Welcome to Contest Galaxy. Please take a moment to read the site rules enclosed below for your convenience, This forum works very differently from FB exchanges, so please make sure you fully understand them. If you need help, please feel free to ask.
PLEASE READ THOROUGHLY AND CAREFULLY! TOO MANY NEW USERS ARE JUST POSTING HERE THAT THEY AGREE AND THEN PROMPTLY PROCEED TO BREAK EVERY SINGLE ONE OF THESE RULES.
DON'T LET IT BE YOU. ASK IF YOU NEED CLARIFICATION.
SITE RULES
Why so many rules? Please see Why the strict rules?
Unfortunately, like any site, we do have some unscrupulous members who will do just about anything to get a free ride. The rules keep expanding as these users find new ways to avoid returning votes in order to keep things fair for everyone and assure that YOU get maximum return on your voting efforts. Cheating, vote buying and selling, etc. is what gives Vote Exchanges a bad rap with the contest sponsors and we strive to be the premier cheat-free place to give and receive real-people votes. Please READ and UNDERSTAND each and every rule here. These are the current rules as of 5/30n15 and are subject to change:
IF YOU CAN'T BE BOTHERED TO FOLLOW THESE RULES, THEN WE CAN'T BE BOTHERED TO LEAVE YOUR CONTEST THREAD POSTED - IT WILL BE REMOVED
1. You MUST Agree to the Rules Before opening a vote request topic: As of 1/28/14 please go to this post to find out how to open your own thread: http://www.contestgalaxy.com/t17200-now-that-you-are-a-member-how-do-you-open-your-own-thread and do as it instructs. If you post that you agree without actually reading the rules, you will not be excused for ignorance of the rules. Please READ and understand them. ASK if you need clarification of any of them
(The 10 vote rule is obsolete, until the forum has more members posting again)You MUST VOTE for 10 others BEFORE you open a topic. Just making 10 random posts on the forum does NOT count. You may leave your link in the reply asking for a return favor. Keep your voting to the 1x and Daily sections of the Vote Exchange ONLY.
2. Vote ONLY for the first person on page 1 of each topic. Voting for everyone on a topic is hijacking that user's topic and is NOT good etiquette.
3. You may NOT just post on another user's topic asking for a vote without voting FIRST. Do NOT expect others to vote for you if you have not voted for them.
4. You MUST post ALL Vote/Like #s, ratings, rankings, percentages, scores, or any other number where available, screenshots, or other requested "proof of vote." Generic responses such as "Voted" are NOT acceptable, unless there is no number or other proof-of-vote available.
5a. Your Header MUST have an end date. Please make sure it has the month, day and year in it. It is very difficult to know when the contest has really ended, for moderation purposes, if you just say things like "one more day", "last day", "Ends in 12 hours," etc. You may say that, but PLEASE also state the actual ending date. If your contest has no ending date please post "No End Date", "Ongoing", "End Date Unknown" etc. and read rule 5b
5b. For Contests that have no end date: If you're contest has not received any votes recently and you DO NOT visit and post on your topic at least once every 7 days that you are still here and active, it will be locked and impounded: http://www.contestgalaxy.com/f14-impound-locked-topics . To have your topic restored please PM an active admin/moderator. Please do NOT open a duplicate copy, it will be locked and warnings issued.
6. You MUST return ALL Votes. The only exceptions are as follows: Their contest has ended, Their contest is regional and outside your area, You have tried and are unable to complete the vote, You have already voted for them (ie on their topic, elsewhere, etc), You have clearly stated IN YOUR HEADER that you do not return that type of vote. You MUST reply to these voters as to why you did not return their vote.
7. Votes that you do NOT return (Selective Returns, such as Registrations, Emails, Facebook, Etc.) MUST be stated CLEARLY in your header. You WILL receive warnings if you have NOT posted so ahead of time and fail to return those votes. All posts and edits have a time stamp, so we CAN see if the info was added ex-post facto.
8. You MUST return ALL Votes WITHIN 24 Hours for the Daily section and WITHIN 48 hours for the 1x Section, and POST the results to YOUR OWN topic. We do not cross check elsewhere so make sure to post it on YOUR OWN TOPIC.
9. When returning votes on your topic, you MUST reply to everyone, even if you have already voted for them. Remember, we are NOT mind readers. If you don't SAY you have voted, then as far as we know, you haven't.
10. When returning votes on your own topic, Generic Replies of any kind, such as "Votes Returned," "Voted All," "Done to this Point," Etc. are NOT acceptable and will NOT count as having been returned.
