( All that creativity in my little fingers should of just googled for a caption.
Apologies in advance if my post sounds like sore loser syndrome.
Just comparing the winning caption below with other similar captions on the internet. Would you think that it is creative? Is this plagiarism or does it warrant being creative?
For the competion.com.au caption I know you can do an image search easily and find its' caption. But would never copy it. If anything clouds creativity and originality. Producing same old style captions. Borrowing a bit for inspiration and forming your own creative work I would find acceptable and natural.
Would like compers opinions.
Winning response:
IF OIL IS MADE FROM DECOMPOSED DINOSAURS, AND PLASTIC IS MADE FROM OIL.. THEN THESE PHONES MUST BE MADE FROM... ...MOM?
Similar Captions
So if oil is made from decomposed dinosaurs, and Plastic is made from oil... then Plastic dinosaurs are made from REAL dinosaurs!
IF OIL IS MADE FROM DECOMPOSED DINOSAURS, AND PLASTIC IS MADE FROM OIL
ARE PLASTIC DINOSAURS MADE FROM REAL DINOSAURS?
To finish on a quote: Without copying first, no creative work would ever see the light of day. That's not a blanket policy to steal though ? Picasso
I've noticed an instructor on Udemy, offline of course, who actually promoted plagiarism, by taking other people's content and rewording it into your own words in order to submit it and make money. The example he gave was with recipes, but he said it could be done with anything. I've not been that desperate for content, but I realise how easy it would be to remember something from your past (something that you have no idea where you heard or read it) and resubmit it in your own words, perhaps with your own sense of humour added. Like the old 'Roses are red, Violets are blue, ...' phrases, which run around a lot in my head. The above example about oil might come under that category ???
So would regard the winning example as plagiarism? In case I'm remotely biased being a entrant. Hmm well thing is what changes were actually made to transform an existing idea. You get parody's etc which twist an existing phrase or idea. Find that's natural and acceptable.
@divergent You make an interesting point with the old 'Roses are red, Violets are blue, ...' phrases. Like the Knock Knock jokes. I think they help carry the creativity in the middle. Help set the tone etc. I wouldn't think that would dismiss any creativity/originality unless the main content wasn't original.
For the winning example if I substituted 'phones' to say watches, would that now show I've been creative?
Just getting feedback on whether I'm biased before registering a formal complaint with executive managers. If indeed plagiarism and lack of originality/creativity from a PR point of view I wouldn't think they would support it.
@toxicgherkin Was too funny those T&C. Maybe they should drop hints in the WOL comps in the T&C for what to put in, so that they know that they have been read. Go toxic for the monthly leader board.
Oh the irony if I won that. See some comps for cars mention in their T&C, if the winner doesn't hold a licence it goes to their nominated adult with a licence. Hmm which friend to choose.
:) Veep thou haven't seen it. Was hoping Mad Men might pick a few up. Thou thinking afterwards it had been overlooked previously, so probably a bad gamble. :(. Good luck I think they announce the winners today. Would love to finally see GOT.
Well overall 11 wasn't too bad considering I had no clue. Put my strengths into action. Statistically Analysis. lol
@Jessi-is-so-gay Welcome. I picked that for the category it won. :). Might of been supporting drama actress. Was an outside chance and took a punt. About the only punt that came off. Think she won an Emmy last year. The comp was fun . :)
I might have missed the notifications but there are new blogs posted by our friendly guest blogger! Well worth jumping over to the Blog page for a look-see. Hooroo.
Thanks for the heads up toxic. Well worth the read. I found both new articles very interesting.....
I recently found out some information on the Pay.com.au comps which I think also involve baby Co comps - win a Toyota Klugar comp that runs for about 365 days and some others. I was always was a bit hesitant entering these as when you go to the T&Cs it says winner chosen who then has to attend another drawing in Sydney ( no accommodation or airfares ) who then has to choose a number between 1-100 to win the car if you miss out, you win $100. Since the comp runs for a year, that means say...10,000 entries?.....since it's so heavily promoted, .....so chances are 1:10,000 to get to the the next draw...if you are lucky enough to win that then you have 1:100 chances of winning the car. Such a remote chance of winning (1 in a million and the promoter knows this) that this is just heavy hard line marketing that really is going to cost them practically nothing.
