PrintEtiquette (pronounced /ˈɛtɨˌkɛt/ or /ˈɛtɨkɪt/) is a code of behavior that delineates expectations for social behavior according to contemporary conventional norms within a society, social class, or group. (Retrieved October 29, 2010, from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Etiquette)
O.k., I’m really a ”baby” compared to most of you when it comes to blogging as my blog is only two months old. I wasn’t taught about blog etiquette before I started this blog, so I’m really hoping you’ll help me out with your thoughts and feelings. I mean I know there are basic
I want to talk about Blog Giveaway Etiquette. The reason that this question came up for me, was a friend and fellow blogger commented on one of the current giveaways that I’m holding, saying that the reason she hasn’t entered some of my other giveaways was because she told by someone else that “it was rude (there’s that dreaded “R” word again) to enter a giveaway if it was part of a blog party that you weren’t participating in.” WHAT???? So, I was curious (being the cat that I am) to see what others on the internet were saying about blog giveaway etiquette. Here’s some of the suggestions I found that I actually DO agree with.
1) When you enter a giveaway, it’s advisable to leave an email address so that the host who’s having the giveaway can contact you.
Reason being: If you win the giveaway I want to contact you and tell you that you’ve won, easy enough.
This is what I recommend for those of you who not only leave your contact info. for giveaway’s but also wherever you leave a contact email address ” to deter spam bots (the little code robots spammers send out to collect data, similar to how search engines look for key words) is to type your
Now for the person who’s HOSTING the giveaway and this is what I like to do: Email the winner so that I know I tried to contact the winner and wait for a certain time period until I hear from them for contact info. (I usually wait about 48 hours, but it’s up to you how long you want to wait). If I don’t hear from the winner in that time period, I will then pick another winner. Why I like to contact the winner, is that a person who entered might not visit my blog often enough to find out if they’ve won or not or they might have forgotten about the giveaway. I always post though who the winner on the day the giveaway ends.
2) How to Select the Winner for a Giveaway (again for those who are hosting giveaways): You can use a random number generator; do it the
Personally, I don’t like the ”Scrolling Method” but whatever works for you. And then if you have a WordPress blog, there’s a plugin called: “And the Winner is…” which I’ve used once before.
These are only a few rules/guidelines I found that were of interest and made sense. I even searched the net for ”When is it rude to enter a giveaway?” And the results? Nothing! Because obviously no one else thinks it’s rude to enter a giveaway if you’re not involved in the same blog party.
I like to have giveaways because they’re fun. I don’t expect or ask a person to become a follower of my blog because that’s still having an expectation which I feel takes away from the purpose of a giveaway. It’s to give, not take! Now, I do say for extra entries a person can blog about my giveaway or twitter about it, because of course I want people to find my blog and then hopefully they’ll like it enough to stick around and subscribe. And of course, I do like it when a person wants to follow my blog. It’s a compliment that suggests I’m doing something right. Those bloggers who say that they don’t care if they receive comments or not, in my opinion are lying. But, I’ll save my thoughts about that for another “Blog Etiquette 101″ post.
So, I hope I’ve reassured those who enter my blog giveaways now know that you can enter, even if you’re not involved with the connected blog party. Thank you so much for entering my giveaways and leaving your comments. It’s been really, really fun to read all the comments you’ve left. I like to know who my readers are and find out more about you, simple as that.
I’ll be announcing who the winner is for my giveaway I posted about here. It’s not too late to enter and you have up to 11:00 P.S.T. time before the giveaway closes.
I really want to hear your opinions, thoughts and suggestions about giveaways and blog etiquette around this issue.
Good luck to everyone. The Great Oz has spoken!
© 2010, Wendy S.. All rights reserved.
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well, call me crazy but I think that as long as you follow the giveaway rules stated by the blog owner, you can’t go wrong. So if the giveaway is open to anyone, then anyone can enter, even if it’s during a blog party. If you are required to give an email address, then you should expect to have to give an email address. If someone doesn’t want to follow the R’s then they have the right not to enter. I always read the rules mostly because I want to know if there are shipping restrictions (canadian here.) If I want to enter the giveaway and I agree with the rules well I’m in. Course I could be wrong because I’m kind of new here too!!
Aine recently posted..Perception
Aine, I would never call you crazy! ; ) Slightly mad in the best way perhaps, but not crazy, lol…I never thought of only local giveaways, although I can understand it. Canadians are special and absolutely deserve to win. I love Canada and have a dream of moving to B.C. and live in “Kitsalano” (is that how you spell it?) I like that a lot of us beginning bloggers are deciding for ourselves what feels right instead of just following blindly what others have done before us. : )
I don’t know a damn thing about blog etiquette, being new to this myself so I’m glad you asked the question, maybe I’ll actually learn something, one can only hope.
