Poll

How Should The EEVblog Giveaway be Run?

As before, active forum members only (minimum post count)
195 (58.9%)
As before, active forum members only (NO minimum post count)
58 (17.5%)
Every viewer is equal. Include Youtube commenters, blog commenters, & all forum members
49 (14.8%)
It should be a contest of skill (describe below)
11 (3.3%)
Something else (describe below)
18 (5.4%)

Total Members Voted: 323

Author Topic: How Should The EEVblog Giveaway be Run?  (Read 101035 times)

0 Members and 1 Guest are viewing this topic.

Offline jhalar

  • Regular Contributor
  • *
  • Posts: 76
  • Country: au
Re: How Should The EEVblog Giveaway be Run?
« Reply #50 on: February 15, 2016, 03:50:11 am »
My opinion FWIW:
1. Don't just randomly select anyone - they may not want/need it - people should opt-in to the giveaway.

This is a good option for people like me who already own a MSOX-3104A oscilloscope. Give it to someone who doesn't own a high end scope.
Electronics and Network Engineer. Working in both worlds.
 

Offline lpc32

  • Frequent Contributor
  • **
  • Posts: 454
Re: How Should The EEVblog Giveaway be Run?
« Reply #51 on: February 15, 2016, 06:14:45 am »
since keysight have exclusion countries where their official contest is NOT applicable.

which is really the entire world (excluding Austria, Canada (excluding the Province of Quebec), Chile, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, India, Ireland, Japan, Korea, New Zealand, Poland, South Africa, Switzerland, Taiwan, United Kingdom, United States (excluding Florida, New York, and Rhode Island), and Venezuela.)
That covers more than 2.1 billion people. :)

3. Opting in should require some declaration/honour code/whatever - to try to avoid a quick eBay resale.
Won't it actually be somewhat difficult to sell? At anything approaching retail price, that is.
« Last Edit: February 15, 2016, 06:16:17 am by lpc32 »
 

Online Brumby

  • Supporter
  • ****
  • Posts: 12288
  • Country: au
Re: How Should The EEVblog Giveaway be Run?
« Reply #52 on: February 15, 2016, 07:57:19 am »
At anything approaching retail ... absolutely.  But you might just have someone wanting to sell it in raptures if they get $4,000 - $5,000 for it.

That would make me cry.
 

Offline Arlen Moulton2

  • Regular Contributor
  • *
  • Posts: 63
  • Country: gb
  • I cause mayhem
Re: How Should The EEVblog Giveaway be Run?
« Reply #53 on: February 15, 2016, 08:09:50 am »
I need did scope soooooo bad!!!
 

Offline tomy983

  • Contributor
  • Posts: 46
  • Country: it
Re: How Should The EEVblog Giveaway be Run?
« Reply #54 on: February 15, 2016, 05:46:20 pm »
I really don't see anything wrong with it ending up for sale on eBay or here in the forum. If I will be allowed to enter and won, I would sell it, as I know that even if I wish so, I will never bee good enough to have an use for such piece of equipment. But the money I would get from the sale would all go into lots of other electronic related equipment, including a nice 1 or 2k scope, and would probably finance many projects to come...
Would this be so bad??
 

Offline selkathguy

  • Supporter
  • ****
  • Posts: 88
  • Country: us
Re: How Should The EEVblog Giveaway be Run?
« Reply #55 on: February 15, 2016, 08:32:56 pm »
I would sell it, as I know that even if I wish so, I will never bee good enough to have an use for such piece of equipment.
[...]
Would this be so bad??
It is counter to the sentiment of the giveaway.  Wait for other contests and giveaways that offer equipment you can use.  There are plenty.  If Dave was looking to give away $15k he would give away $15k.  This is a need vs greed issue.  I could enter every contest with the intention to sell whatever I got from it if I won, but that pollutes the bucket of names and gives people who actually need this specific tool to do a job but cannot afford it a lower chance of winning, and it does a disservice to the community.  This is precisely why I think having to justify or describe the intended usage is necessary for giveaways of this magnitude.
« Last Edit: February 15, 2016, 08:39:48 pm by selkathguy »
 

Offline Leiothrix

  • Regular Contributor
  • *
  • Posts: 104
  • Country: au
Re: How Should The EEVblog Giveaway be Run?
« Reply #56 on: February 15, 2016, 10:45:30 pm »
If Dave was looking to give away $15k he would give away $15k. 

