Input Device Review Contest 2014

User avatar
matt3o
-[°_°]-

31 Jan 2014, 13:12

Image

Deskthority (DT) in collaboration with Cooler Master (CM) is pleased to announce the first Input Device Review Contest, starting tomorrow February 1st.

In an attempt to revive the “Mice & other input devices” forum section, DT is hosting a competition open to all its registered members. It's a great opportunity for improving the non-keyboard section of forum and to win great prizes!

Below are the contest rules, good luck to all participants!

Mini rules (for the lazy ones)

- Contest goes from February 1st at 0:00 to February 23th 23:59 UTC

- Send a review of any input device that is not a keyboard in the Mice & other input devices section and post here a link to it

- You can send as many reviews as you want, the more the better

- Video reviews are welcome

- Post your reviews as soon as they are ready so to get opinions and suggestions before the contest ends. You can modify your reviews any time

- There are prizes, see below


Now read the full rules below.

Contest Rules

To participate you just need to post a review of an input device in the Mice & other input devices section and send a message with a link to it in this thread between February 1st at 0:00 and February 23th 23:59 UTC.

The review must be of any device that would fit the "Mice & other input devices" sub-forum, so anything that is not strictly a keyboard. If in doubt about a specific device, just ask in this thread. We'll be very permissive.

The review must be new and original, it must not have been published on other blogs, websites or forums prior the contest starting date. Basically, you can't reuse old reviews of yours, but you can post your review anywhere you want after you submitted it to this contest.

The competition is open to all registered members with at least 25 posts.

Please note that the contest covers all kinds of input devices, not just mice. Graphics tablets, gloves, optic pens, trackballs, … are all valid peripherals.

The input device does not need to be recently released, actually vintage and uncommon products are more than welcome.

There's no limit to the number of reviews a person can send.

The reviews will be awarded based on: technicality, quality of pictures, good prose and originality. Audio and video are not required but would give you bonus points. Video reviews are encouraged but they must be accompanied by a written review to sum up the main points outlined in the video.

We encourage the reviewers to submit their works as soon as they are ready, other members (and the jurors) might give you advice and opinions that you could use to refine the review. The jurors will evaluate the reviews only on their state at the end of the competition.

The Jury

Winners will be selected by a jury. The jury's decision is final and incontestable. Please note that despite the juicy awards and the prestigious sponsor, this is by no mean a “professional” competition, consider it a divertisement for forum members with some nice bonuses. Do it for fun and to improve DT and you may eventually bring something home.

The jurors without merit are:

- Matt3o
- Muirium
- QWERTim

The Cooler Master award is picked by CM Bram.

Jurors can't participate to the contest.

One award will be assigned randomly to any one of the participants.

The awards

Best review overall
picked by the jury and awarded with:
- CM Storm Reaper
- Power RX Mousepad
- Clear TKL keycap set

Most original/antique/rare input device
picked by the jury and awarded with:
- CM Storm Reaper

Best imagery (pictures or video)
picked by the jury and awarded with:
- CM Storm Havoc

Cooler Master award
picked by the sponsor and awarded with:
- CM Storm Recon
- Switch tester

You lucky bastard
picked randomly between all the participants who haven't already won a prize, awarded with:
- CM Storm Xornet

One person is eligible for only one prize.

Winners will be contacted by a CM representative to arrange delivery. Also, please note that CM is always looking for great reviewers and the winners might be contacted to get an opinion on the prize.

PS: it's very unlikely but please note that prizes may change with other of comparable value if CM stock unpredictably changes.

Now go write your review, you lazy butt!

Entries (in order of submission)

- Kurk http://deskthority.net/mice-other-input ... t7391.html
- wetto http://deskthority.net/mice-other-input ... t7457.html
- Compgeke http://deskthority.net/mice-other-input ... t7459.html
- suka http://deskthority.net/mice-other-input ... t7489.html
- davkol http://deskthority.net/mice-other-input ... t7507.html
- davkol http://deskthority.net/mice-other-input ... t7476.html
- davkol http://deskthority.net/mice-other-input ... t7508.html
Last edited by matt3o on 24 Feb 2014, 09:20, edited 12 times in total.

