This day has been a long time in the coming.
A long time. A long long time. A loooooooooooooooooooong long time. A looooooooooooooooooong looooooooooooooooooong loooooooooooooooong time! A really long time.
In fact, at this point I’m starting to get a little tired of hearing about it. Actually, I’ve been tired of hearing about it ever since day uno. Day ichi. Day un. Day one.
Finally, Wednesday, January 27th, 2010 will be a day that lives in infamy on the Internet.. a day in which the most annoying Internet “meme” of all time was mercifully put to rest… that’s right, today will forever more be remembered as:
THE DEATH OF FAIL!
I’m not exactly sure how it started … I guess probably failblog … but it has annoyed me TO NO END when those hip, snarky, oh-too-clever-to-come-up-with-their-own-schtick, kids on “teh internets” use “fail” to mean “failure”.
Just like lolcats, it was kind of clever when the whole thing started, but now, three years on, when there are over 100 tweets a minute with “fail” in them, IT IS JUST PLAIN PATHETIC.
It’s about time somebody put their foot down.
Introducing the Happy DreamHost Apple-A-Day Tablet Contest!
Here’s how it works:
1. The contest is open to
US residents onlyanybody in the world (where not prohibited by law) who are not employees nor related to employees of DreamHost. No purchase necessary, you do not have to be a DreamHost customer to win.
2. You may enter the contest only once per day, starting today, January 27th, 2010…. days are counted based on the U.S. Pacific Time Zone.
3. To enter, simply post a “tweet” via twitter that includes the word DreamHost in it (upper case and content of tweet do not matter… but spelling does!).
4. The contest ends on the day we get 20 16GB Wifi iPads$10,000 worth of Apple Tabletsphysically in our possession.If by some miracle there ends up being no such thing as an Apple Tablet, the prize becomes $10,000 worth of whatever the hell Apple announces today instead.
5. At that time, we will randomly pickfloor($10,000/$price_of_tablet)20 winners from the valid entries (we will be logging all tweets with “dreamhost” in them in the meantime) and contact them via twitter (from our @dreamhost account) to verify their eligibility.
6. And now, the final twist… a winner will be determined ineligible (and a replacement picked) if at ANY time between now and the end of the contest they have posted ANY tweet(s) with the term “fail” in it/them (or any clever alternative spelling)! “Failure” is fine. “Sucks” is fine. “Crappy” is fine. “Nightmare” is fine. Just not “fail”. Nor “#fail”. Nor even “@fail” (poor guy).
That’s it! Simple really.
So let’s put an end to the insanity, let’s use the power of Steve Jobs and the Apple hype machine to do some good, and let’s win us some iMacSlablet Pads iPads!!
(Apple is not a participant in or sponsor of this promotion.)
Update:
Okay, it’s going to be 20 of the $499 models (16G wifi-only) given away. Also note: if you don’t live in the US but give us a US mailing address when we contact you after you win, well, how are we going to know the difference? Also also note: Apparently twitter search bans some users from appearing in the results. If that’s the case with you, you’ll need to make sure your tweets have “@dreamhost” in them. Also also also note: it’s okay to use the term “fail” correctly, as in “I fail to see the point of twitter.” Also also also also note: you can now not use the term “win” either, at least not in the context “full of win”.
Update Update:
Only twitter accounts with at least two tweets from BEFORE today (January 27th, 2010) are going to be eligible to win. I’m talking to you @dreamhosttablet! Also, remember you can only enter once per day no matter how many times that day you tweet with “dreamhost” in it…. once again I’m talking to you, @dreamhosttablet!
Update Update Update:
Okay, we’ll now ship the winning iPads ANYWHERE! We just weren’t sure before if they were going to be tied to the US phone network or something. Since we’re doing the wifi-only versions, it’ll be fine… as long as you’re okay with the U.S. version (documentation, power cord, etc..). Keep in mind though, to win all your posts from now until we get the iPads must be in English only (otherwise we won’t know if you’re trying to sneak in a “fail”!) See below.
Update Update Update Update
Okay whiners, fine: you can post in any language, but your DreamHost-mentioning posts must be in English.
Hopefully the Final Update
Okay, Twitter accounts created since (or hadn’t tweeted twice before) the start of the contest are now okay. However, you may not tweet to multiple accounts in an attempt to “ballot stuff” the contest. We’re going to manually review all the winners as well as run some analysis on ALL tweets received during the contest… any fishy stuff will get you disqualified!
THE FINAL FINAL FINAL UPDATE
This contest has now ended. The iPads have arrived, winners have been announced, and 20 boxes of joy were sent worldwide. Thanks to everyone who participated.
January 27th, 2010 at 12:02 am
I wholeheartedly support this endeavor and have dubbed it the “2010 FINANCE ACT”. As in “2010 Fail Is Not A Noun Customer Education ACT”.
January 27th, 2010 at 12:24 am
Needs more love for canada!
January 27th, 2010 at 12:43 am
brilliant that is all
January 27th, 2010 at 12:43 am
Love the idea.
But, couldn’t I just set up a bot to tweet “dreamhost” hundreds of times each hour from now till whenever, such that my tweets vastly outnumber any “real” person’s tweets?
-Keith
January 27th, 2010 at 12:47 am
I think they’d like that, Keith. And they can probably get their bot to only enter you in the contest once a day, per rule #2 above. ;-)
January 27th, 2010 at 12:47 am
Whaaaahaaa, sounds like an real DH competition. Great!
January 27th, 2010 at 1:05 am
What about us users that don’t show up in Twitter Search? Can we still enter in this contest?
January 27th, 2010 at 1:47 am
this is good stuff :D
as for fairness, the twitter scrapers can boil everything down to usernames only, not just a big pile of steaming tweets. so I don’t think spam will help the situation.
and yes, Navarr, even you can show up on the twitter search… just make sure ‘dreamhost’ is in the tweet
January 27th, 2010 at 2:39 am
(Gnashing of teeth)
US residents only. Why? Legal constraints or something like that?
