Brad Mcntire Posted December 25, 2008 Posted December 25, 2008 The contestant with the video "burn my fingers robot" is an entry from Chile, South America. This is not speculation, but fact. If you take a moment to click this link below to their Youtube homepage you will find their country listed as Chile right under their profile picture. http://www.youtube.com/user/palmeranegra It was my understanding that South America was not eligible to enter this competition and such country barriers would surely barre any citizen of the U.S. from entering any competition held in their country. Thank you.
hduncan Posted December 26, 2008 Posted December 26, 2008 Brad, have you brought this to the attention of Gibson via e-mail or phone? You are correct in that non-US citizens are not allowed to compete in this competition. It sounds like someone didn't read the contest rules very closely, and/or is hoping to win illegitimately! I hope Gibson takes care of this immediately. It looks like that contestant is going to win, if I understand those percentages right... Does anyone know what they mean?
Guitar slinger Posted December 26, 2008 Posted December 26, 2008 Abusing the rules is a bad actitude, but whining because someone else is winning is another.
hduncan Posted December 26, 2008 Posted December 26, 2008 Uhhh.... That contestant had a decent video, but obviously entered against the contest rules. The rules are there for a reason, so bringing this disqualification to the attention of Gibson is the appropriate thing to do. If the contestant doesnt win the guitar, then its not as big of a deal because it won't really make a difference to the eligible contestants. But, if things continue the way they are going, it looks like the illegal video will win, which is completely unacceptable. This is not whining, this is enforcing the rules that Gibson themselves wrote..
MCK Posted December 26, 2008 Posted December 26, 2008 Here's a question. Why not allow anyone in the world to participate with the understanding that only a U.S. citizen will get to win a DF as prize while an overall winner will still be announced? I understand the reason why Gibson can't extend the DF prize to the whole world is the complexity of taxation & legal matters around the world but then again to some it might be worth more to be recognized as the overall Gibson DF Contest winner as opposed to simply getting the DF... Something to think about. Lets let the creativity speak, not the wordings on your passport.
Alouf Posted December 26, 2008 Posted December 26, 2008 Here's a question. Why not allow anyone in the world to participate with the understanding that only a U.S. citizen will get to win a DF as prize while an overall winner will still be announced? I understand the reason why Gibson can't extend the DF prize to the whole world is the complexity of taxation & legal matters around the world but then again to some it might be worth more to be recognized as the overall Gibson DF Contest winner as opposed to simply getting the DF... Something to think about. Lets let the creativity speak' date=' not the wordings on your passport.[/quote'] Very well said and articulated.
hduncan Posted December 26, 2008 Posted December 26, 2008 I agree completely.. Dissolving mental barriers is always a great thing.. But this contest was a business decision by Gibson to gain traffic to their site, I imagine. In order to realize a "true" winner, Gibson would have not allowed anyone to vote more than one time.. I have a feeling that everyone in this contest is voting themselves up and everyone else down, and most of the votes are probably submitted by the contest entrants themselves, not the general public. If the percentages are ratios for the Thumbs up to Thumbs down, then that means that every single video is hated more than it is loved, hahaha.. That wouldn't be the case, unless everyone really just did a horrible job. I think we should have been allowed a single vote per person and we should not have been given a thumbs-down option... Then we would have had a much more positive response and it wouldnt look so bad with NOBODY having a positive ratio of thumbs up to thumbs down... Then again, I still dont know what those percentages mean, and the contest rules link has been broken from the start, despite numerous calls and emails.
Brad Mcntire Posted December 27, 2008 Author Posted December 27, 2008 Woah hold up. I entered a video that DID NOT make the top 12. I'm just interested in the competition and noticed that one of the entries wasn't eligible to win. If you visit their Youtube page, it is registered in Chile. Don't flame me for caring about this competition or say without resolve that I am whining. We as United States citizens would be barred from entering a competition in Chile, which is why their entry is not fair. I agree their video is great and they did a good job making it. I just would rather bring this to Gibson's attention sooner rather than later. Thank you, Brad-
Alouf Posted December 27, 2008 Posted December 27, 2008 Woah hold up. I entered a video that DID NOT make the top 12. I'm just interested in the competition and noticed that one of the entries wasn't eligible to win. If you visit their Youtube page' date=' it is registered in Chile. Don't flame me for caring about this competition or say without resolve that I am whining. We as United States citizens would be barred from entering a competition in Chile, which is why their entry is not fair. I agree their video is great and they did a good job making it. I just would rather bring this to Gibson's attention sooner rather than later. Thank you, Brad- [/quote'] The contestant might be using someone else's Youtube account. Who knows. I say let Gibson deal with the matter. If indeed they are not eligible, then Gibson will hand the guitar down to the 2nd in row. No need in whining or losing sleep over it.