11. If you have an active contest topic open, it is YOUR responsibility to make sure ALL votes get returned.
12. If you will be gone for over 24 hours for a daily contest or 48 hours for a 1x contest, such as vacation, holiday, schedule, etc., then PM any Mod/Admin to place your topic on hold until you return. Posting so on your thread will not be seen, you must PM someone. Failure to do so could result in rule violations being applied.
13. If you have not received any new votes and DO NOT visit and post on your topic that you are still here and active, at least once every 7 days it will be locked and impounded http://www.contestgalaxy.com/f14-impound-locked-topics . To have your topic restored please PM an active admin/moderator. Please do NOT open a duplicate copy, it will be locked and warnings issued.
14. When requesting a topic to be closed or placed on hold for any reason, you MUST be caught up on ALL vote returns. If there are unreturned votes your topic will be jailed and failure to return the votes will result in a restricted account.
15. If you do NOT return a vote, you MUST say WHY on your own topic in response to the user you have not returned vote for - This MUST be legitimate reason and NOT just that you didn't want to, such as - already did (elsewhere, own topic, etc.).
16. When your contest has ended, you MUST return the last of the votes or your topic WILL be considered abandoned and you will be restricted and receive warning bars accordingly as a non-voter. Your thread is automatically closed the day after your contest has ended, or jailed if there are votes to be returned.
17. If you have ANY topic that has been placed in the Post Jail that requires votes to be returned, you will NOT be permitted to open any new topics until those votes are returned. If your topic is in violation of the 24 or 48 hour rule and any contests have ended you MUST make good on that and vote for someone else without asking for a return favor. If the votes are NOT returned within 15 days of the oldest unreturned vote or upon receipt of reminder message, you will be issued a final warning, your account restricted and you WILL be required to make amends to regain your right to open any further topics.
18. Posting and running, or only returning select votes (other than that stated IN YOUR HEADER) is "Vote Stealing." We do NOT tolerate Vote Stealing. You WILL receive an official warning bar as a non-voter and could be banned.
19. ONE topic/contest - (NO duplicates allowed) 1x vote only in the 1x section and Daily Votes in the Daily Section of the Vote Exchange ONLY. Do NOT post Vote Requests in other areas of the Forum. Spamming the forum with multiplce copies of your contest WILL get you suspended.
20. ONE contest/topic - List all contests separately in their own topics. Multiple entries in the SAME contest MAY be listed jointly under one topic.
21. ONE account/person - You may NOT hold more than one account, nor maintain any yourself in the name of family members.
22. ONE person/account - Users may NOT use each other's accounts. Every member of your household who wishes to participate must have their own account.
23. ONE vote for ONE vote ONLY. NO multi-voting allowed (this doesn't apply to multiple contests, only to multiple votes on the same contest, unless the contest allows multiple votes with the same account). Friends and family MUST have their own accounts to report votes. You may NOT use their offsite accounts to vote for them in order to gain extra votes for your own contest.
24. Cheating is NOT permitted. Using someone else's offsite account/accounts (such as FB, Twitter, Email, or any other account, including Contest Galaxy accounts) IS cheating. You wouldn't use someone else's Driver's License to Drive with, someone else's ID to conduct day to day business with... nor someone else's voter ID to vote in elections with. This is voter fraud.). This is no different here either and is NOT allowed.
25. The Use of IP Changers is prohibited.
26. Vote Requests via the Private Messaging System (PM) WILL get you BANNED.
27. Spamming the forum with multiple copies of your contest WILL get you BANNED.
28. Posting off-site links for the purpose of exchanging votes off-site is prohibited. All exchanges MUST be on this forum.
29. Posting the names/links to other Vote Exchange sites is prohibited.
30. Offers to buy or sell votes WILL get you BANNED.
31. Lying WILL get you BANNED
32. If your topic is missing PM a Mod/Admin. Do NOT just open a duplicate as that WILL just earn you warnings.
33. Ignoring instructions left for you by moderator or admin will earn you warnings.
34. Repeatedly violating the site rules will earn you warnings and an eventual suspension or permanent ban.
35. Repeated trolling/rudeness/mouthing off to the moderation/administration staff could get you banned.
36. Profanity could get you banned.
The warning and points system: http://www.contestgalaxy.com/t16014-warning-list-what-percentage-is-taken-off-for-each-violation
Need HELP? Check out our New User section: http://www.contestgalaxy.com/f18-new-member-introduction-and-help or ask any moderator Admin (links listed below).