Hela, you’re not the only one who’s stumbling in the dark with blog etiquette. Maybe we have to follow what our true self says and then wing it? And if you learn something new, please let me know. Thanks for commenting and I think I’ll do more “blog etiquette” posts for those of us who have been blogging a long time and for us newbies : )
Sounds good to me, and thanks!
I never went to any of Miss Manners blogging classes and I think I turned out just fine! You’ll do the same.
As for the questions posed, so long as you follow the giveaway guidelines, I don’t think it’s ever rude to enter. I had an anonymous poster enter my most recent giveaway and since they left an email address I had no issues with that. I select my winners with a random number generator. The scroll and click thing seems odd to me, but to each their own.
Danni Suplicki recently posted..A the Winner Is
Danni, you’re more than just fine! You are FINE ; ) Thanks for your input. I never thought about someone leaving an anonymous entry but why not if they leave an email addy. Did that bother you that they were anonymous? I haven’t tried the random number generator yet. I’m still old-school and I get flustered with trying to figure out how many entries there are etc…but I’ll try it one day when I get up the courage ; )
I recently started blooging, so much to learn and so much to do. And I don’t know anything about Blog etiquette either. Love the cat photo’s.
Blessings from Fiona
Hi Fiona, I know it can get kind of over whelming in the blog world in the beginning, can’t it? Let’s learn together : ) And the “girls” are very glad you like their photos although they tell me I need to learn more about how to take better photos. You know how cats can be and I love all the animals esp. the cats you write about on your blog.
Thanks Wendy! It is appreciated. ^_^
…speaking of giveaways, I’m hosting a couple right now; one for US only, one for the people that can’t get in the US one.
Please go look! I’m trying to spread the word about an amazing pagan musician (and giving away her latest cd!!)http://confessionsofacraftywitch.blogspot.com/2010/10/review-and-giveaway-awesome-pagan.html
Leathra recently posted..So Ive been abandoned
I’m going to post about your blog giveaway on my sidebar tomorrow Leathra and leave it up there until the giveaway is over. Thanks for letting me know and the giveaway.
It’s easy for me. I have nothing to give away and I don’t go to parties. I have an uneasy relationship with etiquette anyway. By and large, I don’t believe in it. The only thing that bothers me slightly – though only slightly – is the fact that some bloggers never respond to comments. But that’s a minor respect issue and one I can ignore. I still comment anyway if I think there’s something worth saying.
I’m with you about etiquette, Jeff. Uneasy is the perfect word that I feel too. And you and I have talked about comments and leaving one on blogs. I know some bloggers get really, really busy and they don’t comment once in a while or when there’s just so many comments it’s overwhelming, but I still like to get a reply to a comment once in a while. You always make me feel very welcomed when I comment on your blog, Jeff. Thank you.
Hi Wendy, (this is kind of long)my blog has been around since the end of Jan.Beginning of Feb. I have had several giveaways for blog hops(parties) whatever, my first one was for ONE WORLD ONE HEART…HUGE INTERNATIONAL ANNUAL BLOG HOP, this is why i made the blog…my giveaway “was just to comment, but I would LOVE for you to also become a follower.”
My next several giveaways were for OPERATION WRITE HOME an organization I am involved with for making cards that get sent overseas for our enlisted personnel to use to send home to loved ones and friends. SUPERB organization.
my first blog hop candy was “ONE BIG CANDY for anyone that was a participant, and 3 small candies for anyone commenting” again I asked if they felt like following please so so.
the other one I did for OWH was 3 med. sized giveaways for anyone who commented, and get an extra shot for putting it on their side bar.
For the practical magic party:
I have three prizes to share with you
#1…is for someone who loves the movie, and appreciates home made items, but does NOT do any art themselves.
#2…is for someone who does dabble in art, specifically paper arts.
#3…is for someone who does dabble in paper art, and is also Wiccan
The Interactive part is in the form of some games:
a few trivia questions, a small word search, and some multiple choice questions. ALL based upon the Movie PRACTICAL MAGIC!
You will have until this coming
Friday 10/1 at Midnight EST
To email me your answers, YOU MUST
include whether you “are a fan, but not a crafter”,
“a fan, and a crafter” OR “a fan, crafter and Wiccan”.
That way your name will go into the right WITCHES HAT
for drawing. THE email to use FOR THIS is: Sweetnightfairy@yahoo.com
Ok, first I KNOW you want to know about the prizes!!
