Originally Posted by
Saracen
Neither I, nor as far as I know, other mods have any say in the vast majority of competitions, so what I'm about to say is personal opinion, not based on any actual knowledge of the process.
Knowing some of the people in HEXUS (not forums) I'd be astonished, staggered even, if winning was based on anything other than pure random selection, and that what people post, be it gimme-gimme, or some sob story, had ANY effect at all. If it did have an effect, I'd expect it to be counter-productive, but I don't believe it has any effect.
I have also noted winners drawn from among our most prolific members, to members that have posted, as in one recent example, exactly twice - once when entering, and once in astonishment at having won. I also regularly see winners I certainly don't even recognise as forum members.
And, of course, these competitions are put on in conjunction with industry partners, who are generally supplying the prize(s). I can't see them participating either, unless they were convinced the process was fair and genuine.
It no doubt won't stop the gimme-gimme posts, but to be honest, they usually just seem light-hearted and tongue in cheek anyway. So while I can't say from knowledge of the process that it has no effect I can say from knowledge of the people that I don't think there's a chance in hell that it does.