Why doesn't anyone bother with forum contests anymore?

Corzhens

I am not keen in online contest but in forums, I take time to read the mechanics and evaluate my chances. If the contest is good then I will surely join. I don’t think it is the prize that matters much because we know that forum members understand the purpose of the contest which is for fun. And maybe some of them have joined forum contests before that did not deliver with the promised prize hence they have lost faith in such activity. But for me, I will still join because that is one way of supporting the forum.

9 years ago

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Martinsx1

Personally, I would think it's a very bad reputation that a forum owner would be creating for himself and his forum by not delivering the promised prize at the end of the contest. It's likely to make some of the participants lose faith in the forum and probably not engage in any contest ever hosted on the forum.

9 years ago

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vinaya

I think people care about forum contests. However, you don't see a lot of participation because there are no active members on the forum and the admin is also not promoting the forum to bring more members. I once participated in forum contests and won 8 contests worth $10 each. I lost only once. There were only handful of participants.

9 years ago

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Martinsx1

Wow! Wining on a 8 straight consecutive times on forum contest, that's incredible. I think it's the best record of have seen so far. Maybe it's probably as you pointed out that the reason behind your success is wining always is as a result of few participants. Anyways congratulations on your success record, it's pretty amazing.

9 years ago

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vinaya

I won because there was no competition at all. LOL
The contest was to post the maximum number of threads and replies. I think there were only 8-10 participants who were actively participating in posting. I think the contest did not help the owner, she shut the forum.

9 years ago

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AmieBotella

i suppose the reason why few people participate is because few active forum members are aware of these contests. And I suppose probably most people too think that they just ought to sell what they have somewhere than participate in one. Sometimes when your hands are full and you need to do a lot of things to gain, then joining contests will be on the last on your list of things to do.

9 years ago

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Steve5

This is probably true. It's been a while since the last contest I joined.

Not everyone is going to see the contest so it would help if you had an announcement long before it begins. Like maybe a few weeks to gain enough attention and potential participants. Forum contests can be fun. It really depends on what's at stake and how it's done.

9 years ago

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DenisP

Honestly, I don't know exactly. I think forum contests can be a lot of fun; heck, I think just contests in general are fun. Although I suppose it could be a result of a number of factors. One reason might be that the reward-to-work ratio might make a contest seem like it isn't worth some people's time. A lot of people join forums just to browse a bit, maybe hop into a discussion now and again. Because of this, they might feel that allocating a certain amount of time to a forum project isn't really worth it if the reward isn't something huge. It could also just be the general decline in the popularity of many forums.

9 years ago

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AmieBotella

This is most probably true. The one you mentioned about the reward-to-work ratio. If a person has his/her hands full on something more rewarding, then joining a contest will be put to last. One has to weigh in if it's a good choice to join or not. Another thing is the promotion for such contests too.

9 years ago

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DenisP

Yeah in general I prefer forums that have a point-based system if they're going to be giving the users some sort of rewards or prizes. Meaning that you accumulate points based on your forum activity and then can cash out after a certain amount and get some prizes. Some forums have fan art or writing contests, and I think it can be a tad bit unfair when someone that has a huge amount of time on their hands can allocate it into making the best entry, while people with jobs--and for lack of a better word, actual lives--are left in the dust.

9 years ago

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overcast

I think the issue with the forum contest is that people have to be rewarded properly. And the forum owner needs to have some sort of revenue and retention mechanism. So the forum contest require those things. If those things are not there. Then surely you can see that there does not seem to be any contest worth joining anymore. That's what we all have to check out and see. Most of the time it is something it may work for people.

9 years ago

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centurion

Its a new experience for me. I didn't heard about this of forum contest. I have done huge job on the online world about forum post. Even within SEOClerks I have 30+ job done with 5 post each time about forum posting. Its ultimately a beautiful method about to win a contest with some prizes. This idea is nice and at the future time if I get any information before starting any competition- than I shall join must.

Thanks
Centurion

9 years ago

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Pixie06

I have tried to participate in some contests on certain forums like referral and posting contests but I have never won. The rewards they were offering was also not that motivating. Ever since I have stopped participating in contests and I also find it difficult to get referrals at times.

