I get it, getting 1000 points for a contest isn't really that important in the grand scheme of things. Getting a free community sponsorship on ActiveRain isn't really that important in comparison to feeding your family let's say. Heck, I wouldn't spend more time reading what I write than absolutely necessary either.
All I ask, is that when you see something lined out, or in number format:
- read it
- It's important
- and understanding it will be paramount to getting what you want
I left four rules for getting a free community sponsorship on ActiveRain as part of our celebration of 200K members. The sponsorship is worth $228/year. We have many people who pay $228/year to sponsor a community and we are giving them away for free and all you have to do is follow 4 simple steps.
My question is, what should I do for the people that can't follow the instuctions? I have a few options.......
- I could respond and let them know what they messed up (which would be faster then me fixing it for them, which I can also do......) and give them another chance to get it right.
- I could just go on and fix it for them, taking extra time on my end and allow them to continue not following instuctions and be rewarded for it (with a $228 value).
- I could completely ignore them, because there are 700 other people that have already done it the correct way.
- I could respond and let them know that I received their inquiry, but due to the fact it was not completed correctly I will not be accepting it.
When we do contests, sometimes there are a lot of steps, and if someone takes the time to complete the core of the assignment, which is the writing, and, maybe, in the rush to get stuff submitted messes up a little, I almost always do option one or two. I'll award the points still.
But this recent one seems so stinking easy. Send an email with a link to a community and your user name, along with a predefined subject line. If you get the email address right, it's only three things you have to follow, and the subject line is the exact same for everyone. I don't make you type the exact same subject line as everyone else in some kind of Pavlovian demonstration of my manipulative power. I do it so that I can set up a filter in my inbox to capture the 1000's of emails that we will receive from a giveaway of this nature.
The reason I ask for your user name and the link to the community is so that I can log in as you really quick, then assign that specific community to your account. I have to do them all individually and it just makes it a little bit easier when you have 1000's of them to do. I don't like creating rules for you to follow, but when I know it's going to save me many hours, hours I can spend with my wife and son, I'll make a rule or four.
Above saving myself time that I end up getting to spend with my family, the reason this is an issue for me, is because many of you are paid to make sure the details are exact. Contracts are all about details. Missing a small detail on a contract could mean that the beautiful washer and dryer your clients were expecting upon move in is packed in the back of the sellers Uhaul.
What do I do with the people who don't follow the instuctions? 1, 2, 3, or 4?
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