The rules said something about them reading them and deleting any that were not within the rules, not on real products, etc.  This is why it usually takes time for prizes to be awarded after a contest.

Well I'm not saying anyone is, but someone could easily bullsh*t a million reviews just to win the contest since it is based on numbers and not quality.  How does Viewpoints know someone actually uses the product they are reviewing?  They don't.  I just think the contest should be won by writing good, helpful reviews in the needed categories or by a random selection, not by writing the most reviews.  I guess I need to get cracking!

Yeah I agree with you.  I have sent feedback in already about that (should be a sweepstakes rather than most reviews).  But my reasons were more that I just don't have the time to write as many as I know some others can, so why would I try?

In the other related thread, some have also given the same feedback as you so I'm sure VP will ready this all and think about it for the next contest.

There is always the potential for gaming when it comes to contests where quantity counts over quality or chance. I am not a fan of "the most" type sweepstakes. I do know VP wants fresh content as the holiday season approaches but if they get skewed ratings because people are writing reviews on stuff they don't have, how reliable will we really be?

I guess all we can do is to try to read and rate and earmark not helpful reviews and gibberish type stuff. The longer length requirement was very smart though. People will have to say something about the product and will have to know at least a little about it. They can't just say "I love this. It's so good." and make that count as a review.

Let's just hope we and VP can weed out the crud.

this2shallpass19 said…

Well I'm not saying anyone is, but someone could easily bullsh*t a million reviews just to win the contest since it is based on numbers and not quality.  How does Viewpoints know someone actually uses the product they are reviewing?  They don't.  I just think the contest should be won by writing good, helpful reviews in the needed categories or by a random selection, not by writing the most reviews.  I guess I need to get cracking!

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I agree with you 100%. The items being reviewed should be something the reviewer uses, owns, likes, dislikes etc. I can punch out a bunch of stuff but I want and do write about the things I have and use in my life every day. I think the catagories shouldn't be limited either, it stunts what people can write about. those with a lot of time on their hands can write all day about anything they want. it doesn't seem very balanced.

I guess I just feel a little jilted and unappreciated because I put a LOT of time, effort and research into my reviews, and to think that someone could win by just writing the most, not necessarily the best, is disturbing.  Not that I am claiming to write the best, but I do put a lot into my reviews.

The cats are limited for contests because that is what people are searching and what brings in the revenue. I see this at another site too. Some categories just don't perform as well with click throughs and revenue although many of my exercise gadget and DVD reviews have a gazillion reads. But maybe no one clicked through to buy or to see more. That's how VP makes money and so, they want content in the money making areas during these content contests.*

Also, if this were a month long contest, I would be upset about the aspect of giving an award to whomever writes the most but it's only a week and it's really not a big deal. I have never yet won ANY sweepstakes here regardless of how it was to be won so I guess I just go with the flow. I'll be glad when the week is up (Thursday in this case) and we can go back to not thinking about the contest.

* This is just my summation from being on another review site for almost 10 years and from what I know about click throughs and conversion rates.

Does VP hold a lot of these kinds of contests?

ApriBambino said…

Does VP hold a lot of these kinds of contests?

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Generally NOT contests that you win by writing the most. In fact, if I recall, this is the first one since the infamous 2007 one. I'm still not recovered from that.

Usually it is a random sweepstakes for people who write in a certain area, about certain brands, or sometimes just site wide. Often you will get a gift card like the Fandango one or the new Target one for writing 5 reviews in certain categories.

I don't believe we have had a "whoever writes the most reviews" type contest before (except for the one that was before we were truly Viewpoints).

I wish I had found VP sooner, I find myself gravitating to it more every day, and I love a good contest too lol.

PattyTherre said…

The cats are limited for contests because that is what people are searching and what brings in the revenue. I see this at another site too. Some categories just don't perform as well with click throughs and revenue although many of my exercise gadget and DVD reviews have a gazillion reads. But maybe no one clicked through to buy or to see more. That's how VP makes money and so, they want content in the money making areas during these content contests.*

Also, if this were a month long contest, I would be upset about the aspect of giving an award to whomever writes the most but it's only a week and it's really not a big deal. I have never yet won ANY sweepstakes here regardless of how it was to be won so I guess I just go with the flow. I'll be glad when the week is up (Thursday in this case) and we can go back to not thinking about the contest.

* This is just my summation from being on another review site for almost 10 years and from what I know about click throughs and conversion rates.

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I hear you, Patty, but I'm on a different tack.  I think they should have made it a MUCH longer contest, through the end of the year.  Then people wouldn't be rushing around (maybe even just rehashing the info in other people's reviews) and everyone would have had more time to really be inspired and really try things.  What's the point of a Christmas contest that lasts one week in October?

DUHHHHHHHH!

I hope they review the content of the reviews too. I also put a lot of time and effort into my reviews and it would disturb me if someone was just putting out junk won.  Anyone here could write a lot of reviews but for them to be well written and informative is another thing.  Hopefully VP will do a good job with awarding the winners and weeding out all of the garbage.