Except this is Keysight providing the prize, and Dave is picking a winner and distributing it.  It's not like he bought the scope himself.

This is a need vs greed issue.  I could enter every contest with the intention to sell whatever I got from it if I won, but that pollutes the bucket of names and gives people who actually need this specific tool to do a job but cannot afford it a lower chance of winning, and it does a disservice to the community.  This is precisely why I think having to justify or describe the intended usage is necessary for giveaways of this magnitude.

Would an answer of "I need a scope to learn/work on but can't afford it.  If I win this I'll sell it for 10k, buy a Rigol DS1054Z, and have enough cash left over to pay rent and buy food for the next few months" be acceptable?
 

Offline selkathguy

  • Supporter
  • ****
  • Posts: 88
  • Country: us
Re: How Should The EEVblog Giveaway be Run?
« Reply #57 on: February 15, 2016, 11:20:46 pm »
Except this is Keysight providing the prize, and Dave is picking a winner and distributing it.  It's not like he bought the scope himself.
I am aware and that's a valid point, yet it is still Dave's influence that makes this giveaway possible, in addition I'm not too sure Keysight would be enthusiastic about their products being given away just to be resold.
Would an answer of "I need a scope to learn/work on but can't afford it.  If I win this I'll sell it for 10k, buy a Rigol DS1054Z, and have enough cash left over to pay rent and buy food for the next few months" be acceptable?
Not really.  If you have issues keeping the lights on and putting food on the table then you have much bigger problems in life and most likely cannot afford to put a device like this to regular use.  If you could (afford the cost of parts and boards and other supplies) then you're not really having trouble buying food, and if you ARE having trouble buying food yet can still buy the supplies to put a device like this to use, then you probably aren't a responsible enough individual to warrant being given such a sensitive piece of test equipment.  ("You" being a purely hypothetical general identifier)
« Last Edit: February 15, 2016, 11:25:33 pm by selkathguy »
 

Offline Dave

  • Super Contributor
  • ***
  • Posts: 1352
  • Country: si
  • I like to measure things.
Re: How Should The EEVblog Giveaway be Run?
« Reply #58 on: February 16, 2016, 01:30:49 am »
It is counter to the sentiment of the giveaway.  Wait for other contests and giveaways that offer equipment you can use.  There are plenty.  If Dave was looking to give away $15k he would give away $15k.  This is a need vs greed issue.  I could enter every contest with the intention to sell whatever I got from it if I won, but that pollutes the bucket of names and gives people who actually need this specific tool to do a job but cannot afford it a lower chance of winning, and it does a disservice to the community.  This is precisely why I think having to justify or describe the intended usage is necessary for giveaways of this magnitude.
Please... There are 100, maybe 200 people on this entire forum that are doing things complex enough to need a 1GHz mixed signal scope to get the job done, and they all probably have access to these tools one way or the other.
You'd be hard pressed to find a single person that really needed a tool like this and couldn't get access to one.

I'm not too sure Keysight would be enthusiastic about their products being given away just to be resold.
They wouldn't give two shits, because their only goal is to get the publicity from the giveaway. What happens to the scope after that is none of their concern. Not only that, I bet if the winner tried to resell the unit afterwards, there would be a shitstorm on the internet, pouring even more water on Keysight's mill.
They would appreciate it.
<fellbuendel> it's arduino, you're not supposed to know anything about what you're doing
<fellbuendel> if you knew, you wouldn't be using it
 

