How could I run this giveaway?
 

Hi, I'd like to do monthly giveaways on my forum.

Each post = 1 entry. And then at the end of the month, a random winner would be chosen.

To prevent abuse I'd like to be able to:
1. limit qualifying posts to specific boards
2. have a minimum number of characters for a post to qualify (not absolutely necessary if this is too difficult to do)
3. limit to a specific usergroup

It would be great if I could somehow set a date range, then generate a numbered list of posts that fit the criteria above and then I could just use random.org to choose one. Is there a way I could gather this data?

just a couple of thoughts

if you have a minimum number of characters set on your forum to post already, then a post would mean that the number of characters has been satisfied. I understand that you are looking to avoid posts like

from qualifying, but this is something that would require a bit of honor from your members.

2) I have used this mod to create an entry form

https://vborg.vbsupport.ru/showthread.php?t=234385


I have to plan my March giveaway, but allowed for 1 entry per day (honor system), extra entry automatically for my VIP members, extra entry if members sent out a tweet from their handle about the contest.

In the past, I have tried to incorporate other parts of my site (sportscardforum.com) in order help against the junk post.

Thank you for your reply. Being able to filter out short posts would be nice, but not necessary. I could still make it a rule and at least then they would think it’s not counting as an entry.

I’d really like to increase member activity, quality posts, and member retainment with a monthly drawing. My issues are that too many new members are only joining to post a single question and never come back. And older members lose their enthusiasm and eventually get tired of replying to posts in the main board and stick mainly to a board that new members and unregistered guests cannot see, to talk about off topic things. So a form-based entry would not accomplish my goals unfortunately.

i do have a question for you because I have not looked at posts being worth an entry; how would you determine that information?

i like the idea....i wonder if it might be easiest to simply draw from post id#s in the date range....then manually checking the "winning post" to determine if it is a good enough one for a prize or not....and redrawing if not

that would be a slick little modification to create a "randomizer" based on the number of posts made by members during a time period.

I really don?t mind what the post is about, as long as it is not too short. Length would be my only criteria. I think I?d just make a rule that says posts under 5 words will not count as an entry. I?m hoping that encourages people to write better quality posts.

That?s not a bad idea. I guess I could do that. It would include posts by people who are not in the eligible usergroup, but I could just redraw until it picked a user in the correct usergroup too. Thanks for the idea. Sometimes I overthink things and make it harder than it needs to be haha.