Sweet Prizes!
Thanx Hexus.
Another great giveaway!thank you so much Hexus!
Awesome prize! :o
Thanks Hexus :D
We try out best… :)
Thanks to Jon and Parm for getting this one up and live!
DR
We try out best… :)
Thanks to Jon and Parm for getting this one up and live!
Working on an Easter Sunday.. You've got some eggcellent workers ;)
Yay a competition that actually takes a wee bit of effort! Much more fun than just reading an article, awesome work guys :)
Tunnah
Yay a competition that actually takes a wee bit of effort! Much more fun than just reading an article, awesome work guys :)
Well not much effort… :p which one of the 3 board has green RAM slots :P
Yes Please! Another amazing prize and the new ivybridge chip too!
Entered. Thanks. Good luck everyone.
Bit more difficult than usual :)
Another great competition - Entered
Think I figured it out from image 1 alone :)
Helldog
Well not much effort… :p which one of the 3 board has green RAM slots :P
I'm pretty sure that's a red herring, it would be a rather obvious oversight in the competition otherwise. The board with the green RAM slots you mention doesn't match any of the other pictures, but another of the boards clearly does.
Wow Hexus has really gone to town with theses awesome giveaways! Top of the range graphics cards, newly released mobo's and even un-release cpu's, and much more, such as the chillblast htpc and the Dell outlet laptop! I don't wanna sound like a suck-up but these guys have just wowed me lately with the giveaways. HEXUS FTW! :D
This is brilliant, I wouldn't normally fork out enough for the top of the range motherboard so it would be awesome to get one for once :D
The standard of competitions on Hexus has been incredible lately!
Entered :hexlub:
This would be awesome to kick off my summer build.
Well this would make my upgrade go a lot easier on the wallet :D
sweet prize for great comp. as always.
entered.
LiGhTfasT
Well this would make my upgrade go a lot easier on the wallet :D
This :)
If I won this I'd give it 32GB RAM from the savings.
MMMMMMmmmm 32GB
Nice price but shame its UK residents only :(
Guess what- I reckon I got it wrong !!!!!!!!!
DR only knows how….
Was hoping it was the D3H as it uses my initials…
Oh well.
Wow! great prize. I would be ecstatic if I won this. :)
totally awesome prize - thank you Hexus
Entered. Fingers crossed!
Entered this today, with the question not being quite as hard as I initially thought it would be once I spotted an immediate tell :)
Hoping I might get lucky with this one!
Entered with thanks……….although as some people have spotted, the pictures are 2 different boards, maybe even all 3 so theres no wrong answer lol
I thought it was obvious, then some of the pics didn't add up so I really doubted myself. I then realised I was looking at the wrong motherboard and all the pieces then fit into place. I'd likely buy a 680 to put into a new rig due to the savings.
Entered, Good luck people!
Great competition! Thanks!
Good luck to everyone! Really nice prize this time guys!!
I think this competition had the desired effect - I had been looking at an Asus Z77, and now having spent a while looking closely at these boards realised a few other features the Gigabyte boards have and now want one of these instead :)
off to google some mSATA reviews for that motherboard option
Awesome prizes, will save someone a bundle on a new build. Gl everyone
is this world wide or just a uk thing. also I noticed it is asking me to fill it out. I thought i already filled it out. I have had several asking me to to fill out for a contest, like the dell computer, and some others
Thanks so much for running such a great competition
Thank you for the competition.
Entered this, thanks Hexus for all these competitions.
Registered to say thanks for this competition, hope i win!
dam it, im always late to the party
I wonder who has won and congratulations to s/he
Has this been drawn yet ?
Phage
Has this been drawn yet ?
I believe they said no more than 2 weeks after closing to inform the winner via email.
Winner has been informed - waiting to hear back!
Well that means it wasn't me :-(
Looks like i'll have to stick with what I have for now.
Wasn't me then. Congrats to the winner whomever you are.
OMG…Thanks HEXUS. I have emailed you my details.
Drebin893
OMG…Thanks HEXUS. I have emailed you my details.
Congratulations. :)
Drebin893
OMG…Thanks HEXUS. I have emailed you my details.
Another 1 post wonder strikes again.
