A post was recently made on the Lucky Learners Group regarding terms and conditions posted by a site called the Yorkshire Food Guide. They occasionally run giveaways with the most recent being a Stay & Dine Experience at The Blue Lion in East Witton. Unfortunately the owners of this particular website aren’t keen on compers and rather than simply contact us or any other listing site to say “hey guys, thanks for the free advertising but we’d rather you didn’t” they include the following in their terms “Entrants from competition websites and competition forums will not be accepted”. Now if you click the link posted on the forums and then check out the source code you’ll find that Yorkshire Food Guide do indeed stick to their word. Inside the source code is a snippet which includes the Loquax url. What this basically means is that when you submit your details, the referral (us) is included and despite you entering the competition because you’d like to win the prize you may get disqualified. Which is fine but also a load of baloney at the same time.
Google Is Your Friend
If you like the prizes that are offered by Yorkshire Food Guide then simply use Google to find out if they have any new competitions. You’ll no longer find them on Loquax by the way as they’ll be removed should they appear again in the future. Find the competition via Google, click through and the referral is now Google! But hang on! Aren’t you still a comper? Aren’t you still someone who likes to enter competitions and try and win prizes? What’s the difference? There’s none! Although we guess if Yorkshire Food Guide now start getting lots of entries from links posted on Facebook groups or via Google then they might look at how their competition mechanic runs and perhaps fix it so that it appeals more to regular visitors and not the comping community. It’s also not clear whether the site’s reasoning behind the decision is just because they don’t want compers entering or whether they’re being flooded with entries, perhaps from our old friends automated entry services, and sites like Loquax are getting the blame. Anyway if you’ve not won from Yorkshire Food Guide then you can blame us!
Extrapolating The Blame
The problem with a situation like the above is that many people then extrapolate one site’s reasoning to cover the whole internet. “Don’t use listing sites”, “I’ve never won using Loquax” etc etc. Firstly a good chunk of what is listed on the site these days is social media and barring the odd grump chops who own a lighting store in Soho there should be no problems. You’re not tracked, you could find the competitions from feeds etc. So that issue is dealt with. With respect to websites then there is a possibility that there are more Yorkshire Food Guide’s out there. Compers aren’t always welcome because markeeters are often blinkered to the fact that people like winning stuff more than they make like a brand. They’d much prefer their goodies to go to a loyal customer or regular visitor than someone who has popped in in the off chance of bagging themselves a weekend break for free. We can’t do anything about that. But how many sites block or disqualify you because you click on our links? Our view is that one site’s choice doesn’t reflect the entirety of the internet. A site like Sixty Plus Surfers loves compers and will share their comps on forums. Other sites are also more than happy to use our free promotional service.
Everyone’s Not A Winner Baby
But I am winning more now I don’t use Loquax you might cry! Firstly it’s great that you’re winning but it’s as much to do with the colour of your pants, the position of the moon and the food on your plate as it has to do with us. All Loquax does is list competitions for you to click on and enter. Each competition is an individual event and what you do with regards that event doesn’t influence the next. Of course we love it if you’ve won a competition that’s been listed on Loquax, but you won the thing not us. In other words using Loquax or not using Loquax isn’t a factor in your win – and that’s pretty much the case for the whole internet. OK with Yorkshire Food Guide you’ve got a good case but then only one person can win their competition when it runs. There still has to be loads of losers to every prize draw and giveaway. And if all entrants have come from a non-competition source then guess what that non-competition source has had no influence on the result either. Now you can argue that we would say that (and yes we would) but if you really believe Loquax – or another listing site – is the cause of your losses then stop using them. Completely! Not to pick up links and re-open them in 100 browsers via a VPN but not at all. Then let us know how many web – not social media – competitions you go on to win. Will it be every single one? Of course not! Will it be one or two? Maybe! But then what if someone who uses Loquax wins and you don’t? How does that one work out?
In Summary
The only thing to worry about here is yet another site doesn’t want to give it’s prizes away to people who like trying to win prizes, unless of course that person finds their site via a multi-billion pound search engine rather than a dedicated comping service. That’s their choice and we’ll respect that going forward by making sure any further posts are removed. When it comes to social media (Facebook, Twitter, Instagram etc) there’s no issues with respect to tracking you so don’t worry. With websites it is a lottery – as much of one as whether brand owners on social media pick their winners fairly. If you’re worried by it then go ahead and take whatever steps you feel are needed. It might even be worth reviewing the source code of sites just to spot if they do log the referral of their competition entries. Or you could just not worry about it and carry on comping. There are 100s of giveaways, prize draws and competitions to choose from. Many are run by promoters and brands who are happy to run that promotion fairly and openly to all visitors. And whilst we don’t really think we’re to blame if you’re not winning (sorry) we’ll shoulder the blame if it makes you feel better. Let us know how you get on if you do decide that listing sites are the issue.