The prize for a fan, but NOT a crafter or a Wiccan is a CHUNKY ATC made by Moi, in the theme of The movie PRACTICAL MAGIC. first if you do not know, an ATC is an ARTIST TRADING CARD, these are miniature works of art; 2.5″ X 3.5″…NOW the chunky part is that it is made out of a cut 2″ X 4″ cut to 3.5″ and instead of only having art on the front, it is art on all 4 sides and the top. My info will be on the bottom. I can NOT show you a picture of it right now, as it is not made, HA! But I have gathered a few pictures of Chunky ATCs(not made by me) to show you: The Below Chunky ATCs are made by LGirbino @ ARTHOUSE
The Prize for a Fan who is also a crafter, will be a selection of 3 collage sheets chosen ESPECIALLY for this blog party, meaning they are magical, Witchy or new age in theme.
There will probably also be some extra goodies.
The prize for the Fan that crafts and is Wiccan is something chosen especially for your Book of Shadows. I’m sure I’ll be throwing in some other goodies.
Hopefully the pictures I have sprinkled throughout this post will prod your memory of the film, and help you with the answers to the games.
EDIT to add: you are allowed to get 1 wrong in each of the 3 parts to be put into the drawing. (and I actually ended up allowing a couple wrong)
I had 10 trivia questions, 10 multiple choice and 25 words in a word search the people that played loved it…here’s the link:
http://piecesoffatesusan.blogspot.com/2010/09/practical-magic-party-all-of-my-info-is.html
Halloween Party by fanciful Twist
I had a pre-party post on friday, the main party post on saturday with a giveaway…here were my rules:
2 rules to win, very simple:
Comment on this post, telling me what you thought of it, AND tell me who the surprise guest star is in the above segment of the Addams Family show…hint, it is the short-ish fellow. (drawing 9pm est 10/22)
( a 9 minutes segment from the addams family on YouTube)
then a post-party post on sunday…on all 3 posts I gave away free images, and also had links to some very interesting creepy stuff and halloween stuff.
I got under 5 comments that actually tried to guess the guest star, so to make it fair I then went back through the comment and added anyone that at least mentioned the addams family in their comment, i ended up with 10 to choose from out of 32 comments.here is the link to the MAIN party post:
http://piecesoffatesusan.blogspot.com/2010/10/magical-and-enchanted-halloween-party.html
Tea party under the moon
link to the post:
http://piecesoffatesusan.blogspot.com/2010/10/my-full-moon-tea-party.html
my giveaway rules:
**I am offering up a giveaway that is not made yet.**
a.) I am offering to make a flag Banner for you to use next Halloween…The flag parts will be black and say “All Hallows Eve” with colorful tulle, and ribbons and Halloween doo-dads
b.) I am offering to make a Halloween CHUNKY ATC (an example of what a CHUNKY ATC is will be pictured below)
c.) I am offering to make a “creepy coffin” similar to the one in the post previous to this titled Thursday- Altered Art, you can go and look there.
**If you would like a piece of Halloween art made by me you MUST put that in your comment, and you MUST put down which of the above three you would like to win.
and you MUST be a follower.
I will draw one name out of all the comments THAT say they wish to win a piece of my Halloween art, one week from tonight(10/30)
ok here is an EXAMPLE of what a chunky ATC is, It is one I own made by a friend for me.
I am also celebrating going over 1 hundred followers, over 1 hundred posts, and over 5 thousand hits…so I am having a HUGE 1-1-5 blog candy…it is in my side bar…link:
http://piecesoffatesusan.blogspot.com/2010/10/huge-1-1-5-blog-candy-beginning.html
rules:
OK now here is how you can win:
1. you MUST be a follower (I encourage you to do this ONLY if you like my blog, because if you sign up to follow, and then you remove yourself after this blog candy is drawn, you will not be included in future giveaways on this blog, my followers are special to me, therefore I look for sincerity)
2. COMMENT on THIS post about a PAST POST of mine that you enjoyed
EXTRA CHANCES:
1 extra chance if you take one of the above pictures and the link to my blog and place it on your side bar (make a separate comment here letting me know this with a link to your blog)
(edited)1 extra chance if you take either of the pictures pictures and blog about my blog, and my giveaway (make a separate comment here letting me know this with a link to THAT post on your blog)
Every Wednesday between now and November 24th I will post another picture of more of the items in the candy– **If you post about my blog and this edited post with the new pictures, each week after I add to it, and comment about it on this post, you will receive another chance. (for each week that you do it)
**100 items will be going to one winner (US & Canada only folks, sorry it will be a heavy package) the other 15 items will be broken into 3 winners(can be international)
NOTICE: they can get an extra chance every week until the draw.
MY thoughts on giveaways of others:
I will enter if they ask me to follow
I will enter if they ask me to comment
I will enter if they ask me to answer a question or 2
I will enter if they ask me to put it on my side bar…ONLY if it is something I really want to win.
