This post is regarding the latest promo of Nuffnang for the special screening of SALT (starring Angelina Jolie) and the “conspiracy” that some bloggers are commenting/posting about. 
The promo’s mechanics are actually very simple. All you have to do is post (copy-paste) the promo and make sure that you are a registered Nuffnang member if you want to join. After publishing the post, just submit the blog entry URL to the comment section on Nuffnang’s page announcement.
Here’s the kicker, the first 70 comments with valid blog posts get three (3) invites.
And guess what?…the comment section was filled-up with 70 comments in just 2 1/2 hours!
Now where’s the brouhaha that some bloggers were saying and some even posted it to their blogs?
I think one of the most visible among the posts/comments was the comment from “Concerned Nuffnanger” -
Your contests are sometimes weird. You will email the contest details, yet there were those who were able to join the contest 2 hours before the email blast. Look at this info:
I received your email notification
date Fri, Jul 23, 2010 at 5:15 PM
subject SALT Special Screening
mailed-by nuffnang.comThis is the first entry of the first contestant.
Jenn Says:
July 23rd, 2010 at 3:35 pmI’m wondering, how come a number of these winners were notified 2hrs before the email blast?
Concerned Nuffnanger.
The other comment that got my attention was this:
Michael Viilegas Says:
July 23rd, 2010 at 11:42 pm
This is just great! So some were informed hours before the email even got to the others???? Isn’t that crazy?! And the best part is when the email got to the others, there are more than 70 entries already which means the email we just got is already useless. GOOD JOB, NUFFNANG!! YOU SHOULD HAVE JUST INFORMED YOUR FRIENDS INSTEAD OF MAKING US FEEL STUPID FOR RECEIVING USELESS INFORMATION BY THE TIME IT GOT TO US> AND PLEASE DON’T USE THE LAME NETWORK TRAFFIC EXCUSE BECAUSE IT WON’T WORK. WE KNOW WHAT YOU GUYS ARE UP TO.
There’s actually a lot of replies on these. If you read their comments, it seems there’s really a conspiracy that had happened, that is if you based their conclusions from the time they received their emails against the time the announcement was posted on Nuffang’s blog. The emails they received were actually delayed. Even us here at PinayMom, we received Nuffang’s email more than 2 hours after it was posted on their blog.
Is this a conspiracy, an inside job or …?
Before I’ll give you an answer, let me first share which I think was the most “accurate” reply among those comments:
My favorite was from blankpixels:
blankpixels Says:
July 24th, 2010 at 1:05 amTo the “Concerned Nuffnanger” who posted on my blog about this special screening, I left a response for you there. But, I’m going to post it here, too, for everyone’s info:
“FYI, the post of Nuffnang about the Salt special screening giveaway was posted on their blog at 3:03pm. The first poster, Jenn, left her comment at 3:35pm. So, there’s nothing fishy going on there, if you ask me. I’m one of those Nuffnangers who bookmark their blog so I can easily check on any updates for giveaways, etc.
The email blast came way too late, I agree. But, there was no conspiracy, in my opinion.”
I just hope that next time, email announcements will also be sent the same time it’s posted on here. Just to give a fair shot to other Nuffnangers who only depend on email notifications from you.
BlankPixel was correct in her observation. How do I know this?
To give you a background, I work as a software consultant and one of my responsibilities is to test thoroughly the software that our programmers developed. This software looks like an MSOutlook wherein you can send emails and SMS (text messaging) on the same program.
Incidentally, our company also developed the mail server (the software being used for sending and receiving) so we can monitor all the mails transaction from sending it to our mail client until we received it in our mail server. From these transaction logs, we can see the time stamp (and the delay if there is) from sending, and the various mail servers it passed through before it goes back to our mail server.
I don’t want to bore you with technical details anymore.
So here is PinayMom’s conclusion: Nuffnang is using an automated software that sends email not in batches but in a scheduled basis. This is to avoid clogging the network and making sure their mail server won’t be tagged as a spammer by various agencies. With over 8,000 Nuffnang’s member, the delay in sending the emails is unavoidable.
This is the first time Nuffnang had a movie screening project and also their first to have a promo like this. Let’s give them the benefit of the doubt. Let’s not accuse them of being a CIA agent and a Russian spy at the same time just like the character of Angelina Jolie on the SALT movie. I’m sure they’ve learned a lot of lessons from this kind of blog contest and the way they handled the sending out of emails.
Conspiracy: None
Delay: YES!
For those who won the promo, enjoy the movie. And for those who are not so lucky, let’s just enjoy the Heaven ice cream while watching the movie with our friends in a different venue. Have a good day everyone!
Related posts:
Oh my. I didn’t know you posted my comment here. *LOL*
I was one of those who were upset that I got the email late.The thing is, I checked Nuffnang’s site at around 12 noon that day. No updates. So, just imagine how upset I am. *LOL*
I don’t think Nuffnang knew exactly what’s going to happen with their email announcements. Otherwise, they could’ve scheduled to send it to everyone in a much earlier time. Or, I don’t know… I want to stop speculating now. *LOL*
I envy those who got to watch during the Nuffnang special screening. I read from other bloggers who were there that there were a couple more tickets that were wasted ’cause some didn’t know their other friends already have their own. Ack. Hehehe.
I hope Nuffnang hosts another special screening like this and that they’ve learned from this mistake.
Have you watched Salt already?
(Sorry for my nobela comment. Hahaha)
hehe. adik lang po ung iba (like me) na laging nakabantay sa nuffnang. di na kelangan ng RSS or email para malaman kung may giveaways.
It really pays to subscribe via RSS. I got the email late myself and didn’t bother to join.
sayang din di ko to nakita ng mas maaga, pag check ko ng post ng Nuffnang 70+ na yung comment kaya tinamad na ko mag join.