9 years ago

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cmoneyspinner

I have only been in one forum that offers contests and I participate but only because it's super easy. I don't really like contests that much. But I thought other people did. I'm surprised at your question. (O.o)

9 years ago

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overcast

It's kind of game of luck. so surely not something I'd say would be good for all. Some people like it because they find value out of it. And some just want to get the most from the contest with spam post. So it all depends on how it works for some.

9 years ago

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gelotologist

I think the main reason why some people aren't fond or bother joining the forum contest is because they might be too busy or don't probably have the time to join any contest that would only waste their time. Or also they're too rich to join and they would give way to the people who mostly needed it, like we know that some people are only on the forums for things or information they need to know and some are for the money they would earn for posting one. So, it probably depends on the persons taste, but honestly joining forum contest is fun and you wouldn't actually lose anything by joining it, so why not bother joining?.

9 years ago

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iamawriter

Forum coin has one at the moment and I have not entered as it is just creating a post not necessarily a post with substance. That kind of bores me. There will be a random selection of the winner. We are not told when it will end. I see so many taking part in it.

I do not know of any other forum contests.

9 years ago

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Rumu

That sounds like one of the reasons someone was trying to point out above. Some forum contests are just a matter of luck inline with with your reference on the ongoing contest at forum coin. I really don't see why I should participate in such contests since winning isn't based on some level of work review. I guess some people just do it for fun, which shouldn't be so.

9 years ago

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DarthHazard

A lot of contests are just a matter of luck so I would have to disagree with you really. Most competitions tend to be based on luck actually, very few rely on actually being the best for example. If it requires a lot of work then I may not bother with it but if it's just doing something simple then I will just do it because you never know, you may just win.

9 years ago

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AmieBotella

That's right. Why bother joining when it will just be randomly selected and not about the content of your work. Plus, will you be exerting effort on such contests? Well, maybe, just out of pure luck then but no other reason other than if the price is worth spending time.

9 years ago

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Everett

Forum coin has one at the moment and I have not entered as it is just creating a post not necessarily a post with substance.

Wait, a website is holding a contest for content, so basically that website can earn some type of advertising revenue (possibly from Google Adsense) and they do not care about the quality of content? That is very appalling to me. Why would a website hold a contest and not care about the type of content they receive from the contest? This sounds like it can bring in a lot of spammers to drive up posts just to win the prize.. You have got to have some rules about quality of posts for a contest!

9 years ago

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DarthHazard

I have seen it as well but I wouldn't go as far as calling that a proper contest, to be honest with you. It's more sort of a game with a slight reward. I guess there is nothing interesting with it but it is worth just posting once or twice because you never know whether or not you will win it.

9 years ago

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Rumu

I haven't participated in any of the forum contests I've come across, not because I dislike it but because I personally feel that the conditions are either too stressing or the prize is not benefiting of the task. These are some of the reasons why I think people don't just like to participate in forum contests.

9 years ago

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Everett

I remember long, long ago that whenever I use to run a paranormal forum that we would host really cool contests. For instance, we would give giftcards and other prizes to the top posters of that week and hold these contests on a regular basis. Now, with social media, and everything else that comes with social media.. forums are not really what they use to be anymore. It's very hard to start a forum these days when social media exists because there is pages and other stuff already on social media and people generally think 'why should I join this when i am already part of a group on this social media platform?'

Now, as far as contests go, contest are usually held to promote the platform that the contest is held on. If there is not very many users then a contest would not be very good. Instead, I would try to do something in regards to an affiliate contest of sorts. Those are fun, and can potentially help the platform more so than a regular contest. Also, some people just are not really concerned about contests these days due to scammy contests, and such.

9 years ago

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kgord

It has to be a prize worth winning too. Sometimes the prizes that are on these forums are not really worth winning so this might be something that is a problem for people to use. If your viewers don't want what you have to offer, then you will get no mileage out of your contest.