There's also a site called www.mailshark.com.au that says the competition is a scam that will download malware onto your computer. I'm not sure, one because mailshark sells e-mail protection services and two because they say that the comp has nothing to do with the Pay.com.au although when I go to that site, there's hardly any information about Pay.com.au and when I look further, I come up with 404 not found. An example of hard core marketing I'd say, after your spending information and one I've stayed away from. I've never seen a comp run so tight and hard line and I've worked with some marketing types (by association) before who wouldn't even consider running something like this. I call it "extreme e-mail marketing - don't take the risk"
On a more positive note I didn't win anything for four weeks and it felt so loooong, but I've got a $50 voucher from Ritchie IGA, Woohooo! so the second article is very uplifting THANKS NICOLE!!
I might have missed the notifications but there are new blogs posted by our friendly guest blogger! Well worth jumping over to the Blog page for a look-see. Hooroo.
lady across the road won $10 000 travel voucher from MacDonald's Monopoly last year after picking up everyone second chance tickets left behind. It took her hours to enter all of her entries but she won a great prize for her efforts. Maybe that's what I should do???
x fingers for the CashKick 2nd chance draw then. My buildings recycling bin was hmmm recycled :). A bit weird for that comp, lots of draws 44 per day over 6 weeks. So far it's not showing many winners on their notification page. Either they are slow verifying winners and/or their webpage. Thou says will be updated by the 23rd.
As an ex McDonalds store manager @bukfizz, I've heard all the 'conspiracy theories' and can assure you it's completely random, where and when prizes are won. Yes it's open to staff to nick some of the game tokens if they wish, but I for one, looked on that VERY harshly, and treated the staff member the same. McDonalds ones are hard to win, because keep in mind how many stores there are Australia wide, and how many people enter those per day. There's MILLIONS! So, just keep trying. Like anything else, it's pure luck!
A couple of years ago I won a blue-Ray surround system in the second chance draw, was mean't to be just a DVD player but that item was no longer in stock so ended up with a heaps better prize
Not sure if it's the same, but there used to be a ticket on every hash brown bag, so buy 20 hash browns lol ..... or you could try whinging to the manager if they serve you. From experience, my attitude to the customer was based solely on THEIR attitude to ME! Nice to me? Only too happy to help where possible. Rude to me? I'll be rude back and said customer can go jump! lol :-)
Congrats kirstielydia on the weekly guessing game. Wow first day joined and one guess and wins. How's that for luck. What's the odds? Do all new members get a joining bonus? Missing mine!!
I didn't know they had a competition till tonight so registered and joined. Was recording The Project and left it going. Lucky I didn't change over to the Footy.
@Lemond thanks, I like the show so normally watch it but hubby was watching something . Its very hard to win it, you have to guess the right number for that week, so your name could get picked and your number has to match theres which the open an envelope , you see it on the shopdocket website under winners.If you dont get the jackpot and your name is picked you win $250
lol. He was probably watching the Hawks V Adelaide AFL match. Yeh, I read the terms and conditions. No wonder it has a high jackpot. What if hasn't gone off all year etc at the end of the promotion. Must re-read the fine print.
@Lemond its so stupid, they should just give it to whoever guesses write and if people choose same number,redraw their names from a hat. That what companies do to make you watch their show for ratings
@Lemond, I suspect their algorithm would be similar to Microsoft Word, in that those individual contractions would count as one word each. I do like those WOL competitions that indicate as you attempt to submit, that your intended response is over their limit. Very handy, indeed.
Yes if they are using a MS word algorithm. Usually I've counted them as two after checking out the advice on this and other competition forums/google. I guess in good faith to avoid confusion they treat them as one. Thou technically it's two words.
So far I didn't want to risk breaking the terms and conditions.
Yes be easier if they showed as you entered. I had a major issue with the TCL competition. The conditions said 25 or less but their custom form wouldn't let me do more then 21 no matter how I hard I tried. That form just stopped allowing you to type your response with no counter. If I pasted my response it would just spit up and error message when I tried to submit. It appear to count them as two. Damn had my response all ready. Hard enough cutting down to 25.
I haven't seen any forms that show a word count as you go. My guess be too much work to develop.
