I noticed an article in regard to the Gather Holiday Food Classics Sweepstakes and that the winners had been announced. I read the article, saw the list of winners, noticed I wasn't on the list (darn!), and read the comments. Then I noticed the text in the article stating "We are delighted to announce our Grand Prize Winner, Allison N.!" She just won a three-night culinary expedition in New York City. Cool - good for Allison N. - or so I thought.
From here, I went to Allison N.'s Gather page. I noticed that she only has two articles under her belt and they are actual a repost of each other. And interesting, she only published an article the day she signed up to Gather and it was for the contest. However, Allison N. omitted the required article tags (see below).
So this got me thinking. I then did a tag search on Gather for the tags "holiday food classics" and "holiday food classics sweepstakes" which were requirements according to the submission guidelines and official rules, respectively. Sure enough, Allison N. was not on the list which means she does not meet the requirements. So I took this a step further.
After about an hour of work, I came up with a list of every eligible person for the sweepstakes. First of all, the general rules are as follows:
- Must publish a holiday recipe or holiday story
- 1 entry for each person
- Article must be published to food.gather.com
- Article must contain the tags "holiday food classics" or "holiday food classics sweepstakes"
- Article must be published between 11/16/06 @ 5:00pm ET and 12/31/06 @ 11:59pm ET.
I figured this would be a simple enough list, and it was. Almost all people entering the sweepstakes published it to the correct group and included the proper tags, although a few did not. What follows is a list of everyone who was eligible for the sweepstakes (excluding mail-in entries; I will touch on this later):
- Sue O. (sueo45)
- Doree F. (doree)
- Sonia M. (foodiesleuth)
- Alice P. (landfriend)
- Catherine Copeland (queenofeverythin)
- Eatbetteramerica.com (eatbetteramerica)
- Marc Meyer (marcmeyer)
- Latoyia J. (toyia23)
- Kurt Michael Friese (devotay)
- Megan R. (meganr)
- Lora B. (redrose387)
- Sue K. (telemann)
- Christine P. (chrisinia)
- Julia Schrenkler (juliaschrenkler)
- Cyndi B. (cyndib)
- Lahs H. (lahs)
- Libby Rouleau (lrouleau)
- Jenny D. (jennyjo)
- Jialan W. (jialanw)
- William Duda (5oclockshadow)
- Joanne J. (nicebuns)
- Mary W. (mkwinchester)
- Tamara R. (tamaraj)
- Justine Q. (justine49)
- Dianne B. (dianneb)
- Pastry Chef Michelle O. (michelleosterode)
- Jane Doe (colourz)
- Sue B. (suekbur)
- Margaret H. (redlotusblossom)
- Cami J. (savorykitchen)
- Diane H. (dkh1942)
- Jane D. (ajljdavis)
- Elizabeth B. (ebaker1)
- Nancy S. (ombeady)
- Ruth O. (helloruthie)
- Lisa B. (lkburke)
- Sarah M. (sarahmcc)
- Abby A. (northerngarden)
- Ed Abramson (edabramson)
- Carol Voigts (voigtsc)
- Monica Kennedy (daydreambeliever)
- John Frost (disneyblog)
- Jessie Voigts (jessiev)
- Cindie Frapp (iampaulsmom)
- Janie S. (jeb318)
- Geri Kuremsky (wiselady)
- Rachel R. (cupcakesupernova)
- Kevin Weeks (seriouslygood)
- Joy K. (jsk206)
- Donna F. Christmas Elf Extraordinaire (lostqueen)
- Deborah B. (halosfan2005)
And that's it. I don't see Allison N. listed. Odd. So I began to further check the rest of the winners list. On the winners list below, the winners who are legitimate have an "OK" next to their name; you will see there is a shocking FOUR legitimate winners so far. Here is the winners list per the Holiday Food Classics Sweepstakes announcement:
- Allison N.
- Farmgirl Susan
- Sharon R.
- Joy K. - OK
- Mary W. - OK
- Margaret H. - OK
- Karen R.
- Elizabeth B. - OK
- Sarah L.
- Karen Jackson Porter
- Patricia Frederick
I'll start at the top of the list. Allison N., as I've already discussed, was the grand prize winner of a 3-day trip to New York City, yet she did not have the required tags in her article. Also strange is the fact that she published the article the day she signed up (Dec. 6) and hasn't published since. *NOT ELIGIBLE*
Next we have Farmgirl Susan. Unfortunately, I do not know Farmgirl Susan but I do see that she has been on Gather for quite a long time and publishes great content. Unfortunately, her submission lacked the required tags. *NOT ELIGIBLE*
Up next is Sharon R.. Sharon R. has published a whopping 1 article and it was on the day she signed up. Imagine that.. it was for the contest. However, Sharon R. forgot the required tags. *NOT ELIGIBLE*
Joy K., Mary W., Margaret H., and Elizabeth B. followed the rules completely and won fair and square. Congratulations!!!