hduncan Posted December 27, 2008 Posted December 27, 2008 I'm sure I speak for all of the contestants, Top 12 or not, when I say that I spent a lot of time on my video, and because that contestant is not qualified to be there, that place could have gone to a legitimate contestant. This is no disrespect to the Chile resident contestant, but it is simply against the contract we all entered into when we submitted our video. I'm surprised that their video got this far, but then again- I called Gibson a few days ago to let them know that the contest rules link was broken and the guy I was talking to didn't seem to know that there was even a contest going on. Of course, maybe its not Customer Service's job to know about the web stuff/contests but it does seem that quite a few things got overlooked, which is why I feel it is acceptable to be a little more worried than usual. That said- its the Holiday, so let's all just cool it and send Gibson and E-Mail, or give them a call about it instead of getting heated at eachother.
Brad Mcntire Posted December 27, 2008 Author Posted December 27, 2008 The contestant might be using someone else's Youtube account. Who knows. I say let Gibson deal with the matter. If indeed they are not eligible' date=' then Gibson will hand the guitar down to the 2nd in row. No need in whining or losing sleep over it.[/quote'] 1. Once again. Not whining. Just explaining a legitimate flaw. Your accusations are ignorantly placed. 2. If they are using someone else's Youtube account, that is from Chile, they picked a bad account to use. 3. Gibson can't deal with the matter if they aren't notified of it. 4. Flamer owned. Stop posting if all you type is a bunch of crap. p.s. To anyone who is a legitimate poster and cares about the situation at hand: Anyone who is concerned should e-mail or call Gibson personally. I will be e-mailing them later today. Thanks
Alouf Posted December 27, 2008 Posted December 27, 2008 1. Once again. Not whining. Just explaining a legitimate flaw. Your accusations are ignorantly placed. 2. If they are using someone else's Youtube account' date=' that is from Chile, they picked a bad account to use. 3. Gibson can't deal with the matter if they aren't notified of it. 4. Flamer owned. Stop posting if all you type is a bunch of crap. p.s. To anyone who is a legitimate poster and cares about the situation at hand: Anyone who is concerned should e-mail or call Gibson personally. I will be e-mailing them later today. Thanks[/quote'] 1. Whoever said that my post was directed specifically at you?! But now that I read your smart and enlightening reply, I can see that you are the whining type, and I can see you will be still crying about the issue even if Gibson itself doesn't seem to give a damn. 2. Maybe they are computer illiterates that asked one of their friends in Chili to help them out. Maybe they are not. Stop losing sleep over it. 3. Yeah, so what makes you think they will deal with it more because of your whining? 4. Oh my god!! You pwned us all! I am defeated.
Riffster Posted December 27, 2008 Posted December 27, 2008 I think Gibson would notice the fact that this is an international entry. They verify eligibility. Give them a little bit of credit, they like you, know how to read. I think any country where Gibson has authorized dealers should be eligible to participate...
hduncan Posted December 27, 2008 Posted December 27, 2008 it would be nice if we could have international contests- but different nations provide drastically different marketing hurdles for a company like Gibson to overcome.. You can't just sell one kind of guitar everywhere, the guitar needs to meet cultural criteria, language criteria, etc.. So, it just wouldnt make sense for a company to release the same product in every country, (depending on the products/countries of course). My point is, Gibson specified that this contest is for US only, which it did for legal and taxation reasons, but not only that, the company must also release products strategically. Either way, there is too much arguing in this thread. I hope Gibson pays attention to this thread and makes sure the guitar goes to an eligible contestant. However, because the account says from Chile, and all of the comments are in Spanish, it makes me think that there was no, or not a good screening process for these videos.. Unless of course they used a Chile account but wrote in a US address to beat the system and they are going to have their US friend mail it to them once they win.
Alouf Posted December 27, 2008 Posted December 27, 2008 Unless of course they used a Chile account but wrote in a US address to beat the system and they are going to have their US friend mail it to them once they win. Quite frankly though, I would be surprised if they win. I am surprised this video even made Top12. Not an especially good clip IMHO. I like the one from the future ;)
MCK Posted December 28, 2008 Posted December 28, 2008 Quite frankly, at this point, who gives a hoot... I think we all have a bigger problem. Don't you think?
mkfrst Posted December 29, 2008 Posted December 29, 2008 I think more people than you realize "give a hoot". There were a couple entries that were discussed in this forum and over on youtube where it was widely believed that they did not make it into the final 12 because one was from Canada and one was from Mexico. That is okay, and I am sure that the authors of those songs knew that they did not have a chance due to the rules, and I remember the guy from Mexico saying that somewhere. Gibson, you need to enforce the rules for all contestants. The right thing to do is to remove this entry from the top 12. Aside from the above mentioned two contestants, I am sure that there were many who could have entered the contest but didn't because your rules were explicit. Please show some professionalism in this regard. If you don't have your word you don't have anything. Why do I care? It irks me. You set out the rules, now you should enforce them properly.