Damn I had words up my sleeve then for a couple WOL comps.
tinman, I heard on the digital grapevine that the X Factor codeword availability won't commence until the final 12 contestants are announced. I don't have confirmation of this. I suggest watch (and/or record) and take it from there. Sweet dreams! ;)
not long now ..... and the code word will be on the big screen. It just so sucks my hubby hates the X Factor :-( ..... hopefully it's up before he comes to bed lol
It would be great if the top 4 leader board winners for the previous month were displayed. I was sure I was close...being my birthday month! Make that...a TOP 20 short list.
@Shortyren, agreed. I've even asked @admin to host a list of previous month's rankings for continuity purposes. For someone whose birthday is at the end of the month (end of the year to be precise!!!!), with birthday points appearing just before midnight, I am none the wiser, tending to birthday and NYE's celebrations. If the absence of a cash win notification (ranking 1-3), or double daily number guesses (ranking 4-20), I have no idea where I ranked without checking in. Who does that at NYE?
Just a few little things. A $150 roasting pan with glass lid that I've been wanting for SO long (because I'd never PAY that much for one), a few DVD's, BBQ light - $65, and just now, a $120 rugby Guernsey from Coke Rewards. Not a bad month so far, and whittling down my 'shopping list' lol
Congrats. I'm a new comper here still waiting for my first win. Come on Optus! Hope they loved my Captions for their comp. Trying out the 25 WOL which are fun at least if you don't win. Find if the WOL comp is something you need etc helps inspire.
Thanks guys! @Lemond, I really only enter 25WOL now. Have never been 'lucky' with draws and things, so 25WOL are my competition of choice, and where 99% of my wins come from :-)
Hi all we'll as you know I win lots of travel comps. Just letting you know my latest win was over in nz. Heineken beer chained four contestants to a briefcase for two weeks. I was one of them. The prize I won is all expenses paid trip the rugby world cup semi final and GRAND final in LONDON!!! Here is a photo of us on TV winning our tickets.
Surferboy, congratulations on your wins. I read this a while ago. Could you please tell us how you enter your travel competitions? Purchases, SMS entries, online entries, magazines, radio competitions or crystal ball gazing and voodoo? If it is a big secret, you don't have to share your methods. Thank you.
Congrats. News flash we have a new PM now. They might let back into Australia.
Wow 2 weeks chained to four contestants to a briefcase. They should of chained their mother in laws with them. Would of been over in 5 minutes.
Beats my attempt for AFL Grand final tickets few years back. 4 hours trying to keep one hand on a car having footballs etc thrown at you to catch. Damn rigged it for the disable kid. Got a cap as good memories.
Wow! Congratulations on your win! Nothing like free travel. Say hi to my niece who lives in New York .... ya know, if you run into her or something. She's tall and blonde. Shouldn't too hard to spot! lol
Bit delirious from doing the 25 WOL Optus caption comp tonight for a Samsung Galaxy S6 Edge+. Guessing my jokes won't win. lol. X fingers hoping the judges like 70's/80's rock references then. I'm all comped out. Was great fun thou. Lot better then random draws and filling in endless yes/no surveys.
Ok learnt lesson 2. Don't leave it to the last minute to enter a competition to avoid technical difficulties. Always the case when you need technology it senses it. Taken me an hour to work how to post to a blog for a competition. Argh came down didn't see an email to verify my new account. lucky I did that yesterday. During the attempt to work it out forgot my main password lol. Then got locked out. Then had to reset my password. Online chat help was useless. However a facebook post replied back saying I hadn't verified my blog account. Which wasn't the same email account for my main account. Damn never liked facebook till now. What a hassle. lol
Now the hard part is done. I can finally post my winning captions. x fingers.
Had a decent week last week, won a bottle of sparkling wine, a Weleda fathersday skin care pack, a gorgeous candle & a Vicks vapouriser set (which will come in handy with two kids) plus, I am thrilled, as I entered a FB through EFTM in relation to guessing sports scores for the night to win a $650 watch, I got all the answers correct first, however once it was over they advised you had to have the top three in order (not previously mentioned), anyway I was the first with all correct answers but was told too bad, well turns out they decided to send me the prize anyway as they too thought it was wrong to change the rules at the end of a comp. am just thrilled!!!
Wow. Nice win with the watch. Was great of them to honor their own terms and conditions in good faith. Lesson 1 read the terms and conditions. Time to crack open that sparkling wine and celebrate the win. :)
New Zealand
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