Next in line is Karen R.. She has only published 1 article with Gather and it was for the contest. Unfortunately, Karen R. omitted the required tags. *NOT ELIGIBLE*
Then we have Sarah L.. She also only has 1 article published on Gather and it was for the contest as well. Unfortunately Sarah L. forgot the required tags. *NOT ELIGIBLE*
In regard to Karen Jackson Porter and Patricia Frederick, I assume they were mail-in entries since they do not have a Gather account associated with their names. Please correct me if I am wrong on this. So essentially, these two are legitimate as well.
Including the two assumed mail-in winners, we are left with six true winners and five who won even though they shouldn't have - almost 50%! The grand prize winner, Allison N., strikes me as being the most odd. Maybe Allison N. is related to or friends with someone at Gather or the GatherGroup in question? Who knows...
All I can say is, why have rules and guidelines if you are not going to enforce them? I could have written an article about lighting a Christmas tree on fire, not followed the rules, and still won. It seems as though those of us who did follow the rules are the ones who are missing out.
And just think... all of this started because I wanted to see Allison N.'s winning entry.
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Comments: 52
Ok seriously, I'd be annoyed too. That does kind of suck. I hope the person involved comes out with a good explanation.
In addition, I took care to tell a story to go with the recipe, and i took the trouble to leave overnight after proofreading to reread and edit. Some of the winners looked pretty slapped up. Of course, since prizes were based on a random drawing, it seems that taking care with the quality of the submission was unnecessary. Well, my self respect is at least still intact! I was astounded to find that some of the best food writers at Gather had not won, until I remembered the "random drawing" part. I really expected to find people like Sonia M. amd Kevin Weeks among the winners. I just find it a shame that some of the winning articles were some of the least carefully and thoughtfully written, and among the least creative.
During the time that I forgot that this was a random drawing contest, I was deeply interested in the best content. That random drawing winners included people who had broken rules is even more deeply disappointing than the fact that some pretty sorry food writing examples came out of the blind drawing.
I makes you wonder ..why even bother involving yourself in their contests if they are not run correctly.
The winners seem to always be people that DONT follow the rules...bleh
This is good research and I noticed after reading this earlier and rating it a ten that the new corps group submissions are not using the title correctly or the tags. I am going to keep my eyes open for this to see how it pans out.
I never did see who won the makeover bedroom contest. I had taken photos of my bedroom and was going to do a submission until I realized the prize was for smart bargains.com and I thought someone would come in and makeover the room and do paint and window coverings. I think I will head over to that group and see if a winner was announced.
maybe Gather changed the names to protect those who didn't want their real names published?
I belong to another "community" website where the webmaster actually posted a bulletin explaining that some contest winners chose not to have their real screen names published so as to not have a ton of e-mails asking about the contest specifically.
Doesn't make sense to me because it's a community website where the point is to get to know one another...
Also, thank you to everyone for your great comments! Please know that I am not a person who "stirs the pot" just to start some drama so this is not a normal thing for me. I am simply an inquiring mind who wants to know!
Thank you for your comments and analysis of the Holiday Food Classics Sweepstakes. In selecting the random winners, we decided to include those that did not tag their article appropriately as long as they had taken the time to post their content correctly to the Holiday Food Classics group or had sent us a postcard, as per the original rules. Tags are a challenge to those unfamiliar with them, and many of the entries came from new members to Gather.
We are sorry for any confusion this may have caused, and appreciate the time you took to look into the matter.
Regards,
MaryAnne Flynn
Director of Member Services
Gather, Inc.
Thank you for your honest answer. Because of this contest, in the future I hope that Gather will either enforce the rules as stated or not implement certain portions of the rules (i.e. tags) in the first place. That way, future questions will not arise.
Thanks again.
MaryAnne, I hope Gather management realizes that by not following the rules that they have set forth it leaves participants feeling as if rules do not matter (apparently some rules are more important then others). Further, those who do follow the listed rules are left feeling empty and some cases a bit abused. Generally, I think most people on this site have a dedication to fair play and thus when they see someone within the community be honored, they feel happy for them. The problem, of course, is when competitions that are Gather.com related are judged in a slip-shot manner or at the last minute, as stated before, rules are ignored for whatever reason - these are the sort of things that makes most honest Gatherites not want to enter site sponsored contests. Few fine food writers want to enter their grandmother's homemade sugar cookie recipe if they have an inkling it will not be judged with integrity.
I hope management remedies this situation.