I will only BLOG about someone else’s giveaway if it does not interfere with my weekly scheduled posts AND it is something I would really like to win.
I will NOT follow on twitter or FB or myspace or any of that other jazz.
I used to ALWAYS blog about other giveaways and add other people’s blog candy to my side bar. Over a few months I realized by doing this I actually decrease my odds of winning, because by spreading the giveaway around for word of mouth is great traffic for the person with the candy, but it does nothing for me. so I no longer do this, like I said unless I REALLY, really want a chance at winning it, OR if it is someone that is a true bloggy friend of mine (meaning we chat at least monthly etc. I am going to blog about yours now as my thursday schedule if up except for my altered art which i am also going to put up today.
I hope I was helpful. I now have 136 followers, over 200 posts, and almost 7,000hits (that is just since April when I put the counter in, and it also counts me) so I’d like to think i am doing something right.
Best of luck!
Susan G recently posted..Alphabe-Thursday on Friday very appropriate for F
peace and hugs,
Susan
Thank you Susan for all the info. about your giveaways. I like how you have the different giveaways listed for everyone to see and you have a lot of amazing giveaways. I remember your “Practical Magic” giveaway where people had to answer questions and thought that was really clever!
BY the way I loved this post and all your kitty pictures
Susan G recently posted..Alphabe-Thursday on Friday very appropriate for F
Susan
Yes, the “girls” always have to make their presence known. Especially when it comes to “etiquette” and giveaways ; )
ohhhhh, that giveaway…I have it on my sidebar, and I did comment…I could do without the doll, but I sure would love to win the other stuff!
Susan G recently posted..Alphabe-Thursday on Friday very appropriate for F
Susan
I personally love random.org and think it should be used for pretty much all blog giveaways. The “scroll method” is pretty biased towards people in the middle, and sometimes the end of the comments section.
Pallas Renatus recently posted..On Infuriating Astrological Timings
Pallas, Maybe you could explain (to this very addled number blogger here) how to use the online random generator. I went to the site, but got confused with putting in all these different numbers…Sometimes, I amaze myself with how “dumb” I can be ; )
I think the easiest way (for me) is to not comment on your own giveaway blogs, and assume that each comment is a single entry. When the contest is over, find out how many total comments there are for that blog entry, and use the simple box on the top-right of the random.org main page to pick a random number between 1 and however many total comments you have. If it comes out with, say, the number 11, check the 11th comment on your blog and make sure it’s a valid entry. If it is, announce him/her as the winner; if it’s not, just hit the “generate” button again, rinse & repeat =)
Pallas Renatus recently posted..On Infuriating Astrological Timings
Actually, scratch the part about not commenting on your giveaway blogs. Since you’re checking to see if the comment number that pops out is a valid entry or not, comments that aren’t entries (or are bad entries) don’t dilute anyone’s chances of winning. So just treat your own comments (or other non-entry comments) as “bad entries” and re-roll another number =)
Pallas Renatus recently posted..On Infuriating Astrological Timings
Thanks Pallus for the explanation and very helpful suggestions. I’m going to try and use the random number generator. But don’t you think that the magick is taken out a bit by leaving the winner to yet another “technical” aspect? Just wondering. I would love to read a post by you about our upcoming Merc. Retro, I always struggle a lot with those time periods ; )
Well, I like it because it’s the only “truly” random way to pick a winner. A hat works just as well for small giveaways, but when you start getting a ton of separate entries it can get a bit tedious =)
If you like thinking of it this way, the thing that makes random.org “truly” random is that it’s based on atmospheric background noise, instead of a “technical” algorithm simulating randomness. I think of it as fate delivered by the whisperings of nature and the stars themselves =)
We’ll see about the retrograde Mercury blog. I’d love to do it, but you know how life gets in the way =)
Pallas Renatus recently posted..On Infuriating Astrological Timings
Hmmmm, I do like that way of looking at it with the whole “atmospheric” vibe. I’m going to use it for this current giveaway I have. Thanks again, Pallus : ) Very cool name btw!
Very nice of you to delete my comments. I can see the REAL you now. I thought you and I might actually become friends, Ha! What was I possibly thinking?
You’ve also added the abhorred word verification, is that just for me, for a handful of people you deem NOT worthy, or for everyone?
Thanks at least for letting me see you for you, before I really started to like you. I am honestly quite hurt.
Susan G recently posted..Alphabe-Thursday on Friday very appropriate for F
Susan
Susan, please read my latest post. I feel horrible about deleting your comments. Again, please accept my apologies : (
accepted and read my email, I have apologized also, if I did anything to offend you. you can delete the above post if you want, LOL
S
Susan G recently posted..Alphabe-Thursday on Friday very appropriate for F