Contest: Win a $500 Gift Certificate!!!

[Abel]

UPDATED 5/17/06:

The TPF Referral Contest will be held from now through June 30th. The prize is a $500 Gift Certificate from our sponsor Houston Camera Exchange!

Members now have from May 1st until June 30th to gain 10 legitimate Texas Photographer Referrals. All members with at least 10 referrals within that time span will be thrown into a random drawing. A member will be chosen randomly on July 1st and that member will win the $500 Prize to Houston Camera Exchange.

A goal of 10 Texas Photographer referrals is much easier for the general member base to gather within the 6+ weeks left in the contest. This will deter members from trying to gather tons of fraudulent referrals. Plus, the new referrals gained within the time frame will also have the opportunity to gather their 10 referrals as well so that they can be included in the contest.

I think it is a Win - Win for all and will make it much easier on our staff here at TPF. This new format will give many more users an opportunity to win.


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Info on the Gift Certificate:
This gift certificate can be used on anything available in the store or anything that they can get in via special order. The gift certificate does not have a expiration date, use it all at once or a little at a time.

Is there a camera body or monster zoom lens you've have your heart set on? If so, the winner can use their $500 credit to apply towards the big ticket item and all you have to do is pay the difference!

Also, if the winning member is not located near Houston Camera Exchange, they will ship you your item(s) via UPS Ground FREE of charge! You can't beat that!

This is contest is open to all members here within the TexasPhotoForum...

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So how do you gain referrals you ask..
We have recently printed a ton of Referral Cards that all you need to do is place your screen name on the back and hand them out to other photographers you come across while out in the field shooting. The cards can be seen HERE and in order to get some mailed to you for free simply fill out THIS FORM.

...or you can simply doing it electronically...

When you view our Top Referrers page located HERE you will see a link near the top of the page which includes your Member ID. Simply email a Texas Photographer that link and when they sign up you get a referral credit for that user... Easy as that.

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I would like to extend my sincerest thanks to Houston Camera Exchange for supporting us in this promotion and I look forward to congratulating the winner on July 1st!

[Abel]

Ok... The Referrers page is updated to ONLY so referrals from May 1st.
http://www.texasphotoforum.com/forum/referrers.php


Questions I have been asked:

1. Abel, are you eligible to participate?
Answer: No I am not participating in this contest.

2. Do referrals from the time the site began count towards the contest?
Answer: No, only referrals given from May 1st - June 30th are eligible for the Contest

3. How can I get some of those Referral Cards?
Answer: Simply fill out THIS FORM and I will mail you some as soon as possible.

4. How can I tell how many referrals I currently have?
Answer: You can visit our Referrals Page and it will show you exactly where you sit in the contest standings.

5. Can I invite people from other states and countries?
Answer: Referrals from other states and countries will not be applied to your total Referral count. Texas Photographer referrals will be the only referrals that are allowed to be used towards your total for the contest. Having your referrals change their locations in order to show that they are from Texas is NOT allowed and will result in a disqualification.

6. Can I invite my family members and friends?
Answer: Yes and No. If your friends and family members are photographers then YES you can refer them. If they have no interest in photography whatsoever then NO please do not use them as a referral since they will only be signing on to help you win and you will be taking advantage of the system... Not very considerate to others participating legitimately in the contest.

7. What are you doing to prevent cheating?
Answer: I will be verifying the new referral accounts throughout the entire contest. If a member is caught cheating by using trying to pad his/her own totals, then they will be disqualified from the entire contest. No Exceptions.

8. I see Camera Exchange on the Referrals List, Are they eligible to compete?
Answer: No, Since they are sponsoring the contest their referral count is exempt like mine are. I left some referral cards at their store long before the contest came to light to track where our members are coming from etc.

9. Can I spam other forums?
Answer: No, we do not want to be a source of SPAM on any site. Do not make blanket posts on other forums, sites, blogs (especially if they are not Photography related) to "sign up and help me win" in order to pad you referral total. We want referrals that will help contribute to our growth and participation not just to help someone win our contest.

10. What is "Padding Referrals"?
Answer: Padding Referrals is NOT ALLOWED. It is when a member tries to get a ton of referrals added to their total that are not legitimate referrals. Ways people pad thier referral count can be like a member creates several accounts here on the forum with different alias email accounts that they themselves own. Another is if a member emails anyone and everyone in their Contacts list to get them to sign up to increase their totals even if those are not interested in photography. If you are caught doing any of the above and I catch it, you will be disqualified immediately. No Exceptions.

11. Why are your rules so tough?
Answer: My rules are only tough on those are cheating or are considering cheating. Our sponsor has been nice enough to volunteer the $500 Store Credit for the Contest and I will do my best to keep the competition 100% fair and level for EVERYONE. I want the main prize to go to a member that played by the rules and did everything fair and square. Is that asking too much? I don't think so.

Also the Referral List is not the Final Standings... All of the referrals listed will be back checked for legitimacy...

UPDATE: THREE members have already been disqualified for shady referral tactics... Do not be the next one...

[Steelsun]

Holy Moly!

[Abel]

yuppers.

[Jake]

I went in to lighttec today to return a lens and thought " hey, I will put out my referrals card here!" But then I saw they had already been hit up by Lisa(pippin)
So I took her cards and put them in the trash and left mine there



Just kidding, I did not put any of mine out
But come on Lisa, you already work in a camera store!!

[Abel]

HAHAA...

thats hilarious.

[MarcoFromHouston]

Dammit. I wish I would have gotten some from you last week, Abel! I saw lots of DSLR owners @ the Grand Prix of Houston Friday & Saturday!

[Abel]

7 members have gotten the 10 referrals needed to be entered into the drawing as of today…

There’s 3 weeks left…

Get in while you can!