Just allude to Facebook, and ALMOST 
no one will enter.
Hee hee, so true. It’s a game-stopper for me.
I won a givaway early on from OL, made my day :partying_face:
Having to use a Facebook account automatically precludes old folks like me 
I was going to set one up once but didn’t since my kid said that they would refuse to friend me. I’m sure nobody else has had that problem :cry:
For my 100 post givaway I made the rule you must have LESS than 100 posts to join and you Can join the forum just to participate. I gave away a certificate to mtn store hoping to encourage a new member to jump in and do some modding. For my 1000 post giveaway I will add the rule you must have less than 1000 posts.
Anyway, I don’t think everyone should do this though, because I understand the concerns mentioned above.
I am a new member. I have entered a few of the GAW That I qualify for. I did not join this forum FOR the GAWs. Found that section browsing and reading threads on the Scratch builds, old and new.
New to BLF and CPF. No posts on CPF and only a few here that I felt I actually had information to offer.
X3,
Think back when you were a NEW member. Did you enter in the GAW? YES you did, I checked your old posts.
Everyone on here was New at some time. Segregating New members from a GAW certainly is not a welcoming feeling. Rules are up to the person giving the item. Saying someone (for whatever reason) is not entitled to participate is segregation.
seg·re·ga·tion
ˌseɡrəˈɡāSH(ə)n/
noun
the action or state of setting someone or something apart from other people or things or being set apart.
As mentioned earlier I registered on CPF and BLF. Honestly, my preference is HERE. The responses in this thread so far are why. GOOD PEOPLE HERE.
For my gaw, members must post a family picture of their flashlight. Brands that should be in the pic .
Surefire
Maglite
Led lenser
Lumitak g700 military flaslight
And the famous shadowhawk x800
Flashlight.
Lets see if someone can post a pic.
Wow, 13 posts and you almost owned your Godwin point, well done !
Also, spying my old post is really immature…
EDIT : LOL at this Rude button
I like the idea of new members feeling the love from BLF, the rule in my giveaways was generally that you had to be a member before the post time of the giveaway OP.
Although i never acted on it for obvious reasons i also entertained the idea to accept only participants that could not offer to buy the items by themselves, you see people entering giveaways that buy thousands $ of flashlight each year.
I like your second statement
_And now post, post like Dale to get to 10K before me, or Iĺl miss your next two GAWs, oh the horror 
How do you decide who is poor and who is rich? Flashlights are a hobby for many. They may spend thousands $ on them, but perhaps they decide NOT to spend that money eating in restaurants, cruises, a second car, etc.
You could easily have a person that only owns a crappy Maglite, but is a multi-millionaire.
Giveaways. I've done a few...
Most of them were open to anyone. I think I did one for older members only, one for newer members only, one for USA members only and another for International members only. Well, if I remember correctly that is...
I think the person making the giveaway thread should make it anyhow they want. That person is giving something of value away for free, so that person should do as they wish. End of story.
No matter what you do, in this forum or in this world, someone, somewhere will disagree, so just do what you want in your own giveaway.
Sounds like a good BLF signature! 
I don’t unfortunatly, i’ll decide to be rich otherwise :money_mouth_face: .
The idea was to write in the rules that only those who could not afford the item could enter, and trust people from there, like i said before i never did it, for a number of obvious reasons.
You often read on BLF “i wish i could afford one”, “i’ll never be able to afford one”, that’s the demographic i wish there was a decent way to select for the giveaway i did.
That’s also the reason why i never entered a single giveaway.
If I think back to what motivated me to join here were a mix of
a) gathering knowledge
b) codes
c) GAWs (after I googled what it stood for)
I didn’t (and still don’t) have enough knowledge or confidence to offer anyone any advice although I yearned to participate and what better way than getting involved in for a Group Buy or asking for a code and even join in a GAW.
I’m sure my experience is not unique and I believe GAWs are only a small part of the reason most people join BLF
I love GAWs and for newbies it may be a great ‘leg up’ and may even mean they get their first real flashlight.
I know if I ever do a GAW and I’ve made a newbie totally happy, It would make my day so to all the prospective Giveawayers don’t let it get you down or stop you from doing something that makes you feel good.
I also agree with OL, it’s your GAW so you should have the right to give it away anyway you like
@X3 - love it, thanks for a great thought provoking topic !
My pleasure, polemic (not trolling) is a hobby for me :innocent:
Some opinions wrote in this topic may have even changed my point of view…
I remember when I was younger taking a lunchtime walk with my boss once and we came across a homeless guy asking for money and I said something like “he’s only gonna spend it on crack instead of a nice warm soup” and my boss said to me “who cares…. You wouldn’t like it if I told you how to spend the pay I give you” fascinating insight !
To each their own way. The only ‘rule’ I think should be universal is “only to current members” so folks don’t join only to be in the GAW. Otherwise do your own thang :+1:
I was drawn to join here in descending order: by member’s knowledge, their joyful willingness to share that, and member’s generosity, both with GAW’s and outright gifting. And nobody minded newbies.It got better from there. In all my internet time I’d never seen the likes of this anywhere else (and still haven’t). It keys in with my personal beliefs. I began joining every GAW but now restrict myself to better the chances of others. Which seems to be the general spirit of many members of BLF Just don’t get carried away with numerous rules because some of us are easily confused 
Now go have FUN!
Phil
I’ve noticed that.
After you’ve been on here a while it’s clear to me which member’s aren’t short of a penny, nothing wrong with that at all but it makes me wonder why they still enter these giveaways and they already have a fair size collection.