No fandago for me please!  I can't use them.  I traded my last one with a friend for his Restaurant.com card that he couldn't use in his area.

I know that is unrelated, but wanted to throw this out there :)  While I love Target and Amazon, I don't love Fandago (which I can't use at all in my area) or Restaurant.com (which has limited not-so-good choices).  Of course, Visa Gift cards are the best ;)  I'll take cash anyday!

I unfortunately didn't even try for the badge in this case.  We got the announcement on Thurs, same day my sister had a baby.  So that kept me busy for three days, and now i think it ends today?  I had no time.  I would suggest future contests have a bit more warning.

It ends on the 15th at least I think. I was wrong about the rules too so.....

PattyTherre said…

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.

 

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Give Laurie our best wishes and that we are pulling for her.

Thank you so much Anna. She's scared but ready to do this. The operation is hours hours long and recovery will be at least a year but she has to do it. Her spine is a mess. I think they are removing 3 or 4 discs and replacing them with bone and metal! I will definitely pass on your (and the other people who mentioned it) good wishes to her.

MRSverret said…

It ends on the 15th at least I think. I was wrong about the rules too so.....

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You weren't wrong. It was just mega confusing. It is the 15th but I don't know if it is through Thursday until the end of the day or what. I COULD in theory look at the rules but I'm too lazy.

I do think that by putting in a character/word count AND limited categories that it will really deter a lot of cheap reviews. 

For me personally, I wouldn't review a product I hadn't used.  My only exceptions would be something like a men's cologne that I love on "him" and have interviewed him about.  Since women buy many men's frangrances, and I certainly have an opinion about it, I feel that what I have to add is valid.  But like Patty said, at the end of the day, all of the reviews we write will be under our name and we have to be confident about them.

I must have mis-read.  I thought it was the 12th :)  Well... can I pump out 10 reviews in 2 days?  Hmmmm..  I actually have a lot of Home and Garden products b/c I haven't reviewed most of the stuff we got for our wedding 2 years ago - and Bed Bath and Beyond still sells all of it. 

We'll see, I'm going to see my nephew and new niece tonight so I won't be home again.  Who knows :)  Funny thing is, I'll probably write 10 over this coming weekend if I don't get to them now!

Oh and Patty, good luck to your sister.  I didn't know anything was going on!  I'm always out of the loop.  I'm sure everything will go great!!

It really depends for me.  I wouldn't review a Digital Camera I hadn't used... but I would review something my husband uses if I know a lot about it (like a video game he plays and tells me ALL about every day... haha).  I would, of course, preface it with that fact.  Since my husband doesn't write reviews, and my future kids won't be writing reviews, I will review things they use - but like I said only if I feel I know a lot about it and have information to share.

But in all those cases, I would probably use it before reviewing, even if just to play around and see what it's all about first hand.

Wow!  This is very interesting to see what people are thinking about the Holiday Helper badge and to me quite entertaining for several reasons:

I didn't even consider the sweepstakes criteria because I, like Patty, was just wanting to earn the Holidy Helper Badge to add to my collection.  I also had another incentive to write a lot of reviews quickly.  I have a lot going on this month so I figured I could knock out my reviews and not be stressing toward the end of the month to meet the writer's obligation.  Many times if I take a day off work I will dedicate it to writing reviews and I also do a lot of my reviews on the weekends.

I for one know that I put a lot of thought into my reviews and who would argue that when I found out there was a 150,000 character limit on reviews after I tried to publish a really lengthy one on my favorite horse movies.

Quality versus quantity will always be an issue because there are so many producing soundbites only or one or two liners and then we wonder what it was we read.  And I get frustrated just knowing that there is still a copycat at Viewpoints and in the past did receive a reward but in the end I just chalked it up to the powers that be deeming that individual the winner.

Right now it's difficult to be positive because there are so many quirks with the site.  I don't want to post a lot of reviews that can't be read/rated.  Who's going to go back once all the kinks are fixed and reread/rate again?  So many of my reviews aren't fairing well in ratings right now and that is discouraging.

And like AnnaBanana said, it's hard to be very enthusiastic about a holiday helper contest one week in October.  I would have liked for it to go longer just to get us in the spirit of the season.

To everyone who participates at Viewpoints, thanks!  You're contributing your best and that's all anyone can ask of you!     

GigiandAdonai said…

Right now it's difficult to be positive because there are so many quirks with the site.  I don't want to post a lot of reviews that can't be read/rated.  Who's going to go back once all the kinks are fixed and reread/rate again?  So many of my reviews aren't fairing well in ratings right now and that is discouraging.

And like AnnaBanana said, it's hard to be very enthusiastic about a holiday helper contest one week in October.  I would have liked for it to go longer just to get us in the spirit of the season.

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You guys address some important points!

First, delays and freezing screens with commenting and voting seems to be fixed in all browsers at this point. You should not experience wonkiness there but of course, if you do, please just let us know when, what you were doing and what browser. (Sorry, sounding like a broken record here.)

