Win a Prize for Referring Friends to DPS!

[Darren Rowse]

Ok - it's time to have another DPS competition and to spread the word about the community that we're developing here in these forums.

I'm offering $500 of products from Amazon for the members of this forum who can recruit the most new registered members.

First Place will get $250 of products
Second Place will get $150 of products
Third Place will get $100 of products

Here's how it's going to work.

This competition uses the 'referral's feature of our forum. To see how many referrals you have brought to DPS view your forum profile (click your name on any post that you've written) and you'll see the counter. If you already have some referrals these will not be counted towards this competition - I can view referrals between certain dates and will judge this on the period of this competition only (so everyone is on an even starting place).

Of course if you're not a member of these forums you can't do this - so you need to register before you start inviting people to join.

To Refer a friend to DPS there are two things you can do:

1. Email them with a link that has your referral code built into it.

To get this link simply go to the 'What are Referrals' section of our FAQ and you'll see a link that is custom made just for you to use (note: you must be logged into the forums for this link to be customized).

Send this link to friends, family and workmates with a personal message inviting them to check out DPS (giving reasons why will help) and if they sign up you'll be credited with a referral.

PLEASE NOTE - do not spam everyone you know with this. You'll do a lot better in the competition (and you'll keep a lot more friends) if you personalize your invites and only invite those who you think will find DPS useful.

2. Recommend a post or thread to a friend
Every thread in these forums has a feature on it which allows you to send a link to that page to a friend via email. If you use this feature and someone becomes a member of DPS as a result of visiting you'll be credited with an extra referral.

To use this feature make sure you're logged into DPS Forums.

Then go to the thread you want to recommend to your friend (for example you might want to show them our Symmetry Assignment). Once you're there you should see a drop down menu above the thread called 'Thread Tools' - click this and choose the 'Email this Page' option.

This will take you to a page that allows you to enter a person's name and email address as well as to add a personal message. The message already has the link to the thread you are recommending with your referral ID embedded into it (so don't delete that bit).

If your friend comes to the forums and then subscribes you get an extra referral.

Hints for Getting Subscribers

The best way to actually get people to subscribe to DPS is to make your invitation as useful and personal as possible. Pick people who are interested in digital photography and who you think will benefit from DPS and you've got a much better chance of getting a referral.

The Dates of this Competition
I'm going to let this run for just over 1 month and will end this on 15 June 2007. Only referrals made between today and June 15 will be counted.

Who Can Enter?
I'm happy for any DPS member or moderator to enter this competition.

Prizes
The prize values are outlined above. Please note that these prizes can't be claimed as vouchers but only as goods from Amazon.

Other Conditions
Members are open to promote this in any way they wish (email friends, post about it on your blog etc) - however any technique that I consider to be spammy will lead to disqualification. Keep within the spirit of the competition and we'll all have a good time with it.

NB: to be considered - members you refer need to be 'registered'. This means that they need to confirm their membership by responding to the confirmation email that they receive during the signup process. People who you refer who do not confirm this will not be counted in the system that I use to count referrals.

I think that that's all. If you have questions feel free to ask them.

I hope that this will be a fun challenge but also one that brings in some fresh new faces to DPS (which in the process will improve our community and also common knowledge of our digital photography).

Now go get recruiting!