[admin]

The HP Dragon notebook contest has ended. We'd appreciate your feedback!

What did you like?

What didn't you like?

Any ideas for future contests?

Would you like to see more contests like this in the future?

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I loved the site and contest

There wasn't anything I disliked (except for not winning, but that's no ones fault)

There should definitely be more contests like this...

Now, helping out with the "idea" area is beyond me...I'm a "get instructions" type of person.

Had fun, but I was so sad when the randomizer picked post #179...my post was #177 (that's my luck though)

barb

[barbarabaker]

I loved the site and contest

There wasn't anything I disliked (except for not winning, but that's no ones fault)

There should definitely be more contests like this...

Now, helping out with the "idea" area is beyond me...I'm a "get instructions" type of person.

Had fun, but I was so sad when the randomizer picked post #179...my post was #177 (that's my luck though)

barb

[dv3]

This was a great!! contest.. ,

some pictures are awesome.. as soon as i was getting an idea.. suddenly i saw a great picture post.. :S. and i had to go for plan #B .

Well i just didin't like that i didn't get to win ..

I would definetly like more contest like this.. it doesn't matter if there are no Grand prizes like a $5k laptop.. but it's pure fun.

so, keep it going (Y).

[littlebull_25]

Hello,

I thought the contest was alot of fun, would love to see another contest like this again. I liked to all the entries they were creative and funny. Nothing that I didnt like about it. No ideas about future contest not good at that kind of thing. But I do think contests like this would be fun in the future!!

[Tokar]

Liked:
I liked the simplicity of the contest - put the logo of the site somewhere or on something interesting.

Disliked:
How the winner was determined. Not only does it show laziness on the part of the selection committee (sorry, but thats just how I feel), it rewards people who put zero thought into their entry and ignores the creativity that others put into theirs since this particular contest does allow people to be creative and to put in actual effort.
This wasn't a contest for a bumper sticker or a coffee mug or whatever, it was a contest for a package valued at $5000. Just think how Al Gore would have felt if that $1,000,000 Israeli environmental prize was selected at random and the guy who won was someone who just stood on a US highway with a sign that said "Global Warming is real!" This is not the best example since Al Gore is not trying to win money for his work on Global Warming, he is genuinely trying to raise awareness and prizes like the one he recently won in Israel is just consolation for his tireless work, but I am sure you get the point - guy who does put in effort is not rewarded, but guy who puts in no effort is.


Some of the other sites running contests are doing random selection as well, but at least it is a random selection from something where entries are all on the same playing field (assuming they are completely properly according to the rules) - be it a general survey, a scavenger hunt, a test or a generic response to a question with no right answer. Random selection works with these contests - a survey has no right answers and requires no effort so everyone is on the same playing field, a scavenger hunt eliminates those who can't complete it and those who do are all on an equal playing field, ditto for a test, and a generic response to a question with no right answer puts everyone on the same playing field - as the entries are all on the same playing field in one way or another.
If these sites aren't going to put effort into making a contest, then there is no point in putting effort into selecting the winner.

The sites which actually are doing creative contests - be it a story about something digital, making a video about something windows related, telling the site what you would do with a real dragon, telling the site what you would do with the laptop, etc. - at least have a selection process which reward those who do put in effort.

Personally, if I owned HP and was doing this 31 days of the Dragon contest, I would at least like to see the laptops given away to worthy entries, to people who put in effort. I mean heck, if the sites themselves were just going to do random selection I would just hold the contest myself and select 31 random entries.



Sure, I understand that guy won and nothing is changing that. Congratulations, have fun with the laptop. Instant replay doesn't exist on the internet . I just would have felt better knowing that the guy who won actually put some effort into his entry and who was recognized by a selection committee to be better than the rest. Heck, I would have even been fine if the winner was selected by committee and it was a picture of some guy who put the logo on his pet cat or dog or whatever. The process of at least PRINTING the logo takes some effort...

Edited by Tokar, 21 May 2008 - 01:48 PM.

[admin]

Thanks for the thoughtful reply. However, I would disagree that there was no incentive to put effort into the submissions. Windows Vista Ultimate (full retail) is being awarded at this moment to the picture and video judged the best. Currently $279 at NewEgg.com.

While it may not have motivated everyone to put forth their best effort we think we received a LOT of GREAT entries. Chosing a winner was actually very difficult.

