Gonna try something new in February

[bszopi]

First, let me just say thank you to everyone who has donated in the last few months. Donations have exceeded our expectations and have been consistent for longer than I can remember. So thanks to everyone who supports the site. Now for the good news.

Ben and I were talking and decided to try to give back to the community somehow. We currently have a small donation surplus (after all the bills are paid), so we figured we'd offer up something. For February, for every $1 a person donates, they will receive 1 "lottery ticket". Donate $5, get 5 tickets. Pretty easy. For the month of February, the lottery prize will be a $50 gift certificate for WOT-Tech. If the response is really good, we might even bump it up to $100 gift certificate. But, it will be a minimum of $50.

[slinky]

sweetness

[geldartb]

sounds good.

[bob442]

Awesome, i decided to donate to the commuinty this month for the first time

[2.8-350TBI]

Im redonating this month
Schweeet!

[bszopi]

Ok, so this has officially started. Woohoo! Anyway, now its time to figure out exactly how this is going to work. Duh, should have thought about this before now...

Anyway, I want to make this as far as possible, with people feeling that it is fair. I thought about just an excel spreadsheet and a random number generator, or picking numbers out of a hat, etc. But how do you, the members, know that I am being honest? Hopefully, most of you trust me well enough, but that's besides the point. So, I want to hear everyone's ideas. Maybe everyone is fine with either of the methods above. I did come across, what I feel is a very good option, but it will cost me $5. That option is Random.org's Third Party Draw Service. Basically, I submit the list of entrant's, pay a small fee, then let their website pick the winner. It is validated for everyone to be able to see. If you want to see more about it, watch the video (I did ).

Anyway, let me hear what you guys think. We have 27 more days to figure it out, but I'd rather get it resolved as soon as possible.

[robertisaar]

i don't trust you or computers, only myself

i highly doubt the person running the damn site would have any kind of indifference issues...

[SappySE107]

I like the lottery number idea but we should see how many tickets you need to account for.

[tkoforpresident]

do i get a free ticket since my birthday is the 24th? =p

[bszopi]

Ok, so the month is half over, and only 4 people have the chance to win the gift certificate. We have all the donations we need, but I just figured more people would be interested in a shot at this. I mean, even $1 gives you a chance for $50 off at WOT-Tech. I'm sure the 4 people who have donated are just fine with no one else donating, as it gives them a better shot at winning.

[slinky]

i donated yestersdays

[Superdave]

I donated what i could this month..

[flimbob]

I'm in.

[LightningGa]

When I go to the "Make a Donation" link, it won't let me select an amount???

[SappySE107]

works for me , i said custom