Tuesday, June 23, 2009

The Easiest Contest on the Internet

Exfanding Your Horizons is holding a contest.

[NOTE: Ha! Not really. This contest is now closed.]

Amazon.com gift cardWe're giving away two $10 gift certificates to Amazon.com. And it's really easy to enter our contest.

Call us vain, but we'd like to see all those numbers on our fancy sidebar increase. Especially our rating on Blogged.com. And some more publicity couldn't hurt.

That's where you come in.


CONTEST RULES:

To enter our contest all you need to do is one (or more!) of the following:

- Become a Follower of this blog (check the Loyal Minions section of our sidebar).

- Become a fan of us on Facebook.

- Make us a Technorati favorite (look for the tiny link that says "Favorite it"). Feel free to write a review of us while you're there, too.

- Rate us on Blogged.com. To rate us, you will need to click on "review this blog," write something as simple or as complex as you'd like, and then select your rating before submitting. RATE US HONESTLY. Or give us a 10. Which, realistically, would be rating us honestly anyhow. Right? ...Right?

- Follow us on Blogged.com. Just click the "Start Following" button. If you're already there to rate us, you might as well do this anyhow, and vice versa.

For both Technorati and Blogged, you will need to create an account if you don't already have one. The process is quick and easy, and I have never received any spam from being signed up.


At the end of this month, we will gather the names of all the Followers, Facebook and Technorati fans, and people who rated us on Blogged.com and throw them into a big, comical hat, or a passable substitute for a big, comical hat. We will then draw TWO names at random and send each one a $10 Amazon.com gift certificate via e-mail. Easy!

There is no official deadline, but results will be announced whenever we feel like it during the first week of July. If we can dig up your e-mail address, you will simply be e-mailed the gift certificate. Otherwise, we'll send you a Facebook message, etc. letting you know you've won, and it's up to you to get in touch with us about how to get in touch with you.


FINE PRINT:

- If you are already a fan, Follower, or have voted, you have already been entered into this contest. Huzzah!

- Each contest entrant is allowed a maximum of FIVE chances to win--one as a Follower, one as a Facebook fan, one as a Technorati fan, one as a Blogged follower, and one for voting on Blogged. Please don't create fifty fake Technorati accounts and whatnot to get a better shot at winning. I know where half of you live, and I will find you.

- If we don't have your e-mail address and you take too long to respond to our Facebook message, etc., then we'll give the gift certificate to somebody else. Tough noogies.

- The two gift certificates must be given to two different people. If we draw your name twice, lucky you, you get to fight yourself to the death. The survivor gets one prize, and the other will be given to a randomly selected person who is not you. Unless your name is drawn for the third time, in which case we'll fight you to the death ourselves, because you're clearly cheating.

- If you become a Follower or fan, don't just stop Following or fanning us as soon as this contest is over. We've rigged the "Stop Following" button to cause your computer to ceaselessly make yak noises if you click it, and Facebook will permanently change your username to "Buttermilk Pajamas" if you stop being a fan.

- Immediate family members of Alex and Nathaniel are not eligible to win. You openly show your support for us out of obligation, remember.


Also, while you're at it, rate us on BlogCatalog and vote on some of my YouTube videos. We're not actually counting these toward the contest, but they'd certainly be appreciated, and they may build good karma, which could increase your chances of winning.

We're giving away $10 gift certificates if you click a few buttons, folks. It doesn't get much easier than this.

Become a Follower, become a fan on Facebook and Technorati, and rate us on Blogged by the first week of July. Don't just do it 'cuz you love the blog. Do it for the $10.

5 comments:

Scott said...

Done, done, done, and done. I actually left a review on Technorati as well, since they allowed me a few more characters.

Hope the feedback helps. Sorry if it sounds overly harsh.

Flashman85 said...

Excellent; thank you! No worries about the perceived harshness--total honesty is better than mere flattery if it's tempered with tact.

While the guiding principle for this blog has always been, "write what you feel like, and so much the better if people like it," I'm always receptive to well-articulated feedback, positive or negative, so I welcome your comments!

To that end, I encourage others to voice their opinions, either on Blogged and Technorati, in the comments section here or on another post, or via e-mail: laffman85 [at] aol [dot] com

Kris said...

Am a follower!

tettro@gmail.com

Scott said...

One thing I'd like to add... for me personally, the weakest point of exfanding would be the "news" posts. There are plenty of other sites out there that specialize in geek news, game news, or anime news. There are even more that specialize in specific types of geek news, game news, or anime news.

I realize that not everyone reads them, but for me, it seems kind of redundant to come here and read news that I read elsewhere several times...

I'd much rather read about fandoms from your personal perspectives -- what you like (or don't like) about particular fandoms; how you found out about them; what drew you into them (or didn't draw you in, as the case may be); other people who may be able to illuminate the darker corners of the fandom, resources...

Basically, personal takes on things. A bit of a deeper analysis...

Flashman85 said...

Kris: Hooray! And thanks in advance to everyone else who participates!

tarepanda: Indeed. Alex and I agree with your point about our news reporting, which is why we've tended to shy away from it as often as possible. We usually only report on something if it's particularly meaningful to us (though that might not always come through in our writing), if it's something that was barely reported in any of the news sources we regularly follow, or (spoiler alert) if it's a busy day and we just need anything to write about.

Concerning what you said in your last two paragraphs, the short version is that the original plan was to familiarize folks with the basics of a fandom before posting anything deeper or more personal. However, the dynamic of the blog is different enough now from what it was when we started; such a plan might stand reexamination.

Once this contest is over, Alex and I will go over all the feedback we've gotten and discuss where to go from there. Stay tuned.