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Win an AIBO 89

Posted by Hemos from the fun-with-contests dept.
Jon Frisby let me know that Everyone.net is running a contest right now. The prize? An AIBO, along with performance pak is yours if you are the lucky winner. The model is the ERS-111. To register, you sign up for a membership at Everyone.net, apparently.
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Win an AIBO More

Win an AIBO

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  • Collecting E-mail adresses? For spam? (Score:3)

    by wfberg ( 24378 ) on Friday December 17, 1999 @02:44PM (#1464633)
    Wait.. I have to enter my own e-mail adresss, and the more other e-mail adresses I submit, the better my chances of winning? So they want to collect e-mail adresses? What for? I can see only one purpose, and it's not legitimate.. It's called SPAM.

    yech!



    --
  • Your e-mail address is for contacting you if you win. The e-mail addresses you submit will be used *once* to notify your friends of the contest. Nothing more.

  • This is great! I WAS planning on getting a dog soon, but I would have to walk AIBO. Best of all, I can save money on shots in favor of batteries.
  • Don't enter that contest! They just collect your emails to add you to every spam list imaginable! ...yeah...
  • Ugly spammer horror. The "unsolicited" in "Unsolicited Commercial Email" I've always taken to always include, "persons without a previous business relationship with the recipient" -- which certainly isn't any different just because someone else types in your address, instead of them harvesting it.
  • How do we know this? I couldn't find an assertion to this effect anywhere in the Official Rules [everyone.net], and the Privacy Policy [everyone.net] is vague and full of lawyer mumbojumbo.
  • The official rules page at http://www.everyone.net/main/h tml/winaibo_rules.html [everyone.net] states:

    Everyone.net respects the privacy of referred persons and they will not be contacted further by Everyone.net except once to update them about their entry status at the end of the contest.

    Weather or not you believe what they say is up to you, however, my guess is that they are more interested in spreading word of their existence then in annoying potential customers. After all, the price of an AIBO is probably still cheaper then many conventional advertising campaigns and will bring many people to the site. Even without spamming, they could do quite well as a result of the publicity.

  • Enter by Snail Mail (Score:3)

    by turg ( 19864 ) <<gro.notsniw> <ta> <grut>> on Friday December 17, 1999 @03:03PM (#1464643) Journal
    From the rules [everyone.net]:
    To enter without purchase or obligation, hand print your name, address, city, state, postal code, email address, day and evening phone numbers, and the words "Everyone.net Tell Everyone and Win an AIBO Contest" on a 3"x5" card and mail in a #10 envelope to:

    Everyone.net Tell Everyone and Win an AIBO Contest
    2216 O'Toole Avenue
    San Jose, CA 95131 USA

    Mail-in entries must be postmarked by January 31, 2000 and received on or prior to February 5, 2000. Enter as often as you wish, but each entry must be mailed separately. No mechanical reproductions permitted. Entries become the property of Everyone.net and will not be returned.


    -
    <SIG>
    "I am not trying to prove that I am right... I am only trying to find out whether." -Bertolt Brecht

  • I really want that AIBO, and I've got a couple of places I could whip up a BUNCH of temporary spam collecting e-mail addresses at. But is it worth the effort? In the time it would take me to set it all up, filter it for a winning message and remove the accounts I could easily make more than value of an AIBO by using the same skills doing some extra consulting here locally! Besides, with them basically encouraging such behaviour by giving links other places that give free e-mail addresses is asking for it.

    This is little more than a fancy web-based chain letter if you think about it! I gave it one address just so I could track how much SPAM it sends. I'm sickly curious that way.

    You know throwing the /. effect at this thing could cause more dammage than the recent slew of e-mail macro-viruses. They could end up getting blacklisted for mailboming quickly if they don't have the right agreements.

    wondering if should have posted this anonmyously now that it's got me scared of my mailbox......

  • Re:Collecting E-mail adresses? For spam? (Score:3)

    by jfrisby ( 21563 ) on Friday December 17, 1999 @03:05PM (#1464646) Homepage
    Well, this was put together kind of hastily... :(

    You have my assurances as both an engineer at Everyone.net, and a good friend of the individual whose brainchild this contest is...

    -JF
  • As I've said earlier... Your address is used to notify you if you win. The addresses you enter are to send an e-mail (which you customize) to your friends to notify them. THat's all. Nothing more.

    -JF
  • Seriously, exactly who's palm got greased as a result of this useless posting? A contest on the web? Yikes
    /\ X | O M
  • I assure you that no addresses submitted will be used for spam. The idea came from another .com's contest...

