Thanks For Helping Me to Win

[Robyn55]

Originally Posted by I_Am_Legend

Sorry for the bump, but how do you actually win money here? What do you have to do?

Well - you post messages that help people. And - if people like them - they "rate them positively" by clicking on the link at the lower left hand side of the messages.

And then - when there's a contest - an anonymous group of people look at the people who've entered the contest - and they decide who's going to win. I have no idea who these judges are - or how they reach their conclusions. Except that it seems to be a combination of objective factors (like positive post ratings) and subjective factors.

FWIW - I was being a little sarcastic when I posted this thread. For reasons I didn't understand - people in the Florida forums - including the JAX forum - tended to be somewhat stingy in terms of "rating posts positively". Especially compared to a forum like the Retirement Forum - where people were quite liberal in terms of "liking" posts. I think that has started to change in recent years - which is a good thing IMO. Robyn

[The_Real_Deal]

Originally Posted by Robyn55

Well - you post messages that help people. And - if people like them - they "rate them positively" by clicking on the link at the lower left hand side of the messages.

And then - when there's a contest - an anonymous group of people look at the people who've entered the contest - and they decide who's going to win. I have no idea who these judges are - or how they reach their conclusions. Except that it seems to be a combination of objective factors (like positive post ratings) and subjective factors.

FWIW - I was being a little sarcastic when I posted this thread. For reasons I didn't understand - people in the Florida forums - including the JAX forum - tended to be somewhat stingy in terms of "rating posts positively". Especially compared to a forum like the Retirement Forum - where people were quite liberal in terms of "liking" posts. I think that has started to change in recent years - which is a good thing IMO. Robyn

Thank you for the summary. I guess moderators are the one that decides who are best chosen candidates to win the big prizes. A positive rate for you as well.

[SaintCabbage]

Originally Posted by Robyn55

FWIW - I was being a little sarcastic when I posted this thread. For reasons I didn't understand - people in the Florida forums - including the JAX forum - tended to be somewhat stingy in terms of "rating posts positively". Especially compared to a forum like the Retirement Forum - where people were quite liberal in terms of "liking" posts. I think that has started to change in recent years - which is a good thing IMO. Robyn

100% accurate, noticed that myself.

[Robyn55]

Another thing. Perhaps I shouldn't say it - but it's what I think. The most recent $5000 winner is a mod. I didn't know that mods were allowed to enter the contests (much less win them). Doesn't seem like a level playing field when mods are allowed to enter the contests - and (presumably) other mods are the judges.

It's not that the mods here aren't a good hardworking bunch for the most part - it just didn't sit quite right with me. I think one of the points of the contests is to encourage "normal folk" to write more informative messages. To make the place a better resource. And if the "insiders" - the mods - have the inside track - well - what's the point of having a contest? Robyn