Last video posted said it was being announced the next day at 6pm (so either Christmas day or Boxing day)…I know it isn’t me but I’ve entered every day this year and want to pass on my congrats (and envy!) to the winner!

What’s the Mega Sack? Or don’t I want to know?

https://youtu.be/VGp6omnXyCI

Christ not putting myself through 17 mins. I’ve watched every video. Think it should only be open to premier members which I appreciate I’m not one of.

Some amazing stuff in there!!

Modkat2000…congrats, but I am envious of the swag, so I hope you understand when I say that I hope you don’t enjoy it too much!

Bum. Not me again. Next year!

https://singletrackworld.com/members/modkat2000/forums/replies/

5yrs ago, almost as bad as the PB advent calendar fake account winners

5 years! 5 frickin years. So glad it’s gone to someone who supports the website. Sod that, I won’t be watching those annoying videos next year.

He/she does at least seem to have a P. So they do support the magazine.

Hmph. Ive got a P and ive never won nuffin ☹

“Sod that, I won’t be watching those annoying videos next year.”

Lol

Last year I watched them all and obvs didn’t win anything but they were soooooo bad.

This year I watched one of them and suddenly thought wtf – my time is worth more then this, I could be spending it posting on the forum or something….and didn’t bother with any more. TBH I’ll happily watch plenty of product placement vids and reviews i.e DC Rainmaker so they must be terrible.

The answers usually appear on the forum of a well known money saving website – I suspect as a result some of the prizes may end up being won by non-mountain bikers

I was lucky and won one of the daily prizes a couple of years ago. I still have it now and it’s in regular use

It’s always interesting to see who the winners are and whether they actually interact with the website or magazine.

Somehow seems good when I see one of the forum regulars win a daily prize and good to see the megasack winner has a P. Not a fan of the ‘profeesional’ competition partakers, getting the answer off a comp forum and not watching the videos. Means the companies that put up the prize are basically not getting a return on their promotional activity and so are less likely to put up prizes next time.

I won the Mega Sack a coupe of years ago.  It was such a massive haul of stuff I’ve never entered again as I’d be embarrassed to win anything further😀 As for the value of my contributions to the forum…..

I’ve been lucky enough to win a daily prize last year (Hope Handlebars) and another this year (Effetto Mariposa torque wrench). Always a nice surprise and it is great of STW to do this each year.

I’m so into it that I know you 2 ^^ won stuff!

I’ve won a couple of prizes from STW in recent years.  It’s always worth entering, in fact of all the MTB competitions STW always strikes me as the fairest/acts with the most integrity

I won the Gore wear Surrey 100 London bike show competition. Only entered because I was waiting for the broken sowing machine being mended. My best kit now.

I won a T-Shirt for suggesting a song for the Spotify MTB related Music chain on Fresh Good Friday. That was months ago and it looks like no-one else has made a suggestion since!

I won an ex-performing bear when I suggested a performing bear would be a worthwhile addition to those competition videos. It turns out it wasn’t.

I’m not going to be rude about the videos as it’s clear a lot of time has been put into them, but I’d strongly suggest dropping them next time.

You’ll see a big boost in entries, I predict.

I’m not going to be rude about the videos as it’s clear a lot of time has been put into them, but I’d strongly suggest dropping them next time.

You’ll see a big boost in entries, I predict.

And an even bigger boost in the number of non-MTB people entering from

the forum of a well known money saving website

plus pretty much no-one hearing/reading any of the necessary marketing blurb.

Make the comps available for anyone who’s held an account for say at least 3 months to stop the chancers jumping in?

Although I suspect number of page visits is the only concern here…

Full disclosure – I once won some socks 🙂 Not in the Christmas competition though.

Can’t understand the point of posting the answers on a forum frequented by serial competition enterers, surely you are reducing your chance of winning?

Plus people that enter completions purely for the monetary value of any prize (that they then have to find out, once won) are a special kind of soulless dullard. I know a couple…

well well I kinda predicted it would go to a non contributing member

Only reason I entered was for chance of a set if those kick ass Gwin/Trp brakes and the sealant effetto kit as these are very much needed currently 😈

well well I kinda predicted it would go to a non contributing member

A subscriber won.

