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Top Trending Contestants :

Brian, lexisdomains, Soccergirl

Contest Stats :

Total number of entries :
23
Total number of entries with 5 star rating :
1
Total number of entries rated by contest holder :
11
Total number of entries with 4 star rating :
3
Total number of participants :
14
Total number of entries with 3 star rating :
9

Contest Closed

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Contest Closed. Winner Selected

Winner: lexisdomains

Winning Submission: " Lexis Domains Suggestions - Set 2 "

Award amount: $ 100.00

Contest Brief
Entries
Comments

Contest Title
Help us Improve Squadhelp
Contest Category
Detailed Brief
Some of our users recently expressed concerns about winner selection process as well as non-guaranteed contests.

We would like to tap into your collective intelligence to make changes to our site to better support your needs. Instead of coming up with the changes ourselves, we felt it would be better to directly ask our most important constituents - you, the contestants.

As part of this contest, we are asking you to provide a consolidated set of recommendations on how to improve the site. There are no constraints in what you can recommend - if you see bugs or usability concerns, please let us know as well. However, in addition to other recommendations, we would ask you to also provide your input on following two items:

1. Winner Selection: Although guaranteed contests always result in winner selection, there have been several instances where the contest holders do not select the winner for a long time. In those cases, the winner selection is done by Squadhelp Administrator. Please note, ideally, we would like to be not involved with winner selection because we want the contest holders to "own" the decision. However in the event the contest holders do not come back to select a winner or take longer than one week, we would like your input on the best mechanism to select a winner in those cases.

2. Guaranteed Contests: If a contest is not guaranteed, we allow contest holders to request a refund for the award amount if they do not like any submissions. We like to offer this peace of mind to the new contest holders (who have never used our platform) so that they can be confident about launching a contest. However, we want to make sure that this guarantee is not misused. (For example, the contest holder finds a good name and then requests the contest to be canceled). We are looking for feedback on how we can continue to offer this peace of mind but at the same time, avoid the misuse of this guarantee.

Please note - you are welcome to provide additional suggestions on other topics as well. The person who provides most comprehensive suggestions will win the contest.
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27 Comments shown most recent first

Thanks for your ideas!
1 years ago
Posted by : SquadhelpAdmin (Squadhelp Admin)
Thank you for your great ideas and suggestions. It was hard to pick a winner but we selected lexisdomains due to the thorough analysis and detailed recommendations.

We would also like to recognize soccergirl by offering a bonus award of $50

@ wayamauro - Invitation-Only (Open Selection Process)
1 years ago
Posted by : lexisdomains
Perhaps Squadhelp can consider making invitation-only contests an open selection process of which the contestholder can select any squadhelp professionals to work on their projects. Make no mistake, however, that the top contestants have earned the right to have preference in these type of contest.

Remember, naming is a skill that is acquired over the course of time. You must keep working at it and you'll be sure to improve.

Thanks,
LexisDomains

Invitation Only Contests
1 years ago
Posted by : wayamauro
Does everybody here like the idea of having an "Invitation Only" contest?
I have noticed they are increasingly appearing on the Contest Board.
This is just my opinion, but don't you think it is a little unfair for the rest of the contestants? For instance, how about the newest contestants? They are not even given the chance to participate. If this keeps happening Squadhelp can become just a VIP thing. If contests holders merely select a few contestants by the simple fact of having won more contests...what ever happens to individual and collective creativity?

Like I said just my opinion, but hopefully it does not become a habit from the contest holders to make it "Invitation Only", or probably people will stop participating and leave.

@Bruja - Make The Contest Private
1 years ago
Posted by : lexisdomains
Bruja. Unfortunately, there's nothing you can do when a contest is made public and a domain name is registered by someone else. The only safe thing to do is to make the contest 'Private'.

Thanks,
LexisDomains

@coopertex
1 years ago
Posted by : bruja
Nevermind my comments/suggestions. You never understood what I was trying to say. I was just asking questions and giving some stupid suggestions... forget about it. I rest my case. Good day =)

one last last thing
1 years ago
Posted by : bruja
@Squadhelpadmin:

What can you do with Public Contests to avoid the lurking stealers from snagging entries they like and register/sell them in less than 24 hours?

It happened to many time on NameThis that I submitted an available domain, then someone must have liked it because the next day I checked the domain's availability and found out it was registered just a few hours ago. T

7 Day Decisions - Too Long!
1 years ago
Posted by : lexisdomains
I agree with everyone else. 7 days is a bit long for a name decision. I would say that 1 week or 5 days is more than enough time to deliberate on a name.

bruja
1 years ago
Posted by : coopertex
If contest holders have trouble making up their minds on selecting one (1)winning entry, what makes you think it'll be easier with three (3)entries they have to pick?

Why is less money better?
1 years ago
Posted by : coopertex
I don't understand why some here want to split the money into smaller prizes. And why give the contest holder 3 domains for the price of one? This is not a good idea at all. They want three different domains, they should hold three different contests.

@Squadhelp Admin
1 years ago
Posted by : sheri1978
Is there a way to add the contest posted date inside the summary box along with the Prize amount and number of entries? Sometimes it gets confusing how long the contest has been opened. Thanks

I'd say
1 years ago
Posted by : bruja
split the pot money into 3 and increase minimum reward to maybe $100 or $90. The number of participants are growing so as the creative entries. Splitting will at least make the CH happy that he has the option of, for example, registering 3 domains.

sorry
1 years ago
Posted by : bruja
for the grammar typos...

