As most of you know, I started using Rafflecopter as the method of entry for my giveaways. While I understand that some of you like it, I wanted to let you know that I will not be using it any longer. I have been debating this for some time now and I’ve decided today is the day to make it official.
I do like Rafflecopter for one reason: it’s extremely quick and easy for my readers to enter my giveaways. But there are just too many reasons why I can no longer use Rafflecopter. Those reasons are:
- It uses JavaScript. Bleh. JavaScript within a WordPress post doesn’t work well. Why? Because if I edit the post after it’s already been published (which I do often), the JavaScript code breaks and the Rafflecopter widget no longer works. This is not the fault of Rafflecopter but rather a WordPress issue.
- It breaks the Fancybox plugin. Fancybox is the plugin I use for images where I tell you to “click to zoom.” This is a big deal to me because I always make thumbnails for my images so they don’t take up so much room on the page.
- It breaks the built-in WordPress drop-down navigation. So if you’re reading a giveaway post and want to visit the “Disney Movie Rewards” menu within the “Freebies” menu, you can’t.
- It is not customizable. I would like to be able to change things within the Rafflecopter widget like the width, the colors, the font, and a few other things, but I can’t. I’m a perfectionist and I like things to flow. The Rafflecopter widget breaks the fluidity. I also can’t change the title for the main entry and because the default title is so vague, some entrants aren’t following directions which creates more work for me.
- (Edit 8/11: To add another reason!) I miss reading your comments! Seriously. I love reading your comments. You guys make me smile. And when I use an entry form like Rafflecopter, the personal aspect goes out the window. It turns a fun, friendly giveaway into something almost corporate-like. No thank you!
So there you have it. I know some of you may not agree with the change but with all things considered, I believe it is the right move. Current giveaways will conclude using Rafflecopter but new giveaways will revert to the old method. I do value your feedback though so feel free to leave your thoughts in the comment section below. Thanks!
Hi there! I'm Jenny, a coffee-addicted, busy-body, work at home mom of two insane boys age 10 & 4. I'm married to my best friend, obsessed with the Packers, and I love to cook, read, and design blogs.
my biggest problem with Rafflecopter is that they seem to be getting longer and longer. just yesterday i saw one that had over 700 enteries that you had to do just to enter the contest. gets tiring and not worth it really. besides i miss talking to the people running things too. :)
tammy ramey trvlagnt1t@yahoo.com
@wyndwhisper Thanks so much for your input! Most of the time you don't have to do all of those entries; like you can just pick and choose and do whatever you want. But yes I totally agree that the form length is getting out of control. There are certain group giveaway hosts I will not work with anymore simply because her form length is out of control!
i know this was posted a year ago but i found it interesting...i want to start a blog in january and i've been trying to absorb as much as possible, but holy cow at every turn there's a new issue i hadn't thought of. so grateful for your post and thoughts re: rafflecopter.
@pegfive You're very welcome and I'm glad you found it useful. :) I am currently using Giveaway Tools for my giveaways. If you want to check them out, their link is http://giveawaytools.com
My latest contest having over 4500+ entries that I would have to collect manually would be a nightmare without something like Rafflecopter to track all entries. The latest javascript issue doesn't break in Wordpress 3.3 anymore, you can switch between visual and editor mode and it seems to stay intact. Also just make an entry option to leave a comment (can even make mandatory) and it won't decrease comments.
Thanks for your comments. I'm testing out the newest version. So far so good!
I used to not do giveaways because it would take 20 minutes or more to do one giveaway! Now with rafflecopter, hardly any time at all, which allows me to explore the site. :)
Totally your decision. I'm just surprised/confused because I don't have any of those problems. If I go back in to edit after publishing (which should be minimal IMO) I edit in HTML mode - no problem. My drop down menus work and my image enlarger works. However my hubby built my site so I'm not using tons of plugins or templates. For comments - I like reading actual feedback about the review not "follow on gfc" so I can see the relevant comments easier now!
Editing a post is definitely minimal but if you forget and edit in visual mode, and even worse, forget that the Rafflecopter breaks, you'll be left with a giveaway with no entry form. My menu for my old theme and my new theme both use the suckerfish menu (which a lot of themes use), so I'm not sure if it is suckerfish related or not. You definitely have an added bonus by not using a ton of plugins! That's the way to go.
Hello, I too signed up for Rafflecopter and I have not even used it once and I may not I do a lot of events and in ways its easier and faster but in others it is not and I like to leave comments and so I do not like it as much as I thought I would and so I am glad your chaging back and if others encounter problems like you did then I am sure more will as well.