    (BTW, I'm an engineer with Everyone.net, and a good friend of the person who is running this campaign...)

    Your address is used for notifying you if you win. The addresses you give for your friends are just so you can notify them of the contest (you can customize the e-mail that gets sent) and that's it.

    -JF
  • Well, I tried to enter, but it came back with a message saying that the email address and phone number must be valid. It's too bad they didn't explain what was wrong, though. My phone number was in standard notation, and my email address was perfectly valid.

    I imagine they don't like that my email address has a + in it, as I've had problems with this before, but according to RFC 822, this is legal: The username may contain any CHAR (ascii characters 0-127 in decimal), EXCEPT control characters (0-31), space, and special characters, which must be quoted.

    Special characters are: ( ) < > @ , ; : \ " . [ ]
  • Yep, it's down. Sixth and lastly, what exactly is an AIBO?
  • I'm very sorry about this... You are correct that the + is the root of the problem... The engineer responsible will be spanked, and we'll fix it as soon as we can...

    -JF

  • This is Slashdot material? (Score:3)

    by Anonymous Coward on Friday December 17, 1999 @03:21PM (#1464653)
    Slashdot! The ads aren't just at the top of the page anymore.

    Slashdot, your web promotion headquarters. Let us Slashdot you *today*!

    Wallowing in mediocrity? The Slashdot Plan(tm) allows you to promote your services for free, so long as you give away one of the many `geek prizes' manufactured by our advertisers.

    Seriously. Is this Slashdot material? Sheesh.
  • Please do not accuse us of spamming. Have you received any UCE from us? No.

    As a company, we despise spam. We run a web based e-mail service for crying out loud!

    Your address gets used to notify you of the outcome of the contest. Your friends' addresses get used once to tell them about the contest. That's it.

    -JF

  • Re:This scares me.... (Score:1)

    by Anonymous Coward
    I really want that AIBO, and I've got a couple of places I could whip up a BUNCH of temporary spam collecting e-mail addresses at.
    Everyone.net hosts free web-based email for 3rd-party websites. You could set up an e-mail account with them, and direct all the spam there!

  • Spam your Friends! Win a Fake Dog! (Score:3)

    by 1010011010 ( 53039 ) on Friday December 17, 1999 @03:25PM (#1464656) Homepage
    geez... no thanks. I'd rather keep my friends than win a robot dog.
    You can enter to win AIBO and its performer kit
    by telling everyone you know how Everyone.net makes web sites stronger with free email, discussion boards, chat and search.
    and
    Hurry over to Everyone.net (http://www.everyone.net) and enter to win a new Sony AIBO ERS-111. (I'm entering right now.) It's really cool! Sony only made 10,000 last month and has already sold out so this is your last chance to get one without spending over $5,000 at eBay.
    and
    Tell Everyone and Win an AIBO Contest Official Rules No Purchase Necessary Take me back 1. How to Enter Visit Everyone.net on or after 12:00 a.m. Pacific Standard time on December 16, 1999 and using the tell a friend page, submit an email address of friends, family, colleagues and business associates in the designated area. An email will be sent on behalf of the entrant to each of these referrals encouraging them to visit Everyone.net. For each referred person, the referring entrant receives an entry into the sweepstakes. The referring entrant must be specified by email address and phone number during the entry process in the appropriate fields. Referred friends who have incomplete or incorrect information in the referral field will not be counted. Limit 12 entries per person per day. Everyone.net respects the privacy of referred persons and they will not be contacted further by Everyone.net except once to update them about their entry status at the end of the contest. To enter without purchase or obligation, hand print your name, address, city, state, postal code, email address, day and evening phone numbers, and the words "Everyone.net Tell Everyone and Win an AIBO Contest" on a 3"x5" card and mail in a #10 envelope to: Everyone.net Tell Everyone and Win an AIBO Contest 2216 O'Toole Avenue San Jose, CA 95131 USA Mail-in entries must be postmarked by January 31, 2000 and received on or prior to February 5, 2000. Enter as often as you wish, but each entry must be mailed separately. No mechanical reproductions permitted. Entries become the property of Everyone.net and will not be returned.
    Hey... I know! I'll put Paul Vixie in as a referral. "Win a black hole!"
  • I created a hotmail account and used it to register for the contest. So far I haven't received any spam on the account, but I'll be sure to post an update in a couple of days. In the mean time, feel free to register or list the following hotmail account as a friend for the Aibo contest: everyonenettest@hotmail.com
  • We had a minor glitch not long ago, but it's fixed now...