User avatar
Muirium
µ

31 Jan 2014, 13:24

As a juror I'm not allowed to enter. But here's a review that I wrote for the Ducky Shine 3 TKL to give you some ideas about how to write your reviews up and what to do with photos and videos:

http://deskthority.net/news-reviews-f4/ ... t7130.html

Matt: Competing reviews are tagged [Review] and posted in the Mice & other input devices sub forum, right? And can people edit their reviews after first posting them; say with with improvements during the month? Maybe if we give feedback while the contest is running we can all get better reviews out of it?

(So: to be eligible a review must be new, posted during the competition's February entry window. But we judge them as they stand at closing time at the end of the month? Just an idea.)

User avatar
matt3o
-[°_°]-

31 Jan 2014, 13:28

Muirium wrote:Matt: Competing reviews are tagged [Review] and posted in the Mice & other input devices sub forum, right? And can people edit their reviews after first posting them; say with with improvements during the month? Maybe if we give feedback while the contest is running we can all get better reviews out of it?
the [Review] tag is a nice addition, not actually needed, but well... all reviews should have it anyway.

and yes, you can post and edit your reviews any number of times up to the very last second. so you can get opinions and refine your work. Like I said, this is a pretty informal competition.

User avatar
Muirium
µ

31 Jan 2014, 13:30

And we jurors can give our opinions before the deadline too? You know how I am…

User avatar
matt3o
-[°_°]-

31 Jan 2014, 13:36

Muirium wrote:And we jurors can give our opinions before the deadline too? You know how I am…
what a better opinion than a juror's? :) I'd say just don't be too pushy... use one of those English understatements :)

User avatar
Muirium
µ

31 Jan 2014, 13:38

Just a thought: you might want to consider a few pictures, to help clarify your review's main points.

Translation:

WHERE ARE THE PICTURES & ARE YOU INSANE??!?

User avatar
Bramster
Cooler Master Employee

31 Jan 2014, 13:40


User avatar
matt3o
-[°_°]-

31 Jan 2014, 13:54

Muirium wrote:Just a thought: you might want to consider a few pictures, to help clarify your review's main points.

Translation:

WHERE ARE THE PICTURES & ARE YOU INSANE??!?
you totally got the point :D
thanks! I'll put them in the rules

User avatar
matt3o
-[°_°]-

31 Jan 2014, 14:02

I've added:

"We encourage the reviewers to submit their works as soon as they are ready, other members (and the jurors) might give you advice and opinions that you could use to refine the review. The jurors will evaluate the reviews only on their state at the end of the competition."

User avatar
Muirium
µ

31 Jan 2014, 14:22

Exactly!

Now, let's see some reviews. (Well, technically starting after midnight…)

User avatar
matt3o
-[°_°]-

31 Jan 2014, 15:37

Suggestions for mouse review from user CeeSA http://deskthority.net/german-discussio ... t7313.html (scroll down for English translation)

theGagne

01 Feb 2014, 03:18

Can we have more than one entry? I have a couple of ideas... one serious, one joke.

User avatar
matt3o
-[°_°]-

01 Feb 2014, 08:20

There's no limit to the number of reviews a person can send.

The more the better :)

User avatar
Muirium
µ

01 Feb 2014, 09:58

Yes: every review is judged on its own merit. Just be aware that the rules say:
One person is eligible for only one prize.
So no one's walking off with all the prizes!

User avatar
matt3o
-[°_°]-

01 Feb 2014, 10:13

to be determined if the RND algorithm (for the lucky bastard award) will take multiple reviews into account or will group them by user. I'd say the former.

