Send A Card, Give A Child A Toy! [PLEASE READ!]

[oddTodd]

I just got to work and tested with a few different email addresses in both the from and to, as well as testing whether using a new CAPTCHA would work instead of back/send. Only my first three attempts went through, so it does sound like an IP address limit.

The smart and fair way for them to do this would have been to fix their broken CAPTCHA system. (Besides it not refreshing when you click back, the check for the CAPTCHA is embedded in the form in a hidden field, so you could programmatically re-POST the form over and over again without even using your browser.)

[Astrote713]

So that we're all on the same page: if they are indeed limiting the number of greetings sent per ip address, then there is no way that a sender is going to know this. There is no error message, no notification whatsoever. If you are reading this and are still sending multiple messages, please stop until further notice. I really don't want anyone to waste their time if unnecessarily.

Thanks for the clarification.

[volumex]

I'm going to cool off, I think we have to wait and see what systems are in place regarding our multi entries.
If they limiting your send, by IP', then we gotta think of another way to carry on this movement!
Keep me posted.

e greeting I send, clicking, I must!

[deco_droid]

i think lego's intent was to donate the toys based on a large group of fans participating -- not based on a few afol's uber-spamming tactics.

follow the rules and be happy with the results.

This isn't spamming. This is intentionally sending a high volume of email to a recipient who has specifically opted to receive them to maximize the charitable contribution from LEGO. The comments on the posts and this thread would indicate that LEGO at least had an awareness that some of the cards would be sent with the intent of maximizing the donations to Toys for Tots, incentivized by contest giveaways.

So maybe LEGO didn't anticipate it happening to the extent that it has and are trying to determine a better approach of meeting their intents. I would be happy to work within the confines of whatever rules they have in place.

What about a proactive adjustment of the contest rules from FBTB (perhaps in conjunction with LEGO)?
1. Eliminate the prize for "most cards sent" and just make it a raffle winner as well
2. Cap the number of entries per person in the raffle at some number (10?, 100? 1000? 10,000?)

#2 would need some work to ensure people didn't just hit the cap with multiple alternate email addresses and raise their personal number of entries over the limit.

what's the problem? onion man referred to what you guys are doing as spamming before i did...

probably a good idea to turn off any bots you guys have running until we can confirm that messages are once again being sent out. like i said, they may be figuring out other measures to prevent bot spamming.

and all i said was follow lego's rules and be happy with the results -- sorry if that's not "POSITIVE" enough for you.

[crisisred]

i'd gladly sacrifice my email for the cause if it would help any?

[darth_fett]

Onions: that comment zabout deco was cold. Funny! But cold.
Deco: some of us don't wanna play by the rules when the "evil corporation" is being a nerfherder. I'm positive that my family/friends who resend are going to do it for more than 3 people apiece. But anything over isn't going to be sent & they won't know it unless i tell them. It doesn't say anywhere on the website clearly stating "max of 3 per IP address".

[onions]

i've received confirmation that there is a measure in place to prevent sending a greeting to the same email address more than three times. their intent was to prevent the same combination of sender's ip and receiver's email of doing that. however, i believe there is a huge flaw in their logic in that their preventative measure is only flagging the sender's ip only. we've run numerous tests against their logic and still have not been able to get an email to send successfully to the giveaways email box. i've discussed this with my contact and she will be contacting the webmaster again to go over the logic again.

the ip lockout was done at the server level which is a few steps removed from my contact and the webmaster. i've been assured that all ip lockouts will be lifted, it's just a matter of time.

once the lockouts are lifted, i'll be able to better test against what they state their safety measures are. but for now, it looks like we are dead in the water for the weekend. please stay tuned for any more developments. i am confident we will be able to hit the million toy mark, just not at the breakneck pace we were at.

[goshe7]

Thanks for the update. Looking forward to information on how we can keep that counter climbing without angering LEGO.

[fatflash1423]

Is the giveaways email address receiving any greetings? I've tried sending some from various computer, they send to me ok. Just wondering if you get them or not. I want to make sure my 3 per ip address are going to someone who can click the link.

[Gooker1]

Just randomly checked, and my IP address is still blocked.

[The_Chosen_1]

It really stinks to see the count limping along at under 1,000 a day again...

[buriedbybricks]

Better than the 100 a day it was crawling at when we started.

[GroudonMan]

Better than the 100 a day it was crawling at when we started.

Quite true, I believe the promotion is getting a lot more attention now. The fact that it is closer to Christmas, when people may actually want to send greeting cards, could also be a factor.

[lostone]

hi all
Just wondering what the figure is at now and is there anything else we can do to help?

[AbstractedIdeal]

Just wondering what the figure is at now

Approx. 390,000, but there's at least another 60,000+ egreets that have been sent that remain unclaimed.

and is there anything else we can do to help?

Try send more?

I'm a little skeptical that's even still possible, as all my attempts to do so (using new IPs and previously unused email addresses) have resulted in... absolutely nothing.

[onions]

i'll be making a post on the front page later today with an update.

[petamas]

i'll be making a post on the front page later today with an update.

Hi, is there any development?

[Stardusty]

688257 toys given.

Is something wrong with my PC, or the number has really gone up that high.
It seems someone spent a lot of time clicking. (I would have used thumb-up emoticon, but I couldn't find it)

I'm a bit late, but merry Christmas to everyone.

[iPodwithnomusic]

Maybe, but I think it's just that thousands of different people sent cards close to Christmas, the limit still might be applied.

[Altair1371]

Well, the numbers have officially frozen on the site. Is the contest over yet?