trex (Rule Violations Administrator/Moderator) http://www.contestgalaxy.com/privmsg?mode=post&u=715
Admin (Administrator) http://www.contestgalaxy.com/privmsg?mode=post&u=1
Tiramisu (Administrator) http://www.contestgalaxy.com/privmsg?mode=post&u=7
Please also read and understand the following threads concerning the rules, warnings and consequences of rule violations
http://www.contestgalaxy.com/t157-please-read-rules-for-one-time-vote-area
http://www.contestgalaxy.com/t3-please-read-rules-for-the-vote-exchange-daily-area
http://www.contestgalaxy.com/t16014-warning-list-what-percentage-is-taken-off-for-each-violation
http://www.contestgalaxy.com/t17137-restricted-section-orange-names
http://www.contestgalaxy.com/t17200-read-first-now-that-you-are-a-member-how-do-you-open-your-own-thread
Help:
1A. Please visit this link http://www.contestgalaxy.com/t17200-now-that-you-are-a-member-how-do-you-open-your-own-thread and follow all instructions.
2A. Daily Vote: http://www.contestgalaxy.com/f4-vote-exchange-daily
One Time Vote: http://www.contestgalaxy.com/f10-vote-exchange-one-time-votes
3A. Ongoing/No End Date: http://www.contestgalaxy.com/t18055-please-read-new-rule-for-ongoing-and-or-contests-that-have-no-ending-date-or-unknown-ending-date#374967
4A. All votes should be return within 48 hours for the One Time section,
and every 24 hours for the Daily section. If you will be away please PM an active Admin/Moderator
How Vote Requests must be posted.
To create your own vote request, go to this link http://www.contestgalaxy.com/t17200-now-that-you-are-a-member-how-do-you-open-your-own-thread
(This rule underlined is obsolete until more members post on the forum) you must have 10 posts and they must follow the rules by showing that you voted for others. If you just ask for votes or say "voted" or "done" they will not count and your thread will be locked until you do it correctly.
Start out by putting your contest in the correct section (Daily section for dailies or One Time section for one time votes)
The title must include an end date. Example: Vote for my cat Ends 9/23/12.
The body section should include a direct link to your contest and all the information needed to vote and or to find your entry. Including images in the post always helps, too. You can only create one thread per contest unless you have two entries in the same contest.
PLEASE READ THOROUGHLY AND CAREFULLY! TOO MANY NEW USERS ARE JUST POSTING HERE THAT THEY AGREE AND THEN PROMPTLY PROCEED TO BREAK EVERY SINGLE ONE OF THESE RULES.
DON'T LET IT BE YOU. ASK IF YOU NEED CLARIFICATION.
SITE RULES
Why so many rules? Please see Why the strict rules?
Unfortunately, like any site, we do have some unscrupulous members who will do just about anything to get a free ride. The rules keep expanding as these users find new ways to avoid returning votes in order to keep things fair for everyone and assure that YOU get maximum return on your voting efforts. Cheating, vote buying and selling, etc. is what gives Vote Exchanges a bad rap with the contest sponsors and we strive to be the premier cheat-free place to give and receive real-people votes. Please READ and UNDERSTAND each and every rule here. These are the current rules as of 5/30n15 and are subject to change:
IF YOU CAN'T BE BOTHERED TO FOLLOW THESE RULES, THEN WE CAN'T BE BOTHERED TO LEAVE YOUR CONTEST THREAD POSTED - IT WILL BE REMOVED
1. You MUST Agree to the Rules Before opening a vote request topic: As of 1/28/14 please go to this post to find out how to open your own thread: http://www.contestgalaxy.com/t17200-now-that-you-are-a-member-how-do-you-open-your-own-thread and do as it instructs. If you post that you agree without actually reading the rules, you will not be excused for ignorance of the rules. Please READ and understand them. ASK if you need clarification of any of them
(The 10 vote rule is obsolete, until the forum has more members posting again)You MUST VOTE for 10 others BEFORE you open a topic. Just making 10 random posts on the forum does NOT count. You may leave your link in the reply asking for a return favor. Keep your voting to the 1x and Daily sections of the Vote Exchange ONLY.
2. Vote ONLY for the first person on page 1 of each topic. Voting for everyone on a topic is hijacking that user's topic and is NOT good etiquette.
3. You may NOT just post on another user's topic asking for a vote without voting FIRST. Do NOT expect others to vote for you if you have not voted for them.
4. You MUST post ALL Vote/Like #s, ratings, rankings, percentages, scores, or any other number where available, screenshots, or other requested "proof of vote." Generic responses such as "Voted" are NOT acceptable, unless there is no number or other proof-of-vote available.
