Ethics and Morality Among Those Who Enter Giveaways
Good morning everyone! Our topic today is going to be a “hot button” issue but it is one that needs to be spotlighted and discussed. While it is okay to disagree with my opinion, I respectfully request that you do so in an adult-like and professional manner.
Today’s Topic: Just like all of you…I enjoy entering giveaways. Matter of fact, I was entering giveaways online for 4 years before Chris and I started this blog almost 5 years ago. Am I a professional “sweeper”…no! I enter only a few a day and my husband enters a few every day. For us, it is just a relaxing hobby that we enjoy doing during our downtime. With that said, I have some things I want to vent about today.
1. Winning Multiples of the Same Item in One Week – This has happened to us numerous times and we did the ethical and moral thing by only accepting one and asking the blogger to select a new winner for the duplicates. Companies want one person to win one item and they want those exact other items to go into different people’s hands so that they can try the products too. They don’t do blogger outreach programs so that one winner can win 15 of their bed sheets in one given week. That is just plain wrong and I implore you to do the right thing by giving up the multiple wins. It is the RIGHT THING TO DO PEOPLE!
2. Stop The Cheating! – There is way too much cheating going on! We deal with that on a daily basis on this blog! I am sorry but in plain English our Mandatory Entry requests you to visit the sponsor’s site & to come back & tell us another product (specific name) that you like or something you learned. Every day we deal with people who put bullshit entries in like “I want to win”, “I need new socks” or “My son likes hoagies”….whatever! That sponsor is generously offering up a prize and it only takes a few minutes to visit their site. The cheating is out of control and its mostly b/c many bloggers are allowing cheaters to get away with this nonsense. It has to stop. I implore bloggers to double check & triple check entries and to stop allowing cheaters to win!
3. Emailing Bloggers Rude Things – Oh yeah, this is a hot button with us now! Don’t email us to complain & whine that you don’t win on our blog. You have a fair shot just like everyone else who completes the entries correctly. Most of these “rude” emails come from people who ONLY enter the giveaways the last few hours that it is open. Obviously, those who regularly read your blog & enter them every day accumulate more entries into that giveaway than you, so they have a higher chance of winning. Get it together people!
4. Rude Responses to Winner Email Notifications – We put a lot of time and effort into running a tight ship here and we run our blog like a business, not like a hobby. We work hard to bring you unique items from new sponsors not seen elsewhere. We get tired of emailing winners and only to have them respond with just their name & address. That’s right, they can’t even say THANK YOU for hosting it, or THANK YOU for your hard work. They just hit reply, type in their address and hit send. How about a few Thank You’s coming our way? That would be nice!
5. Don’t Threaten Us – It is not our fault when a sponsor doesn’t follow through or doesn’t mail out your prize in a timely manner. We do EVERYTHING we can to help you get your prize. That includes emailing sponsors a hundred times, calling them via phone when appropriate, etc. However, if a sponsor “stiffs” on a prize, it is NOT our fault. Don’t email us or call us and threaten us with your garbage. We do what we can and that is it. Threatening us in any way will not be tolerated.
6. Abusive & Foul Language – If we email you about an entry problem we are doing so out of common & professional courtesy. Do not respond to that email calling us “Unclassy bitches” and telling us to “Kiss your ass” and that we have a “crappy blog”. Well, if you really felt that way…why were you over here entering the giveaways and trying to cheat on them? Really? Whatever. Yes folks, this just happened to us a few days ago where someone fired off an email to us and calling us all kinds of foul & abusive names. Whatever, they can go elsewhere with their nonsense.
As you can see, we have had a lot of garbage recently dished our way and we will not tolerate it. We appreciate each & every one of you who come to this blog to read it and/or enter the giveaways. All we ask is that you do so fairly (with no cheating) and to be respectful to us and your fellow blog readers!!!
Okay, I am done venting for today. Let’s get to the winners and there are a lot of them!