Cheers from Amsterdam (Not upstate New York! 8-))
January 27th, 2010 at 3:15 am
Sorry, DreamHost, but I’m not interested. I would much rather exercise my right to use the word FAIL (which I admit has been overused to death) than own anything from Apple. My totally irrational prejudice against Apple, with its genesis in the early ’90s, is alive and kicking almost two decades later. My reason-to-hate-them-du-jour is their patent over cellphone-based multitouch, but I would be hating them anyway.
January 27th, 2010 at 4:17 am
yeah! US residents only?
The contest rocks!!! — if you’re a resident of US of A. Well, good luck and more power!
Lucky guy/gal for the winner!
^^
January 27th, 2010 at 4:59 am
Why no love for Canucks? What if I provide a US delivery address?
Contest fail!
January 27th, 2010 at 5:06 am
oh, well, please, can someone tell me why I do not live in the US?
Ah, I know, I was born here, am married and happy!
Good luck to you guys !
January 27th, 2010 at 5:55 am
So what you’re basically saying is, what we have here…is failure to communicate?
January 27th, 2010 at 6:49 am
Oh Canada! We still love you.
January 27th, 2010 at 7:23 am
Wait! Will your algorithm disqualify anyone who properly uses fail as a verb? As in, “I fail to understand why you keep using ‘fail’ as a noun”?
January 27th, 2010 at 7:29 am
USA only? FAIL!
January 27th, 2010 at 7:31 am
I have personal objections to Twitter promotions (every Tweet is good for the company, but it’s good for a tiny percentage of those tweeting, and not good for ANY of those reading the tweeters tweets), but I love, love, love that you’re using this to try to smack use of the word “fail” in the face.
I hate this particular use of the term: it’s presumptively conclusive, smug, and obnoxious. Goodonya many times over.
January 27th, 2010 at 7:40 am
@Jason No no, you don’t understand. I *don’t* show up in twitter search at all, so DreamHost won’t be able to see my tweets if thats how they’re doing this. Go ahead, search twitter for “from:navarr” and you won’t get a single result.
January 27th, 2010 at 7:54 am
Ah yes… if you don’t show up in Twitter search at all, I’m not sure how we’d get your entries, you’d have to make yourself available to search at least during the duration of the contest.
Also, I guess as long as when we contact you telling you you won you give us a US mailing address, we won’t really know if you’re somehow not a US resident!
Finally, and I’ll update the contest rules, your tweets must all be in English, otherwise we won’t know that you didn’t use “fail” in the noun sense! And yeah if you say something like “I fail to see why people tweet” that is OK!
January 27th, 2010 at 8:00 am
@Josh: Its not that I don’t make myself available. Twitter Search actually removes users if it decides their tweets aren’t of value to the search service. There are a lot of people effected by this whose voices are pretty much unheard (almost literally).
=(
January 27th, 2010 at 8:00 am
im on it. i will not FUKITUP i almost said the f word
January 27th, 2010 at 8:01 am
Great contest! :) I used to be on the I-hate-Apple-regardless bandwagon, but I’m slowly losing that hatred. ;)
January 27th, 2010 at 8:08 am
Glad I am not the only one that is sick of the fail whale too! Great contest. Will be tweeting @DreamHost !!
January 27th, 2010 at 8:11 am
Navarr: oh, we didn’t realize they did that! Can you try making a tweet with “@dreamhost” in it? We’ll see if we can scrape those somehow even if you’re banned from search. Is your username “navarr”?
January 27th, 2010 at 8:16 am
Thanks for listening!
http://twitter.com/seanodotcom/statuses/7919067833
January 27th, 2010 at 8:17 am
How many is “floor”?
January 27th, 2010 at 8:20 am
I like this contest a lot. Great job. It’d be really cool if you notified all people who entered when they get booted. …or do you only check if they have won?
January 27th, 2010 at 8:25 am
Great contest and new toy!
January 27th, 2010 at 8:27 am
@Josh: Yes it is. I can write @DreamHost each time. It might be a good idea to set it up so that users mention you in future contests, since not all users even know they’ve been removed from search. ^_^
January 27th, 2010 at 8:45 am
Please make your next contest destroy the trend of calling anyone who does anything a _______fag.
January 27th, 2010 at 9:25 am
FAIL!
ok, not really, this is awesome. Just had to say it.
January 27th, 2010 at 9:54 am
LOVE! Want. Tweeted.
January 27th, 2010 at 10:27 am
I was just starting to think about getting *off* the I-hate-apple bandwagon, and then I bought iPods for my daughters and discovered the hell that is iTunes … now no amount of Apple “goodness”, ever, will tempt me. iTunes is a classic, and epic, “F__l”.
January 27th, 2010 at 12:04 pm
@RighteousIndignation I think Apple does need to spend some time with iTunes doing something other than adding new features. Even on my Mac, it uses more memory than any other app I run constantly other than Safari and Mail… and those are both doing a crapload more work than just playing mp3/aac files. I’ve heard the situation is even worse on Windows.
I’m still happy with iTunes myself, but I’ve slowly started dreading the memory increase that comes with every new release.
January 27th, 2010 at 12:23 pm
The only “fail” is that Canadians can’t participate!… I’d be quite happy to drive to the US to pick up an iPad if I won. ;-)
January 27th, 2010 at 12:29 pm
This is an outrage, geographical-discrimination!
I am not sure I can continue to host with a web host that practices geographical-discrimination. I hope the US economy goes into a depression.
January 27th, 2010 at 12:37 pm
Just entered!
Twitter name: khiavdim
January 27th, 2010 at 1:56 pm
“Only twitter accounts with at least two tweets from BEFORE today (January 27th, 2010) are going to be elligible to win.”