Congrats Drebin893, we really appreciate the post to let us know!
Blitzen
Another 1 post wonder strikes again.
What do you mean? This wasn't a forum only competition was it?
Blitzen
Another 1 post wonder strikes again.
Thanks Blitzen - I will tag this post to can't please everyone category.
Another great giveaway done and entered.
Blitzen
Another 1 post wonder strikes again.
Gotta say I agree with Blitzen here.
Surely the point of competitions is to draw new eyes, not to reward an existing audience. That comes from the Classifieds and the helpful membership.
So we do competitions
1. on HEXUS main page - we get moaned at
2. on the forums - people moan
3. on Facebook moan
I've a solution - just buy your tech and don't enter? :)
Phage
Surely the point of competitions is to draw new eyes, not to reward an existing audience. That comes from the Classifieds and the helpful membership.
There is no doubt at all that these competitions bring in new members. But I'd love to know how many actually stick around.
DR
So we do competitions
1. on HEXUS main page - we get moaned at
2. on the forums - people moan
3. on Facebook moan
I've a solution - just buy your tech and don't enter? :)
Not really moaning, just stating that I agree with Blitzen.
TBH,after my silly post in the other thread,I realised Hexus does do a metric ton of competitions and its easy for people do take that for granted.
So we should be all happy,that they do them anyway and good luck to the person who wins. It like the lottery - some people can buy tickets for 10 years and never win anything and someone can then buy their first ticket and win the jackpot.
DR
So we do competitions
1. on HEXUS main page - we get moaned at
2. on the forums - people moan
3. on Facebook moan
I've a solution - just buy your tech and don't enter? :)
I'll moan about facebook comps (you locked the other thread before I hit the submit button)
I'll not moan about main page open to anyone or forum members only as long as a good balance is kept.
We don't people to
only be here because of the comps, but at the same time it's nice to have some open to forum members only as a reward and thank you.
It's a matter of balance and at the same time the number of comps hexus has is great :) I know I've probably missed loads of good ones, heck I could of won one and not realised (it would be easy for me to forget I'd entered and miss an email)
Blitzen
Another 1 post wonder strikes again.
Unfair! Everyone is a one post wonder at some point - and a warm welcome is likely to turn them into multi-post wonders over time! :)
Pob255
I'll moan about facebook comps (you locked the other thread before I hit the submit button)
I'll not moan about main page open to anyone or forum members only as long as a good balance is kept.
We don't people to only be here because of the comps, but at the same time it's nice to have some open to forum members only as a reward and thank you.
It's a matter of balance and at the same time the number of comps hexus has is great :) I know I've probably missed loads of good ones, heck I could of won one and not realised (it would be easy for me to forget I'd entered and miss an email)
What I think would be nice is if the people who won, had to post a few pictures of their booty especially build pictures?? Maybe post a few thoughts on the products won?? I certainly would think it would be a nice thing for them to do. Perhaps that might convince them to stick around?? It would also be good for the companies to get feedback on the stuff they have provided.
It does not involve much effort either,so it should hardly be off putting to the winners.
I don't like Bookface either but sadly it is so popular now companies find it a useful advertising tool(which is why they provide freebies) - you just have to decide whether giving into the secret CIA intelligence operation is worth it!!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cqggW08BWO0:p
I do think DR did take the forum only competition suggestion onboard with the PSU competition so I suspect some will pop up here and there(hopefully) so that was nice especially with three PSUs!!!
peterb
Unfair! Everyone is a one post wonder at some point - and a warm welcome is likely to turn them into multi-post wonders over time! :)
Then you got me! ;)
I fully appreciate the competitions Hexus puts on, because at the end of the day, they dont have too.
However, in this scenario I kind of see myself leaning towards Blitzen.
I mean look at Drebin, posts on the 4th saying he had won a competition, with his previous post being and I quote
Sweeeeeet
, in a competition thread.
His next post, in another competition thread.
His next post is then in the £60 pay monthly read and totaled 4 words that didnt even attempt to join in the discussion.
