Contests other than "most posts" and such

I have a hard time thinking of any contests for one of my forums where post count isn't a big deal. A "most posts in a given time period" type of contest isn't one I want to do, but I can't think of anything else, really.

Do you have any ideas as to what kind of unique contests can be run that garner members' interest?

 

"Who gets the most refferals between X and Y" or so

 

I used the referrals in 2008 to celebrate Walt Disney's birthday

Not sure what I'm going to use this year for our 2nd year anniversary, but we'll see.

 

As you know Nick, I've about to wrap up a promotion using a posting system. It started out great but kinda went down hill after that. People started posting misc stuff for one thing. Then once we started seeing people with huge leads, the rest of the group backed off. I mean don't get me wrong, I got roughly 10,000 post out of the deal but I think I'll do something different next time. One thing I have done in the past is just have a drawing. I would start a thread and set up some guidelines like you needed atleast 50 post which is easy for most people. Then I would enter people's names in a wheel hopper and pick a name. I didn't see a lot of posting from this method but I saw more group participation I think than from my current posting promotion.

 

On FOTOR which is more of a niche site, I have been running a fanfic contest to win steam games, it seems to have been picked up by the community very well, and even the official forums of the game we support (swtor.com) has got a post up about it, it's great traffic for us, and the amount of linkbacks vBSEO is showing me is phenominal

But yeah, before then I have tried "Who can post the 200,000th post, win a game" etc.. As well as your run-of-the-mill referral contests.

Personally I find it more interesting to see what people offer as prizes.

 

Member of the month? Sort of like the Board of the Month on vborg?

 

Sometimes I'll have point-related contests. If you had a mod for that, then it works well, but I usually just go with imaginary points.

For example, the user who with the most imaginary points win.

How to earn points?

Make a post - 5 points
Make a thread - 15 points
Refer a new member - 50 points

The points are then added at the contest end date where the winner is revealed.

It worked pretty well for me.

 

I'd like to use the Post Thanks hack as the way of determining a posting contest winner, to ensure good post quality, but it seems that system would be too easy to game.

 

I'am having a contest on my forum right now where I'am giving away a box of "stuff". To enter the contest, members just reply to the thread and explain "why" they would like to win the box.

 

Kind of like the "Buy this mystery box of stuff" from the back of Popular Mechanics decades ago? : )

 

Or woot!'s Bag of Crap.

 

I was really into the point system mod when I had the VB3.8.4 running... That was cool and was a built in award feature... It kind of worked but had flaws and the author of the mod wasn't making updates... So when I moved to VB4 I'm still on the look out for something like it or maybe something off the wall...

The thank you button idea I used over on another forum to prove my posting is valuable... I have over ~11,000 post and the admin has over ~26,000 post but I had double the amount of thanks... :rofl: (Haven't checked lately though).

Referal in my mind is a setup for a bunch of member to come in and register but not to post.

Like said in another post here just because you got huge numbers of members and post doesn't make the site valuable. Its the information you provide.

Like my own site I welcome people idea and suggestions for Cummins trucks... So I would make a sticky out of it... Then if the post is still popular then I converted it into a static page HTML so its easy to find... Then the mmebers love it because there username is on the article and there proud of there idea made it to a HTML page!

 

that is a really good idea

 

Thank you.

I'am having this "contest" every week during the month of April. But each week the box will contain different stuff.

 

I have the Post of the Month mod from vb.org and my members love it last month we had 40+ nominations, the mos was not equipped to handle that many. I don't have a prize, but the members still love it. I need to get a similar mod for IPB before I make the switch.

 

Good idea about this contest. I was really into the point system mod when I had the VB3.8.4 running.

 

One of the sites I post on do some great events.

Theyr recently had an event for april fools and easter. The owner coded a few php pages. You could choose where to search for eggs each team had it's own passworded forum e.t.c

Another event was a Not-So-Cold-War theme to celebrate the second birthday. It included roleplaying etc based around a cold war theme. And at the end you would get a badge!

Great events!

 

thanks for this post, you have just given me a new idea for a competition i was thinking of!!!! that is an awesome idea and id love to see this post. i have a mod for it too on one of my other forums, so i will use it on the most haunted forum too, highest number of points earned in a month wins the prize.

 

A contest about who can make the best video about the forum. This gives them an award under their username and this also increases traffic if you have a big forum because a lot of people will advertise for your forum.

 

Maybe you can post picture of 3 prizes and hold a contest. for example:

1st) Diamond (just an example ) - need 500 post
2nd) Gold - need 300 posts
3nd) Silver - need 150 posts

---> A member's posts count will start and end during that one month. First member to reach the required post needed can either get third prize or continue his hunt for 2nd or 3rd.

---> Moderator's team will be moderating the posts for one or two word post, or one liners or something not-valuable. These kind of posts will be deleted, and excessive use of these types of post might result in disqualification!

---> Long and quality posts might be rewarded as multiple posts

you got the idea right