    -JF
  • As I have noticed with all other toys/gadgets with electric motors and such, they all have one thing in common: the sound of a 1950's vacuum cleaner with a dying motor. Now, has Sony made any technological breakthroughs in noise reduction? This is a serious question, but if they have not, I think I would prefer to have a root canal than have one of these things around.
  • The second block of text quote is the "example" e-mail. You can easily erase that and compose your own e-mail. For all intents and purposes, *you* are e-mailing your friends. It just happens to go through our servers. :)

    Yeah, the default text is cheesy sounding, but you can erase it...

    -JF
  • Actually they just want to advertise them selves. Can this be considered a form of spam? I get mail every week from sixdegrees [sixdegrees.com] that I can't get rid of because some one else put my email in as a freind of hers... It's no fun,
  • don't worry about it man. theres always gonna be one or two paranoid people. and they have no reason to believe that you're not a spammer. but you get a vote of confidence from me, partly because i'm gullible, but mostly because i think those metal dogs are cool.
  • Other than a single e-mail (composed by you) telling your friend about the contest, no e-mail addresses submitted will be used again.


    Any person who enters will have their e-mail used once to notify them of the outcome of the contest...

    -JF

  • Nah, there are better things to win (Score:3)

    by / ( 33804 ) on Friday December 17, 1999 @03:37PM (#1464665)

    like a free dinner [marriott.pl] from the Warsaw Marriott.

    Or a free pair [wrestlinggear.com] of Adistar Wrestling shoes.

    Or a free personal electronic caddy [personalcaddy.com]

    Or a free set of shafts [apollogolf.com] (you never know when yours will break, wink wink, nudge nudge)

    Or a free WebTV [detailsfree.com] (Ok, so that one's not so good)

    Or a free Wave keyboard [ziehl.com]

    Hmmm. I take it back. An AIBO is best after all.

  • Please, people, this isn't about collecting addresses for spam. It's a simple promotion, a web promotion no less, and its purpose is to get people acquainted with everyone.net [everyone.net]. You did hear about their website before right? No? Well you have now. That's exactly the point. While you're there, they'll try to convince you why you should go with them instead of MS's hotmail.com [hotmail.com]. Again, that's the whole point.
  • Hey, guess what? Slashdot got suckered! Everyone.net just now got almost 10,000 FREE AD VIEWS for absolutely no money! Oh, well, maybe an AIBO, but not much more than that...

    I'd say they made out like bandits. Who's their marketing guy? I should ask him to come work with me....
  • Usually, when you send a message to someone through these type of web forms... it will have text before and after your input..... like:
    "Hi, your friend from blah blah blah would like you to come to blah blah... here is their message:"(message follows) but, this doesn't. Oh well.
  • To hell with the Aibo, i'd rather have the wrestling shoes, those look damned nice, and are probably a lot better than my crappy oshman's bought wrestling shoes :)



  • you could implement the most amusing (and satisfying, perhaps) unwanted-email solution I've yet run across.

    The scheme is this: you write a script that keeps track of the addresses of the people you don't want mail from. Every time it sees another mail from them, it incrememts the counter and sends them a polite message informing them that you do not with email from them any more, and so long as they contintue sending you email you will keep returning their email.

    Now, the fun part of this scheme is what you do with the counter. Everytime you send their mail back to them, you send them 2^counter copies of your polite note. Of course, you inform them that this will happen within the text of your note.

    Simple? Effective too. Sadly somewhat hypocrytical as your mass emailings may be construed as spam (or whatever) by the offenders. But this is the internet! Trouble yourself not with such issues as morals, ethics, or bandwidth wastage. Implement this scheme immediately!

    Of course, you could just write a procmail rule to redirect their mails to /dev/null (but that wouldn't be as much fun)
  • Don't enter this contest at all costs! They'll just spam you to death AND give me less chances to win! Now gimmie your email addresses, I'll make sure they won't be submitted. :)
  • Actually, I'd never consider becoming an MCSE. I'm a hardcore Perl fanatic. :) This (Everyone.net) is my second startup...

    I assure you, I can actually program... On Linux, no less! :)

    -JF
  • Even if Everyone.net doesn't spam you, that mail address is now on /. Even if a bot doesn't pick it up, you can be sure some malicous little punk is gonna subscribe it to some list or another just for kicks. This isn't exactly clean room technique right here.

    Reed.

    "Laugh hard, it's a long way to the bank." --TMBG

  • I bet The Slashdot Crew will be getting a lot of spam from people trying to win AIBO's over the next few days...

    BTW: I will not do this, but I'm sure a bunch of AC's already have...