His next post, you guessed it, entering another competition, his latest post
One day,…I will win. :) Great prizes Hexus
in another competition thread, posted today, so in 10 days he has -
1 - Forgot he entered an won a competition
2 - Entered 5 competitions
3 - Made 6 posts (5 being in competition threads, 1 not being in a competition thread)
Surely we would rather have members joining the community that are going to stick around for the
community and
not just the competitions?
If the person sticks around and remains active, then I will hold my hands up and apologise, but so far that isn't looking likely.
Don't get me wrong, I am not saying none forum members cant enter, but when it is blatantly obvious (imo) that they have just signed up to the forum for the competitions, then surely this is wrong and is just taking advantage of Hexus so to speak?
Well I think this is raising one issue, we need a thread about the competitions for people to air their views.
Although I realise they take a lot of work to set up all these competitions, so I wouldn't say that the views to users should be taken as policy but it would be nice to get an overall idea where people would like it to go and a place to discuss, rather than fill existing competition threads like this.
Phage
Surely the point of competitions is to draw new eyes, not to reward an existing audience. That comes from the Classifieds and the helpful membership.
This!^
Competitions do several things. They attract people to the site (the whole site, not just the forums) and in crude terms, ups the hit rate which impresses advertises and increases the HEXUS profile.
Secondly it raises the profile if the manufacture of the prize. Someone might enter a comp because of the prize, but if they don't win, they might have investigated it and buy it anyway, or buy another product in the range. At the very least it raises profile and keeps a brand name in consumer consciousness.
And the forum member only competitions increases attracts new members to sign up to the community. Some of these might only sign up for the comps, but others will see what a great forum this is, provided they aren't put off by some snide and unhelpful comments!
Perhaps some forum member competitions could have qualifying conditions (minimum post count, or minimum post rate over a period of time) and that can be looked at.
But at the end of the day, the competitions are (or should be) a bit of fun, with the chance to win some great prizes!. And to moan about the entry conditions is, imnsho, a tad churlish. :)
“Churlish” or not, it is frustrating to see people signing up to enter competitions and then not bothering to join in the rest of the community, to then have our opinions, views, comments, criticism labelled as snide is to be frank, rude.
I pointed out <removed> as an example, all you have to do is look at the amount of people that have signed up and only posted to enter competitions, to be honest if people were going to sign up just for the competitions I would rather they didn't and remain anonymous when they win.
The fact is we still appreciate the competitions as has been said and criticism, whether its liked or not will come up. DR and Hexus clearly took on previous comments as a forum member only competition was ran which was great and we all appreciated.
If you read my post, you will see that I didn't refer to the criticism as snide, but to some of the comments aimed at new members signing up, without any evidence that they have only signed up for competitions.
Aiming barbed comments at new members is just going to generate a self fulfilling prophesy. It is hardly likely to encourage new members to contribute further if they are going to get a hostile reception.
I have a cunning plan…
Can we have an Editorial column ? Doesn't have to be DR alone, but from Scribe, Tarinder, Admins etc. In the Editorial there would be the usual blend of commentary, trends and humour, weekly round up etc ( i.e. mostly cut and paste from the email) plus the strategy behind the comps could be explained fully, and results announced.
“This week we are have been given two shiney things ™ by ST Inc and we will be using these to build our membership and site views. Of course all existing members are welcome to enter as well.”
Two weeks later….
“Congrats to Joe B. from Leicester, our lucky winner !”
As opposed to.
“This week we have been given a large black object from LBO Inc, and we'd like to offer this is a prize to our valued members, and ask their opinion of it in the real world.”
Two weeks later….
“Congrats to ”Valued Poster“ who is the lucky recipient of our generosity, and will be reporting back with a mini test for your delectation.”
EDIT: I have a vague memory of “Bike” magazine doing a “Bloggs Test” column on a regular basis. Certainly AMCN used to do a Bloggs test postscript on many of their major tests. This could be something similar, and provide a start to budding journlalists at no-cost. Bucket of win surely ?
Whaddya think ?
peterb
without any evidence that they have only signed up for competitions.
.
Sorry but if you look at <
removed>, that user is a perfect example.
6 posts, 5 in competition threads about either winning or entering, is that not evidence enough?
Ah yes - but is he still reading the site ? Still aware of the brands he won ?
Probably, yes.
