Prize Pick-Up

[Josh]

You never got PMs for any of them because of a mistake in the spelling. You're the exception in the rule, not the norm - the norm being that every winner gets a PM. All we can really do is apologize for that and try to promise that it won't happen again but mistakes can and do happen, I'm not going to pretend they don't.

Yes, that with Alex being away created a bad combination as I said.

[MissAlice]

The fact you can't send credits or donate any longer, is a right pain, and it's a shame it wasn't addressed sooner. There has to be at least a minimum of 2 slots per month where winners can collect their prizes. Ideally 2 at the weekend during any one month. Obviously more to clear any current backlog.

It quite clearly states http://www.habboxforum.com/showthread.php?t=620556 (Terms and Conditions) that prizes must be claimed within a month of the winner being announced.

I do feel the winners name should be posted in the competition thread as the last post, and winners should also be selected within 24-48 hours of competition ending if it's not already done so. Apart from selecting a winner there is very little additional work to do and takes seconds to post. It serves several purposes. Firstly a record of who won, also a clear date of when the winners name was announced which ties up with the prize being claimed within a month, it also gives you the opportunity to state how the prize can be claimed, and ease for anyone that entered the specific competiton to be able to see who won. A lot easier too for newer members who are not so experienced with using the forum.

ie. The winner of this competition is: Habbox Member BlahBlah
Habbo Name : Blahhhhhh

Entry No. 6! This is important - it shows a name change

Congratulations BlahBlah, you are the winner of this competition, well done.

You must claim your prize which is (enter prize) by (insert date) otherwise it will be placed back into Competition Donations and re-used to support new competitions. Prizes handed over on Habbo can be claimed (give instructions).

A private message has been sent to you with a link to this thread, to remind you how you can claim your prize, and the alternatives if there are any.

[Inseriousity.]

However, it is also far easier to just redirect any new member with difficulty to the Competitions Winners thread. Now that we do 40 competitions a month, posting/editing every thread is harder. I'm not going into details at the moment as details still need to be ironed out but there'll be a day every week for members to collect prizes. If they can't come on that day, they can still arrange a time.

As for the you have x number of days to collect your prize, I did do this when I started but with the changes to Habbo, I think it's unfair that someone can't have their prize because of not being in the right place at the right time.

[MissAlice]

You've highlighted another problem. Name changes. We can't keep track of every name change that happens around the forum, it's just not possible. Only yesterday Hayley (hazthe****222) said 'oh btw this... 'Life's Love Lost - hayleyxs - etc etc I don't want the HC Sofa, I'll just have the rep' Not too sure when that competition was, I think it may be August/September but name changes are a nightmare!

It's a pity you are so against updating the competition thread, and highlighting who the winner was, because it would eliminate the huge problem you seem to have with members changing their forum names. Unless Management are now creating a directory of name changes that will be more work for staff!!!!

However, it is also far easier to just redirect any new member with difficulty to the Competitions Winners thread. Now that we do 40 competitions a month, posting/editing every thread is harder. I'm not going into details at the moment as details still need to be ironed out but there'll be a day every week for members to collect prizes. If they can't come on that day, they can still arrange a time.

As for the you have x number of days to collect your prize, I did do this when I started but with the changes to Habbo, I think it's unfair that someone can't have their prize because of not being in the right place at the right time.

A day a week is fantastic news for those waiting for their prizes, and will stop complaints. So good luck with that. Just so you know there used to be a time limit of two months to claim a prize, so I'm guessing yet again previous management removed it before you re-instated it, and if you feel one month is all that's needed then great.

I entirely agree with you, you can't withhold a prize because a member cannot collect at a set given time, it would be totally out of order and very unfair. Providing they communicate they have a problem I don't see why it should be an issue, which is why I said alternatives in last line, of my previous post, meaning all alternatives. I also understand that with so much time now devoted to 40 competitions and the huge amount of prizes to be dealt with time is of greater importance, so it's a positive sign that you want to make changes.

Good luck with the improvements and what hopefully will be a winning formula

[Inseriousity.]

If I had had the brainwave of documenting post number as well as name, it'd be really easy but alas I did not. However, you don't really need to post in every thread the winner to do that. I'm not sure how much it's changed, having not been here when you were manager, but staff now post in a 'Competitions Winners and Prizes' thread their choice of winner and they could put the post number in there rather than having to go through 40 threads and posting in them when it is, as I have said, far easier to redirect people who ask to the Competitions Winners thread, which notifies them just as well but also does not have the added disadvantage of bumping a competition that is closed over competitions that haven't - if you look at threads from the front page and only see whatever thread is 'on top' like I do.

However, documenting post number would still not completely eradicate the problem as we have now brought in the HabboxComps account where users can enter competitions that have a fixed answer and are easy to enter). As there is no post count for these type of competitions, only PMs, we can't document post numbers in those competitions.

[jrh2002]

I think the competition thread to show all winners is a nice idea for quick reference. I also agree that spending 30 seconds to copy and paste the winner and post number at the end of each competition thread is a must It ends the thread nicely and will always be there unlike your list once a new manager takes over one day and decides they cant be bothered with it (a bit like the missing list of donations that nobody will comment on.)