Offline selkathguy

  • Supporter
  • ****
  • Posts: 88
  • Country: us
Re: How Should The EEVblog Giveaway be Run?
« Reply #59 on: February 16, 2016, 02:30:39 am »
Please... There are 100, maybe 200 people on this entire forum that are doing things complex enough to need a 1GHz mixed signal scope to get the job done, and they all probably have access to these tools one way or the other.
You'd be hard pressed to find a single person that really needed a tool like this and couldn't get access to one.
I find that perspective very presumptuous. There will always be a way to work using the wrong tools for the job.  I used a 1052E for years then got a 1074Z and I can state from personal experience having good tools matters quite a lot. I'm working on a project right now which is very much a mixed signal application and it would be way more than just convenient to be able to troubleshoot and debug the device under test if I could time correlate timings between 900Mhz communication channel and various IF and logic from application code.  Most of which is outside of the range of my 1074Z.  I'm pushing devices close to their maximums out of necessity due to price, spatial, and thermal limitations amongst others. I could not afford a scope like this in 10 years at my current rate, but over the years I've collected enough low-end Rigol equipment to get a decent bench going.  Nothing on my bench costs more than $500.  I don't have any special access to any test equipment whatsoever.  I can't be alone on this.
« Last Edit: February 16, 2016, 02:32:12 am by selkathguy »
 

Offline EEVblogTopic starter

  • Administrator
  • *****
  • Posts: 37662
  • Country: au
    • EEVblog
Re: How Should The EEVblog Giveaway be Run?
« Reply #60 on: February 16, 2016, 05:16:07 am »
Except this is Keysight providing the prize, and Dave is picking a winner and distributing it.  It's not like he bought the scope himself.
I am aware and that's a valid point, yet it is still Dave's influence that makes this giveaway possible, in addition I'm not too sure Keysight would be enthusiastic about their products being given away just to be resold.

Keysight don't care, they are just after the publicity. That's the whole idea of their "Scope month", giving away a scope a day. It's 100% pure publicity. Nothing wrong with that, it's what big companies 
They originally approached me to publicise their giveaway month for free. I said no way to that unless they offer something for my viewers, so they pony'd up two additional scopes.
They are legally mine to do with what I will, so I guess I could sell them and buy a dozen scope and give those away, but that just doesn't feel right, they might as well have given me the cash to do a promo video for them.

It's strange that people are arguing over a prize being too good. But I can see the point.
« Last Edit: February 16, 2016, 05:18:48 am by EEVblog »
 

Offline selkathguy

  • Supporter
  • ****
  • Posts: 88
  • Country: us
Re: How Should The EEVblog Giveaway be Run?
« Reply #61 on: February 16, 2016, 05:34:36 am »
My comment about keysight was genuine in that I said I wasn't sure.

My point was my original response to the person who asked what was wrong with straight up selling it.  It would just be nice if people didn't just hop onto every giveaway to treat them like cash lotteries.  Because giveaways like this are some peoples' only chance to get certain items (like a nice clamp meter or something).  I don't put my name in for those because I don't need them.  Of course I could use the cash but that's not what a community is supposed to be about.  I dunno maybe I'm just too much of an idealist. :P
« Last Edit: February 16, 2016, 06:01:37 am by selkathguy »
 

Offline vk6zgo

  • Super Contributor
  • ***
  • Posts: 7563
  • Country: au
Re: How Should The EEVblog Giveaway be Run?
« Reply #62 on: February 16, 2016, 06:46:05 am »
Except this is Keysight providing the prize, and Dave is picking a winner and distributing it.  It's not like he bought the scope himself.
I am aware and that's a valid point, yet it is still Dave's influence that makes this giveaway possible, in addition I'm not too sure Keysight would be enthusiastic about their products being given away just to be resold.
Would an answer of "I need a scope to learn/work on but can't afford it.  If I win this I'll sell it for 10k, buy a Rigol DS1054Z, and have enough cash left over to pay rent and buy food for the next few months" be acceptable?
Not really.  If you have issues keeping the lights on and putting food on the table then you have much bigger problems in life and most likely cannot afford to put a device like this to regular use.  If you could (afford the cost of parts and boards and other supplies) then you're not really having trouble buying food, and if you ARE having trouble buying food yet can still buy the supplies to put a device like this to use, then you probably aren't a responsible enough individual to warrant being given such a sensitive piece of test equipment.  ("You" being a purely hypothetical general identifier)

Many of us are about two paydays away from "living in a cardboard box on the side of the road".