[Tal]

There are other sites in that participate in the contest, and chose the winner by the 'best submission' method. Like absolutevista.com. I can see the reasoning behind choosing a random person; not everyone can write something in English, for example (like absolutevista did). However, you do have a valid point there, not to say I agree with you. Admin is right though, there was a pretty good incentive.

[Tokar]

Thanks for the thoughtful reply. However, I would disagree that there was no incentive to put effort into the submissions. Windows Vista Ultimate (full retail) is being awarded at this moment to the picture and video judged the best. Currently $279 at NewEgg.com.

While it may not have motivated everyone to put forth their best effort we think we received a LOT of GREAT entries. Chosing a winner was actually very difficult.

And I appreciate that you are doing this as a consolation prize for he/she who put in the most and best effort...however people entered into the contest for the laptop and for the most part unaware that the best pic/video wins Vista Ultimate. I think people would have preferred that entries were judged for best effort to win the laptop as opposed to Vista - maybe I am alone in that assessment, but that is how I feel.

If it were my contest I would have said #1 best entry as decided by the panel gets the laptop, #2 gets Vista Ultimate...

[Tokar]

There are other sites in that participate in the contest, and chose the winner by the 'best submission' method. Like absolutevista.com. I can see the reasoning behind choosing a random person; not everyone can write something in English, for example (like absolutevista did). However, you do have a valid point there, not to say I agree with you. Admin is right though, there was a pretty good incentive.

I didnt think of the English-language barrier side of things. Kind of makes it hard for people who fall in the ESL (english as a second language) or ETL (english as a third language) categories to make a decent entry.
In the case of sites asking you to write a story, or to make a narrative video, or an audio clip about whatever the site wants (Neowin - audio clip of how would you make use of a real dragon, Notebooks.com - write about how the laptop will assist you in your endeavors, Labnol - write about your favorite digital lifestyle item) it is really weighed heavily against people who dont write or speak english well since it seems the list of sites are all in English and probably run by people who speak English fluently and are unlikely to speak any other language. I don't think that this warrants the need for a random selection in these cases, though. I think if people who could understand enough English to understand that the contest rules allow all countries to participate and they REALLLY wanted the laptop, they would go out of their way to find someone to translate their ideas into English.

However, i still don't think the English-language barrier has any effect on the contest run by GeeksToGo, or would be a reason to stick to a random selection process. I say this because the contest does not really require you to know English - sure you need to read the rules, but Google Translate should provide a translation well enough for someone to interpret the rules. Otherwise, all one has to know how to do is how to download the provided logo image, how to print it out (assuming the person want to do that with the logo) and how to take a picture with their digital camera or webcam. From there, they just upload the picture and wait for the decision.

As a standalone prize, a free legitimate copy of Windows Vista Ultimate is certainly good incentive to put your best effort into your photo, HOWEVER I think that if you polled the people who did enter I think you would find an overwhelming majority of people were A) entering the contest for the Laptop, not the free copy of Vista though they would gladly take that free copy, and B) not putting in their best effort because of the fact that it was a random selection.

While the current number of photos submitted is probably giving the admin a headache in trying to choose a winner for the free copy of Windows Vista, I think that if you were to do the contest by saying #1 best gets laptop and #2 best gets vista you would see photos which have much more creativity; not only would that be more fun for the people entering the contest but it would be more fun for you since you would get to see tons of cool pics with your logo (possibly something you could use on your site somewhere) and it would make your job of picking a winner much more interesting (and harder of course).

Edited by Tokar, 21 May 2008 - 04:19 PM.

[PengLord]

The only thing I didn't like was that the rules were altered after launch to allow pictures of screens. Everyone can get access to a printer (friends, family, Kinko's, libraries, tattoo artists, school, work, etc) and it really does seem to me that the people who didn't print the image 1) couldn't follow directions (at least the original directions) and 2) they didn't want to put any effort or personal expense into winning the competition. I fully support the committee's decisions in the contest with the only exception being the post-launch rule change. It feels to me like I could have stayed in my chair the entire time since my camera is within reach of my keyboard. Instead I went through the process of sizing the image to the proper dimensions for the purpose I had in mind, changed the yellow cartridge on my plotter, printed the image, trimmed the excess paper precisely and attached it a surface that required I actually leave my home.

I congratulate the winner, it is not the winner that I am dissatisfied with, in fact I am not dissatisfied with the selection committee, I am merely displeased that the rules were altered after entries were being created and submitted.

