HEXUS competitions

[kalniel]

Thanks Hexus. Was it my imagination or was there an auto-redirect to the facebook page?

[sykobee]

What's with the Facebook page redirect?

Could do with a 1TB SSD though...

[aidanjt]

Thanks Hexus. Was it my imagination or was there an auto-redirect to the facebook page?

It's not just you.

[iworrall]

I'm up for the compo, but never for Facebook!

[CountBartok]

Thanks for the competition but please no facebook. I have this site white listed in ghostery
but I will change that if you start with redirects.

[MSIC]

Another polite request please:

At the bottom of the entry, where both boxes are pre-ticked (which although a little annoying, i have come to expect from all such scenarios, and its easy to untick) there was a statement:
"Click here to opt in to communication from Crucial"

Note CLICK HERE.
Does this mean remove the tick that was pre-filled? IE Leave the tick and I DONT get emails?
Or does it mean leave the tick (thereby NOT clicking) and get emails??

Very confusing - if Hexus competition editors could slightly change future wording, i'd be very grateful...

[KeyboardDemon]

Thanks for the competition but please no facebook. I have this site white listed in ghostery
but I will change that if you start with redirects.

Hexus competitions don't usually redirect straight to Facebook when you enter them, hopefully this one is just a one off.

[Saracen]

Hexus competitions don't usually redirect straight to Facebook when you enter them, hopefully this one is just a one off.

It looks like it isn't, having just had it happen twice in rapid succession. I also am not impressed, not least because I don't use Facebook, and have absolutely no intention of ever doing so.

Which means I find getting redirected to it VERY irritating indeed.

Still, the solution for me is obvious - stop entering competitions.

[DR]

Blimey we are a lot of moaners today aren't we

Damned if we do Damned if we don't .... (!)

We are going to do a development change that if you are a HEXITE you will be sent to the forum thread instead of Facebook.

We as a business are multi channel - we are not forcing people to do anything on Facebook but we do have that as a significant part of traffic and an additional open community.

So bare with us - don't moan and understand that we do read your feedback.

Anyway - I'm now going to throw myself off the building.

[kalniel]

Damned if we don't .... (!)

I don't recall a single moan by anyone NOT being automatically redirected to Facebook before

We are going to do a development change that if you are a HEXITE you will be sent to the forum thread instead of Facebook.

We as a business are multi channel - we are not forcing people to do anything on Facebook but we do have that as a significant part of traffic and an additional open community.

But you're significantly devaluing that traffic by adding in automatic redirects. Your bounce rate will soar, the impact/quality factor of the page will lower and you'll get less revenue from ads. Facebook cracked down on this sort of thing a while ago. Auto redirecting for people not logging in is not good for Hexus IMHO.

So bare with us - don't moan and understand that we do read your feedback.

Not a moan in my case, just feedback that I think you're making a mistake.

[Saracen]

....

Not a moan in my case, just feedback that I think you're making a mistake.

Well, it probably was a bit moany in my case. Thing is, one of the things that gets up my snoot is being on one website, and suddenly finding myself on another one I hadn't asked for. I resent it, because it wastes my time. I perhaps resent it a bit more because it was Facebook.

But it was certainly intended as feedback, not a moan. It was intended as feedback because if I, as part of the establishment, as it were, round here feel that, I wonder how many more casual visitors would also feel it, but not say it and just be put off. That sort of thing has certainly led to me not returning to other sites in the past.

Why? Because putting a link to another site leaves the decision in my hands to go, or not. To get redirected automatically is, well, presumptuous, and makes me feel like a 'package' being delivered to Facebook.

Maybe others are happy to be delivered to Facebook, but personally, I do not, never have and never will be Facebook customer, partly because it offers me nothing I need/want, and secondly, because of the old adage .... if you can't see what the product is, it's because you're the product. And that, I resent.

It is, however, intended as feedback, not just a moan. Honest.

[KeyboardDemon]

Blimey we are a lot of moaners today aren't we

Sorry if I came across that way, it wasn't my intention.

We are going to do a development change that if you are a HEXITE you will be sent to the forum thread instead of Facebook.