Sometimes "the supplies to put a device like this to use" were obtained during a period of relative affluence,when employment appeared to be secure,the car didn't need fixing,& nobody in the family was sick.
Things can change overnight!

Even when permanently employed,back in the days when such jobs existed,I encountered just such a situation.
Going from shift work to ordinary Mon-Fri work,coinciding with the car needing repair,then a bout of sickness, had me selling off a (then) current model 2m Ham Radio,& a Kodak Carousel slide projector.

If I had  possessed anything more valuable which wasn't essential to my job,that would have gone,too.

All my current "Lab" is made up of old stuff, or very cheap new stuff,as is my "Ham Shack".

If I won it & kept it,the instrument would get next to no use.
If I won it,& sold it,I would have enough money for repairs to my house,which,as a Retired person, I would have difficulties affording otherwise.


 

Offline tekbasse

  • Contributor
  • Posts: 42
  • Country: us
    • linkedin profile
Re: How Should The EEVblog Giveaway be Run?
« Reply #63 on: February 16, 2016, 07:01:56 am »
..You'd be hard pressed to find a single person that really needed a tool like this and couldn't get access to one.
i'm one and can prove it. Lend the scope to me for a few weeks. ;-)
 

Offline tekbasse

  • Contributor
  • Posts: 42
  • Country: us
    • linkedin profile
Re: How Should The EEVblog Giveaway be Run?
« Reply #64 on: February 16, 2016, 07:33:27 am »
With all do respect, this forum is a pretty closed group when it comes to exposure --granted it's a diverse group of electronics enthusiasts.

By having forum members use Twitter hashtags, the forum faces outward, exposing Keysight to a larger audience that includes members' greater social networks --some of whom make decisions about related equipment purchases. In fact, the forums' extended social network likely have collective deeper pockets and just needs a little awakening or remembering about Keysight..

DaveJ mentioned in other thread about not liking hashtags.. and wanting some benefit in exchange for processing the giveaway.

eevblog has 2 twitter accounts. This is a chance to leverage them to increase exposure for eevblog as well as Keysight. In the other thread I suggested 2 types of hashtags. Let's make it 3.

1. #keysight4u  with a reference to a url or person/organization other than self to give it to.

2. #keysight4life with a statement about why or what is so great about anything keysight you have used or desire to..

3. End with @eevblog or #TY-eevblog and entry value doubles.

Enter as often as you like, just no duplicate or bot-style tweets.
#keysight4u is valued as 2 entries, because someone can bring attention to the one someone wants to give it to via @their-twitter-address 

And be careful to not call or describe the giveaway in a way to be confused with a raffle or sweepstakes, because at least in the US there are laws that would inhibit someone accepting it. (Thanks to gambling mafia).
 

Offline AndyC_772

  • Super Contributor
  • ***
  • Posts: 4208
  • Country: gb
  • Professional design engineer
    • Cawte Engineering | Reliable Electronics
Re: How Should The EEVblog Giveaway be Run?
« Reply #65 on: February 16, 2016, 08:06:03 am »
My point was my original response to the person who asked what was wrong with straight up selling it.  It would just be nice if people didn't just hop onto every giveaway to treat them like cash lotteries.

An observation...

A 3000T scope is a nice piece of kit, but unless you're actually using it for an application which generates and requires signals that fast, a 1GHz scope is exactly the same in use as its much cheaper lower bandwidth counterparts.

Here in the UK, the MSOX3104T is currently on promotion at £9383, and the MSOX3014T (100 MHz) is £2694.

So... although it's very slightly sad, most of the value in the prize scope is likely to be wasted, unless the winner happens to be into high speed work. On the other hand, if it gets sold, not only does that generate cash for the winner that could go on a cheaper scope and a bench full of other tools, but it also means the prize scope itself ends up being used by someone who actually needs the bandwidth.

On that basis, I wouldn't be bothered in the slightest, if the winner chooses to sell.

Offline tomy983

  • Contributor
  • Posts: 46
  • Country: it
Re: How Should The EEVblog Giveaway be Run?
« Reply #66 on: February 16, 2016, 11:03:04 am »
I think that if who is giving the price or organising this is bothered how the prize will be used, they would filter the participants. No need to be complicated here, just state that winner will be asked for proof, check him and if he does not meet the requirements, repeat. Easy.