Regardless of whether a member has signed up for competitions only or not I don't think we should have to deal with 1 word spam posts from these new members. It isn't too much to ask for members to string a sentence together when posting, heck the 2 I've just written took less than a minute.
Noxvayl
Regardless of whether a member has signed up for competitions only or not I don't think we should have to deal with 1 word spam posts from these new members. It isn't too much to ask for members to string a sentence together when posting, heck the 2 I've just written took less than a minute.
k ;)
Disturbedguy
Sorry but if you look at <removed>, that user is a perfect example.
6 posts, 5 in competition threads about either winning or entering, is that not evidence enough?
You do realise that HEXUS is a global site with colossal numbers of readers, right? The forums, by comparison, have a much smaller number of contributors. That goes for any site really. And we're all examples of that - I go to loads of sites to look at reviews, editorials, opinion pieces, but I don't post on those other sites. HEXUS is my home. So tech sites are getting far more people looking at their main sites than posting on their forums.
Logically then, they're also getting massive numbers of people going to the main page, entering the competitions, and closing their browsers. If you look at MSE, there is an entire forum dedicated to people who go to sites purely to enter competitions. If a few people stop and think “Hold on, I wanted to see a review of the GTX680”, then DR wins. If a few people stop and think “Wow, that Gigabyte board looks fantastic”, then Gigabyte wins. And if just a few people think “Ah, there's a debate going on about this competition… I'll join the forums”, then we win.
I get why you're upset that people don't enter the competitions
and join the community, but you're talking about people like Drebin that
have made some effort to sign up to the forums, compared to the huge numbers that just entered the competition and never joined the forum at all. I don't get why you wouldn't want to encourage them - we all started off as newbies once, and HEXUS attracted me as a very friendly community. None of us want to lose that vibe.
snootyjim
I get why you're upset that people don't enter the competitions and join the community, but you're talking about people like Drebin that have made some effort to sign up to the forums, compared to the huge numbers that just entered the competition and never joined the forum at all. I don't get why you wouldn't want to encourage them - we all started off as newbies once, and HEXUS attracted me as a very friendly community. None of us want to lose that vibe.
I understand this and don't want Hexus to lose the friendly community vibe it has, but I also don't want to see “members” (I use that term lightly) abuse the fact that Hexus is putting these competitions in that they, as <
name removed> (sorry to bring him up again, but perfect example) has imo done so far, has joined and nearly all posts are entering the competitions. Looking at <
name removed>profile, he has been registered since 20-04-2012, he was last active yesterday at the same time he made a post, entering a competition.
His first post wasn't until 02-05-2012 which was entering a competition, so he was a “member” for nearly 2 weeks before he made his first post and since his last post he hasn't posted anywhere else on the forums. Of course that isn't to say the member hasn't still been visiting the website.
However, surely if someone joins the forum we want them to be an active part of the forum and not just be here to enter competitions?
Don't get me wrong, seeing new members join and become active is good, it helps the community grow which we all want.
Disturbedguy
I understand this and don't want Hexus to lose the friendly community vibe it has, but I also don't want to see “members” (I use that term lightly) abuse the fact that Hexus is putting these competitions in that they, as Drebin (sorry to bring him up again, but perfect example) has imo done so far, has joined and nearly all posts are entering the competitions. Looking at Drebins profile, he has been registered since 20-04-2012, he was last active yesterday at the same time he made a post, entering a competition.
But at least they
are “members”. Joining the forums isn't a pre-requisite to enter the competitions, loads of people will never join the forums at all… I'm glad that a few people make the effort. I'm also one of those people who always used to ask if we could find out who won the competitions - it's great that a few people have signed up to let us know recently.
However, surely if someone joins the forum we want them to be an active part of the forum and not just be here to enter competitions?
As I've said though, they don't need to be here to enter the competitions - they could just ignore the forums altogether. I do agree with you, certainly, that I want them to be an active part - maybe we just disagree on how that happens.
To me, you join up, make a few posts in a manufacturer forum or in competition threads, and see besides that a great community, and thus decide to join in. In fact, I only signed up to HEXUS because I wanted to raise an issue with Scan, and then I noticed the rest of the forum and joined in because I liked the atmosphere. I suspect if a few years ago, I had been prodded to alter my posting style, I would've probably fled the forum and not come back!
