Help enforcing the PIF

[CynTEAa]

Hehehe - Glad to hear my Xine is innocent! Anyway, it really made me smile this morning! Thanks for the laugh!

[Chip]

Cyn, I never kid!!!

Hey Scruff...since you asked. You have a boat load of non members who technically do not qualify for Tao Of TeaSwap according to the rules. Besides, if one wins, how could you even contact. (and anyone could claim to be the winner really) A member might be upset if a guest won.

I say they should join if they want to reap such a generous benefit as your contest. No guest contestants.

However, this is your contest. I can delete them if you say so. Of course you could also edit your post for future readers.

To be honest, I was trying to figure out how they even posted as guests. I suspect foul play...such as one or two of these guests are multi posting...smells funny to me.

[scruffmcgruff]

Yeah, I definitely will make a "no guests" rule (I didn't even realize guests could post on here... apparently I was wrong!), and I'm considering a minimum posts rule to help reduce the likelihood of people spamming entries.

Would these additions to the rules be too severe to put in place after the fact? Alternatively, though I would feel a bit weird to do this, I could just be shady and impose the rules behind the scenes, so as not to stir up drama.

Also, is there any easy way to check peoples' IPs? If you have to do it individually, don't worry about it, but that could be another way of preventing spammers.

[Chip]

Yeah, I definitely will make a "no guests" rule (I didn't even realize guests could post on here... apparently I was wrong!), and I'm considering a minimum posts rule to help reduce the likelihood of people spamming entries.

Would these additions to the rules be too severe to put in place after the fact? Alternatively, though I would feel a bit weird to do this, I could just be shady and impose the rules behind the scenes, so as not to stir up drama.

Also, is there any easy way to check peoples' IPs? If you have to do it individually, don't worry about it, but that could be another way of preventing spammers.

IPs mean little these days. I can also check IP locations, but that is not really always true either.

The rule is clearly stated (3 month member) under Mary's intro. I will delete if I do not here from you otherwise. After all, anyone could claim they sent a guest post and try to claim the prize. It is not totally verifiable...just a name.

Guests should have no claim on prizes...IMHO.

[Salsero]

Guests should have no claim on prizes...IMHO.

While I have no business interjecting an opinion on Scruff's game or Adagio's site, I tend to agree with Chip about guests. On the other hand, even if some cheating, selfish, a**hole wins via some sort of misrepresentation, we will have all had fun and the contest has probably done more to promote tea than anything else we have done! And I think those were probably the original goals.

[Mary R]

I have no clue how the guests posted. I gave a half-hearted crack at doing so earlier and wasn't bright enough to figure it out. It looks shady. I think the guests shouldn't be counted at all...but I'm a little loathe to remove their posts. I'd rather not start a riot or field disgruntled e-mails if I can help it.

I've been viewing the PIF thread with a little bit of dread. Responding to and endorsing each and every one of the noobs who entered would take a fair bit of time...and to be honest, I'd rather not do it.

When the time comes for you to choose the winners, Brent, why don't we see who got the closest number and take it from there? I'd be perfectly happy to contact/googlestalk candidates and figure out if they're good for it.

[Chip]

Perhaps I have grown more cynical due the forum abuse of the last few weeks.

Should you win, I will send you a private message on TeaChat detailing what you won.

This is Scruffs notification method as stated in his original post...can't PM a guest.

I simply do not trust these "guests." Besides, I do not understand how anyone could prove they are the actual winner...no email address to verify, etc.

I find it unfair to the actual members of TC...and it sets precedent. And how hard is it to actually join TC...takes most men 2-3 minutes, women 2X as long of course.

But it is not my stuff...and Scruff, I am certainly not trying to detract from your generous TeaAct of goodness.

Well, we could also chalk it up to live and learn. I just never saw all these guests beating the system and posting w/o even being a member...

HMMMM...one way they could have done it, though it sort of defies logic. Perhaps Troll A became a member, posted, then deleted himself. And then repeated the act. Differing IPs means absolutely nothing. One reason for doing this is ...pne membership per email address (but how hard is it to do multible email addresses)

[scruffmcgruff]

Well, next time the wait period probably shouldn't be so long. That way only the active members really get a crack at it. *Sigh* I didn't think this would turn into a mod nightmare-- sorry guys! I think I'll see who gets the closest number, as Mary said, and go from there. If an active member gets it, great. If some fudging is required... so be it. I'll at least run everything by you guys first.

[CynTEAa]

Omigosh! Tea Trolls...whodathunkit? Don't worry Scruff, surely the good will outweigh the bad.

[Chip]

...problem solved...well, future problem solved. The setting was on "public" for TeaSwap, meaning anyone could post. I reset it to the proper setting. No more guests should be able to post.

I are smarty...

[scruffmcgruff]

All right, I figured I'd post the results here first, to see if there are any objections/reports of sketchiness. There's only one I'm not really sure about:

Red: Teasweetie
Green: forkyfork
Yellow: JoeZ

I'll post the results in the teaswap thread tomorrow, assuming these guys check out. I've seen teasweetie and forkyfork around the forum and don't have any objections there, but I haven't run into this JoeZ guy. Still, he signed up a while ago and has a dozen legit posts, so unless someone has something else to say, I'll consider him a winner.

Sorry to any ITD members who bid and didn't win!

[Salsero]

Congratulations, Scruff, on a wonderful event and great entertainment!

[Chip]

Yikes...it was so hard for me to restrain myself and not abuse my mod powers and edit the winners to

Chip
Chip
Chip.

Maybe Mary still will.

[Mary R]

You mean change 'em to "Mary, Mary, Mary."

I think all the winners rightly deserve their booty. JoeZ is really new to the community and that gives me a little pause, but I have no real Mod reason to disqualify him. The point of all this was to help out newbies, no?

[scruffmcgruff]

The point of all this was to help out newbies, no?

Yes indeed, I'm just trying to make sure I'm not mistaking a newbie with a low post count for a scammer. He doesn't seem to be, so the booty shall be his. Yarr.