If they are not bothered whit what happens to it after it is given away, I don't see why anyone else should.

If the community feels like it would be unfair, it should not be given away at all, instead it should be kept within the community and leased for free (expenses apart of course) to whoever actually needs it (I guess they are not so many..) This would be the only way to ensure a fair treatment to the most and would feel like an actual community. Nobody needs to own it, and this is for sure. And this is what I would love to see..
 

Offline EEVblogTopic starter

  • Administrator
  • *****
  • Posts: 37662
  • Country: au
    • EEVblog
Re: How Should The EEVblog Giveaway be Run?
« Reply #67 on: February 16, 2016, 11:17:51 am »
By having forum members use Twitter hashtags, the forum faces outward, exposing Keysight to a larger audience that includes members' greater social networks --some of whom make decisions about related equipment purchases. In fact, the forums' extended social network likely have collective deeper pockets and just needs a little awakening or remembering about Keysight..
DaveJ mentioned in other thread about not liking hashtags.. and wanting some benefit in exchange for processing the giveaway.
eevblog has 2 twitter accounts. This is a chance to leverage them to increase exposure for eevblog as well as Keysight. In the other thread I suggested 2 types of hashtags.

You grossly overestimate the importance and reach of a twitter for stuff like this.
Simply announcing a giveaway video will likely get say 50,000 views, that will swamp any "publicity" via twitter.
Forget it, it's not going to happen on twitter. It gains me nothing, my twitter feed will be polluted, and people will game the system.
 

Offline Philfreeze

  • Regular Contributor
  • *
  • Posts: 123
  • Country: ch
Re: How Should The EEVblog Giveaway be Run?
« Reply #68 on: February 16, 2016, 01:46:53 pm »
1st scope to be offered to non-profit groups like hacker spaces so that a number of people would benefit from it, rather than it going straight on ebay and the pocketing the cash. Get the groups to send in a post card or a video with an idea for an EEV blog video.

I like the idea.
A slightly different approach. The groups should make short videos showing their space and what they do. Then you can give it away (random) to one of the groups.
This would help them (they get publicity), it would help you (interesting video material you can show) and it would help the viewers (they might find something interesting in their vicinity.
What do you guys think about that?

The only problem I see with this idea is that we don't really know how many groups would make a video.


Edit:
How about you announce the winner in a new thread and give them a couple of days to get in touch? That'll keep the n00bs coming back for a while and some might get hooked.

This is generally a good idea. Just announce on Youtube the giveaway and say you will announce the winner in the forum. This way a lot of people will at least visit the forum.
« Last Edit: February 16, 2016, 01:57:53 pm by Philfreeze »
 

Offline MT

  • Super Contributor
  • ***
  • Posts: 1616
  • Country: aq
Re: How Should The EEVblog Giveaway be Run?
« Reply #69 on: February 16, 2016, 04:48:52 pm »
Quote
There are 100, maybe 200 people on this entire forum that are doing things complex enough to need a 1GHz mixed signal scope to get the job done, and they all probably have access to these tools one way or the other. You'd be hard pressed to find a single person that really needed a tool like this and couldn't get access to one.
Tend to concur , person who needs a 1G scope are either already established in that market segment of engineering and the company he/she working for already bought 5-10 units, or the person who have a onsie-twosie-band company also bought "one" such scope to get job done.
But if you need one you have easy access, nope, it means you either have to live in big city or have access to a uni 100km away or some sort of science park with a few hi-tech companies,. (talking about a new 1Ghz keysight not a 500 dollar Lecroy/HP form Chinese Ebay one time find)
That said does not mean i would not find a 1G scope extremely useful but equally useful would a 300MHz scope be and that scope i really NEED NOW!
Quote
Quote from: selkathguy on Yesterday at 10:20:46 AM
I'm not too sure Keysight would be enthusiastic about their products being given away just to be resold.
Quote
They wouldn't give two shits, because their only goal is to get the publicity from the giveaway. What happens to the scope after that is none of their concern. Not only that, I bet if the winner tried to resell the unit afterwards, there would be a shitstorm on the internet, pouring even more water on Keysight's mill. They would appreciate it.
I tend to concur, big elephants do not care much what hapends to their giveaways later, they care about their noise around the brand.
If people decides sell their win to buy a cheaper scope and perhaps use the rest of the money to fund other lab equipment, i dont see any thing wrong in that!
My 5cent personal view of this scope giveaway it's kind of lame/dumb by Keysight not Dave, Keysight if they had been intelligent about branding would have given away 10 200Mhz scopes that Dave could have given away instead of 3 1Ghz scopes, it would even be cheaper for them probably cause less amount of problem for Dave and would most likely generated a lot more noise around the brand.........!
Sadly this keysight marketing campaign seams to be base'd on the same idea as when some retired 80 year old wins 500million on lottery, or when Ferrari gives away a Ferarri Enzo to an outback camel farmer who have only gravel roads and therefore "unquestionably" needs a tractor and a barrel of diesel to get the job done.
« Last Edit: February 16, 2016, 08:13:16 pm by MT »
 

