CrunchGear ran an unfair contest – updated
I entered CrunchGear’s Laptop Horror Stories contest which clearly states here that entries are to be 200 words maximum. (Here is a list of all entries – mine is #4, Rock and Crunch.)
One of the entries was clearly much longer, so I e-mailed CrunchGear stating that it was unfair. At that time only 2 entries were posted – mine hadn’t even been posted yet. John Biggs wrote back, somewhat condescendingly, that not everyone writes as elegantly as me, and did offer me an opportunity to add to my entry. You can see the e-mail exchange below… he never responded to my second e-mail. At this time there are 5 entries, and out of curiosity I copy-pasted them into an online Javascript word counter – 3 of the 5 are over the stated 200-word maximum – one at a whopping 511 words, more than twice the limit.
The point is that if they state contest entries may be 200 words max, they really need to stick to it.
I did not rewrite my entry.
——– Original Message ——–
Subject: Re: Unfair contest entry
Date: Fri, 16 Mar 2007 12:55:18 -0500
From: Kat
To: John Biggs
Please don’t be condescending – it’s not about elegant writing. It’s about the stated rules. When you say 200 words max, you need to stick to it. If the entry was simply what was posted on your blog, it would probably be ok (I didn’t actually count the words) but for that entry, you have to click over to his blog to read the whole story, and so he gets a lot more words to tell his story.
–
John Biggs wrote: unfortunately, a lot of the entrants don’t write as elegantly as you. If you’d like to add a bit more to your story, I can repost it.
JB
–
CrunchGear never publicly announced the winners – had they actually posted the entrants’ names and e-mail addresses, I would e-mail them to ask if they had received their prizes.
I asked Thor of the Demand Satisfaction blog to write about it, and he did so here.
I know John Biggs gave me the chance to expand my story, but when I followed the rules of the contest, why not make the ones who did not follow the rules pare down their posts? And I realize this is ultimately a pretty small matter. Had John Biggs not sounded so condescending when I sent my initial e-mail, I probably would have let it go.
All I want is a public, “hey, we should have followed our own contest rules, we won’t do it again” from CrunchGear. And for them to stick to it.
Update: Just got an e-mail from John Biggs: (well two but I combined them):
I’m sorry if you felt dissatisfied with the results but you saw the three winners –
# UMPC Train Pain
19 | 40% of all votes
# Flame-On!
17 | 36% of all votes
# Bloops!
6 | 13% of all votes
…based on user votes. The first entrant received his headphones a few weeks ago and the other two should receive their cases next week. I can’t in good conscience send you or post their email addresses.
I said you could add to your story if you wanted and you declined.
I actually didn’t see this:
>>Please don’t be condescending – it’s not about elegant writing. It’s about the stated rules. When you say 200 words max, you need to stick to it. If the entry was simply what was posted on your blog, it would probably be ok (I didn’t actually count the words) but for that entry, you have to click over to his blog to read the whole story, and so he gets a lot more words to tell his story.<<
I'm sorry if you felt I was condescending. I'm under a lot of pressure to maintain the site and keep things moving so I don't have a lot of time to be warm and friendly, which is something I need to work on. I apologize.
JB
Yes, I know that I didn’t rewrite my entry… I guess I will consider this reply satisfactory, although like I posted before, I just wanted CrunchGear to stick to their own contest rules.
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