Question for Squadadmin
1 years ago
Posted by : bruja
How are we guaranteed that the CH will only use one entry (winner) considering (for example) that there are more than one entries he also favors and is dying to use them in the future if ever he change his mind?

If I'm a wise CH, I'd pay $50 for one winner, then I can steal 3 or more name entries and register the domains right away without having to send additional bonuses because it's not mandatory in the first place? How fair is that?

What if one of the losing names (especially brand name) will be as lucrative as Microsoft? Will he return here and give credit to the ideator of that losing entry? You get what I mean?

The splitting of the pot money benefits both parties - the CH and ideator.

Additional Thoughts - Winner Selection
1 years ago
Posted by : SquadhelpAdmin (Squadhelp Admin)
For winner selection, we are thinking of implementing the following rules:

1. If no winner is selected by CH in 7 days, Squadhelp Admin will select the highest rated submission as the winner. Only Contest holder's rating will be taken into account.

2. If multiple entries received the same high rating, we will pick the winner based upon who received the most amount of high ratings. For example, if one user receives a single 4 star rating and another user receives two 4 star ratings for two different entries, we will pick the second user as the winner.
3. We still need to think about a clear and objective process for winner selection when none of the entries received any ratings. Please continue to provide more feedback on this scenario.

We will also implement more email reminders to educate CH on the importance of rating and winner selection.

After the end of this contest, we will outline a very specific process so there is no ambiguity in how winners are selected in these scenarios.

Great Feedback!
1 years ago
Posted by : SquadhelpAdmin (Squadhelp Admin)
Great feedback and discussion so far. We would like to address few points from our past experience, as well as from our business strategy perspective.

1. We believe it is important to allow only one winner per contest so that the award amount remains meaningful. Contest holders can always send additional bonus to other deserving contestants but the initial prize amount shouldn't be split among multiple people.

2. In the past, we allowed automatic selection of winners based upon other user's ratings if a contest holder didnt pick a winner. This was misused by some users because we noticed users creating multiple accounts or using their friend's accounts to push the ratings for their submissions. Therefore we stopped taking other ratings into account (other than contest holder) in selecting a winner.

3. We love the idea of contests automatically turning into guaranteed contest within 24-48 hours if the CH doesn't request the contest to be canceled within that time frame. We will definitely implement something along these lines .

4. We like the additional incentives if a contest holder selects a winner on time - such as domain name registration or future credits. We will also implement something along these lines.

Please keep the ideas flowing. We are committed to making this a highly transparent and fair platform for all our constituents.

@coopertex
1 years ago
Posted by : bruja
"The only way splitting the money would work is to raise the minimum prize amount trippled in value."

I agree with you on this.

NameThis has a minimum $99 reward to be divided by the top 3 winners.

@coopertex
1 years ago
Posted by : bruja
Contestants campaigning on facebook for their friends to vote for them requires valid registration on Squadhelp. How can that be exploited? You maybe don't want other people to join this site and benefit from winning the contests.

@coopertex
1 years ago
Posted by : bruja
When contestants campaigning on facebook to vote for them should require valid sign ups before they can

@coopertex
1 years ago
Posted by : sheri1978
I do agree with you that the only votes that should count toward winning the contest should be from the contest holder or Squadhelp Admin., but so many times I have wanted to submit a vote for some other entries that I really liked to encourage other creatives to use it again in the future. I have never been able to do it yet because I don't typically look at the contests I am not participating in.

Sheri1978
1 years ago
Posted by : coopertex
I didn't say it shouldn't be allowed. I just said it should be for fun if contestants rate other contestants

When its peer to peer = no

When its contest holder or
Squadhelp Admin (as a last resort) = yes

Because it can be exploited if a contestant tells all their facebook friends to come and cast their votes.

The only votes that should count toward the win is from the contest holder. or Admin.

@ coopertex
1 years ago
Posted by : sheri1978
If rating other contestants' entries isn't going to be allowed, then that feature needs to be removed from all contests. It needs to be consistent across the board!

Don't allow contestants to rate others
1 years ago
Posted by : coopertex
Although it would be fun to rate/vote entries of other contestants. It should only be for fun. because it can create abuse to the system.

Just imagine a contestant telling their hundreds of "FaceBook" to vote for them. Then they would certainly win, which is unfair to the other contestants and creates abuse for the format. Sounds fun, but not good to implement.

Don't share the money
1 years ago
Posted by : coopertex
I agree with lexisdomains that the "money pot" so to speak or the prize in general shouldn't be split among a top three.

He as I and a few others here enjoy being the chosen one, or the only winner to a contest. Splitting a prize three ways would give next to nothing on most contest and wouldn't feel very rewarding.

The only way splitting the money would work is to raise the minimum prize amount trippled in value.

Feedback for Item
1 years ago
Posted by : sheri1978

Feedback for Item
1 years ago
Posted by : sheri1978

Thank you!
1 years ago
Posted by : SquadhelpAdmin (Squadhelp Admin)
Thank you all for your great feedback. We are happy to report that we have already implemented one feature based upon this feedback. Contest holders now have the ability to change ratings at any time. Here are some additional thoughts or questions for you to think about:

1. As some have suggested, we can add more restrictions so that contest holders are "forced" to provide a reason for picking the winner or they are required to rate a certain number of entries. However, the risk is that the more rules we add to the winner selection process, it could potentially deter more contest holders from selecting a winner because it requires more effort on their part. Just something to consider.

2. Can you think of any incentives for contest holders that would give them a reason to select a winner on a timely basis. For example, a $10 credit for future contest. Any other ideas?