Damnit! I only signed up to follow your dhstatus (as I couldn’t find a decent RSS to SMS service that used the title instead of the first x characters of the post, what, 160-length of url or something) and I didn’t have reason to actually tweet (note, I have no followers)
Mainly I’m anti-twitter, and you guys are the only reason I have a twitter account. Literately. And you misspelled “eligible” there.
January 27th, 2010 at 2:39 pm
@ 20. Josh
THANKS Josh, for including the rest of humanity in the game!
Cheers from Amsterdam (Not Upstate New York)
January 27th, 2010 at 3:13 pm
Sounds like fun!
January 27th, 2010 at 3:26 pm
Awesome… I got such a kick out of reading about the competition. My in-laws love the whole “fail” thing.
January 27th, 2010 at 3:40 pm
Will you be notifying the losers (those who were drawn, but said the prohibited words) of their near miss as well?
January 27th, 2010 at 3:47 pm
Boo to “update update”! I never like or used Twitter, so why should that disqualify me from your cool contest? Is Twitter the sponsor, or is DreamHost? I can’t believe I stuck with you guys and defended you and your goofy newsletter even during the summer of downtime. I always hated the term “fail,” but I’m starting to think it applies here.
Aw, I still love you, but that is a crummy rule. Enjoy your iPads, Twitter fans!
January 27th, 2010 at 4:17 pm
Huh… I just found out about the giveaway (not very much time online today) and I might have tweeted in portuguese today. Will that disqualify me from the contest entirely?
PS: I don’t think it’s possible in portuguese to use “Fail” as a noun. The closest we have would translate to something like “flaw”…
January 27th, 2010 at 4:58 pm
On the ‘update update’ of “Only twitter accounts with at least two tweets from BEFORE today (January 27th, 2010) are going to be eligible to win.”
So, you’re voiding out those of use that might actually check out twitter to see what it’s about and perhaps create a bunch of free advertising for you during the contest period.
I’ve recommended DH to friends and clients for years and I cannot enter a DH contest. I’d use the F- word, but that might disqualify me.
January 27th, 2010 at 5:58 pm
This was actually going to get me to start using Twitter, too. The contest sounded cool enough to finally force me into it… but nooooooooooooo, I have to have tweats BEFORE today. Sad day.
January 27th, 2010 at 6:22 pm
You ship worldwide? Awesome!
January 27th, 2010 at 7:29 pm
I just send my tweet.
http://twitter.com/Genetic2U
:D
January 27th, 2010 at 7:44 pm
darn I have to use Twitter,:/
January 27th, 2010 at 8:07 pm
Yer its a bit disappointing that those who had never used twitter are not able to join in. Kinda limiting the exposure a bit seeing as now a great deal of people can’t get in on it.
January 27th, 2010 at 9:11 pm
For a minute there I actually considered giving in and creating a Twitter account. Now that I’ve read the “update update” it saved me from myself. I don’t quite get the point of the rule, but oh well.
January 27th, 2010 at 9:48 pm
I too am disappointed by the update update. I missed it the first time around, signed up to twitter and tweeted away, only to discover it was all in vain – and I got such a cool twitter name too!
Please reconsider! I really want to take part…pleeeaaassse.
January 27th, 2010 at 11:06 pm
Why can’t new accounts enter?
I’ve never had a reason to join twitter before. But this seemed like a good enough of a reason.
Please don’t smite the twitter noobs.
Even you joked “I fail to see the point of twitter.”
I don’t really see the point yet, but I do see the point of DH and have been a DH customer for years.
January 27th, 2010 at 11:09 pm
Hail Dreamhost (worship). I hope i win!
January 28th, 2010 at 12:47 am
*pray hard*
TWEETED @sylistic and let me fly with dreamhost on ipad ! :)
http://twitter.com/sylistic/status/8315812520
January 28th, 2010 at 1:26 am
Does a mere “@dreamhost” tweet count towards the contest? Or does it need to have the word “dreamhost” aside from the @mention?
January 28th, 2010 at 2:02 am
Dear god, this post made me laugh!
Good work guys, I’ll be taking part! (@dangroves)
January 28th, 2010 at 2:21 am
Cool, I’m in!
January 28th, 2010 at 3:32 am
@zhuzhu
dreamhostpad.com who got?
dreamhostpad and ipad NOW.
January 28th, 2010 at 4:35 am
tweeted: https://twitter.com/hawthornecreek/statuses/8320722775
January 28th, 2010 at 4:57 am
I’m brand new to twitter as of yesterday. I’m with everyone else on the update update rule about needed two tweets before Jan 27. Why? Inquring minds would like to know. Please repeal.
January 28th, 2010 at 4:58 am
You guys rock!
https://twitter.com/CajuCLC
January 28th, 2010 at 6:00 am
So since I just found out about this today (the 28th) it’s not even worth entering because I don’t have 2 tweets before the 27th? I’m confused.
January 28th, 2010 at 8:37 am
I love the iPad.
It’s so nice.
January 28th, 2010 at 9:09 am
Hey alyssa – You and me both. I am on FaceBook, but don’t tweet. I signed up today (Jan 28) and then read that I had to have tweeted before Jan 27. So, I guess I cannot enter the contest either… bummer. I don’t understand why not. Oh well, thems the rules I guess.
January 28th, 2010 at 9:18 am
The reason (in my eyes) for the “at least 2 tweets before Jan 27″ rule is to limit astro-turfing by people creating gobs of twitter accounts and tweeting from all of them.
Also, people whose accounts have been active longer than a day have much higher marketing value, as they’re more likely to have followers to influence.
Those are my two cents.
January 28th, 2010 at 9:32 am
Great contest!!! Thanks for the chance!!!