I hear ya! I won't lower my standards for any contest. Long after it is over, my reviews will remain and I need to be proud of them. I have not changed anything about how I write including adding as many pics as I can and giving as much info as I can.

I really believe those who care will keep up their level of quality writing regardless of a possible prize. The ones I worry about are the ones who come here just for the contest and don't really care about quality. They are as eligible as anyone to win as long as they write a review on a real product in the right categories that is over 900 characters long and isn't complete gibberish.

I think high quality writing rewards itself. You can be proud that you're giving your all and that your body of work is impressive. Really, that is just so much more admirable than lowering your standards to try to win a gift card, IMHO.

PattyTherre said…

I hear ya! I won't lower my standards for any contest. Long after it is over, my reviews will remain and I need to be proud of them. I have not changed anything about how I write including adding as many pics as I can and giving as much info as I can.

I really believe those who care will keep up their level of quality writing regardless of a possible prize. The ones I worry about are the ones who come here just for the contest and don't really care about quality. They are as eligible as anyone to win as long as they write a review on a real product in the right categories that is over 900 characters long and isn't complete gibberish.

I think high quality writing rewards itself. You can be proud that you're giving your all and that your body of work is impressive. Really, that is just so much more admirable than lowering your standards to try to win a gift card, IMHO.

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With regard to what you said about "high quality writing rewards itself", I think that is why I am so annoyed with this contest being based on numbers and not quality.  I am passionate and proud of the reviews I write.  They are a reminder of things I have tried and places I have been to.  I put my all in a review, and it would be so disappointing to me if someone to won that didn't put their all in their reviews or is just writing for the sole purpose of winning a contest.  At the end of the day, I am happy with the reviews I have written and I do have to thank VP for giving me a place to do that.

I've noticed both on this site and on others that ALL the contests and awards seem to be based either on sheer chance (sweepstakes) or quantity.  On Associated Content, the awards they give seem to be based on numbers of page views.

That's what was nice about the "Simple Thanks" prize.  I felt that that was a salute to the quality and integrity of a writer and not just how much he or she wrote.

We are filtering out bogus, inappropriate and/or false reviews that do not meet qualifiers.

Access official rules here and from your My Home page (lower, right side column)

Entry: You can participate in the "Become a Holiday Helper" program in the following way: Submit ten (10) *qualifying reviews to Viewpoints.com between Oct 8, 2009 (12:01 AM Central time) and October 15, 2009 (11:59 PM Central time) and earn a Holiday Helper badge.

Write the most qualifying reviews within the given time period and receive a prize. Winners will be selected based on the volume of reviews written in aggregate throughout the promotion. There will be first, second, third, and fourth place prizes as follows:

1st place wrote the most reviews in the given week and receives a $200 Visa gift card

2nd place wrote the second most reviews in the give week and receives a $150 Visa gift card

3rd place wrote the third most reviews in the given week and receives a $100 Visa gift card

4th place wrote the fourth most reviews in the give week and received a $50 Visa gift card

*Qualifying reviews are a minimum of 900 characters, fall within the below categories and must be posted in the give time frame stated above. (900 characters is roughly 150-200 words. The character counter provided on the review form will show the count as you type your review.)

*Qualifying reviews must be submitted on a product in these (8) categories: Baby, Beauty, Clothing, Computers, Electronics, Health, Home & Garden, and Toys. Reviews in the Auto, Books & Magazines, Education, Finance, Food/Drink, Local, Music & Arts, Movies, Office, Pets, Travel, Miscellaneous and Websites categories are ineligible under this Promotion.

Each review must be original content and uniquely created for Viewpoints.com and cannot be copied from any other online source. All reviews must be of actual products. Inappropriate, bogus or false reviews are ineligible and removed.

I think contest ideas like this are fun.  There is no downside to it, and it provides an opportunity for people to have a lot of fun within the parameters of the contest.  It's just a contest, and its not the end of the world to not win it.  I think everyone should just take a step back and try enjoy it for what it is.  Nobody is being jilted or anything like that with this contest.  It's just something different to offer an incentive for a bunch of reviews now, rather than later.  ViewPoints makes their revenue in part from having reviews, and there are some people who can write them very quickly.  Why not offer extra incentive to get more reviews up quicker?  It's just a great business decision.

Also, just because someone can write quickly, does not mean they didn't put a ton of thought into the review.  Everyone has a different method of writing, so lets hold off on attacking those that can create a ton of output in a short amount of time.

Good luck to everyone in the contest!  I for one hope that this isn't the end of contests simply because a few people are complaining they can't do it. 

SpokaneMan said…

I think contest ideas like this are fun.  There is no downside to it, and it provides an opportunity for people to have a lot of fun within the parameters of the contest.  It's just a contest, and its not the end of the world to not win it.  I think everyone should just take a step back and try enjoy it for what it is.  Nobody is being jilted or anything like that with this contest.  It's just something different to offer an incentive for a bunch of reviews now, rather than later.  ViewPoints makes their revenue in part from having reviews, and there are some people who can write them very quickly.  Why not offer extra incentive to get more reviews up quicker?  It's just a great business decision.