  • Frankly, I gotta say I'm glad to hear about this. It isn't an ad, it isn't pro-spam, it's AIBO news. /. has said everything that's come up about AIBO since the thing was first heard of, including bitching about how much they cost. Now, here's a (very slim) chance to get a free one, and I'm glad to know about it.

    And to all you ppl worried about evil evil nasty spam, even if they are lying, it's about time you wake up and notice it's 1999 and spam exists.

    Get a spamtrap accnt. isn't that what Mail.com is for? [mail.com]

  • AIBO is cool but I'm not about to spam my friends to win one. Fuck everyone.spam.com
  • And BTW the last straw for Andover.net was sending java advts. in every page (not every but many) - which even over my cable modem was taking too long to load.
  • And I guess we can just assume that your Engineering degree is from an accredited institution??
  • Hey Rob, you haven't done a Life Insurance story in ages. I know a few agents who would love to help you put together a feature article about this contest they're throwing....
  • For some reason I'm reminded of Lazlo Troth, cranking out thousands upon thousands of entry forms with the expectation of winning 32% of the winnings (Including the mobile home.)
  • (Suggested Score : 1, Offtopic Yet Insightful)

    Whether or not you spam (which you're assuring us that you don't, so I'll trust you on this one), I don't think that Slashdot should be running ads for you posed as articles.

    With Slashdot as a commercial property (and publicly owned), I think that there needs to be an increase in the quality of the articles. Spelling & grammar errors in posts need to be corrected. Advertisements should be in the form of banners, not in the form of articles. Rumors shouldn't be posted as "news".

    Just my rant, though, and I'll probably be flamed/moderated down for it.

  • So what? If you're too lazy to set up a couple of spam collecting email addresses then you don't deserve to win. I don't think that they're being subtle about it. We all know that entering your email (or your friend's) in practically _anything_ these days will probably lead to you getting spammed. Stop whining. If you want to win an Aibo, set up one of their accounts. It takes only a minute. Or, better yet- don't. The less people that enter, the better my odds! Hmm.. in that case, forget everything I just said :)
  • It is still spam. They are just using the AIBO as bait to encourage you to let them spam your friends in order to spam more people. The spam is the message to come enter and give them more people to spam. And, of course, while you are there, maybe purchase some of their products.
  • Yep sittuations like the one descibed above are very common... its a issue of should VS. Would (Does) were the user experinces problems that were not suppose to happen because of a server issue that was not suppose to happen. These types of situations are hard to bug fix and usualy are confusing also.
  • I would rather win the GigaWatt Laser. Has to be more fun than a toy dog. Well, not quite a toy but I don't need it, got real cats and they may eat it. -d
  • Yeah, that was a kind of stupid move. I'll create a new e-mail account and register it on the site both as a participant and as a friend.
  • Maybe in order to be more profitable, Slashdot should start selling article space? Why not, this is a capitalist world right and everybody is selling out? Why not sell the articles to the highest bidder! And how much more benefit to RedHat would a article praising their new release than a silly banner ad? So why not charge for it? Hell, the board of directors might demand it!
  • On the other hand, we also now have a test of the /. spam problem, and/or how malicious some ppl are. I'd be curious as to if and how much spam the first account does pick up.
  • Actually, I didn't attend college -- self taught. This is Silicon Valley... :)
  • hence the use of the word Handprint...
  • It isn't an ad, it isn't pro-spam, it's AIBO news.

    You must be joking. If they were giving away a computer with Linux pre-installed, would that be Linux news? If they were giving away money, would that be US Mint news? If they were giving away a tree, would that be environmental news?

    And to all you ppl worried about evil evil nasty spam, even if they are lying, it's about time you wake up and notice it's 1999 and spam exists.

    What, pray tell, is your point? Yes SPAM exists. We still hate it. We still try to avoid putting our e-mail addresses in places that are likely to get it SPAMMED.