Offline AndyC_772

  • Super Contributor
  • ***
  • Posts: 4208
  • Country: gb
  • Professional design engineer
    • Cawte Engineering | Reliable Electronics
Re: How Should The EEVblog Giveaway be Run?
« Reply #70 on: February 16, 2016, 05:50:16 pm »
I imagine the manufacturing cost price of the 1G version isn't too different to the most basic version, given that the only difference between models with the 3000A series was a single different PCB - and even that's the same apart from the front-end.

Offline tekbasse

  • Contributor
  • Posts: 42
  • Country: us
    • linkedin profile
Re: How Should The EEVblog Giveaway be Run?
« Reply #71 on: February 16, 2016, 06:28:46 pm »
You grossly overestimate the importance and reach of a twitter for stuff like this.
Simply announcing a giveaway video will likely get say 50,000 views, that will swamp any "publicity" via twitter.
Forget it, it's not going to happen on twitter. It gains me nothing, my twitter feed will be polluted, and people will game the system.

LOL. Litter on twitter.
Your twitter feed only gets polluted if you subscribe to everyone that participates.  Why pollute the forum with similar gaming?

Better yet, since Aussies can't participate in Keysight US giveaways, as a leading Aussie,
you are obliged to give it to some place or person in your country --you know it better than most anyone and where it just might have the greatest impact for your people. That is keeping with Keysight's longterm interest. :-)
 

Offline os40la

  • Regular Contributor
  • *
  • Posts: 122
  • Country: us
Re: How Should The EEVblog Giveaway be Run?
« Reply #72 on: February 16, 2016, 07:11:05 pm »
What do they mean by this in the 4. How to Enter. section of the Official Sweepstakes Rules?  :-//

 "By  entering,  the  entrant  hereby  assigns  to Keysight all  IP  rights, including  copyrights."  :scared:
"No, but I did stay at a Holiday Inn Express"
 

Offline AndyC_772

  • Super Contributor
  • ***
  • Posts: 4208
  • Country: gb
  • Professional design engineer
    • Cawte Engineering | Reliable Electronics
Re: How Should The EEVblog Giveaway be Run?
« Reply #73 on: February 16, 2016, 07:25:02 pm »
Copy-and-pasted boilerplate. It would mean something in a contest where entrants are submitting something creative.

Online ataradov

  • Super Contributor
  • ***
  • Posts: 11228
  • Country: us
    • Personal site
Re: How Should The EEVblog Giveaway be Run?
« Reply #74 on: February 16, 2016, 07:29:05 pm »
Copy-and-pasted boilerplate. It would mean something in a contest where entrants are submitting something creative.
But that is a contest, where entrants submit something creative. This is taken from an agreement for the month of Keysight or whatever.

This is not related to Dave's giveaway.

EDIT: See this - https://www.eevblog.com/forum/contests/keysight-scope-giveaway/new/?topicseen#new
Alex
 


Share me

Digg  Facebook  SlashDot  Delicious  Technorati  Twitter  Google  Yahoo
Smf