I did read many postings for the corps submissions and noticed many have the title done incorrectly, some post extra tags and not the correct one and then other send the article to other groups too.
I am disappointed in this action that Gather has taken. Lisa's comments are exactly how I feel and glad to see all this research explained by Jenny, but then to just dismiss the rules because tags are confusing is so out of line for Gather to do.
This is not the way any organization should handle a contest and clearly a violation to change the rules like this and not inform the ones who are entering it.
Gather just went down a notch in my eyes as a result of this. I suggest that Jenny start some sort of group - maybe "contest watch" and then we keep track of all the corps submissions that do not follow the rules and make some lists. Something needs to be done and more of the membership needs to know of this response about the tags and how they determined a change in the contest rules.
It does not seem legal or binding to me and I bet if their sponsors and advertisers for these contests knew of this stunt things would change.
Please let me know if you start a group - I am interested in joining or if not I will start one and you could post this there so this data does not get lost among the postings at this site and there is someplace to send people to gain more insights.
And you have a great point. Official rules are "official" because they are legal and binding. I had to actually look through two different tag options ("holiday food classics" and "holiday food classics sweepstakes") because Gather screwed up and put two different requirements in two different places (1 on official rules and 1 on guidelines).
I wish the rest of gather would follow suit. Let me know if there is anything I could do to help. I am busy, but this clearly is a serious issue. I hope no one is getting scammed of real money, because that could be considered a federal crime.
Truly nothing can be done to stop it though, unfortunately that is what happens with these crime rings. Just like Child pornography and other horrible wrongs, the government seems to be helpless to stop this, which truly makes me very angry. I wish I was gifted with superhuman powers to fight crime ;).
SUPER STEVEN ROFL! I think we all wish we could do something like what Steve Lynch likes to sing about If I could be a SuperHero, wish he was less crude, but this song is one of the ones that truly is the least offensive. I know it is wrong to want to hurt people, but truly Justice must be served.
The song is funny, but the message is clear we need to stand up for TRUTH AND JUSTICE! Truly this song shows what people will do with super powers apart from God, truly I think this is why they don't get them ;)
We may not have super powers, but we do have God and His Word so we can fight injustice and pain. Truly this is why I wrote this article: Are we leading people to the Healing Rain and being Jesus to the world?
Listen:
"Superhero" by Steven Lynchbr>
Christian Super Hero
Yes, that tart recipe was my entry, and it *was* tagged correctly when I entered it. I edited it after the contest ended to add tags and other groups. I *know* I entered 100% by the official rules as posted and do not appreciate their being changed because some people are too lazy to lern how to obey them.
Yes, let's start a group to keep an eye on these things and make Gather keep its word to us.
A few days later, I returned, to find the same thing.
I was invited to post my holiday article by someone on the Gather editorial staff. Never mind that the article was about a holiday disaster.
Your post brings up a lot of interesting questions which I've had in the back of my mind for months now.
This is more important an issue and should be dispersed to the community. I sent some invites last nite to some of my connections.
I agree also with what Dorrine and Lisa said.
Maybe together, we can show Gather that someone is watching them and rules are rules!
I for one will not be a part of a competition that pretends to be something that it is not.
My time is a value that is important to me.
I am going to be following this closely to see if the Gather management rights this wrong.
All I can say is rules are rules and should be followed by everyone. And if people don't understand the rules they shouldn't be in the contest.
Thanks for your additional comments. I just want to clarify why the decision was made with regard to the tags. These contests are done with the intent of creating new ways for members to interact with Gather, be they existing members or new members. The pool of eligible contestants was expanded to accommodate a technical problem, as permitted under the rules of the contest. The selection was then based on a completely random selection from that increased pool of entries. For further clarification, please contact me at maryannef.gather.com.
Thank you,
MaryAnne
Director of Member Services
Gather, Inc.
I am arriving at this a little late, but I wish to commend you on your investigative skills and effort!
I agree that incomplete or inaccurate information on winning entries can lead to the perception of dishonesty or mismanagement. However, I have been involved is many online and offline contests, and there are always two (or more) 'tiers' of rules, which govern how entries are processed and accepted. Often these tiers are transparent to entrants, or the community at large. For example, some contest rules state that entries must be printed on a 3x5 card and mailed to a specific address. This requirement is solely for ease of processing by the receiving organization. Often, they will still accept entries made on another size card, or even in a sealed envelope, or some other medium. Lack of adherence to this 'rule' is overlooked as it does not diminish the quality of the submission. In this case, the lack of proper tags doesn't really detract from the subject of the article, or the quality of writing. Even without a technical problem, the lack of tags shouldn't disqualify a members entry for this type of contest.
I am certain that your effort here will only benefit Gather, and it's members, in future contests though. Great work!
Try not to lose interest in your loyals.