[Crumb]

Liked it!!! No disappointments in the random draw, that's the best way to do these. I don't know if you followed the gadgeteer's site, but that process of elim would have made me upset if I made it in the TOP 25...then TOP 12....Then TOP 6....TOP 3, and then ended up with nothing. Quick and easy get-r-done with random. I should have redone my picture, oh well I thought it was funny.
I had fun playing (but not stayin' up til 1:30) : ^ )
*Awaiting next contest*

[admin]

All valid points and will be taken into consideration if and when we do this again. We are not professionals at running contests. It's very difficult to try and forsee every issue that may arise.

I was frankly surprised at the number of people that don't have printers. The main premise of the contest was that we wanted an original photograph or video containing the logo. The reason we didn't allow photo editing is there would have been people altering copyrighted pictures without permission, and other issues. We wanted people to have fun taking and looking at the pictures so we asked the logo be taken somewhere interesting, exciting, or strange.

We didn't want to award the notebook to the best writer, or the person with the best Photoshop skills. We chose to make or contest open to the majority of people that wanted to participate. I'm not a big fan of the contests that make you answer site specific questions, provide content, or prove you're a quality member.

[Otto28]

i enjoyed taking part in this contest. my opinion is a little different than some mentioned above. i actually applaud you for setting criteria for the contest and following through just as planned. i didnt see anything that was misleading or unclear, the rules were simple and simple to follow. i didnt see any "creativity" requirement for the top prize. i did see creativity encouraged through the offering of an awesome secondary prize. [bleep], if it werent for the mother of all laptops being up for grabs the Vista prize would have been more than sufficient to catch my attention and lead me to enter for it. it was a nice touch to encourage people to put a little thought into their submission.

the random drawing aspect takes a huge burden off the adminsitrators of the contest. creativity is a very subjective term. as one persons trash is another persons treasure. you have only to look at one of the other sites where the "best" entry was determined by a single person or a team to see what backlash takes place when everyone, excepting the winner, feels that their entry was the superior entry. at one site the contest judge posted that she would not answer the all emails demanding to know why their submission was not chosen.

sometimes its easier to just roll the dice and accept the outcome than to pour time, money and effort into something that is "judged" and coming up short (devastaing to self-esteem) if you look at the total number of entries for this contest you had an outstanding shot at winning compared to other contests where fate ultimatley decides the winner. but alas, there can only be one.

try to be happy that you had a shot and an opportunity to enter the contest at all. there are still other chances to win this prize, take advantage of those opportunities. look at the entries at this site and let them inspire your creativity in the event that another participating site is looking for creative entries.

its a prize worth trying for, so stay positive and keep giving it your all, who knows, the next one could be yours (but you will have to beat ME to get it, lol)

i hope to see you all, right here, after the dust settles and at the other sites participating in the contest. good luck to everyone!

[Tokar]

the random drawing aspect takes a huge burden off the adminsitrators of the contest. creativity is a very subjective term. as one persons trash is another persons treasure. you have only to look at one of the other sites where the "best" entry was determined by a single person or a team to see what backlash takes place when everyone, excepting the winner, feels that their entry was the superior entry. at one site the contest judge posted that she would not answer the all emails demanding to know why their submission was not chosen.

Valid point indeed, but if you look at most of the pictures submitted just ask yourself how long it would have taken you to make that same picture (excluding images which you obviously cant make. for example, i dont have a dog or cat so me taking a picture of a dog or cat with the logo is out of the question) and that should give you an idea of the effort and creativity the user put in. It doesnt take much effort to print the picture and paste it somewhere like your fridge, on a roadsign, a park sign, an animal, a part of a person's body, etc. It does take some effort and creativity to resize the logo, cut the logo, magnify it, color it, reflect it, light it, etc. do whatever to represent the image you have in your head.

So sure, one man's trash is another man's treasure, but it doesn't take a rocket scientist to recognize when someone put in effort and creativity...

Edited by Tokar, 21 May 2008 - 05:05 PM.

[Iceman2526]

I liked the contest it was fun and somthing everybody could do.

I didn't like that the entries were chosen by random, I think somebody who worked hard trying to get the name out should of got the laptop.

Just keep the contests fun and and maybe require a little more effort.

Yes!!! keep the contests going.


overall, great job on the contest