Should there be rules in place for GiantBomb give aways?

Does anybody else think rules should be on the GiantBomb giveaways, It's getting annoying to constantly lose these give aways, which are meant to give back to the community, not to people who have not contributed to the wiki at all, and have no posts and don't plan on doing anything and just came for the give away.
 
Just look at the MAG beta key thread. Literally 80% or more of the people who posted in that have contributed absolutely nothing and will clearly never contribute anything in the future.
 
As I said, in my opinion, these give aways are meant as something to give back to the community who has actually put work into the site, or at least have contributed to the forums in some way. Not for people who just come along and just want free/easy things.

I just posted for fun... And of course they want the free item dude. DUDE FREE STUFF!

DUDE FREE STUFF!

but then the same people would always win.  I'm no good at writing descriptions for games and things like that, so I don't have many points, but I still enjoy the site.  It's random so that anyone can take part, generates a lot of traffic too.

I don't know, I want to win as much as the next guy, but putting limitations on who could win would be kind of a bummer. Besides some of the users who register for the contest might stick around. You never know! ^_^

" Well GB wants more users to prove to their advertisers as an increase of traffic on the site. So fuck that idea duder. "

" I don't know, I want to win as much as the next guy, but putting limitations on who could win would be kind of a bummer. Besides some of the users who register for the contest might stick around. You never know! ^_^ "

" @DOUBLESHOCK:   There could be a balance, like picking people who have at least shown a sign of doing a few things on the site. "

" @DanielJW said:

" I don't know, I want to win as much as the next guy, but putting limitations on who could win would be kind of a bummer. Besides some of the users who register for the contest might stick around. You never know! ^_^ "

Most them them registered in 2008. "

" @CL60 said:

" @DanielJW said:

" I don't know, I want to win as much as the next guy, but putting limitations on who could win would be kind of a bummer. Besides some of the users who register for the contest might stick around. You never know! ^_^ "

Most them them registered in 2008. "

Well then they must visit the site often enough to have bothered to register in the past. So why do regulars to the forum or big wiki editors deserve to win more than someone who visits the site for video content and news or whatever they use it for?  We all come to the site, and we all enjoy it. Limiting who can win because "you don't contribute" would be kinda uninviting, don'tcha think? "

I think a simple account maturity rule is required.  Something like your account must be at least three days old to win this contest.  This would prevent people from "stuffing the ballots" with new accounts and whatnot.

I don't think there should be limitations on who can enter but I think it should be more then "dude post here a bunch of times and you might win". They should at least do something like they did with the Haikus.

I do think it's stupid, but that's really the whole point of a give away. Hence the name.

" @DanielJW said:

" @CL60 said:

" @DanielJW said:

" I don't know, I want to win as much as the next guy, but putting limitations on who could win would be kind of a bummer. Besides some of the users who register for the contest might stick around. You never know! ^_^ "

Most them them registered in 2008. "

Well then they must visit the site often enough to have bothered to register in the past. So why do regulars to the forum or big wiki editors deserve to win more than someone who visits the site for video content and news or whatever they use it for?  We all come to the site, and we all enjoy it. Limiting who can win because "you don't contribute" would be kinda uninviting, don'tcha think? "

Because the whole point of the give aways is to give back to the community. Why give back to people who have done nothing and will never do anything. "

I don't think some of these contests should have limitations but I would like to have the return of contests for certain users, like the GalvanizedNails Zune giveaway they did once. They should do a big contest that only people with like, 5000+ wiki points can be able to do. Now I am eligible, and then some :D

I think the rule should be that it is available to those who "posted 100 times or more" or "has 500 wiki-points" or is a user that is more than a week old.

" At the end of the day, new or long time member, we're all just users at this site. There should be no sense of entitlement from any user here no matter how much they have contributed. "

" @THAfara0 said:

" @dcpc10 said:

" Well GB wants more users to prove to their advertisers as an increase of traffic on the site. So fuck that idea duder. "

translated life is unfair and all about money and clicks get used to it and stop complaining.... "

How am I complaining? I'm just saying the truth, and I never said other sites don't do it xD i Love Giantbomb never-the-less. "

Dudes.... FREE CODE (first come first serve)

" Dudes.... FREE CODE (first come first serve) "

I can't believe this is a topic. Stop acting like you deserve something for voluntarily editting wiki's and writing on a forum.  They are giving stuff away to random members of the website regardless of when they decided to be a member, that's the only rule of the 'contest.' Just because you (or anyone) have contributed to the website doesn't mean you are any more or less of a member.   
 
When radio stations have contests they don't have rules in place that only allow the winner to be a longtime listener of the station. Some contests might, some don't. If the staff of GB ever decided to give away something more impressive than a beta key, I'm sure they could (and would as we already know) create a more rigid qualification guideline. But this is a beta key, not a new car. 
 
In short, get over it. I'd worry more about people creating multiple accounts to enhance their chances of being picked. Worrying about whether or not they are qualified to win is not your concern, it's the staffs.

" @Bucketdeth: Dunno, no one's spoken up.  YOU TRY IT "

Anyone over 100,000 wiki points should get some consolation prize.

