Staff participation in contests

[hissae2]

Do you allow your staff to participate in forum contests?

I do and I don't see any reason why staff should be excluded. They should be able to have fun on the forum too and potentially win prizes. The only exception to this is obviously if they are helping organize the contest they will not be able to participate. What do you think?

 

[xpl0iter]

Some times yes, sometimes no. It depends on what type of contest we are actually conducting! We have had both types of contests previously!

 

[JennyorAlice]

I usually let my staff participate in the contest as well. The last contest I had, I was running the contest by myself and so I let the rest of the staff participate being that I was the only one that had the answers. I don't see why staff shouldn't be able to take part in the contest provided they aren't running it. If they were running the contest or helping with it, then that would be cheating and I wouldn't allow it in that case.

 

[Shole]

Yes, they are still members of the forum and contests are made so that all members are activated .
I mean common who wouldnt love to be get a reward for working hard.
I always allow my staff to join contests on my forum.

 

[Ravenfreak]

It depends on what prizes are involved, if it's a promotion to a different group then it would be kind of redundant. However if there are other prizes involved then they are definitely able to participate. After all in the long run they are still members on my forum, even if they are able to do more than the majority of other members. Just as long as they are active they can participate.

 

[Martee]

If they organise the contest, it's probably not right to allow them to participate. However, if they have no affiliation to the contest other than being a staff member on the board it is hosted on, I don't see why they can't take part. As said, they are members like you and me, just with a few more privileges.

Pretty sure it would be easy to discount staff posts (assuming its a posting contest) from areas where normal members cannot post if people are worried about that.

 

[MyDigitalpoint]

I do and I don't see any reason why staff should be excluded.

I prefer to run a parallel contest aimed to staff-only members.

The reason I see to exclude staff from regular contest is a fair approach.

Sometimes your community may think that your staff has already more privileges than them, and that it's unfair getting them participating in contests where their chances to win are higher, or at least that could be their perception.

On the other hand, staff can feel discriminated if you don't allow them to participate, but with two parallel contests, one in the public area for members, and one in the private for staff, everybody is happy.

 

[deansaliba]

Personally I would advise against it, you are only going to open yourself up to accusations of cheating if one of your staff wins - even if they win fair and square. If you have more than half a dozen staff members then I would set up a contest just for staff.

 

[JoshSmith100]

I do not allow my staff members to participate in contests. They are staff members to serve the site, contests should not be needed for them to help with the site. Contests should be put into place to get the members more involved and award them.

 

[Sam1]

I do not allow my staff members to participate in contests. They are staff members to serve the site, contests should not be needed for them to help with the site. Contests should be put into place to get the members more involved and award them.

Are your staff members paid (or rewarded in some way) or volunteers?

 

[deansaliba]

I do not allow my staff members to participate in contests. They are staff members to serve the site, contests should not be needed for them to help with the site. Contests should be put into place to get the members more involved and award them.

Are your staff members paid (or rewarded in some way) or volunteers?

I'd also be interested to know this, if you pay them then fair enough, but if they are volunteering their time then I think a contest just for them would be a nice little reward for their services.

 

[Jordan]

I'd also be interested to know this, if you pay them then fair enough, but if they are volunteering their time then I think a contest just for them would be a nice little reward for their services.

The $800+ Webmaster Contest that WebGuruBB just had I allowed staff to participate in the Part Two part.

Q: Are staff members of WebGuruBB able to enter the Contest?
A: Every staff member besides me (Jordan) may enter the Part two contest for a chance to win any of those prizes if they choose to do so. They may not enter the Posting contest. For obvious reasons, if a staff member won a prize that they are the one in fact donating, the prize will go to someone else. (ex. @JLogan is giving away $25 coupon for Admining. He can not win this for obvious reasons). Staff must follow the same rules as any user, and since this is a rafflecopter generated contest, there is no way to abuse. I believe the staff work hard to help WebGuruBB and they are only volunteers and are not paid for their work. It would not be fair to opt them out.

Staff here at WebGuruBB are in no way paid for their participation. They do help out a lot and are just as much of a users as anyone else. Just because they have a few moderation abilities to help keep the forum from getting filled with spam don't mean they have any advantage in winning any contest.

Some contests I do not allow. However for contests such as the one I quoted above, they are more than welcome to join.

 

[Rihtar]

I never allow staff members to join the contests of the website they're administrating/moderating, because most participants would be outraged if the staff member won the contest and I want to avoid that at all costs and staff members get paid for working with me, so I don't think they're missing on much.

 

[Lorcan]

It depends do you pay your staff, if so I would not let them participate in the contest, however if you do not pay your staff, I would let then participate in the contest as they are members first of all, and they need to get something back from the forum. And if you don't let them participate they probably will get quite upset.

 

[wasi90lk]

I allow staffs to participate in forum contest. I see nothing wrong with it.

 

[milksheikh]

I allow them to participate, a contest isn't just for only members, its for the whole community to take part in to help the community grow.

 

[milksheikh]

I allow them to participate, a contest isn't just for only members, its for the whole community to take part in to help the community grow.