January 28th, 2010 at 9:34 am
about the:
“Keep in mind though, to win all your posts from now until we get the iPads must be in English only (otherwise we won’t know if you’re trying to sneak in a “fail”!)”
c’mon 98% of my twits are in portuguese… and there’s nothing even close to compare the use of fail in it… if I was going to use fail I use fail not a brazilian word because there’s none to relate it to. If you could think about changing that I would apreciate =P… anyway I’m in.. english or not I’m in…
January 28th, 2010 at 10:39 am
wouldn’t it be awesome if dreamhost put this much time and effort into keeping the servers up and running. All my sites are down for the third time in a week.
January 28th, 2010 at 10:45 am
What’s up with dreamhost and the word FAIL??
Almost Everyday I receive email alert of DAILY UPTIME AND PERFORMANCE SUMMARY of my webhost (dreamhost) with the word FAIL in it.
:p
January 28th, 2010 at 11:46 am
I never get daily uptime on my email, Oo
January 28th, 2010 at 11:55 am
@CajuCLC
I use basicstate.com
It’s a free web site uptime monitor service – server and network failure alerts.
@kurt
This apple a day tablet contest is brilliant. But I Totally Agree With You.
January 28th, 2010 at 2:00 pm
Yeah I fail to see why you love the word ‘fail’.
But I’m going to tweet you.
January 28th, 2010 at 2:20 pm
I really am annoyed with the requirement to have at least two tweets before being able to enter the contest!!!!!!
Thats just ruling out a whole section of your customers for no good reason! Also – why wasn’t this emailed to people via the normal channels??? I only came across the comp by accident by clicking on the wrong link in my favourites
January 28th, 2010 at 2:43 pm
Yeah, I have signed up and move my blog here. WOW
January 28th, 2010 at 2:51 pm
Yep Jake had it right about the rule about having already tweeted before… so people can’t just sign up for 100 twitter accounts and get 100 entries per day (twitter is free and easy to sign up for). Somebody was already doing that which is why we had to make the rule.
Sorry new twitter users! Also, the contest will be announced in the January newsletter, which will probably go out in the next day or so! PROBABLY.
January 28th, 2010 at 3:02 pm
I have to say, this is a great, great idea. I’ve tried to tell my friends that the use of that word just embarrasses me to hear them say.
I was wondering if i could retweet this link http://www.nytimes.com/2009/08/09/magazine/09FOB-onlanguage-t.html and talk about how much i hate the use of that word, and still be okay on the rules.
January 28th, 2010 at 3:41 pm
Hey but force us to write only in english is not fair!
I’m from Chile and I use twitter constantly with people that speaks spanish. Doing this is the same as making it only for english-speaking countries. :(
fail in spanish: Fallar, falló fallamos, falla, fallita…
Also, I’m a happy person, I don’t use to complain in any language :D
January 28th, 2010 at 10:53 pm
January newsletter going out in the next day or so? I call shenanigans! :)
January 29th, 2010 at 2:13 am
I’d like to come out in defense of ‘fail’. It’s not a verb used incorrectly nor is it a shortening of failure; it is in fact a grade (noun).
In the article linked to above, the example given is”
‘ “You actually bought that? FAIL.” This punchy stand-alone fail most likely originated as a shortened form of “You fail” or, more fully, “You fail it”. ‘
This is an incorrect explanation. If the example had been given as “You actually bought that? A+.”, the meaning would have been clear and no-one would get their knickers in a knot about incorrect grammar.
I can even imagine an English teacher somewhere at this exact moment saying to their students, “Jane, your blog post is a ‘PASS’ but I’m sorry Josh, your blog post is a ‘FAIL’.” Would any of that teacher’s students even raise an eyebrow at the teacher’s grammar? I think not.
So ‘fail’ is a noun that is often used in an abbreviated context to mean, “I award that a grade of ‘FAIL’.”
Can I have an iPad please for my bold and foolish defense of the word ‘fail’?
January 29th, 2010 at 11:13 am
I only speak and write English, but I don’t think your “English only” rule is right. The problem is “FAIL,” not different languages version of fail. For that matter, there’s probably a number of languages where the equivalent word is not a meme but a long-established standard.
Instead, why not just require some English language posts? You’re battling FAIL, not (say) the Russian equivalent thereof.
January 29th, 2010 at 12:36 pm
I agree with Steven Fisher here. The problem is the meme – english speaking twitters will be able to say “failure”, so why can’t other users who speak (or text) in other languages say “failure” on their native language as well?
January 29th, 2010 at 2:19 pm
Sorry I tried to rig the system. I fail :(
January 29th, 2010 at 2:37 pm
These Apples are awesome
January 29th, 2010 at 3:11 pm
I might as well do it too then. Though I’ve used “fail” in that context before. Sometimes it works for space reasons. Other times not.
January 29th, 2010 at 3:33 pm
Hahah your update made me laugh so hard. Poor Dreamhosttablet! LOL. Oh and I have never in my entire twitter-life (err, twitter lifetime?) have used the term “fail”. So count me in, I’ll be tweeting this baby daily!
January 29th, 2010 at 4:16 pm
Wow, the number of posts doubled after the ‘update update’ but no response from the DH team. Isn’t there something about sweepstakes origination from most US states (incl CA) have to be open to all or it is technically a lottery (ergo gambling), thus requiring a license from the state.
Just say’n… a response would be nice.
January 29th, 2010 at 4:45 pm
twitting and hosting with Dreamhost from Romania :) I also subscribe to what j said above.
happy twitting! :)
January 29th, 2010 at 8:38 pm
I hope it’s fine to use the word win as in the context of “I hope I win the tablet” :)
January 30th, 2010 at 8:02 am
Dreamost Requires Every Able Man However Old Shall Testify.
January 30th, 2010 at 4:13 pm
I just followed @dreamhost and give a tweet with my twitter account: @chotoan
Thanks!