Someone has to win, so if the person has followed the criteria and they are picked then good for them. Once the names are in the hat (or however it is done) then each entry has the same chance as all others.
Luck of the draw if your name is pulled or if you know the winner.

@tdog when the Effetto sealant stuff arrives you’re welcome to it. I’m down to the one bike at the moment, which barely gets ridden due to work and family commitments. Wheels on it are already set up tubeless.

I’m always puzzled by the need to blow several minutes recapping the prizes every time. It’s not hard to skip past but yeah, does having a certain runtime make it score better on YouTube or something?

And an even bigger boost in the number of non-MTB people entering from

So add a qualifying level of activity on the site, or even P members only as previously suggested.

There are loads of us who subscribe but never read the magazine, so we deserve something apart from the forum for our support,eh?

I’m always puzzled by the need to blow several minutes recapping the prizes every time

The companies donating the prizes get their name and product mentioned again and into (they hope) your brain.

The competition needs to be carefully run in order to not fall foul of the lotteries laws. basically, if you have to pay to enter then it’s a lottery and we’d need a lotteries licence. Restricting to premier members only would mean you have to pay to enter (your subscription fee). The details are here..
https://www.gamblingcommission.gov.uk/for-the-public/Fundraising-and-promotions/Commercial-schemes/Prize-competitions.aspx

In particular we would fall foul of section 14 (2)(a) of the Gambling Act 2005 as detailed here http://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/2005/19/section/14

So, our understanding is that the competition needs to be open to all with no restrictions that require payment although we are ok to insist that a free registration is required.

Restricting the megasack prize to users who have contributed to the forum is another matter that I’m happy to debate. What I will say is that this year’s winner has been a subscriber for many years despite limited posting on the forum. I’ll also point out that only 4% of all registered users ever post anything at all in the forum, which means you can be a long term subscriber who has been contributing financially to the cause for years but in all likelihood never posted anything. Is their worth greater or less than someone who has never paid for a subscription but posts daily on the forum?

I’m not ruling out any particular future option here but just laying out the details that need to be considered. I think that to date my main considerations have been 1) legality and 2) simplicity. Open to suggestions to what we do in the future though.

What about P’s or members who have contributed in the last 6 months before December? You couldn’t just do members who have contributed in last 6 months or the forum could become a horrific mess of random ‘get a contribution in’ posts.

P.S. Well done Modkat2000

The companies donating the prizes get their name and product mentioned again and into (they hope) your brain.

Aye, the purpose of the competition is to drive traffic and subscriber numbers whilst offering the companies donating prizes an opportunity to showcase their product to a wider audience. It’s a business not a charity…

Maybe a cull of inactive users is required (note that wouldn’t include the winner, as I assume they are paying for their P every year).

If we can all start congratulating @ModKat2000 s/he might even engage in the forum a bit more 🙂

@Mark – any stats on correct / incorrect answer numbers available?

Mark, FWIW I think you guys did/do a great job with the Christmas giveaways.  Like you say the megasack was won by a subscriber.  I can understand why they would not want to be active on the forum!  Fair play to you and the team for rustling together some great prizes!  Personally the videos one were pretty poor and annoying, but you could skip through to find the answers.

on another note red lotteries and raffles, have STW considered running a prize raffle style event? Like that of the Dream Bike competition on Facebook? Maybe not on that scale but a weekly/monthly raffle with a set minimum ticket/ROI on prize purchase price.  Could create some fresh members/subscribers and some important revenue for STW?  Just a thought

Raffles are lotteries if you have to pay to enter. If we could come up with something that satisfies section 14 of the gambling act 2005 then it could be worth doing.

Thanks Mark…my opinion is that it works as it is and doesn’t need changing.

Plenty folk are happy with it and a few aren’t…changing it will just change who is happy and who isn’t but the ratios will stay largely the same.

Keep up the good work, I always find it a good wind-down in December in the office.

I just think it’s great that you do it each year and I actually enjoy the videos.

^^ Says someone who won something 😉

(I’m just jealous)