MCK Posted December 30, 2008 Posted December 30, 2008 I still don't give a hoot. Sorry. Your point probably makes sense its just that the world has 6 billion+ people. A contest open to just the folk from US is absolutely of no interest to me. Call it a political statement if you will. Woke up this morning and found that we now have a user's manual for the Dark Fire... Now that I give a huge HOOT!!! Thank you Gibson!.
hduncan Posted December 30, 2008 Posted December 30, 2008 I like the one from the future :D Thanks, that is my video =) I don't want to spoil anyones parade, and of course I'll be bummed not to win, as it seems like most people I talk to, or read posts of, say they like the travelers of time video the best- and I am being completely objective in saying that- not trying to tute my own horn or anything, I'm just glad people are enjoying it. But, if there is someone in the contest who shoudlnt be there, then YEAH! I am going to start making some noise because I want the dark fire! Haha Anyways, I spoke to the Gibson guy today and he said that the contest is international...... I could have SWOOOORN that it was US only (Hell, Arizona residents coudlnt even enter!) so I dont think that's true, but without the working contest rules link, I cannot confirm this.. I really Hope that if there is a true disqualification here, that Gibson does the right thing- I dont care if that means I win or not. EDIT: Found Working Rules Link: "THE FOLLOWING CONTEST AND SWEEPSTAKES ARE INTENDED FOR THE UNITED STATES (EXCEPT FOR RESIDENTS OF ARIZONA), UNITED KINGDOM, ITALY, FRANCE, GERMANY, SPAIN, BELGIUM, NETHERLANDS AND PORTUGAL AND SHALL BE GOVERNED BY AND CONSTRUED AND INTERPRETED IN ACCORDANCE WITH THE LAWS OF THE UNITED STATES. ENTRY IN THIS CONTEST CONSTITUTES ACCEPTANCE OF THESE OFFICIAL CONTEST RULES" It most certainly doesn't mention Chile anywhere in there. The Youtube account country is listed as Chile, all of the comments are in some dialect of Spanish, and the person who is using the youtube account is speaking 100% in Spanish as well. I'm not saying that there arent any United States residents who speak Spanish, but it seems an awful lot like whoever entered this video LIVES in Chile... Not cool- If there is a screening process for gibson entries, maybe the Chilean entry was submitted using a US address of someone they know, in which case- its sort of unfair, but it might be legitimate to do that... Sort of beats the whole purpose of having a country limit.
hduncan Posted December 30, 2008 Posted December 30, 2008 here's that link btw: http://www2.gibson.com/Products/Electric-Guitars/Les-Paul/Gibson-USA/DarkFire/Contest/Rules.aspx
Alouf Posted December 30, 2008 Posted December 30, 2008 I honestly don't understand how come that video that is supposed to be from Chili (because no one is really certain) is getting votes! It is really neither good or original. And the voting system is ridiculous. I hope they monitor IP addresses and allow one vote per IP or something. You got my vote hduncan if that counts :D
Shadow Posted December 30, 2008 Posted December 30, 2008 Hello folks, I did send an email to the persons in charge of video selection. Also I wanted to point out that you can vote more than once for your favorite video. Although you can not vote more than once, per video, per session. This is to prevent automated voting. :-) Also the link on the Darkfire Contest page to the rules is working again.
MCK Posted December 30, 2008 Posted December 30, 2008 I honestly don't understand how come that video that is supposed to be from Chili (because no one is really certain) is getting votes! You know how it goes... There is probably a national SMS chain going on in Chile now to get anyone and their grandmothers to vote... The more the merrier!!!
MCK Posted December 30, 2008 Posted December 30, 2008 Hello folks' date=' I did send an email to the persons in charge of video selection. Also I wanted to point out that you can vote more than once for your favorite video. Although you can not vote more than once, per video, per session. This is to prevent automated voting. :-) Also the link on the Darkfire Contest page to the rules is working again. [/quote'] Hi Gibson Administration... Like your name. Quite fitting. ;-)
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