    If you don't mind SPAM, why exactly do you spam-proof your e-mail address as it appears on /.?
  • I get really pissed off at the crap slashdot shovels out and i'm labled a troll? That's it i'm outta here!
  • JF, My guess is that you're wrong on this one. ... My guess it that this is a combo spam/virus technique, where the e-mail looks like it's coming from a trusted friend, but the actual message is an ad for the ABIA and the web site.... I've got two email addresses, I'l test it and see.
  • In many localities it is illegal to call yourself an "engineer" without any formal training.
  • my hotmail account got an add from my mailcity account titled "Win an ABIA" -- Spams so bad, I guess I can't even trust myself these days.... Anyways, here's the header from the hotmail message, showing originated at everyone.com and sent via mailcity with my name as the "sender". ... From: batmans_byte@mailcity.com Save Address Block Sender Subject: Win an Aibo Date: Sat, 18 Dec 99 8:6:56 -0800 (PST) MIME-Version: 1.0 Received: from [216.200.145.35] by hotmail.com (3.2) with ESMTP id MHotMailBA24FC900008D82197A1D8C89123D1AF0; Sat Dec 18 08:08:48 1999 Received: from eon9.everyone.net (reports.everyone.net [216.200.145.62])by omta02.mta.everyone.net (Postfix) with ESMTP id AC3071C27F1for ; Sat, 18 Dec 1999 08:08:27 -0800 (PST) Received: by eon9.everyone.net (Postfix, from userid 99)id 53EEF3EC6; Sat, 18 Dec 1999 08:06:56 -0800 (PST) From batmans_byte@mailcity.com Sat Dec 18 08:14:34 1999 X-Mailer: MIME-tools 4.104 (Entity 4.116) Message-Id:
  • I don't usually use my email address, so I entered. And, sure enough, this morning my mailbox has been filled with this worthless crap.

    Don't do it, if you value your address.

    I'm sorry. What I meant to say was 'please excuse me.'
    what came out of my mouth was 'Move or I'll kill you!'
  • Ok, everyone.net won't use them for spam, but that does not mean that they wont *sell/rent* the address list. These "privacy policies" are specially written to cover thier asses, and to hide the fact that most email collection isn't for use by the collector, but to be sold to other spammers
  • Yes, they're getting tons of free valid email addresses and phone numbers for the demographic of 'people who want a plastic dog' for the price of one plastic robotic dog.

    Yes, you will get spammed.

    No, you probably wont get the doggie.

    But.. What the hell I did it. I already get spam on my hotmail account. I made that account, oh about a month ago, didn't tell anyone and found 2 pieces of spam 10 minutes later. Can we say security problem. Oh, and I did use the enctypted login, though there isn't an encryption option when creating the account. I'm sure there's a low-level hotmail/MSN employee pulling up to work in a Ferrari ala Richard Prior in Superman 3.

    I should be telling you not to join in, the less of you the more chances for me, so whatever you do DON'T join in.





  • It's not formal training they want so much as passing the licencture (sp?) exams.
  • Selling or renting the list would be using it for spam. The list will not be sold, rented, or in any way used for spam. The rules specify exactly how the list will be used: Your friends' addresses will be sent one e-mail (which you can compose, or you can leave it to us) to tell them about the giveaway. You will receive one e-mail with the giveaway outcome.
  • In Silicon valley, many of the best software engineers don't have formal education. And many of the worst have degrees from prestigious universities.

    I believe most places that have restrictions on the use of the word "engineer" are in the context of civil engineering. I am not a civil engineer.

    But whatever you want to call me -- programmer, software engineer, or walking-talking-orange -- I work for Everyone.net. I spend my days writing code for them, and I spend my nights writing code for myself. I know the person running the giveaway: his motivations, and his intentions.

    Therefore -- arguments about semantics aside -- I feel confidant in saying that it wont be used for spam.
  • You have my assurances as both an engineer at Everyone.net, and a good friend of the individual whose brainchild this contest is...

    No offense, but your assurances don't carry any weight. We've seen with the Sun/Imprise/Blackdown fiasco, and the repeated missteps of Corel Linux licenses, how much personal assurances are worth.

    Then again, you've effectively turned your web server into an email open relay, so I suppose that you'll be taken advantage of soon enough.
  • Um, I already have more than one e-mail account, my work and my personal. So I just gave them addresses of me that were different than my name. I plan to check first with my friends and see if they mind my using their e-mail addresses. But like everyone else mentioned, don't bother entering. I want the AIBO! www.aibonet.com - Very Interesting.
  • Yeah, try being European... I gave my phone number using the standard international format + and the form returned the same invalid message.

    Of course, I checked the rules first to see if any Non-US citizens were allowed to enter, and found no 'evidence' of this, so I tried entering. But alas.

    Nice stuff, people.

  • An Aibo is cool... but not $700 worth of cool, to my tastes. And $700 is about how much income tax I would have to pay if I won the thing.


    No thanks.


    (All the "collecting spam addresses issues aside, of course.)

  • Neither of the experimental mail boxes received any spam at all. All they received was the initial letter from Everyone.Net telling about the Aibo contest.

    I'm quite surprised that the one I posted on /. didn't get any spam from robots that trawl the web for addresses.

    Cheers to Everyone.Net for being ethical and not spamming. Looks like Jon Frisby gets to keep his reputation (and karma rating).

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