January 30th, 2010 at 4:15 pm
Here is my Tweet :D
http://twitter.com/chotoan/status/8430650110
January 30th, 2010 at 4:42 pm
ugh– my horrible, fat, ugly, lazy roommate uses the f-word all the time. it’s ridiculous. she also says (in real-life speech) “bee-tee-dubs” which apparently is annoying roommate speak for “btw” aka “by the way”. i really hate my roommate!
January 30th, 2010 at 10:45 pm
Shouldn’t you be thinking about Haiti right now?
January 31st, 2010 at 8:29 am
Twitt …
January 31st, 2010 at 8:51 am
I tweeted! http://twitter.com/sarahsmom32/status/8457839826
sarahsmom32
January 31st, 2010 at 12:45 pm
Interesting and not sure how to tweet new at this @ DreamHost
January 31st, 2010 at 5:22 pm
@susan,
New twitter accounts are ineligible. Sorry sister
Quote:
Only twitter accounts with at least two tweets from BEFORE today (January 27th, 2010) are going to be eligible to win. I’m talking to you @dreamhosttablet! Also, remember you can only enter once per day no matter how many times that day you tweet with “dreamhost” in it…. once again I’m talking to you, @dreamhosttablet!
January 31st, 2010 at 5:26 pm
I have a question for the DreamHost guys!
Are Tweets with just #DreamHost in them eligible or do you also have to include DreamHost (without the @ or #) somewhere else in the tweet as well?
January 31st, 2010 at 5:44 pm
Um, can I enter… I’ve had twitter for a few months, but haven’t posted anything yet.
January 31st, 2010 at 7:08 pm
What if, hypothetically, someone accidentally posted the word “fail” in a tweet(s) before knowing this contest existed and then deleted those tweet(s). Would they be eligible for the contest?
February 1st, 2010 at 1:34 am
Hmmm… I’ve being a member of twitter community for close to 3 years now and Dreamhost’s customer for quite some time as well, sadly haven’t used twitter enough to qualify (2 posts) for this contest. I usually follow other companies EVGA, Dreamhost, etc instead of posting about myself. It’s a shame really, there had to be a better way to handle this contest…
February 1st, 2010 at 6:19 am
Twitted! http://twitter.com/jadedollar/status/8499740289
February 1st, 2010 at 10:37 am
@Dreamhost (does this blog count, because I refuse to be a twit.)
February 1st, 2010 at 11:46 am
I have drifted on to @Dreamhost with the dream of an Apple-A-Day Tablet
February 1st, 2010 at 12:28 pm
I would love to win this
February 1st, 2010 at 1:27 pm
I’m tweeting away http://twitter.com/austang
February 1st, 2010 at 4:03 pm
Green Design Community needs an iPad! http://twitter.com/GreenDesignComm
February 1st, 2010 at 6:48 pm
Count Me in !!!!! YEAAAA !!
February 1st, 2010 at 8:22 pm
Tweet is away! :)
http://twitter.com/CloudStorm87/status/8529031326
February 1st, 2010 at 8:36 pm
Count me in… http://twitter.com/Harug
February 1st, 2010 at 10:08 pm
Here is an issue. The majority of the people I know have used fail, failed or # fail in a tweet. “I failed the test.” Well, I guess this contest excludes millions of people. And, that’s just wrong.
February 2nd, 2010 at 2:01 am
I have tweeted also! here is my id @ladyimran
from malaysia with love!
February 2nd, 2010 at 7:02 am
Yay to the Hopefully Final Update!
It is a shame that a promotion announced with optimistic aims and an open heart has to have conditions placed on it to hedge against opportunists, but I’m glad you guys are doing your best to be inclusive of people who just want to play along in the spirit it was intended. It feels like the DreamHost mindset. Now let’s get those iPads shipped so the whole thing can be done with!
February 2nd, 2010 at 7:04 am
sad to know that your new promo code (777) does not apply in my region… i’ll try my luck with the ipad :)
February 2nd, 2010 at 8:07 am
wow.. really great giveaway…
February 2nd, 2010 at 8:40 am
This is really exciting! Thanks @Dreamhost for a neat tweet for Twitterers!
February 2nd, 2010 at 10:13 am
How long is this contest going to last? :O
February 2nd, 2010 at 10:15 am
So because I didn’t discover this post on Jan 27th or before, I’m automatically disqualified simply because I used fail? Wow DH that’s quite unfair of you. Don’t think that’s gonna help in the campaign to get folks to stop using it.
February 2nd, 2010 at 6:41 pm
“tweet”/”tweets”/”tweeting” are OK, but “fail”/”win” aren’t? ‘seems kind of arbitrary :P
February 2nd, 2010 at 9:44 pm
Apple Ipod, it simply best in ipods, 16 GB wi-fi ipod is a very usefull to any one who need surfing and music also. its music sound is like a blast.
February 3rd, 2010 at 12:34 am
http://twitter.com/MCJunkie/status/8580330955
February 3rd, 2010 at 2:11 am
Just use f41l instead…
February 3rd, 2010 at 8:40 am
Ok, wow. From Merriam-Webster’s:
Main Entry: (2) fail
Function: noun
Date: 13th century
1 : failure —usually used in the phrase without fail
2 : a failure (as by a security dealer) to deliver or receive securities within a prescribed period after purchase or sale
Fail as a noun has meant failure since the 13th century.
I’m sorry you’re annoyed, but please do the research before you decide that something isn’t English.
February 3rd, 2010 at 10:54 am
Using only “@DreamHost” (and not “DreamHost”) on the tweets count as a valid?
February 3rd, 2010 at 11:14 am
Fail.
February 4th, 2010 at 12:02 am
In case, one is wondering to give a head start to their business, it is essential to understand the relevance of the “Start” from other aspects like result and maintenance. It is important that one makes the right choice of launch pad when planning to foray into the online domain. Nirvana Canada is one of the few companies which believes in the high importance of start of a business than anything else.