Make it so you can't enter unless you have at least 150 posts, or your account is 2 weeks old. Giant Bomb is a community site, and when people who aren't apart of the community win, it kind of grinds my gears.

I think the "official" giveaways by the staff should be a little more strict.

Nope, I don't want any rules whatsoever because petty people who feel entitled to shit deserve shit

I think all awards should be given to people whose name has TimAllen in it.

" Anyone over 100,000 wiki points should get some consolation prize. "

I think the problem with going by the # of posts / wiki edits a person does is that it might backfire.  With worthless wiki-updates, crappy posts consisting of "LOL", etc...  
 
Trolls would certainly be rewarded.

First of all, you shouldn't expect to be rewarded for contributing.  This contest is fairly large and publicised, it is about creating buzz for the game, not cherry picking beta testers.  GiantBomb has rewarded their more prominent contributers.  They gave away a special edition Zune not to long ago which was limited to users with over 5000 points.  I'm sure they will continue to reward community members who are more active on their website.  However this doesn't mean they are going to alienate the rest of the users who don't have a bunch of wiki points.  If you want the beta key that badly, then maybe you should submit a video for the QotW.

"Give Away" 
Not "Give Away to the community guys who are most active only" 
Heck, they could just as easily have said "here you go" to someone on the street. 
It's not that big of a deal really, when you think about it.  
IT's like "fuck, I spilled my whole cup of coffee" and then realzing "I made a fucking pot full of coffee. Geesh why am Crying?"

I like ones that encourage creativity like the haikus, caption contest, and MK character creation.
 
Still, going through all the submissions and judging them is quite a timesink for the team.

" "Give Away" Not "Give Away to the community guys who are most active only" Heck, they could just as easily have said "here you go" to someone on the street. It's not that big of a deal really, when you think about it.  IT's like "fuck, I spilled my whole cup of coffee" and then realzing "I made a fucking pot full of coffee. Geesh why am Crying?"

" @ZeForgotten said:

" "Give Away" Not "Give Away to the community guys who are most active only" Heck, they could just as easily have said "here you go" to someone on the street. It's not that big of a deal really, when you think about it.  IT's like "fuck, I spilled my whole cup of coffee" and then realzing "I made a fucking pot full of coffee. Geesh why am Crying?"

  The point of these is to give to the community, why should people who are not even part of the community at all be able to be a part of them? "

Just because I don't have many posts or points doesn't mean I'm just here for the give aways.

I've been registered on the site pretty much since day one, I've listened to every single bombcast from the start as well as having been listening to Jeff, Ryan, Brad and Vinny on any podcast for years. I watch every quick look and pretty much every other video put up on the site (except for the ER, I used to watch but fell behind and don't have the time to catch up). I come here pretty much every day to check for news and such. This site is easily in my top 5 site I use the most.
But I have hardly any posts and I don't think I have any wiki points because editing wikis is something I'd rather leave to the people who are passionate about that and can do it right and I find the forums here a bit overwhelming. I'm a regular on another forum that has 20 regular users, if that, and this one just leaves me feeling a little lost so I tend not to use it much.
Does that mean I shouldn't be allowed a chance to win any giveaways? The thing that really bugs me is that I live in the UK so I'm not eligible for most stuff anyway and I can't buy any t-shirts which sucks monkey anus cause I really want one :(

I would prefer contests that are actual contest personally.
 
Kind of like the HDDVD thing was. Do that instead.

  "The point of these is to give to the community, why should people who are not even part of the community at all be able to be a part of them? "

" @CL60 said

  "The point of these is to give to the community, why should people who are not even part of the community at all be able to be a part of them? "

I missed the part where they said "Here's a contest we have, but we only want to give it to the people who hang around here all day"? The contests are supposed to be for anybody who deems the site worthy of visiting. Let's take those silly "YOU'RE THE 1 000 000th customer! Have a free shopping spree worth of $500", when said person had never been in the store before and only bought a pack of gum. Do you think anybody will come up and say "THAT'S NOT FAIR! I BUY A CARTON OF EGGS HERE EVERYDAY! I SHOULD HAVE IT!"  This shit sounds petty as hell and I believe somebody else has suggested it before and been summarily shot down by more sensible people. You're not entitled to shit for making a wiki edit. I have over a thousand posts and I wager 700 of them have been stupid bullshit. I've also uploaded one picture of Young Clifford with Asia Carrera. How the hell is that supposed to make me more eligible than a guy who's followed the entire Endurance Run religiously, but never posted? This is still a fan of the site who has spent a considerable time on the site, but because his e-penis isn't big enough for you, they shouldn't be allowed to enter a contest? "

How could I miss it when I condensed YOUR words in to one sentence which ringingly says "The point of these is to give to the community"
Do you think somebody has a RSS feed whenever a site, ANY site, has a contest/giveaway and skeedaddles over there?
If you've ever written the word Giantbomb.com (Or snakessnakessnakessnakes.com) into your browser then you're essentially part of the community.

Contests are to attract site hits and new members. They are working.