I'd prefer that personally.

We as a business are multi channel - we are not forcing people to do anything on Facebook but we do have that as a significant part of traffic and an additional open community.

So bare with us - don't moan and understand that we do read your feedback.

Anyway - I'm now going to throw myself off the building.

Cool, maybe in future I'll put my feedback for issues such as this into the Hexus Suggestions section so as not to clutter competition threads with posts that aren't directly related to the competition, or is there a better place for posts that are strictly for feedback?

Still, the solution for me is obvious - stop entering competitions.

I like the competitions, the prizes offered are in most cases absolutely fantastic and in the rest they are even better then that, so not entering seems to me like I would just be spiting myself, I doubt the powers at Hexus towers would lose any sleep over me choosing to enter or not and in my case I do tend to use the Facebook entry in order to double my chances (from very slim to not quite as slim lol) but I would prefer to click on the link then be taken there automatically, I found the sudden redirect to be quite abrupt when it happened.

Of course if you decide not to enter it does help everyone else that did, ever so slightly.

[Saracen]

....

I like the competitions, the prizes offered are in most cases absolutely fantastic and in the rest they are even better then that, so not entering seems to me like I would just be spiting myself, I doubt the powers at Hexus towers would lose any sleep over me choosing to enter or not and in my case I do tend to use the Facebook entry in order to double my chances (from very slim to not quite as slim lol) but I would prefer to click on the link then be taken there automatically, I found the sudden redirect to be quite abrupt when it happened.

Of course if you decide not to enter it does help everyone else that did, ever so slightly.

The prizes are indeed generally excellent, and the cost of entry is, too.

I'm also, obviously, aware that neither the powers at HEXUS tower nor other entrants would exactly cry themselves to sleep over me not entering. Which is why I said the solution for me was obvious. I could, as you do, enter most a second time via Facebook. But I don't. Why? I want nothing to do with Facebook.

And I was quite sincere about simply stopping entering competitions IF I was going to get diverted to Facebook every time. Nobody but me loses out, and indeed every other entrant gains marginally. Competitions, however good they are, aren't why I'm on HEXUS anyway, and in truth, for years I rarely bothered with competitions. I've done them more regularly recently, but it's no great issue to just stop again.

[GuidoLS]

Just as an FYI, the combination of ABP (sorry, Hexus folks - I read the ads on my Edge only machine, but until the ads stop being double barreled on the home page, and flashy/non-computer related on the forums, I'm going to continue using it on my FF machine) and Ghostery seems to block the redirect to Facebook. I find it a good 1-2 combo for much, if not all, of my privacy needs, short of a VPN.

And I could use either of the prizes, although lately, I've settled for just hitting thanks instead of saying how much I need it... I don't need to pad my post count to signify need - it's safe to presume that anyone who enters needs the item, on some level, and I'd hope that those that choose the winner don't do so on the basis of an 'oooh oooh gimme gimme' post.

[DR]

Hi Guys,


It's a balance and we hear you - we've taken the redirect off. It was my decision to put it there and for the annoyance it's caused you guys I am sorry.

We've got the development task setup - this will be done as soon as we've got a spare minute or two.

David

[Output]

I don't need to pad my post count to signify need

For what it's worth, I post replies to the competition threads not to signify need, but to make it easier to keep track of whether I've entered it or not (in case cookies get cleared, which would of course show the entry form again). The thanks I express in the replies at the same time are always genuine too though of course.

I'd hope that those that choose the winner don't do so on the basis of an 'oooh oooh gimme gimme' post.

While there have been clear occasions of replies from some (usually new) users that hope for just that, there is obviously no way of knowing whether their stories are genuine, so random selection is what I expect is used and which is also the fairest to use.

As for Facebook, I'm one of those who isn't a fan of it or the redirect to it, but I also understand the original intent so just thought of it as a minor annoyance that I could ignore as I have Facebook blocked via the HOSTS file anyway so didn't say anything about it.

Thanks to DR for listening to the general consensus displayed here though, and for the alternative method that will be put in place for us HEXITES.