February 4th, 2010 at 6:41 am
Tweeted http://twitter.com/ladylisa1/status/8634314641
February 4th, 2010 at 10:14 am
http://twitter.com/MCJunkie/status/8641978893
February 4th, 2010 at 12:02 pm
I love this contest idea. ;-)
February 4th, 2010 at 2:17 pm
I like the idea and it’s great that you are only accepting people with existing Twitter accounts and for those who don’t understand: There are these things out there called ‘Free Sites’ that post freebie offers and contests. These sites tend to BOMBARD contests with hundreds of thousands of people who have absolutely no interest in the company. Such as … people pretending to be businesses just to get free stuff from that business. The moment this starts spreading, those sites will start posting the requirements. Limiting it to existing accounts keeps things manageable … and well, it’s also nice to hit people who would likely have real use for it. No, not everyone who is techy jumped on Twitter and who would like one is on Twitter… but I see their point.
February 4th, 2010 at 3:16 pm
Can’t wait till I get mine! keep up the good work DreamHost!
February 4th, 2010 at 3:30 pm
How I wish.. still Dreamhost is really clever. With all this advertising this might even become profitable for Dreamhost!
Way to go DH great marketing.
February 4th, 2010 at 9:11 pm
QUESTION.
HOW ARE YOU COLLECTING THE TWEETS? MY ACCOUNT IS PRIVATE AND DOES NOT APPEAR ON THE PUBLIC TIMELINE. HOWEVER, I FOLLOW @DreamHost.
February 4th, 2010 at 11:15 pm
twitter contests make me sad. why must i twitter to love dreamhost and join the fun? i just don’t want to share like that or that much or have people friending or following me. kinda sucks that pretty much every contest out there these days forces you to join. oh well. maybe this too will pass.
February 5th, 2010 at 12:52 am
Fuck off with your stupid contests, asking people to spam is not what makes Twitter better
February 5th, 2010 at 1:08 am
I love DreamHost!!
February 5th, 2010 at 2:30 am
I’ve just made a terrible mistake ….. I linked to this contest on Twitter thus decreasing my chances ….. I feel such a fail-ure ….. I’m doomed I tell you ……. doomed
February 5th, 2010 at 2:34 am
What a bloody mess, it may be funny in the newsletter but all these conditions (non US, before 27th) then undoing of conditions just creates bad will.
Going to lookup BlueHost now, they may not offer a contest but they don’t dangle something in front of me, take it away and then say maybe we will maybe we won’t.
Arseholes.
February 5th, 2010 at 4:01 am
http://twitter.com/techfreaks/status/8674036606
Here is my entry. Hoping to win. I have been a loyal dreamhost customer for long and I love such cool giveaway’s from Dreamhost.
February 5th, 2010 at 4:08 am
I am very surprised Dreamhost has decided to offer this anti-freedom device in a contest.
Everyone should be aware of what the Ipad means:
http://www.fsf.org/news/ibad_launch
Considering Dreamhost relies heavily on Free software and the staff acts under principles of sharing, contributing back and making information availabe (es evidenced for example in the great support wiki), I am deeply disappointed.
February 5th, 2010 at 4:53 am
Great way to go. I’m curious to checkout the ipad. Thank you DREAMhost
February 5th, 2010 at 5:02 am
This appallingly non-free device is a direct threat to individual freedom. http://lifehacker.com/5458690/the-problem-with-the-apple-ipad
The iPad is under an astonishing amount of control by its vendor, who has complete control over every single application running on the device, and can also disable any feature remotely at their whim. This excludes any free software programs, of course, but also any hope of the owner having control over their own device.
Needless to say, it also enthusiastically implements Digital Restrictions Management to deny the user their rights in whatever information they may obtain on the device. http://www.defectivebydesign.org/apple
As a current Dreamhost customer, I expect you to support freedom for computer users better than this. Please, regain our trust by retracting this offer; a less user-hostile prize can surely be found.
February 5th, 2010 at 5:23 am
Here’s my entry: http://twitter.com/ICONGames/status/8676354909
Help a poor brazilian developer to get his hands on the iPad!
February 5th, 2010 at 5:25 am
…and also this one: http://twitter.com/ICONGames/status/8676667226
MORE tweets = more chances? LOL
February 5th, 2010 at 6:48 am
okay, I would like a free ipad, who wouldn’t??? DreamHost wins!
February 5th, 2010 at 7:07 am
Please consider my tweet here: http://twitter.com/vikasguptajnu/status/8680275303
February 5th, 2010 at 7:27 am
Greetings from Mexico!! As always all this contest US only! LOL when ever I read something like this, I don’t get my hope up high anymore. Goodluck to all! And to dreamhost love your service!
February 5th, 2010 at 7:34 am
I was excited about the contest, however, I have a few picayune points about the set up:
1. Those of us who didn’t find out IMMEDIATELY (aka by reading the blog) are told we have lost chances to enter. Fair enough, but why wasn’t the contest announced ALSO via your @dreamhost Twitter account? Speaking for myself, most blogs that I follow also automate their postings directly to Twitter, which means that I don’t have to be dependent on a RSS aggregator as much anymore. As I see that you’re running WordPress, you can use plugins like Twitter Tools to automate posting blog entry announcements to Twitter as they are done. Just posting a shortened link to your Twitter account without a heading does nothing (when a blog announcement is posted).
2. I take umbrage with calling out to those who use colloquaialisms and slang as automatic disqualifies for the contest when the author(s) of the blog post AND email post cannot even use grammatically correct sentence structures themselves.
For example, “Because to enter all you have to do is send a ‘tweet’ from ‘twitter’ at most once per day (you can only enter once a day no matter how many tweets you do) with the word “dreamhost” in it!”
Tweet should not be quotes and neither should Twitter, and as Twitter is a proper noun, it should also be capitalized. The posts are riddled with other grammatical mistakes, but the point being, why is Dreamhost begrudging people for Internet slang when they can’t even seemingly master simple English grammar themselves?
