I have a moral question to put to the crowd:
There are a few link-ups that I participate in regularly that also include giveaways. Since "free is a very good price" as the appliance salesman that was a regular feature of Portland late night TV used to say, I am always happy to enter these. Your chances improve the more you interact, either by visiting and commenting on other blogs in the linkup, or by following the creators, etc.
Here's my question. Say I win one of these, which I've been lucky enough to do a time or two. Is it bad form to come right back the next week/month/post and enter again? Or should I take a break and let someone else get their turn? Or should I trust that giver-away to make that executive decision. "Hmm. I just sent Wendy a book. Maybe I'll randomly draw a second name here."
To give a concrete example, Nicole, our discussion challenge host, has sent me books twice this year--I think once for a round-up giveaway and once for a discussion post giveaway. I kind of feel like Nicole shouldn't have to be sending me books all the time. While I'm continuing to link up to her posts, I think it might behoove me to skip the whole enter-to-win part.
But it's so much fun to win something!
What are your thoughts?
I have thought about this, and I do feel some compunction about entering the same person's giveaways too often once I win. You might just want to take some months off before entering again. On the other hand, if the giveaway sponsor really minded, they could make a rule against it!
ReplyDeleteI think that after I win I still feel like I "earn" a raffle spot by linking up a post, but I won't add on all the other options (following, commenting, etc.) for awhile.
DeleteEvery blog has different policies on this. A lot request that you wait three months before you enter another contest. ;)
ReplyDeleteOoh, that is an interesting though. :O Tbh, it's never happened to me, because I rarely am consistent about what kind of giveaways I enter. xD BUT! I kind of do always think, in the back of my mind, that if I do win a giveaway from a blog, if I happened to win again very soon later, they'd just draw another name? Idek if they would or not? But that has occurred to me as a possibility.
ReplyDeleteWell, that makes sense. I can't imagine that they'd say, "Darn that Wendy for winning again," and then send me the prize anyway. As a teacher, I know that our random drawings are skewed more often than not.
DeleteGIRL, you keep on entering! Especially if we're talking the discussion post- you EARN those entries! But no, seriously, I don't see why not. I have had people win a few in a year or so. I don't know what I would do if it were like, back-to-back-to-back. If it was the SAME event giveaway, I might draw a new winner, in the sake of fairness. BUT if it was totally different things? Meh- the Rafflecopter wants what it wants ;) And hey, congrats on the wins!
ReplyDeleteThank you! I do kind of feel like I "earn" for linking up posts, but not for following and commenting. It's not really a huge source of worry for me, since I do figure the prize awarder can make the final decision. Just something I felt bashful about and turned into a post. :)
DeleteWell, gambler's fallacy would say you're tipping the odds in your favor and being unfair to other entrants BUT that's a fallacy. Each entry earns more chances to win, but there's a max on that and people will only put in what they think it's worth. So....no, I don't think you're being greedy or wrong. After all, the host wants interaction, and you're giving them what they want. :)
ReplyDeleteI do get what you're saying. Anya at Starships and Dragon Wings does a weekly link-up, and she randomly picks a winner from the links. Except I've won twice, and each time I felt kind of guilty entering the next week, but I just wanted to link to my post! Lol. So in cases like that I trust that the person can make the decision to draw a second name if I were to win twice in a row, or they can give me both wins if they think that's fair. So I guess what I'm saying is, I do sometimes feel weird about entering again after winning things, but I usually do it anyway and don't fret over too much!
ReplyDeleteThis is really funny because I too have felt guilty for entering another giveaway after winning one, but I never even thought twice about the fact that you'd won two of mine - never gave it a single thought! Honestly, I don't mind at all if people win multiple giveaways because that means they're really participating. If people take the time to enter, why can't they win again? Rafflecopter decides who wins, not me, so it's not like I'm being biased when I pick you! (Though I DO kind of love when a name I know well pops up as the winner!)
ReplyDeleteSo, I say, enter away!
Nicole @ Feed Your Fiction Addiction
I usually wait a few months before I enter another giveaway on a blog if I win something from that blog. I figure that I might not get picked anyway considering I recently won, so I don't waste my time entering. I guess I might be wrong in thinking about it that way.
ReplyDeleteI don't think winning twice in one year is guilt-worthy. If it were every month, I would feel guilty because I would worry that other people would think there was something fishy going on.