Sun Oct 10, 2004 6:26 pm
Guilds have been being cleared for awhile now for having contests and giveaways. They just seem to do them in "groups" so that is probably why so many people notice it all at once.
Any type of contest or giveaway is against the rules - ifyou read the second page of the T&C (though why it's there is a mystery) - click the link in the first rule re: graphics. There's an addition to that rule.
Shapu, that having the "contest" or whatever on a guild web won't work - there's no contests allowed on or off site.
And in this month's magazine, there is an article about guilds, how to make them successful, etc. on page 24. (I'm gonna have to subscribe again, though I can't afford it - there is some good info in that magazine.) This IS long - and I'm only giving you the highlights.
Now, our guild leader was told in several emails that any sort of contest, giveaway (even like a little member of the day gets a plushie or something) is against the rules, and calling a contest anything else is just trying to side-step the rules, including calling them "competitions". According the magazine, competitions are ok, and they say this in part:
So basically - no to contests, giveaways, etc., yes to "competitions" as long as nothing is promised in any way and you don't give anyone anything until AFTER the "competition is over ... and you do it on your own - and it sounds like NO "donations" are allowed, though that word is not in the article. There's no name, so I don't know who wrote this article.
Our guild stopped everything immediately when we found out that the rule was being enforced - it's always been a rule btw. So, we haven't had anything for months ... at least 6 months. And our guild leader started writing in asking what was and wasn't allowed. As I said above, she was told not even a "competition" was allowed, so I have no idea when or how that was changed.
Any type of contest or giveaway is against the rules - ifyou read the second page of the T&C (though why it's there is a mystery) - click the link in the first rule re: graphics. There's an addition to that rule.
Shapu, that having the "contest" or whatever on a guild web won't work - there's no contests allowed on or off site.
And in this month's magazine, there is an article about guilds, how to make them successful, etc. on page 24. (I'm gonna have to subscribe again, though I can't afford it - there is some good info in that magazine.) This IS long - and I'm only giving you the highlights.
Contests vs. Competitions
Often times, when attempting to generate interest in their guilds, people will make the mistake of offering "contests." Regardless of whether their intentions are noble or not, the fact is that this is simply not allowed on the Neopets site. Any time that you say, "I will give you a reward for winning (or even participating) in such-and-such an activity," then you are entering a situation where, more often thann not, people end up getting scammed.
... (if you want the whole thing, I'll type it, otherwise, jumping to this paragraph) ...
So, just to recap:
A contest is an activity where the participants are offered (or promised) the possibility of receiving a prize in exchange for participating in (or "winning") that activity. This is NOT allowed o the Neopets site.
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Now, our guild leader was told in several emails that any sort of contest, giveaway (even like a little member of the day gets a plushie or something) is against the rules, and calling a contest anything else is just trying to side-step the rules, including calling them "competitions". According the magazine, competitions are ok, and they say this in part:
A competition is an activity in which participants are never offered (or promised) the possibility of receiving a prize in exchange for their involvement. They participate solely because they want to. This IS allowed by the Neopets site. Keeping this in mind, should the proprietor of a guild decide to give an item(s) to someone who happened to be a participant in one of their ompetitions, then this is okay, as there are no rules against this o the Neopets site.
So basically - no to contests, giveaways, etc., yes to "competitions" as long as nothing is promised in any way and you don't give anyone anything until AFTER the "competition is over ... and you do it on your own - and it sounds like NO "donations" are allowed, though that word is not in the article. There's no name, so I don't know who wrote this article.
Our guild stopped everything immediately when we found out that the rule was being enforced - it's always been a rule btw. So, we haven't had anything for months ... at least 6 months. And our guild leader started writing in asking what was and wasn't allowed. As I said above, she was told not even a "competition" was allowed, so I have no idea when or how that was changed.
Sun Oct 10, 2004 8:53 pm
I had my first account frozen because of illegal guild activities. It's the only account I ever had frozen...sigh.
Sun Oct 10, 2004 10:56 pm
Kitten Medli wrote:Well, I'm kind of glad. They are against the rules, and that is why I am so paranoid to join guilds.
But deleting the whole guild isn't very good.. a warning at first, maybe?
There is nothing wrong with guilds if they are run properly. Before my guild, Supreme Warriors merged with ~Chameleons~ items worth millions of neopoints were given out to members. We did have activities, competitions, tournaments. We were ALWAYS 100% within Neopets rules. ~Chameleons~ is also 100% within Neopets rules. We have a battledome tourney going on now. If you join a guild with a good knowledgable guild leader you should have no problem.
You simply need to know what the rules are and play within them.
Sun Oct 10, 2004 11:16 pm
my guild is pretty safe because it's small and run by a staff member. we don't have contests.. we have "quizzes" where whoever gets the answer first "might just completely unrelatedly happen to be sent a small item by noone in particular," haha.
Sun Oct 10, 2004 11:54 pm
I had thought guilds hda not been allowed to have contests since they banned them altogether. That was three years ago; why are they just now cracking down on them?
Contests are a great example of a few people ruining something for everyone. However, I think they are just deleting the guilds that are having 'donate the most NP and win!' things.
Contests are a great example of a few people ruining something for everyone. However, I think they are just deleting the guilds that are having 'donate the most NP and win!' things.
Mon Oct 11, 2004 5:01 pm
ZH! wrote:I had thought guilds hda not been allowed to have contests since they banned them altogether. That was three years ago; why are they just now cracking down on them?
Contests are a great example of a few people ruining something for everyone. However, I think they are just deleting the guilds that are having 'donate the most NP and win!' things.
Yeah, thats right, they are starting to crack down on them right now, and they are closing all guilds with contests or 'raffles' so to speak.
Technicially they never were allowed to hold contests in the first place, but people did it anyway, but now it seems TNT is starting to crack down hard on them