Also, just because someone can write quickly, does not mean they didn't put a ton of thought into the review.  Everyone has a different method of writing, so lets hold off on attacking those that can create a ton of output in a short amount of time.

Good luck to everyone in the contest!  I for one hope that this isn't the end of contests simply because a few people are complaining they can't do it. 

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SpokaneMan,

I hope you are not accusing me of attacking someone, because I haven't.  I don't believe anyone on this thread has "attacked" anyone that I am aware of.  I haven't said one negative thing about anyone, just that quality should count, not quantity.  It would be unfair to award a prize to someone that might not be legitimately writing reviews.  If someone can write the most reviews for this contest and do it quickly, more power to them.  I am not slamming anyone that can do that.  It is my opinion that a contest ran by numbers and not quality, is not best for the review writers, but you're right - it's good for business. 

I am grateful to belong to a site that even gives out prizes, whether or not I win them.  It's a great site and I wasn't complaining, just making sure integrity remains in the review since that is the foundation of this website.

I think we need to just give the employees of ViewPoints the benefit of the doubt here, because I haven't seen them do anything wrong during any of their drawings or contests over the years.  Thus I don't have any reason to think that the integrity of current contests should be questioned.  There is no reason to be "annoyed" that this is a contest based on output, and maybe a deep breathe just needs to be taken.  Have fun!  :)  There is no reason to be stressed out about something hypothetical.   When the four people who win this contest are awarded their prizes, I will cheer on their efforts, rather than complain about the parameters that helped them win.

I don't think you read a word I wrote, because I surely haven't complained about the "parameters that helped them win".  I encourage everyone to write the most reviews quickly.  There weren't any complaints about anyone who can do that.  I believe I said - "More power to them". 

I love ViewPoints and everyone should know by now that I love to write a review but if this contest is only going to last a week, I think I will take a pass on it. 

As we say on "Winster", HAGN (Have a Good Night) and GL (Good Luck) to all.

I stepped up to the challenge of 10 reviews in specific categories for the Holiday Helper badge.  That was something that I could handle.

I simply can't compete in the contest for # of reviews, because, after 600+ reviews, I'm running out of things to review! If it was open to any category, I might be a contender as I'm just getting into reviewing foods/spices and I always have new pet products to review.  For now, I'm just happy to have hit the benchmark for the HH badge. 

I'll keep reviewing b/c I enjoy checking the yearly, 30-day, and lifelong stats each morning.  I'm not writing for the HH contest.

That's the thing -- it's not that it is that hard to write ten reviews but a lot of us have already shot our wad for a while.  Five maybe I could have come up with but after that the pickings would be slim at least for those categories.

this2shallpass19 said…

 I encourage everyone to write the most reviews quickly.  

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Me too!  Good luck to everyone, including you "this2shallpass19", in your quest to win one of the prizes.

Off subject here, but I love Winster! Thanks for letting me know what HAGN is! I have only been there a few weeks and love it. There are other abbreviations they use that I have no idea what they mean.

I saw the contest and had high hopes, but don't think I can even make it to 10. Only reason I have what I do is I have replaced some things recently and my daughter is having a baby and buying her gifts. Can't really write on the blankets and things, I won't be using them. The toys I have played with. Love to play with toys. Don't lie some of you do too. I get my grandchildren toys for Christmas, they are usually played with first. Got to make sure they work and are fun.

SpokaneMan said…

this2shallpass19 said…

 I encourage everyone to write the most reviews quickly.  

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Me too!  Good luck to everyone, including you "this2shallpass19", in your quest to win one of the prizes.

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I am no longer participating in the contest to win a giftcard, but thank you for the well wishes, I appreciate it! 

I totally am posting a bunch of reviews. I have the stuff so I am posting reviews of it. I normally wouldn't review clothing items because I figure who really cares but if that's a category that they want reviews in, I got the goods! But I was busy all day today, will be busy until late tomorrow night, and my sister is having surgery Wednesday and I will be there with the kids so I won't have the time to even try to win. But I always like to rise to challenges although I never have been able to beat a certain few people here who can write great reviews in like four seconds each.

Here's to the  future winners and to those who stepped up and will get a badge. And to sweepstakes that are for different things in the future so that everyone has a chance if they choose to participate. I'm burning out myself writing reviews and I have other work I must do as well so I see myself slip sliding away from the contest but it's fun getting the extra points anyway.

I had no chance with the Moen contest (No Moen stuff that I know of), no chance in the electronics contest (I have them but have a hard time reviewing them), and no chance in others but I am happy for those who win. The Fandango and Target card things are sweet and I hope we get more of those. I'll take $5.00 in any way I can get it. lol.

Here's to the  future winners and to those who stepped up and will get a badge. And to sweepstakes that are for different things in the future so that everyone has a chance if they choose to participate. I'm burning out myself writing reviews and I have other work I must do as well so I see myself slip sliding away from the contest but it's fun getting the extra points anyway.

The Fandango and Target card things are sweet and I hope we get more of those. I'll take $5.00 in any way I can get it. lol.

 

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I totally agree with everything you said!  Well put Patty!  Good luck!