New Band Saw Give Away

[Andrew Kertesz]

I'm kind of confused. The sticky for the band saw give away is posted in the General forum and the second post by Keith states that it will be posted in the Free Stuff forum which is where you must opt in to be in the running. Yet I see the post in the General forum growning by leaps and bounds for people opting in and no post in the Free stuff forum. Which is the proper location to opt in for this drawing?

[Keith Outten]

Andrew,

The thread in the GWW Forum is Would anyone like to win a band saw?
I created that thread to kind of give everyone advanced notice that we had an offer from Grizzly. At the same time I wanted to see if there were enough people who would be interested in winning a band saw, its difficult to determine sometimes whether a prize will be popular with a large number of people.

Case in point we currently have only 163 people who have registered to win a brand new Laser Engraver from Trotec in last three days. This is the most expensive machine we will most likely ever give away here, honestly I thought we would be swamped with people right out of the gate. This machine cost more than many new cars and it would be an incredible asset to any woodworking shop.

:confused:

Concerning the thread growing by leaps and bounds I have learned that many here are creatures of habit, when they see what they perceive as a FreeStuff Drawing they just opt-in without necessarily reading the instructions. There is a registration form you have to fill out to opt-in if you want to win the Laser Engraver, a large number of people were posting in the thread to opt-in so I had to close the thread and delete most of the posts. I have opened the thread once again and revised the instructions but the traffic is still very slow.

Once again I am very confused.......
.

[Andrew Kertesz]

Keith,

Thanks for the clarification. Another question if you will; I registered for the Laser Engraver (What a GREAT give away) using the correct link. Do I need to register again or is that maintained by the laser company?

[Rich Engelhardt]

Case in point we currently have only 163 people who have registered to win a brand new Laser Engraver from Trotec in last three days. This is the most expensive machine we will most likely ever give away here, honestly I thought we would be swamped with people right out of the gate. This machine cost more than many new cars and it would be an incredible asset to any woodworking shop.
Keith,
I can't speak for anyone else...
Personally, I don't have a need or use for the Engraver. If by some odd chance I won the drawing, I'd sell it before I even unpacked it.
W/that in mind, I see it as a disservice to other members here that have a real need or desire to have one by lessening their chance to win.
It's not that I don't want to win a prize that costs as much as a small car - it's more that I'd be much happier to see someone else put it to good use.

I suspect a lot of others feel the same way.

[Dick Phillip]

Keith,
I chose not to enter the laser give away because I thought it should go to someone that has an interest in laser work. I am thinking about changing my mind and entering. If I won it I am sure I would develop the interest. As far as the band saw I will enter the drawing when it occurs. I do have an interest in a bandsaw. I just have not expressed it. I am sure there will be plenty of entrys.

[Phil Thien]

I have learned that many here are creatures of habit, when they see what they perceive as a FreeStuff Drawing they just opt-in without necessarily reading the instructions.

Count me in. Thanks for the opportunity.

[Keith Outten]

I can certainly understand how some may not be interested in the Laser Engraver at first, but if you think about how valuable a woodworking machine it can be you might just change your mind....I did.

The reason I linked to the three videos is because they provide some insight as to how a laser can be beneficial to a wood shop. You couldn't find a better way to create extremely detailed inlays or intarsia work and at the same time be able to make multiples if you need gifts for your family.

Rich, I applaud your honesty and there are others who feel the same as your do here. In the past we used to draw names at random from our entire database for prizes and we found out that many times the winner didn't want the machine so we had to keep drawing names until we found someone who wanted the prize. Secondly we found that we often could not get in touch with a winner because their email address was incorrect or had changed. This is why we now limit FreeStuff Drawings to Contributors.

Andrew, you only have to register once. You can check to see if you are registered by trying the link again, if you get a message telling you that you cannot register again you know that your registration was accepted.
.

[Ryan Baker]

As with Rich, I currently have little need for an engraver. While I'm sure I could find some uses for one if I had one, I also don't quite feel right about entering a contest for an item because of its value instead of my need for it. Better that those with a real need have a better shot. I may decide to re-evaluate my need and join in.

However, my other problem has to do with the stipulation that my name, image, etc. may be used in marketing and for other unspecified purposes. That's not something that I take lightly, and I don't see the need to sign off to be associated with a marketing campaign I haven't even seen. While I doubt there are any negative intentions here, it is still a massive red flag for me. Perhaps if the details were more specific it would be more tolerable. I can understand the company wanting to get some marketing value out of their generous donation, but it could be handled better.