Contests and Member Notifications

[Azimuth]

@420

Rob,

You had asked me to circle back and remind you of a discussion we had about trying to increase member participation in the various contests. I had suggested that sending a notification to everyone's inbox would be an easy way to do it but you seemed hesitant to needlessly add extra notifications to everyone.

I did see that you added a banner at the top of each page to make it easier to find the annual contests. I don't know how long it's been there but I just noticed it a day or so ago, and I know others haven't noticed it either as I've seen members encouraging others to go vote and giving instructions on how to navigate to them.

So, I still think a notification in everyone's inbox would help and I know it would make it easier for me as I don't often remember about them, but I do visit each of my notification entries with new posts.

You could send one notification for each contest or a collective one like is linked to with your banner, but either way, I'm sure it would increase member participation in the contests.

I looked today and less than 30 members have voted in the Member of the Year contest, and the monthly contests rarely get more than 40-50 voters.

If you are still reluctant maybe send out a general poll thread and ask for feedback like you did in the amnesty thread, although I would still encourage you to send it to everyone and not just get feedback from those who happen upon it.

Thanks again for all you've done for this community. We all appreciate your efforts.

Azi

 

[420]

I'll digest this for a reply as soon as I finish up with the reputation points fiasco

 

[420]

I've been using the text link at top left of the forums randomly, to put it in everyone's face on every page they go to.

I can also post it as an alert each month, when we get closer to the end.

Reminders to inboxes is a great idea that I've also had for years and have already tried in the past. I really wish we could do it, however the issue we have is that not everyone has the same desires; as the old saying goes, (maybe not the best analogy but), one man's trash is another man's treasure. In this case, one man's treasure, could be another man's trash.

Inbox messages send an email notification to those who have them enabled. Not everyone appreciates getting emails for things that are not as important to them, like being asked to vote in a contest. We use it sparingly for more important things like big protocol changes to things everyone uses daily, or new features that need detailed explanations to resolve confusion. Sending out email requests to vote every month can upset people and cause them to unsubscribe from email notifications altogether, which then stops the constant reminders to rejoin us, and we end up losing that member forever. It's happened live in the trench repeatedly, I've been watching it and analysing it closely for years.

It can also cause us to get blacklisted, from sending too many emails. Some people get very upset when they get emails that do not apply to them and report us to the email providers as spam. When that happens, everyone loses, because then nobody can get any emails from us whatsoever. It would be one thing if we only had a few thousand people on the list, but with over 200,000 people, those spam reports can come in droves and close down our lines of communication.

So we're stuck between a rock and a hard place with sending out emails. It's just not worth the risk of losing our email connection with everyone, to get more contest votes.

However, if we work with @Teddy Edwards to incorporate it in the top of his weekly newsletter routine, that would help a lot too. This way they get it via email, just not as a one off request to just vote in contests.

 

[Azimuth]

Makes sense. I didn't even consider the email angle.

 

[Teddy Edwards]

However, if we work with @Teddy Edwards to incorporate it in the top of his weekly newsletter routine, that would help a lot too. This way they get it via email, just not as a one off request to just vote in contests.

I'll work with our Webmaster to include it in next week's newsletter.

 

[420]

I'll work with our Webmaster to include it in next week's newsletter.

How about sending it out weekly for the year end contest until it's over, then for the monthly contests, do it when they get nominated around the 15th and again when there's like 3-5 days left to vote.