Also, we will be running Holiday themed promotions for the remainder of the year! So even if it feels weird to be talking Holiday right now - we will continue the festivities later too. Our thoughts were to go ahead and compile Helpful Holiday reviews now so shoppers (meaning ALL OF US!) can use them in the coming months while making decisions on gifts to buy.

I am new to viewpoints but I have done 12 reviews. I was interested in the Holiday Helper title but I have been hitting that I was affiliated with the company, blah blah blah. How do I change that? Can I even do it? Sorry, I'm new and little off lol...Thanks!

You can edit any review even after you have posted it just by going back and choosing the edit option.  I've always just said I write for Viewpoints because I do but I make it clear that I am not an employee of Viewpoints.  Does that make sense?  There are some paid writers and others who write just to be contributing but we just don't represent ourselves as employees of the company.  However, when I post a review I will put a link on my profile at Twitter and say something to the effects that I just "Published/posted" MY review on said item...I don't think that is misleading because I have always made it clear to family and friends that I have a REAL job and writing for Viewpoints is just something I do on the side.

October is the time when people start shopping for Christmas. Heck, even I am ...sorta. I think it's a perfect time for adding content, especially stuff that people may want to buy as gifts. You should see a spike in your reads soon as shoppers start their searches and researches.

As far as Sjperry1985's issue, you can edit your reviews and just click the NO thing when it asks about affiliation. I don't believe that getting a sample or whatever would make you ineligible anyway. But fixing the issue is painless. Good luck and I hope you get your badge!

been trying all DAY to use the site with lots of up and downs! glad to hear it is all hopefully fixed and now am off to see if it all runs smoothly for me. 

PattyTherre said…

October is the time when people start shopping for Christmas. Heck, even I am ...sorta. I think it's a perfect time for adding content, especially stuff that people may want to buy as gifts. You should see a spike in your reads soon as shoppers start their searches and researches.

As far as Sjperry1985's issue, you can edit your reviews and just click the NO thing when it asks about affiliation. I don't believe that getting a sample or whatever would make you ineligible anyway. But fixing the issue is painless. Good luck and I hope you get your badge!

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I've already bought my older sister's Christmas gift; now all I need is to get my mom's and a few gifts for a few online buddies and I'm done.

PattyTherre said…

October is the time when people start shopping for Christmas. Heck, even I am ...sorta. I think it's a perfect time for adding content, especially stuff that people may want to buy as gifts. You should see a spike in your reads soon as shoppers start their searches and researches.

As far as Sjperry1985's issue, you can edit your reviews and just click the NO thing when it asks about affiliation. I don't believe that getting a sample or whatever would make you ineligible anyway. But fixing the issue is painless. Good luck and I hope you get your badge!

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Thank you very much!

I like these sweepstakes. I don't have kids and use only one kind of make-up, so I don't really have products in the key categories that often. I save up ones I have in key categories for when the sweepstakes come along.

Sometimes, though it IS frustrating when I do write a detailed review in one of those categories, and it comes out to like 825 characters. I don't know how much more I can say about the earbuds, and it's SO close to 900 characters! I feel it does compromise my review to ADD 75 characters, but it's so close! Should I leave my review as-is? If I wasn't going to win anything, then I would leave out the extra 75 characters.

I don't know if that compromises my integrity, but that's what I do. i wouldn't add 200 characters worth of crap, but when it's really close like that, I stretch it out.

Well we decided to cut out all Christmas gifts starting this year except the kids under 18.  My mom told me the last few years that we could stop anytime, so with all the kids popping into the picture, my husband and I finally got "bored" with getting gifts.  It's less exciting to get presents once you have a lot of the things you want!  

While I will still LOVE Christmas, I don't need presents anymore.  Plus with the economy, I don't think people should be buying us stuff we don't really need.

Bringing this back on topic - this could actually be a reason to pop up more reviews here on low cost ideas!  Do you have something you love in your home that is currently on sale or is already a good price?  Let people know about it!  Not everyone needs to spend 100s on presents :)

I say go ahead and add the extra sentance or two to make it 900.  You will learn that there are actually MANY things to be said about any product once you really get into reviewing :)  Trust me, I've been doing it for 10 years!  

Earbuds: Are they comfortable? Portable? What do they look like? How do they sound? In comparison to other Earbuds? Are they expensive? 

It gets easier when you learn to ask yourself the right questions.

vivasuzi said…

I say go ahead and add the extra sentance or two to make it 900.  You will learn that there are actually MANY things to be said about any product once you really get into reviewing :)  Trust me, I've been doing it for 10 years!  

Earbuds: Are they comfortable? Portable? What do they look like? How do they sound? In comparison to other Earbuds? Are they expensive? 

It gets easier when you learn to ask yourself the right questions.

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You're so right. I have never been at a loss for words for anything as my reviews show. lol. But I think the same way - what would a person who knows nothing about this product need to know? What's important to mention? What's maybe not THAT important to mention but sets the review apart from run of the mill website descriptions? When I start describing my experience with a product, I have to shut myself up!

I could write 500 words on a safety pin without blinking. But I've been writing reviews for so long, it's all second nature to touch upon things that maybe others don't. I don't know if people like that or not but at least we have short and long reviews here so there is something for every reader!

