Fellow creatives and @grant - Hoping for some clarification. I was just reading through the Entry guidelines that grant posted in another thread and have a question:
In regard to this specific portion of the guidelines: or using the entry comments feature to suggest additional names is strictly prohibited.
So if we offer the client - that we are suppose to be finding the perfect name for the option of AlmostThePerfectNameButHasAnSDotcom or AlmostThePerfectNameButItsADotIO because it’s available but we’ve researched enough to know that ThePerfectNameDotCom is for sale - we can’t note that in the comments for the client?
I can understand not being able to enter additional names that are unrelated to the entry but if we are not allowed to inform the client that a slightly better option is available or at least inform them that it’s not in use seems like penalizing the client. I can see if creatives are abusing this and offering only their personal owned domains in comments (and those ideas DO NOT fit what the client is looking for) or unrelated names or lists- but in those specific situations shouldn’t the creative be penalized/warned/simply made to withdraw those entries…?
.Anyways I would love to know for sure if that is what that section is saying. I have recently noted an option like this (not on a contest that I’ve won) and will remove it ASAP if that is the case. Originally reading the guidelines I was under the impression that this was to eliminate people bypassing their entry limit and providing lists of ideas in the comments.
Frankly there are always limitations to the platform and all kinds of wildly different scenarios that pop up, and SH cannot be formulating specific rules for each scenario. You can always ask via “Blue button” however.
Anyways IMO If a creative is doing something that genuinely OBJECTIVELY (Not just in a creative’s personal opinion, as that can always be used as an excuse) benefits the Contest Holder like the scenario you described, I wouldn’t worry as I am sure SH would understand.
I’ve also in the past made comments that when entering thisnamehere.io when thisnamehere.com is available for sale but only because there have been many times in SH managed contests when the SHcontest team has said something to me along the lines ‘oh this name is also available for sale as a .com which can be beneficial for this ch’ as a comment to me. So I’ve thought that in the limited times this has occured to at least make reference to the CH that the .com is also available but for sale therefore cannot be listed. But these cases have ONLY been when the CHs are open to multiple types of domains and it’s not happened often. I don’t enter those names to find loopholes, I mean the CHs have been open to multiple domains. I just thought I’d let them know that the .com was available in case they were wondering. But, I erred on the side of caution then and I’ll definitely do it even more now, until this can be answered. I just wanted to say that it’s happened to me as well. But my intent was only to be transparent about domain options and not to roundabout the rules.
Our policy does not allow suggesting names that may be available for sale from outside platforms, unless it is explicitly requested in the contest brief. Therefore, we suggest that you avoid such comments.
Once in a while, if you believe such a comment would be significantly helpful for the Contest Holder, you can discuss the specific situation with our support team.