Phage
I have a cunning plan…
Can we have an Editorial column ? Doesn't have to be DR alone, but from Scribe, Tarinder, Admins etc. In the Editorial there would be the usual blend of commentary, trends and humour, weekly round up etc ( i.e. mostly cut and paste from the email) plus the strategy behind the comps could be explained fully, and results announced.
“This week we are have been given two shiney things ™ by ST Inc and we will be using these to build our membership and site views. Of course all existing members are welcome to enter as well.”
Two weeks later….
“Congrats to Joe B. from Leicester, our lucky winner !”
As opposed to.
“This week we have been given a large black object from LBO Inc, and we'd like to offer this is a prize to our valued members, and ask their opinion of it in the real world.”
Two weeks later….
“Congrats to ”Valued Poster“ who is the lucky recipient of our generosity, and will be reporting back with a mini test for your delectation.”
EDIT: I have a vague memory of “Bike” magazine doing a “Bloggs Test” column on a regular basis. Certainly AMCN used to do a Bloggs test postscript on many of their major tests. This could be something similar, and provide a start to budding journlalists at no-cost. Bucket of win surely ?
Whaddya think ?
Well there's a couple of issues.
AFAIK you cannot say “Congrats to Joe B. from Leicester, our lucky winner !” without their permission, it's against UK law (I'm not 100% on that but I seem to remember that there are laws covering competitions and this is covered)
that and I have no objection to “Congrats to ”Valued Poster“ who is the lucky recipient of our generosity, and will be reporting back with a mini test for your delectation.”
This give multiple benefits, you're rewarding posters, encouraging people to get involved in the forums, you're generating free content (granted the quality may vary), if the opinions of the users are good then that's worth a heck of a lot to the “product brand” (word of mouth endorsement is the current big thing)
This is all ontop of the normal benefits of generating traffic, advertising, brand awareness generated by the competition.
However as I said before, it's a ballance, if all the competitions were forum posters only then we get a lot more people joining just for the competitions and nothing else.
Personally I'd say that having a mix of forum only and open to anyone is the way to go, just not facebook ones
again that's my personal view, I don't do facebook, I don't want to sign up for a 3rd party service monopoly to enter a hexus competition, ok granted email is 3rd party but I have it already for otherthings and it's not a monopoly, I'd be just as unhappy if you had to have an email account with @SuperPonyMail.com to enterNo objection to the Editorial column, that's good. :)
snootyjim
But at least they are “members”. Joining the forums isn't a pre-requisite to enter the competitions, loads of people will never join the forums at all… I'm glad that a few people make the effort. I'm also one of those people who always used to ask if we could find out who won the competitions - it's great that a few people have signed up to let us know recently.
Indeed, granted I might well of missed them, but the be quiet psu competition is the first forum members only competition I've seen.
If there where more then that shows how little I look at the rest of the site other than the reviews and the forum :vacant:
Heck there's large chunks of the forum I don't venture into. :handbag:
I've got no real objections to “some” joining but only entering the competitions as there are almost all of the competitions do not require membership, all they need is an email, name and an a,b or c answer to the question, just as long as we don't end up knee deep competition only users, but even then it's not that big a problem because they hardly post.
It's a bit like the ones we get who come on here just to abuse the scan shipping deal, you'll always get some but they don't last long, the ones who do stay normally stay because of the forums and become a contributing part of them.
Disturbedguy
I understand this and don't want Hexus to lose the friendly community vibe it has, but I also don't want to see “members” (I use that term lightly) abuse the fact that Hexus is putting these competitions snip–>
Interesting term “Abuse” so lets consider the following fictitious scenario.
A breakfast cereal manufacturer makes a type breakfast cereal “chillibran” described as “golden flakes of bran, dusted with cayenne pepper, to give a fiery start to your day”
It has a small but loyal market, mainly among Mexican immigrants.
The manufacturer wants to increase market penetration and therefore sales. As it happens, a car distributor in Mexico wants to increase its brand awareness, so it offers a car as a prize in a free competition. The only condition is that the entry has to be on a form printed on the side of the box. I like the idea of winning a car, the cereal sounds dubious, but I buy a box and enter. The cereal is disgusting, I chuck it out on the lawn to feed the birds, the lawn turns brown and dies, birds impose a 200 metre no-fly zone round the lawn. I vow never to buy “chillibran” again.