5a. Your Header MUST have an end date. Please make sure it has the month, day and year in it. It is very difficult to know when the contest has really ended, for moderation purposes, if you just say things like "one more day", "last day", "Ends in 12 hours," etc. You may say that, but PLEASE also state the actual ending date. If your contest has no ending date please post "No End Date", "Ongoing", "End Date Unknown" etc. and read rule 5b
5b. For Contests that have no end date: If you're contest has not received any votes recently and you DO NOT visit and post on your topic at least once every 7 days that you are still here and active, it will be locked and impounded: http://www.contestgalaxy.com/f14-impound-locked-topics . To have your topic restored please PM an active admin/moderator. Please do NOT open a duplicate copy, it will be locked and warnings issued.
6. You MUST return ALL Votes. The only exceptions are as follows: Their contest has ended, Their contest is regional and outside your area, You have tried and are unable to complete the vote, You have already voted for them (ie on their topic, elsewhere, etc), You have clearly stated IN YOUR HEADER that you do not return that type of vote. You MUST reply to these voters as to why you did not return their vote.
7. Votes that you do NOT return (Selective Returns, such as Registrations, Emails, Facebook, Etc.) MUST be stated CLEARLY in your header. You WILL receive warnings if you have NOT posted so ahead of time and fail to return those votes. All posts and edits have a time stamp, so we CAN see if the info was added ex-post facto.
8. You MUST return ALL Votes WITHIN 24 Hours for the Daily section and WITHIN 48 hours for the 1x Section, and POST the results to YOUR OWN topic. We do not cross check elsewhere so make sure to post it on YOUR OWN TOPIC.
9. When returning votes on your topic, you MUST reply to everyone, even if you have already voted for them. Remember, we are NOT mind readers. If you don't SAY you have voted, then as far as we know, you haven't.
10. When returning votes on your own topic, Generic Replies of any kind, such as "Votes Returned," "Voted All," "Done to this Point," Etc. are NOT acceptable and will NOT count as having been returned.
11. If you have an active contest topic open, it is YOUR responsibility to make sure ALL votes get returned.
12. If you will be gone for over 24 hours for a daily contest or 48 hours for a 1x contest, such as vacation, holiday, schedule, etc., then PM any Mod/Admin to place your topic on hold until you return. Posting so on your thread will not be seen, you must PM someone. Failure to do so could result in rule violations being applied.
13. If you have not received any new votes and DO NOT visit and post on your topic that you are still here and active, at least once every 7 days it will be locked and impounded http://www.contestgalaxy.com/f14-impound-locked-topics . To have your topic restored please PM an active admin/moderator. Please do NOT open a duplicate copy, it will be locked and warnings issued.
14. When requesting a topic to be closed or placed on hold for any reason, you MUST be caught up on ALL vote returns. If there are unreturned votes your topic will be jailed and failure to return the votes will result in a restricted account.
15. If you do NOT return a vote, you MUST say WHY on your own topic in response to the user you have not returned vote for - This MUST be legitimate reason and NOT just that you didn't want to, such as - already did (elsewhere, own topic, etc.).
16. When your contest has ended, you MUST return the last of the votes or your topic WILL be considered abandoned and you will be restricted and receive warning bars accordingly as a non-voter. Your thread is automatically closed the day after your contest has ended, or jailed if there are votes to be returned.
17. If you have ANY topic that has been placed in the Post Jail that requires votes to be returned, you will NOT be permitted to open any new topics until those votes are returned. If your topic is in violation of the 24 or 48 hour rule and any contests have ended you MUST make good on that and vote for someone else without asking for a return favor. If the votes are NOT returned within 15 days of the oldest unreturned vote or upon receipt of reminder message, you will be issued a final warning, your account restricted and you WILL be required to make amends to regain your right to open any further topics.
18. Posting and running, or only returning select votes (other than that stated IN YOUR HEADER) is "Vote Stealing." We do NOT tolerate Vote Stealing. You WILL receive an official warning bar as a non-voter and could be banned.
19. ONE topic/contest - (NO duplicates allowed) 1x vote only in the 1x section and Daily Votes in the Daily Section of the Vote Exchange ONLY. Do NOT post Vote Requests in other areas of the Forum. Spamming the forum with multiplce copies of your contest WILL get you suspended.
20. ONE contest/topic - List all contests separately in their own topics. Multiple entries in the SAME contest MAY be listed jointly under one topic.
