| The
Misunderstood Sweeper
by C. De Graff, Editor
The Sweepstakes Wire, April 2003 Issue
You may or may not realize it, but "sweepers"
have gotten a bad reputation among many sponsors, sweepstakes administrators
and fulfillment houses. Unfortunately, this reputation is actually
"earned" by cheaters, not by sweepers; however, many people
can not distinguish between the two.
A "sweeper" is someone who is seriously
devoted to entering sweepstakes. It is often more than a hobby;
it's a career. Sweepers are usually very good at what they do. Why?
They subscribe to many of the popular Sweepstakes Newsletters; they
maximize their winning potential by entering often; they have learned
certain techniques such as "entry spacing" (click
here for a chance to win The New
Five-Week Formula for Winning Fabulous Sweepstakes Prizes! Quick-Start
Course); they THINK like winners and they ARE winners.
The most amazing part of this is that sweepers usually follow the
rules to the letter. They know that their efforts will be in vain
if they afford the judges with a reason to disqualify their entries.
They know that it is not necessary to cheat in order to win.
A "cheater" is someone who is lured by
the thought of easy money and easy prizes. According to dictionary.com,
to cheat is "To violate rules deliberately, as in a game: was
accused of cheating at cards.". A sweepstakes cheater is someone
who deliberately violates the rules. They may use multiple email
addresses such as "joe1@hotmail.com", "joe2@hotmail.com",
etc.; they may enter using fake names and/or names of their friends
and relatives; they may use scripts or other automated entry services
in violation of many sweepstakes rules or any other number of unfair
means of entry. Unfortunately, although many cheaters are disqualified,
many more are not. They often slip through the cracks undetected
and receive their prizes anyway, which is why they continue to cheat.
Since cheaters often use many of the same means
as sweepers, such as Sweepstakes Newsletters and "sweeper boards"
to find sweepstakes to enter, many sponsors, administrators and
fulfillment houses that are responsible for catching and disqualifying
cheaters do not realize that there is a difference between a cheater
and a sweeper. Therefore, when the term sweepers comes up, or when
a recently launched sweepstakes is found on a sweepers board, a
collective groan often comes from the sponsors, administrators and
fulfillment houses.
You may wonder why they care if people cheat. Does
it hurt them to give a prize to a cheater instead of a player who
follows the rules? Does it seem like the only one who is disadvantaged
are the players who DO follow the rules? Well, the sponsors, administrators
and fulfillment houses do care and it does hurt them. How? Read
on.
For one thing, sponsors hold sweepstakes because
they WANT to give away prizes; and, it is very important to them
that the prizes are distributed fairly, and to the largest number
of people possible. That is why there are rules, and that is why
the rules often state one prize per person.
Administrators have a different reason for wanting
to prevent cheating. They are hired to develop and administer the
sweepstakes. They are hired to draft the rules and follow them to
the letter. I am personally aware of several cases that have caused
huge problems for a sweepstakes administrator with the sponsor (their
client). In one case, a promotion was considered a huge success
with entries numbering in the hundreds of thousands - until it was
discovered that one player using an automated script had entered
over 40,000 times. Imagine the explanation required for not catching
that before sending final statistics to the client! In another case,
in a time-based promotion that awarded cash prizes, it was discovered
that 2/3 of the prizes had been awarded to two cheaters. Granted,
the cheaters were disqualified and did not receive their prize money,
but the prizes could not be re-awarded either. What is came down
to was that the client paid a large sum of money to the administrator
in order to have a promotion to reward its visitors - and the promotion
was a failure in their eyes. Not only was the client unhappy, but
many legitimate players lost a chance to win because of the misdeeds
of a few. When this happens, sponsors find another company to administer
their sweepstakes - or they just stop holding them altogether.
Cheaters cause sponsors to spend their advertising
dollars elsewhere. They have given sweepers a bad reputation and
they have left a bad taste in everyone's mouths. Because of cheaters,
there are less sweepstakes to enter, less free samples given away,
and less rewards programs to play. As long as their are cheaters,
sweepers will continue to have a bad reputation - and there is nothing
they can do about it.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
About The Sweepstakes Wire
Copyright © 2003, by The Sweepstakes Wire™, http://www.sweepstakes.bz
All rights reserved.
Founded in 2002, The Sweepstakes Wire™ specializes
in the development of affordable sweepstakes solutions and in providing
quality sweepstakes and contests to the consumer via a web portal
and monthly newsletter.
This 792-word article may be reproduced in a website,
e-zine, CD-ROM, book, magazine, etc. so long as these four conditions
are met: (1) It is reprinted in full with no editing. (2) The byline
"by C. De Graff" is left intact. (3) The copyright information
is included at the end of the article, preserving the "hot"
hyperlink. (4) You email me at editor@sweepstakes.bz letting me
know the URL on your site where the article appears, or the medium
used to distribute the article. (Note: I do NOT allow other articles
on my site to be reproduced.)
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Read additional articles from The Sweepstakes Wire, http://www.sweepstakes.bz
|
