Someone sucks!

A little while ago I joined the money saving expert forums, specifically the competitions section so that in the competitions discussions I could share either comps I was running on my blog or the prizes for parents round up which is a collection of comps run by other bloggers. I never charge to run a comp and I blog as a hobby not as a business, I certainly don't make a living from blogging.

I've only posted a handful of times on MSE forums and never with a live link ( to be frank, the system doesn't let you if your a newbie) 

I've always believed that for most people the comps either I run or the ones in the prizes for parents round up are lovely things for families to win. None are ever offensive and none are ever to make money. I run them because I think it's a nice thing for my readers, the last thing I do is run a comp purely for my own personal gain or self promotion.

Blog competitions are timely and can be complicated to run, there's a lot of rules and regulations for a blogger to take into account, there's the writing of the blog post, the marketing, drawing a winner, verifying the winner and arranging the prize delivery. There's been a few times where I've almost stopped running comps and I know a few bloggers who chose not to simply because its a minefield.

Over the course of running comps I've come across a few bitter things...

•There are a few winners who don't even say thank you.

• Some entries are from competition groups who sell the prizes on eBay

and don't genuinely have any interest or evenvwant the prize for their own use.

• A blogger I follow was reported to the asa for ridiculous reasons. http://www.themumblog.com/running-a-competition-on-your-blog-or-website-read-this-first.html

• Sometimes there will be a sore loser only to happy to express their disappointment in not winning.

But overall, I'm happy to say most people are absolutely delighted to win, are lovely and enjoy the competitions bloggers take the time to run for them. Most winners are genuine readers and most enter to win things they actually want to win. The only condition attached to my comps is a blog comment as entry.

So what would make MSE ban a hobby blogger indefinitely for sharing competitions, not just their own in a forum specifically for the sole purpose of sharing competitions?

An all out permanent ban for 3 or 4 discussions (none with live links) over a few months without polite notice, clear reasons, warning or an opportunity to appeal (thats a bit low, isn't it MSE?) There isn't even a mention of the administrator who made the decision for me to contact for further info. 
Whoever thought my blog was report worthy would have had to fill in reasons as to why they thought my interaction in the forum was offensive - this info isn't shared so I'm left somewhat stumped and baffled. Perhaps I'm a bit dim but I honestly did not see any harm or rule breaking in sharing competitions in a forum created for sharing competitions. I'm a hobby blogger not some mega brand running comps to glean people's data! There isn't any self promotion in sharing an unpaid and no personal or business gain blog comp in a forum for competitions - which leaves me baffled.

Someone sucks.

Emma in Bromley xx