Just a thought.
February 5th, 2010 at 7:54 am
Very cool. I am in.
February 5th, 2010 at 8:41 am
Super sweet tasty treat! I’m in too.
February 5th, 2010 at 9:41 am
Well, I tweeted. I like DreamHost a lot too.
February 5th, 2010 at 10:45 am
I believe this has been asked before, but what if we have a “protected” account with private entries that only our friends can see? Will you still be able to log our entries?
February 5th, 2010 at 11:53 am
Fail.
February 5th, 2010 at 12:59 pm
Rule Setting Fail.
I hope that your servers are not run like this. It would be a disaster if design decisions were changed as much as the rules of this competition.
February 5th, 2010 at 1:37 pm
@list 150
Good point’s “you” Have about, grammr and sentece consruction and speling but Competition winning epic fail.
February 5th, 2010 at 2:19 pm
I feel like I probably shouldn’t post anything here, because I have nothing to complain about – I got lucky and I pass all the rigorous qualifications needed to be entered. Whew.
Tweet sent, more to follow.
Good luck to everyone else, but not too much of it.
February 5th, 2010 at 6:17 pm
Tweeted this message, hopefully more will follow.
Would love to win this device and test the limits.
February 5th, 2010 at 6:18 pm
If I win, I’m going to transfer my account to dreamhost :)
February 6th, 2010 at 7:33 am
Thanks for hosting a TOY give away.
iPad hates developers and education. If it loved education it’d let kids program on it. This is why game consoles hate education.
February 6th, 2010 at 10:19 am
I likey :) saraminda on twitter
February 6th, 2010 at 4:15 pm
http://twitter.com/MCJunkie/status/8742272039
February 6th, 2010 at 5:56 pm
like but…
February 8th, 2010 at 8:38 am
Interesting Contest and I hope I win (this would be my first) :)
P.S: I am sure you guys have realized it but still.. the comment numbers are going out of the page wrap area ;)
February 8th, 2010 at 9:39 am
fingers x’d :) and thanks !!
February 8th, 2010 at 10:51 am
oh great a contest for international twitters great
Dream host thanx for this nice contest
February 8th, 2010 at 7:59 pm
What a nice contest. I’m attending now :)
February 8th, 2010 at 10:20 pm
Is there still time to enter the contest? Did I do this correctly?
https://twitter.com/csowsley/status/8843944173
February 9th, 2010 at 5:13 am
When will this contest end?
Have those iPads not arrived yet?
Are those iPads real anyway :)?
February 9th, 2010 at 9:46 am
same question as @CW Owsley, assuming I’ve done all I need to do with a post that simply says “DreamHost ftw baby” …
http://twitter.com/spopejoy/status/8863622653
February 9th, 2010 at 1:29 pm
Hi, just wondering when the contest will end – in other words, are you actually going to go through late march (Apple claims they aren’t shipping the iPads until late march)? Thanks!
February 9th, 2010 at 1:42 pm
I must say that despite few things being goofy with the way this promotion was handled, I have to acknowledge that Dreamhost guys did pay attention to people/customers and corrected few of those issues. That alone definitely earned a few points in my book. I was thinking of transferring out a few of my smaller domains in order to save some cash, but now will keep them at Dreamhost and will throw a few good words about DH to people who need hosting (I am in IT, so get asked plenty). Thanks DH for staying responsive despite all the growth over the last few years. :)
February 10th, 2010 at 3:08 pm
Been posting status updates throughout the week:
http://twitter.com/purenintendo/status/8681709769
Looking forward to when the contest winners are announced!
February 11th, 2010 at 4:02 am
@Simon Jessy
Hey Simon,
You better blame the American Law for the fact that Apple has a software patent.
Software patents are rediculous!
So Apple just made a smart business decision.
We have no such patent in Europe, hence we have Android and others with multitouch.
So maybe better use your vote next time :).
Apple products simply rule. Microsoft software sucks and Linux is just not where it could be :).
well, just my 2€cents
February 11th, 2010 at 7:24 am
@Vincent, well put. I’m an ardent Linux user, but your sentiment that “Linux is just not where it could be” is spot-on.
February 12th, 2010 at 2:06 am
What happens if our tweets have fail in them legitimately? Such as the phrase “Never fails to amaze me”
Are these dicounted?
February 12th, 2010 at 6:51 am
Am I wasting my time to enter?
“Only twitter accounts with at least two tweets from BEFORE today (January 27th, 2010) are going to be eligible to win. I’m talking to you @dreamhosttablet! Also, remember you can only enter once per day no matter how many times that day you tweet with “dreamhost” in it…. once again I’m talking to you, @dreamhosttablet!”
The rest reads as having issues with dreamhosttablet.
CONFUSING!
February 14th, 2010 at 12:56 pm
❤ Happy V-Day ! ❤
February 15th, 2010 at 5:16 am
Has anyone been contacted by dreamhost yet?
Just wondering if all my tweets have been to no avail.
February 16th, 2010 at 7:04 am
Lot of whiners posting.
It’s a giveaway, adhere to the rules, end of story. Dreamhost didn’t HAVE to give these away, they CHOSE to, and if they want to limit the giveaway in any way, that is their RIGHT.
If they were to change the rules and say it was only open to left handers, well, there you go, it’s their choice.
I think it’s a great giveaway, and regardless of how locked down the ipad is, it is THE tech product of 2010, and the perfect choice.
Good luck to all, after I win there will only be 9 left. ;)
February 16th, 2010 at 9:33 am
>> Good luck to all, after I win there will only be 9 left. ;)
Shouldn’t it be 19? Since they’re giving away 20 iPads???
