Log in

View Full Version : Textware / Fitaly: Great competition, non-existent prize


martin_ayton
08-07-2006, 06:03 PM
Well, I was a suprised and happy winner in the recent PPCT / Textware competition for a free copy of the latest release of Fitaly. It would however, have been very nice if Textware had actually come up with the goods and sent me a registration code, as promised.

I hold PPCT entirely blameless in this: Darius has been trying hard to get Textware to live up to their promises, but he has had no response from the developers. And nobody can criticise either of us for a lack of patience: This has gone on for weeks.

What's the deal here, Textware? You generate a lot of interest and a lot of goodwill in the PPC community for your product by running a competition where you promise to give away not one, but ten copies of your app.. Then you refuse to hand out the prizes and hope nobody says anything to spoil all that free publicity and goodwill? :roll: That stinks! And I'm too much of a bigmouth to keep quiet about it.

Perhaps, after a new version launch you guys took a few weeks off for a well-earned rest. Haven't you heard about auto-reply? Something along the lines of "we've been working on this baby 24/7 for months and we need a break - we'll be back and ready to sort out your queries on..." you know, just to let people know you're still alive and their emails aren't disappearing into a black hole. :wink:

I know I've lost nothing here: It cost me nothing to enter the competition, and there's no point in my raising my blood pressure about the continuing lack of a reg'n code in my Inbox. And I'm not... this one comes under the heading "don't get mad, get even..." :twisted:

Jacob
08-07-2006, 06:46 PM
That's odd. I got mine within quick order.

Hopefully they'll fix this.

You're right that you didn't technically lose anything, but they should live up to their promises.

i_spock
08-08-2006, 06:55 AM
I agree, that's really odd! I got mine very quickly also, and a short time later I even had to request they re-send me the reg code because I lost it. :oops: That request was anwered rather quickly (and politely) also.

Darius Wey
08-10-2006, 12:33 AM
I hold PPCT entirely blameless in this: Darius has been trying hard to get Textware to live up to their promises, but he has had no response from the developers. And nobody can criticise either of us for a lack of patience: This has gone on for weeks.

It's a real shame. I wish I could do more to get that code to you right this minute, Martin. :(

I'm not sure what's happening in the Textware camp at the moment.

Cybrid
08-13-2006, 05:14 AM
It's a real shame. I wish I could do more to get that code to you right this minute, Martin. :(

I'm not sure what's happening in the Textware camp at the moment.

Talk to Ed Hansberry. Previously I won a Fitaly contest and made several attempst to contact but failed.... real issue an exceptionally aggressive spam filter.

Also included some advice from Fitaly: re spam filters....
not to use free online services like yahoo, hotmail and use numerical endings....etc ....etc
e.g. would-I-change-an-email-addy-I've -had -since-98 @ yahoo.com

:mrgreen:

martin_ayton
08-13-2006, 08:31 PM
Well, the spam filter thing would possibly explain why they haven't responded to my email, since I do use a yahoo.co.uk address. I could have supplied an alternative, but their own comp. rules said that I had to use the address I used to register with PPCT.

Haven't these guys heard of whitelisting?

In any case, this *doesn't* explain why they won't respond to Darius either :evil:

Darius Wey
08-14-2006, 03:26 AM
Well, the spam filter thing would possibly explain why they haven't responded to my email, since I do use a yahoo.co.uk address. I could have supplied an alternative, but their own comp. rules said that I had to use the address I used to register with PPCT.

Once we manage to get through to them, supply me with a different e-mail address (one without a webmail domain), just to be safe. :)

In any case, this *doesn't* explain why they won't respond to Darius either :evil:

Right.

Cybrid
08-14-2006, 08:59 AM
....

Right. Here's the actual transcript.

You guessed correctly and this is one we did not receive (the last one,
actually)

The code for "Ameet ****" is
version 3: ***
version 3.5: ****
Incidentally, some advice for Ameet:

I was able to see in our spam log that his message had been received
and
sent directly to inferno...
<<<
From cybrid*** @ yahoo.com Tue Jan 25 23:45:34 2005
Subject: PocketPCThoughts Fitaly Contest
Folder: /dev/null
>>>

If it happens with us, it is likely to happen for others. Some of the
criteria
that SpamAssassin uses are:
* mentioning a Prize (not much you can do there)
* using html mail
* email address ends in digits...

All of these are cumulative and combining the three may tip it over the
safe line. An address ending with *** is to be avoided as a lot of
spammers
use addresses ending with digits. Have it changed to something else
or even to cybrid***bbb... In any case, if you do not receive a reply
to
an html message, try to resend it as plain text.

Jean Ichbiah

Darius Wey
08-14-2006, 09:10 AM
If it happens with us, it is likely to happen for others. Some of the
criteria
that SpamAssassin uses are:
* mentioning a Prize (not much you can do there)
* using html mail
* email address ends in digits...

Fortunately, I don't meet any of those criteria, so unless they have a sensitive client-side filter, my e-mails should be getting through. I would say that their SpamAssassin filter is just a little too beefed up. If I were in their shoes, I'd tweak it down a little.

Anyway, e-mail aside. I've tried PMs and Skype too, with zero luck. So, just patiently waiting now. ;)

Darius Wey
08-14-2006, 02:40 PM
Good news, Martin. I finally got through.

You should be receiving a registration code within the next couple of days. Please let me know if you don't get it.

martin_ayton
08-21-2006, 12:00 PM
I'm sorry for the delay in responding, I've been on vacation for a week (very nice: narrowboating on the Grand Union and Oxford canals).

I got the registration code from Kristen at Texware and have just re-installed and successfully registered Fitaly on my XdaIIs. And it came through to my yahoo.co.uk address.

Thanks for your hard work on this one, Darius. Thanks to everyone else for their support. And thanks, finally, to Textware for the the code.

8)