But the campaign is a success, sales go slightly, the car dealer gets more sales and a few months later, a travel agency offers a week in a luxury hotel in Acapulco as a prize.
Again, I like the idea of a holiday, I buy another box, tear off the entry coupon, and throw the rest in my bin. As it happens, I win the competition. I still won't buy “chillibran” again, unless they run another competition - but some people might find they have a taste for it second time round, and buy it regularly.
Is that “abusing the competition?” Presumably many loyal eaters of the cereal entered as well, but they didn't win. Sales of luxury holidays go up, chillibran sales increase again. Win-win.
On the other hand, it might be that I did try “chibran” a second time and found that now I do enjoy a fiery start to my day, and I now eat “chillibran” for breakfast, lunch and tea - which is an even better outcome for the manufacturer
Disturbedguy
Don't get me wrong, seeing new members join and become active is good, it helps the community grow which we all want.
And if the competition encourages new members to try HEXUS, the best way to get them to stay is to make them welcome - NOT by posting “smart alec” comments and making them feel HEXUS is unwelcoming. Not only does it potentially harm the HEXUS brand image, but it could put off potential donors of prizes.
Is that what you want?
Forget it, is perfectly clear what I and other would like, I thought so anyway.
You continue to twist what I say and come up with preposterous scenarios if you want.
Oh look, <removed> still hasn't taken part in the rest of the community….
Why remove the username?
It has been mentioned before and it makes it clear who I am talking about, if said user was that bothered they would have defended themselves by now, surely?
It is removed because it is referring to another user in an unhelpful and negative way.
Apart from being unhelpful to the member in question, it may also be a deterrent to other potential new members who might be put off by your attitude towards them them.
Again, thank you for completely missing my point and making a generalization that I do not like new members joining the community.
I wouldn't say what I said was unhelpful as the user in question didn't have a problem or asking for any assistance.
Negative? Too right it was, negative to the fact that the member joins up and then seemingly cannot be arsed joining in with the rest of the community.
To clarify, hopefully for the last time: -
I DO NOT have a problem with new members joining the forums / community and continuing to take part in the community / forum discussions and so on as I have already stated.
What I DO have a problem with is members that sign up, such as the one in question, for the purpose of just entering the competitions that Hexus put on and not engaging with the rest of the community and if said member is hurt by a few words said on the forum and don't come back, then maybe they should get out in the real world as there are far worse things out there.
It is you that is missing the point. You posted a negative comment based on one or two posts - which may deter that and other potential members from joining up. Not good for HEXUS.
And if new members join as a result of the competition, but then decide that they don't want to participate in the forums, that is not YOUR problem! It might be a HEXUS problem, but those members might be visiting other areas of the site. You dismissed my scenario as preposterous, but it is exactly the same scenario - people by products/join forums enticed by competitions - which is why they are run.
peterb
It is you that is missing the point. You posted a negative comment based on one or two posts - which may deter that and other potential members from joining up. Not good for HEXUS.
No actually, I posted my comments, whether you think they are negative or not based on the 6 posts that the user made, 5 of which have been in the competition section and since the last post, the user seemingly has not returned.
peterb
And if new members join as a result of the competition, but then decide that they don't want to participate in the forums, that is not YOUR problem! It might be a HEXUS problem, but those members might be visiting other areas of the site. You dismissed my scenario as preposterous, but it is exactly the same scenario - people by products/join forums enticed by competitions - which is why they are run.
I would say that a vast majority, using Hexus as an example joined Hexus for other reasons and not because of the competitions, I also wouldn't say that people buy products solely because they are enticed by competitions.
So just because the problem, is a problem for HEXUS and not myself or other members, does that mean that neither myself or other members can voice our opinions or concerns over something?
Being frank, if people are only going to sign up to enter competitions I would rather they didn't bother signing up at all, if they are going to sign up and partake in other areas, then fair enough.
I am closing this.
We will reflect and decide on the future of competitions - thank you for the valuable input.