21. ONE account/person - You may NOT hold more than one account, nor maintain any yourself in the name of family members.
22. ONE person/account - Users may NOT use each other's accounts. Every member of your household who wishes to participate must have their own account.
23. ONE vote for ONE vote ONLY. NO multi-voting allowed (this doesn't apply to multiple contests, only to multiple votes on the same contest, unless the contest allows multiple votes with the same account). Friends and family MUST have their own accounts to report votes. You may NOT use their offsite accounts to vote for them in order to gain extra votes for your own contest.
24. Cheating is NOT permitted. Using someone else's offsite account/accounts (such as FB, Twitter, Email, or any other account, including Contest Galaxy accounts) IS cheating. You wouldn't use someone else's Driver's License to Drive with, someone else's ID to conduct day to day business with... nor someone else's voter ID to vote in elections with. This is voter fraud.). This is no different here either and is NOT allowed.
25. The Use of IP Changers is prohibited.
26. Vote Requests via the Private Messaging System (PM) WILL get you BANNED.
27. Spamming the forum with multiple copies of your contest WILL get you BANNED.
28. Posting off-site links for the purpose of exchanging votes off-site is prohibited. All exchanges MUST be on this forum.
29. Posting the names/links to other Vote Exchange sites is prohibited.
30. Offers to buy or sell votes WILL get you BANNED.
31. Lying WILL get you BANNED
32. If your topic is missing PM a Mod/Admin. Do NOT just open a duplicate as that WILL just earn you warnings.
33. Ignoring instructions left for you by moderator or admin will earn you warnings.
34. Repeatedly violating the site rules will earn you warnings and an eventual suspension or permanent ban.
35. Repeated trolling/rudeness/mouthing off to the moderation/administration staff could get you banned.
36. Profanity could get you banned.
The warning and points system: http://www.contestgalaxy.com/t16014-warning-list-what-percentage-is-taken-off-for-each-violation
Need HELP? Check out our New User section: http://www.contestgalaxy.com/f18-new-member-introduction-and-help or ask any moderator Admin (links listed below).
trex (Rule Violations Administrator/Moderator) http://www.contestgalaxy.com/privmsg?mode=post&u=715
Admin (Administrator) http://www.contestgalaxy.com/privmsg?mode=post&u=1
Tiramisu (Administrator) http://www.contestgalaxy.com/privmsg?mode=post&u=7
Please also read and understand the following threads concerning the rules, warnings and consequences of rule violations
http://www.contestgalaxy.com/t157-please-read-rules-for-one-time-vote-area
http://www.contestgalaxy.com/t3-please-read-rules-for-the-vote-exchange-daily-area
http://www.contestgalaxy.com/t16014-warning-list-what-percentage-is-taken-off-for-each-violation
http://www.contestgalaxy.com/t17137-restricted-section-orange-names
http://www.contestgalaxy.com/t17200-read-first-now-that-you-are-a-member-how-do-you-open-your-own-thread
Help:
1A. Please visit this link http://www.contestgalaxy.com/t17200-now-that-you-are-a-member-how-do-you-open-your-own-thread and follow all instructions.
2A. Daily Vote: http://www.contestgalaxy.com/f4-vote-exchange-daily
One Time Vote: http://www.contestgalaxy.com/f10-vote-exchange-one-time-votes
3A. Ongoing/No End Date: http://www.contestgalaxy.com/t18055-please-read-new-rule-for-ongoing-and-or-contests-that-have-no-ending-date-or-unknown-ending-date#374967
4A. All votes should be return within 48 hours for the One Time section,
and every 24 hours for the Daily section. If you will be away please PM an active Admin/Moderator
How Vote Requests must be posted.
To create your own vote request, go to this link http://www.contestgalaxy.com/t17200-now-that-you-are-a-member-how-do-you-open-your-own-thread
(This rule underlined is obsolete until more members post on the forum) you must have 10 posts and they must follow the rules by showing that you voted for others. If you just ask for votes or say "voted" or "done" they will not count and your thread will be locked until you do it correctly.
Start out by putting your contest in the correct section (Daily section for dailies or One Time section for one time votes)
The title must include an end date. Example: Vote for my cat Ends 9/23/12.
The body section should include a direct link to your contest and all the information needed to vote and or to find your entry. Including images in the post always helps, too. You can only create one thread per contest unless you have two entries in the same contest.
Last edited by trex on Thu Oct 15, 2015 12:43 am; edited 18 times in total (Reason for editing : New rule concerning the usage of IP changers #25)