VivaSuzi I think you bring up an important point about the "little things" that we may not usually review but always and in this economy especially, people are looking for inexpensive gifts and stocking stuffers too.  That was my thought when I reviewed an inexpensive bottle of body powder.

I think if we all focus on the "helper" in the Holiday Helper badge, then all will be well. Pitcher Day, I am with VivaSuzi along the lines of what would be '"helpful?" I don't own any earbuds so I am wondering... how do you clean them?  You can increase your word count by replacing "ear bud" with the entire name like "Angela's Magic Ear Buds" as often as possible without being obnoxious.  You can do it!

The little things are often the hardest ideas to come up with too!  My husband and I ONLY do stocking stuffers for eachother and I have a tough time coming up with enough to stuff it with (inexpensively), so would love some reviews to point me to ideas :)

Pitcher Day - here's my final tip... when in doubt, send it to one of us and we will ask you some questions that you can answer in your review :-D  Sometimes if you use something all the time, it's hard to think of what other people want to know.  So we are all here to help you!

That's a great idea. We are always here to help and we try not to interfere with people's reviews or what they have to say but we certainly can come up with questions we would the answers to! I sometimes read reviews (Not by anyone in particular and not necessarily here) that leave me knowing the reviewer loved it and that it was the best product of its kind but not why. And not whether it would be good for me by telling me their (hair color, skin type, personal preference, whatever). It really helps to tell people the type of person you are (I know we have I AM tags but try to incorporate those into the review) so that the reader can relate - or not.

Saying, "I'm very into floral fragrances..." would tell me right away that the person who loves the perfume they are reviewing probably loves the floral scent. I hate floral scents. So even though they rated it 5 stars, it wouldn't be me.

Little snippets of who you are help so much to give readers a snapshot of the reviewer.

What a lovely hubbub!  I'm just hoping to make it to ten.  Thought the monetary incentive might help me write faster, but I like doing research and will be happy if I get a badge.

In the meantime, this discussion has stimulate me further.  Maybe I'll make it to... ELEVEN!!!

I'll be doing good to get the 10 done for the HH badge.  I think I'm there or almost.  I'm a little dingy taking all this new medicine.  But hey, I'm home more this week with working mostly half days instead of all day :)

this2shallpass19 said…

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.

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I so agree. I could write 15 reviews in 30 minutes if they were exactly 200 words and I didn't put in any thought to them. At least they have to be 200 words - sigh - but Jolie and Meredith are really open to suggestions. If we write here that it shouldn't be quantity then maybe it will get changed.

Well, (whew!) I just made it to 10.  But who, of us competitive souls, is going to have time to read?  Can I entice anyone with Waterford Crystal ornaments or Mossimo tissue tees?  Good luck to all you achievers.  My house is terribly dusty, but I think this has been fun!

GigiandAdonai said…

Wow!  This is very interesting to see what people are thinking about the Holiday Helper badge and to me quite entertaining for several reasons:

I didn't even consider the sweepstakes criteria because I, like Patty, was just wanting to earn the Holidy Helper Badge to add to my collection.  I also had another incentive to write a lot of reviews quickly.  I have a lot going on this month so I figured I could knock out my reviews and not be stressing toward the end of the month to meet the writer's obligation.  Many times if I take a day off work I will dedicate it to writing reviews and I also do a lot of my reviews on the weekends.

I for one know that I put a lot of thought into my reviews and who would argue that when I found out there was a 150,000 character limit on reviews after I tried to publish a really lengthy one on my favorite horse movies.

Quality versus quantity will always be an issue because there are so many producing soundbites only or one or two liners and then we wonder what it was we read.  And I get frustrated just knowing that there is still a copycat at Viewpoints and in the past did receive a reward but in the end I just chalked it up to the powers that be deeming that individual the winner.

Right now it's difficult to be positive because there are so many quirks with the site.  I don't want to post a lot of reviews that can't be read/rated.  Who's going to go back once all the kinks are fixed and reread/rate again?  So many of my reviews aren't fairing well in ratings right now and that is discouraging.

And like AnnaBanana said, it's hard to be very enthusiastic about a holiday helper contest one week in October.  I would have liked for it to go longer just to get us in the spirit of the season.

To everyone who participates at Viewpoints, thanks!  You're contributing your best and that's all anyone can ask of you!     

 

I'm such a painstakingly slow writer - not to mention a wordy one - that I might as well assure the competitive reviewers among us that this reviewer is not going to even try for the Holiday Helper badge.  The deadline and review-submission requirements are daunting, plus since I'm kind of a Books and Movies guy,  I'd be very hard pressed to write the requisite number of reviews in the Categories that do count toward the badge.......

You could write on your Star Wars collectibles and put them under toys for the special promos.  Like the new 5 for $5 Fandago card.

I also write a lot on movies, music and books but I balance it well with health and beauty, and home.  I'm thinking I might try to review some of my boardgames that I play so much I could review easily.  

I wish the Holiday Helper badge could be red to set it off from the other badges.  Red is a Christmasy color.  What do you think?