User avatar
Muirium
µ

01 Feb 2014, 11:26

Sounds fair. If we see anything trying to game that random prize (things we consider to be "review spamming") then we can take them out the mix going into the algorithm. But I think this is highly unlikely. Anyway, nice to have some powers of discretion as a jury!

User avatar
matt3o
-[°_°]-

01 Feb 2014, 11:35

Muirium wrote:Sounds fair. If we see anything trying to game that random prize (things we consider to be "review spamming") then we can take them out the mix going into the algorithm. But I think this is highly unlikely.
yeah I was thinking the same.
Muirium wrote:Anyway, nice to have some powers of discretion as a jury!
Image

if you know what I mean

vun

01 Feb 2014, 15:22

This actually sounds like it could be right up my alley, although I'm not sure I can be bothered. We'll see, I didn't see a time limit, when does it end?

User avatar
Muirium
µ

01 Feb 2014, 15:26

From the front page:
Image
I browse via the forum spy so I don't usually visit the front page either.

User avatar
matt3o
-[°_°]-

01 Feb 2014, 15:36

The dates are written in the rules. I'll try to make them clearer.

User avatar
matt3o
-[°_°]-

01 Feb 2014, 15:46

okay I've added the "mini rules"

Findecanor

02 Feb 2014, 00:20

matt3o wrote:The review must be new and original, it must not have been published on other blogs, websites or forums prior the contest starting date. Basically, you can't reuse old reviews of yours, but you can post your review anywhere you want after you submitted it to this contest.
Let me get this straight... You can post on another site first as long as it is after the contest starting date?

User avatar
002
Topre Enthusiast

02 Feb 2014, 04:20

I think the idea is that your review has to be posted here first, then if you want you can share your review elsewhere but I suppose it'd be better to link to the review on Deskthority. We want to boost the visibility of this section and getting more traffic here is a good start I think.

User avatar
matt3o
-[°_°]-

02 Feb 2014, 08:48

Findecanor wrote:
matt3o wrote:The review must be new and original, it must not have been published on other blogs, websites or forums prior the contest starting date. Basically, you can't reuse old reviews of yours, but you can post your review anywhere you want after you submitted it to this contest.
Let me get this straight... You can post on another site first as long as it is after the contest starting date?
you have to post it here first (basically the review must be explicitly done for the contest). As soon as you posted it on DT, you can post it anywhere (eg: your blog or review site). We do not expect exclusivity.

Of course, if you want to post it on other forums, maybe you can just send a link back to DT, but again, it is not strictly necessary.

User avatar
Bramster
Cooler Master Employee

03 Feb 2014, 10:48

You can post a link to the review in this thread (review is in the mice and input devices section) and a short summary of the review? Possible idea or?

User avatar
matt3o
-[°_°]-

03 Feb 2014, 11:04

CM Bram wrote:You can post a link to the review in this thread (review is in the mice and input devices section) and a short summary of the review? Possible idea or?
well, yeah, a small summary would help, but I wouldn't say it's mandatory.

User avatar
Bramster
Cooler Master Employee

03 Feb 2014, 11:09

matt3o wrote:
CM Bram wrote:You can post a link to the review in this thread (review is in the mice and input devices section) and a short summary of the review? Possible idea or?
well, yeah, a small summary would help, but I wouldn't say it's mandatory.
Yeah agreed... Cant wait for the first reviews to come in tho! Excited right here :) :) :)

User avatar
guilleguillaume

03 Feb 2014, 17:03

Looking for input devices for the Review Contest I found all those things and there are some old school ones:

Image



I still have some spare ones as replacement( 6 Logitech Mini Optical) and a couple of the trackballs are in NIB condition.I think I should seek professional help... :roll:

User avatar
matt3o
-[°_°]-

03 Feb 2014, 17:15

holy rodents, batman!

User avatar
Muirium
µ

03 Feb 2014, 17:48

Aha! So mouse and trackball nerds do exist after all. Let the balance of our forum swing a little away from the keyboard for a change. It's not like we're all 100.0% command line guys…

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