I agree that Rafflecopter is easier and faster for events, for sure!
rafflecopter is in some cases a true time saver. Some blogs are completely overloaded with ads, buttons, widgets that even on my less than a year old computer with high speed internet the loading time sometimes makes me feel like back in these days with aol dial up and 2GB...no not memory, that was once the size of my hard drive. But with a blog like yours, what speedy loads I have absolutely no problem doing it the way it was before, I was wondering about the cheating too, some numbers certainly don't add and I am less and less inclined to participate in those more and more inflated blog collaboration (like 100 pages in an hour or so) Stick to what you fee is best for you and your blog, maintain your originality - and I will be always coming back Louis
I know what you're talking about and I absolutely HATE blogs like that. They drive me crazy! I truly try to limit the number of ads and images on my blog because they are still people out there on dialup. Gotta think of everyone. :) I'm glad to hear my blog loads quickly for you! And I'm glad you're here. :)
Thanks for returning to the 'old' way. I haven't been a particularly happy camper since a lot of my favorite places to enter went 'RC'. I posted a couple of pieces on RC from this side.... Blog is under my post name...
Thanks for the info, Mike. I went to your blog and searched "rafflecopter" and read all your posts. I can't believe the amount of errors and problems you encountered! That makes me even happier that I switched back. Unbelievable!
And I'm glad you're glad! Seriously!
I am so glad. I would rather have it the way you used to. Thank you so much.
I think that is great!
It's your site and your the boss. Although it did make it easy for contests, the choice is yours. I did not have a problem doing it either way !
Thanks Robyn! I try so hard to please everyone that I sometimes forget that it is MY blog. I'm just happy you all are here! :)
I do not like Rafflecopter. I have problems getting it to submit my entries.
I'm so glad that people are happy with my switch back! Thanks for letting me know. :) I am really surprised!
I'm glad you're going back to the "old" way...Rafflecopter is easy, but I like the old way better (I was wondering if EVERYONE was going to switch)
haha! The sad part is that Rafflecopter is in "beta invite" stage only which means that either Rafflecopter has to invite you or a current user has to invite you. Imagine when it opens to the public.. UGH. But yes.. I made the switch.. and then came back home. I feel so much better now.
YEAH!!! Good for you. I am not a computer whiz at all and it was hard for me to enter the giveaways. Thank you.
You're welcome! I'm so glad I can make things easier for you. :)
Do want you want, its your blog that you work so hard on. If people dont like it, then they dont have to enter all your awesome giveaways! And thats a load of crap about the cheaters. I like your blog either way!
Thanks for the encouragement Sunnie! :) You're always such a breath of fresh air for me!
Thank you for going back to the old way. I like Rafflecopter because it's quicker to enter, but I have also noticed the huge discrepancy in the numbers. It is obvious on many blogs that the numbers don't add up. And I also hate that I can't go back and see what comments I left. Or if the cookie didn't store on my comp if I entered at all. So all in all I much prefer the tried and true comment entry forms.
You're welcome! :) The fact that they rely on cookies to show if you've entered or not isn't really the best way to do it.
I was loving Rafflecopter at first until I started noticing a huge discrepancy in the entry numbers. I posted this on OLS and several others stated that they had also noticed. I'm not sure if people are just submitting their info without leaving the mandatory blog comment that some call for, or if some sort of botting is being done. I just hope the bloggers are checking IPs and mandatories carefully, before they are picking the winners.
That's one of the problems I've had. I've had to skip over winners and choose someone else because the original winner(s) didn't follow the rules.
I dont care for the rafflecopter way either. On some blogs, it will load up so I can enter, but on others, it never loads and well, then I cannot enter. So thank you for going back to the old way!! dawns41
You're welcome! :)
I love it so far! I've seen a lot more entries in my giveaways. I also like being able to sort by IP to prevent any cheating.
I liked it too.. except for all of the issues listed above. Also, keep in mind that if someone really wants to cheat, they CAN change their IP address easily.
I still haven't used it…it seems like a lot of work to set up.
The initial set-up does have a learning curve to get it set up, that's for sure. Plus the customizing of each entry box is difficult to understand and/or doesn't even work. Once you get your first giveaway set up, things do go much quicker on the next one.
While I also enjoy the quickness of Rafflecopter, some members of online-sweepstakes.com have (rightly so) pointed out that there may be some cheating going on. It makes it harder to catch cheaters when the entries are hidden from view.
Thanks for the info! Reading the OLS forum now.