Hey gang.  Our anti-spam mechanisms are numerous – we check the url against known spam blacklists, we do the same with user IP address, have a bank of “trigger phrases” in the title and description that are checked against a database, and we have a system called Askimet which many bloggers may be familiar with, too.  And still, this morning, a couple of spam entries went through to publish, Twitter, Facebook etc.  We weren’t on the site at that very moment, we were having some eggs.  Seems we can’t eat spam for breakfast every day…

It seemed like a good moment to do a little more explaining on voting, what it does, and why we’ve incorporated it.  The number to the right of a submission, see it?  Well next to it are a blue arrow up and a red arrow down.  Up votes the submission up, down votes the submission down, and changes that number.  Here’s why you should vote:

1.  Voting demonstrates what you think of a competition.  Is the competition relevant?  Running?  Vote it up.  Is the competition shady looking?  Vote it down.  Voting is a way for the community to moderate (very gently) the content as a democracy.  Because the site is populated by compers and a few brands, all parties are interested in improving the experience for each other.  So vote!

2.  Voting earns you Karma.  Don’t forget, lots of activities on the site earn you Karma, like submitting competitions, and commenting.  So does voting!

3.  Voting will eventually dictate where competitions appear.  Because it’s early days, all competitions submitted go through to the “Published” section.  The “Upcoming” section is empty.  Eventually, as more people join and vote, submitted competitions will only reach Published and the front page after a certain number of votes, further improving the overall quality, by showing only the best competitions.

4.  Voting can stop spam.  The last, and possibly most important reason we implemented a voting system is that you, the user, can kill spam.  If an entry gets 5 downvotes, it is marked as spam and removed from the system.  This means spam, if it’s lucky enough to cheat its way through, can be killed right there and then, without needing to flag for a moderator.

So there are your reasons to vote.  Reward yourself for reading this, by entering some competitions!

In the first of our 101 guides to Competition Hunter, we thought we’d start with Karma.  You may see on your profile, or on the Top Users list a number.  What does it mean?

The concept of karma, in both religious and popular modern versions can be interpreted in many different ways.  What we mean by it is “be good, and good things will come to you”, which, to most people, should sound familiar.  The way we’ve materialised this idea is in a points system that you can earn from your actions on the site.  The action that earns you the most Karma is by submitting a competition.  It’s really easy, and if you’re submitting multiple competitions you soon see the Karma rack up!  Don’t fancy submitting but still want to earn some Karma?  You can vote on submissions, comment on them, make friends or just loiter on the site – all of which will earn you Karma too.

Not only will Karma demonstrate to users how active and helpful you are to the community, it is an actual reward also.  Karma will soon become a virtual currency which you can exchange for real life rewards.  We’re talking to UK brands and soliciting your advice as to what you’d like to see.  These rewards will be introduced gradually, and there will be a range of values meaning you can get rewarded sooner.