First, congratulations to new user ronskibeat99. He's the 10,000th registered user of Pegasus News. We're pretty proud of that number, especially considering that registration for our site is 100% optional and only required for a few advanced features. Right now, only about 3% of our visitors are registered, and we really appreciate those who do -- they tend to be the most loyal and active users of the site.

So, as a sign of our gratitude to all 10,000 of you, we're going to give ronskibeat99 a brand new iPod touch. No entry, no drawing, no warnings that it was coming -- We'd love to give you all a gift, but for now, you'll have to settle for the daily dose of customized information on the DFW area -- and the promise of gifts to come...

...which makes this a good time to announce the new promotion we're going to be running for the rest of the year:

Until we come up with a better name, we're going to call it...

"The UnContest"

Why the "Un?" Because unlike many of the contests we run as advertising promotions on the site, these will not be pre-announced. There'll be no entry process. You'll just wake up one morning to receive a pleasant surprise. It might be a cool piece of technology (like the aforementioned iPod). It might be tickets to see your favorite local band. It might be tickets to a sold out show. Maybe a free dry cleaning from your neighborhood cleaner. Or perhaps a home-cooked meal by a favorite local chef. How about a laptop for a really frequent user who only logs on during the day? Or a new camera for someone who submits a lot of photos to our Flickr pool?

But in all cases, it'll be something that we (or more accurately, the wizard that lives inside our computers) know that you, personally, will like. And you'll never see it coming.

Why would we do a contest this way? Most people do contests with an entry process that incites some sort of behavior desirable to those who are putting on the contest. And we'll still run games like that, particularly to help advertisers promote events.

But the point of our contest is to show off the value of The Daily You -- the customization that can make your version of the site unique can also tell us who is most likely to appreciate and/or benefit from what we're giving away.

So how do you play?

• First, you register as a user (free and easy to do!) and stay logged in when using the site.
• Also make sure that the email address and/or phone number we have for you is accurate That's all you have to do.
• But, you'll increase your chances by putting an address or at least a zip code in your profile.
• And you'll further increase your chances by making sure you are opted-in for The Daily You.
• You'll even further increase your chances by using all the cool features on the site. Like favoriting events or restaurants or other things. We'll occasionally give away tickets or a meal to people who have favorited a specific item -- but in this case without announcing when or which things are involved. So the more you use the site, the better your chances get.

Without getting too arcane in terms of how this will work, here's the general idea. as illustrated by how we're going to give away one of the pairs of tickets we have for The Romeros: About a week before the show, we'll ask the Wizard inside the computer who are the users with the highest interest in Classical music. Then we'll ask him which of those users most recently visited the site. And that lucky person will get the tickets. If they can't use 'em, we'll go to the next person in line.

The only thing we'll require of the winners is that they let us publish their names in the announcement of the prizes on our Power Users blog. (Of course, it would be cool if they reciprocated with a little review of whatever they got.)

The UnContest is on now. Today. The iPod is the first prize to be handed out -- Future prizes will be more targeted to the individual who wins them. It's our way of taking The Daily You to the next level by proving to everyone just how much what you want matters to us.

Comments

Mike Orren Staff

Turns out that user ronskibeat99 is actually a she, not a he. She came by the office last week to pick up her prize:

Keep reading while logged in, and you could win too...

1 year, 4 months ago ( Link to this comment | Suggest removal )

Mike Orren Staff

(Laughing maniacally)

Master plan slowly coming together...

1 year, 4 months ago ( Link to this comment | Suggest removal )

Scott Doyle Verified

I like how this became a "Things You Can't Miss"...20 days after original posting.

In other news, I just read this b/c for whatever reason I missed it the first go-around. I blame that damn WIP bumping it down, Miko!

In other-other news, needs more iPhone give-a-ways (16GB plars).

1 year, 4 months ago ( Link to this comment | Suggest removal )

Mike Orren Staff

Scott, you'll be happy to know that the WIP thing is being fixed. And that we're going to split comments from reviews in the side rail so that the Savor Dallas contest doesn't drown the thread.

This came back as a not-to-miss because ronskibeat99 finally came in to get her iPod. No more iPods in the near future, but LOTS more big surprises coming...

1 year, 4 months ago ( Link to this comment | Suggest removal )

Scott Doyle Verified

I'd appreciate if y'all would consider placing latest comments much higher up on the side-rail, or anywhere that's more readily accessible. After all, I know seeing my name brings sunshine and smiles to your day!

And, in my personal opinion, y'all should have an UnContest for highest average comments per day since, let's say, July '07? Winnar gets 16GB iPhone, maybe? Just a thought. ;-)

1 year, 4 months ago ( Link to this comment | Suggest removal )