When some people comment on things regarding competitions it is only good intentions but some seem to take it the wrong way instead :s feedback is here to help and all suggestions should not be instantly rubbished as they could be a great improvement.

It keeps getting mentioned that there are 40 competitions a month now like the department is doing something super human I have looked and I think curently you average about 15 entries per comp over a month. I remember the days when 3 competition staff ran between 10 to 15 competitions a month and getting on average 50 entries per comp (Over 100 entries many times) which works out to far more work per head than it is currently. To me its quality over quantity any day and would also draw in a lot more entries especially as with less competitions would mean you could offer better prizes and even for more than 1 person. I am no putting down your competitions as I have not checked them all out but I imagine it becomes hard work thinking up so many new ideas each month and it would be quite deflating to see only a handful of entries. The running times also seem a little short for me which also can put a few people off who don't have much time on their hands due to school work all week etc so decide to give them a miss.

When you offer a prize why dont you give the winner the option to have it as HxF VIP instead? Of course the value of the prize would determine the sort of length VIP offered. This would mean people who no longer play habbo may decide to enter and also you would keep the furni for another day which is surely good for the department.

Feedback from the members is a great thing to have and well worth taking on board and discussing the ideas in your staff forum If the dynamics have changed so much these days maybe the feedback forum is no longer needed as it looks like managers know best and the members are just annoying flies who need swatting away.

[Mr-Trainor]

When you offer a prize why dont you give the winner the option to have it as HxF VIP instead? Of course the value of the prize would determine the sort of length VIP offered. This would mean people who no longer play habbo may decide to enter and also you would keep the furni for another day which is surely good for the department.

When I've won a club sofa as part of my competition prize, I've had the option to exchange that for 10 rep. I presume you didn't know that, but anyhow I have no problem with being offered rep .

[Inseriousity.]

Competitions Department always looks at feedback and we certainly don't take it the wrong way, we're just very passionate about what we do and we like to stand up for what we think is right. I'm sure you'd rather have a manager like that an a pushover who did everything everyone said. I sincerely hope no manager starts to ignore the winners list and I imagine the alternative of posting in every competition would probably make them want to keep it.

Yes, competitions used to get lots more in the olden days but unfortunately, we're not in those times anymore and we've had to adjust. The idea of this (hehe maybe you remember it alice! good times? ):

Since I have become a competition staff trialist I have received a PM about and noticed people's signatures saying they want to be competition staff.

Quote from mystry-man300's signature:

I get on my knees everday...
And pray that one day...
I will get the job to be Competition satff....
Because,it has been a dream of mine since I was 8
Please Habbox,grant my wish,and let me be competition staff!!!

happening is very unlikely as the competitions department seemed to disappear into nothingness. I'm not going to point the fingers at previous managers and its staff because that'd be rude and unfair and when you point the finger, there's 3 pointing back at you and the truth is, I have no idea when but we had to adjust and I think it's highly unlikely that the average competition will get 100 entries unless we advertise every single one at the top of the forum, which would eventually also lose its effect.

It was found in the feedback thread in December that the running times were too long and that people didn't like waiting around for so long to find out they'd won so this was reduced to 5 days which gives people enough time to enter but not a lot of time to wait. Attempts at reducing this to 1 day I have refused simply because it would be unfair on those people who are general lurkers, we can't all be addicts after all

We can't offer the people to have it as VIP as we're limited to 8 months VIP a month and VIP is very popular and so we'd probably have no VIP left to use for actual competitions. It'd also make the system very unstable as one month, we might have all the winners wanting VIP, the next month only a handful. We do however allow them to swap their HC Sofas for rep instead, which is a lot more flexible than VIP.

Feedback is a great thing to have but not always worth taking on board. I will continue to talk about it here with you if you so wish, I am not swatting you away. I am merely stating why I disagree with your viewpoint. I'm not sure about you but I ignore annoying flies and I'm certainly not ignoring you.

[jrh2002]

Thats good offering Habbo furni or forum features for the comps is great and would get some non habbo members to take part.

[jrh2002]

I could point the finger at where the corners were cut and and who did it to lose the competitions department its edge which it has struggled to regain Of course I wont name and shame them lol

Do your 40 comps all end at the same time? just a quick note at the end of each thread is no big job to me unless all 40 end on the same time and day. I think the reason ppl question why cant the post be made after each comp see it as easy and you make it out to be difficult. with all your staff surely thats 4 or 5 a month each :p you should just say we dont want to do it

You can't action all feedback else you would be changing things back and forward all day long lol Its good you are passionate about your department and that you are working hard to improve it Its very tough as a manager and until people do the job they dont quite realise how much work there is along with all the pressures. Believe me all the good work you do can come crashing down when you leave I have seen it happen time and time again so all you can do is make sure you have a good number 2 who will take over one day but they will have their own ideas of what they think would work better so fingers crossed of course you have many years left here i'm sure.

Anyway I barred myself from feedback forum a long time ago due to me getting annoyed when I see changes made to something I feel is a backwards step. I will keep an eye on the missing gold thread and until there is a positive outcome I will consider donating more gold elsewhere but other than that will go back in to retirement.