9 years ago

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Martinsx1

I don't know about anyone who isn't interested in winning a competition in forum because personally I take such very seriously. The last forum competition which I took part in, I ended up coming up a spot short in wining the last price of $10 because I took the 4th position. But recently, most forums I post in hardly set any competition now, I don't know the reason for this and I'm not asking.

9 years ago

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Judas2018

I've seen forum contests with little to no entries or interest, and this is because the prizes being offered are either of little value or specifically are aimed at the forum members and their interests. So for example, if you are giving away an Xenforo or vbulletin license as a prize, the casual internet user isn't going to sign up to your forum to try and win that prize. Whereas an iphone 7 or iphone 8 giveaway will draw lots of new sign ups.

9 years ago

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Everett

While a contest with an expensive prize such as an iphone, it could attract visitors you do not want. Also, if people are only signing up and posting just to receive the prize, who is to say they will actually stay on the forum and participate via forum posts? Now, on the otherhand what you could possibly do is hold an affiliate contest of sorts, with an expensive prize (or a monetary value of sorts, maybe some bitcoin?) for signups and have a rule stating that the affiliate must contribute X amount of forum posts. I believe this could sway some spammers from signing up, and there is regulations so the contest won't get out of hand. Just a thought though, I have only participated in contests here back in the early days when this site was just being launched. Good o' days they were!

9 years ago

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Judas2018

Most contests that are not specifically targeted at your audience but instead, target a broader swath of visitors will indeed draw people who might not be interested in sticking around for the long term. However, most of the time you will get visitors that either become regulars or at least visit the forum often. Even if it is not something they planned to sign up for beforehand, I've found that most contest entrants very rarely join a forum just to win a prize... and then disappear and never come back once the contest ends. They either become continual visitors so they can win the next contest, or because they have at least a passing interest in the forum topics.

9 years ago

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vinaya

In my opinion, the primary aim of having a contest on your forum is to attract new users and make the existing users active. A contest can make the existing users active however inviting new users need more effective strategies such as promoting your forum, spreading news about contest etc.

9 years ago

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Judas2018

As a forum owner, you of course expect existing users to participate in your contests when they're available. But you also hope they're loyal and enjoy the community enough to drop by and post often even when no promotions are being ran.

9 years ago

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flyinwashi682

huh? Thats funny, never heard of the Forum Contests. How can i enter one?

9 years ago

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Tronia

Perhaps it also depends on the forum specifically. If it is a small forum with not many members then obviously not many will be joining the forum contest.

Whenever I saw any forum contests on the popular forums there were always many people joining in... so I can't say that I have ever had the same experience as you.

9 years ago

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anahbello1206

Actually I have never heard of forum contest before but in my perspective, although there are lots of factors that influence this case I think the most prominent one would be the work that needs to be done on order to achieve the price. I guess that some freelancers doesn't find the price fulfilling because of the too much work the needs to be done. Another factor would also be the popularity. Maybe only a handful of people know about the contest that is why only few were able to participate.

9 years ago

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Barida

Probably, this has to bore down to the type of contest that are being run on the internet space this time around where the rules that makes one a winner is quite difficult for anyone to follow. I've entered one contest where your posts are to be rated the winner as long as you have the highest number of replies. I tried all I could, but didn't win, it was later that I got to find out that the winner was doing underground campaigns which should have been against the rule of the competition, but since no one detected, that was how everything ended.

9 years ago

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Corzhens

That kind of contest is unfair even at the outset because it is obvious that the most popular member will win. Why would I vote for someone who is not popular at all and I don’t even know from the boards when there is someone that I often see with his posts. I think a good contest for a forum is something that will be interesting to everyone and will be judged not by the members but by a chosen panel.

8 years ago

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Jeane

There was this forum I once was on which had a contest every month.

At the end of each month, the forum member who had the most "likes" would win about $500. It was a huge forum with more than 100,000 active members so this is one contest you would not win easily but at least it got more forum members to post quality content since that was the easiest way to get many "likes."

Is there a particular reason why people just don't bother with forum contests anymore?

Maybe it is because they don't expect to win.

8 years ago

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Seoclerks

Why doesn't anyone bother with forum contests anymore?

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