One thing I didn’t understand is WHEN this contest ends: “The contest ends on the day we get 20 16GB Wifi iPads physically in our possession”
Are you going to announce when they arrive? Is there an “estimate” to when this is going to happen? I just want to know for how long I should keep spamming my twitter account with “dreamhost posts”…
…and be aware that if I don’t get an iPad, I will write this ‘forbidden word’ over and over and over again!! =)
February 16th, 2010 at 10:36 am
Slotman – we expect to have them in late March or early April. We’ll post here on the blog when they arrive and will include a list of winners as well.
February 16th, 2010 at 5:51 pm
Thank you for including the Philippines in your contest radar
February 19th, 2010 at 6:28 am
Thanks Brett! Looking forward for the results :)
February 22nd, 2010 at 3:08 pm
Mmh, would be psyched to win me one of those!
Here is my first tweet: http://twitter.com/Sandra516/statuses/9497848161
I’m curious though, is it really just allowed once daily? I notice some people are entering a lot more then that! Should I do the same or will they be disqualified?
Thanks for the contest:)
February 23rd, 2010 at 8:22 am
Curious as to how you plan to data mine and pick entries?
February 23rd, 2010 at 11:22 am
Been tweeting non-stop!
Love the idea of winning a iPad from my new hosting provider. Will guarantee I’m a customer for years to come, and no doubt I’ll be writing about winning with DreamHost if I do.
Can’t wait!
Something that may be worth mentioning, too may whiners. DreamHost you should have never changed the rules. It’s your contest and your iPads, so you can do what you want with them! No need to comply to the mass of idiots who do nothing but complain!
February 24th, 2010 at 10:55 am
Continuing my tweets! Also, I agree with others that it is your giveaway, and you can limit the rules to however you want.
February 25th, 2010 at 5:09 am
Will continue to tweet! Great contest idea! @madly59
February 25th, 2010 at 8:14 am
May the lucky winners use it well. Thanks DH for doing this contest.
February 25th, 2010 at 1:22 pm
Does anyone know if you need to tweet @dreamhost or is regular old dreamhost fine? And yes, thanks DH! This is wonderful
February 27th, 2010 at 2:46 am
My post on Twitter ( I follow you) @madly59 http://twitter.com/madly59/status/9724322498
February 27th, 2010 at 5:31 am
Thanks still tweeting :) @ladylisa1
February 27th, 2010 at 6:01 am
So am i, still tweeting!
i love this contest! :D
@apperd on twitter ;D
February 28th, 2010 at 10:41 am
I’ve been tweeting. Here is my latest tweet: http://twitter.com/kathyluman/status/9786593324
March 1st, 2010 at 10:26 am
Can this be clarified “Also also also also note: you can now not use the term “win” either, at least not in the context “full of win”.”
Am I disqualified because I tweet with the word Win in it? I have several tweets where I tweet to my followers where they can win, usually blog giveaways….does that mean I can’t enter???
March 1st, 2010 at 4:32 pm
Oh… I didn’t expect that:
Update Update Update Update
Okay whiners, fine: you can post in any language, but your DreamHost-mentioning posts must be in English.
So it means all my posts till now are not worth?
Oh… sorry for being so “localist” ant not to tweet in English. BTW:
3. To enter, simply post a “tweet” via twitter that includes the word DreamHost in it (upper case and content of tweet do not matter… but spelling does!). (I don’t read “in English”
anywhere)
Am I a whiner… I may be, but don’t tell me my 11 DreamHost tweets from @sonabloc are useless, because I’ve been hammering my ~10 followers with all the good words I had about DreamHost… In Catalan, yes!!!
Just tellme this update is not really true, please!!!!!! :(
March 2nd, 2010 at 9:10 pm
I just saw the update. My twitter account is my_twitraccount. I’ve been trying to be somewhat creative about this (since it gets boring otherwise) and have been using random song lyrics and bits of poems with the word dream in them (and replacing “dream” with “dreamhost”).
I really hope this doesn’t get my tweets disqualified for “fishy stuff”?
I also use my twitter account mainly to enter contests, so the majority of my tweets are contest entries. Many which have the word “win” in them, as in “Win an iPad!” If I’m reading the rules right, that’s okay…but I still hope that doesn’t disqualify me, either.
March 6th, 2010 at 8:40 pm
VERY generous and awesome giveaway! I would REALLY love a chance to win one!! Have been tweeting and trying to be very careful to follow the rules and tweet 1x per day. Very excited!! Can’t wait!! THANK YOU!!
March 7th, 2010 at 8:18 am
tweeted:http://twitter.com/kathyluman/status/10125661714
March 9th, 2010 at 4:56 am
Great idea, great giveaway. You rock! \m/ @madly59
March 9th, 2010 at 2:31 pm
Who is ezrabot? Why do I see nine million tweets from this account every time I do a search for DreamHost on twitter?
March 12th, 2010 at 4:49 am
great giveaway!.. hope to win one of it
March 12th, 2010 at 7:52 am
Wow, you are too funny! What a great contest!!
March 13th, 2010 at 8:13 am
Following and tweeting @ladylisa1 Can’t wait until they come in on April 3rd crossing fingers for a chance to win one. :) Love the rules I think I passed all the updates hehe.
March 15th, 2010 at 10:39 am
http://twitter.com/fangirljen/status/10527288085 TWEET
March 16th, 2010 at 7:10 am
http://twitter.com/fangirljen/status/10571248090 Continuing to TWEET and hoping that we get some good solid reviews on the IPad soon. I am still thinking that it looks like a giant I-Phone.
March 17th, 2010 at 11:30 pm
http://twitter.com/Cool_Dany/status/10659182509
i wanna win atleast one
March 17th, 2010 at 11:31 pm
Tweeting frequently from the day 1 .Hope to win. http://twitter.com/binoyxj/status/10659125946
March 18th, 2010 at 9:02 pm
Following and posting on twitter @lambchop1965
March 19th, 2010 at 6:00 am
Great Contest…Thanks.. :)
March 19th, 2010 at 12:31 pm
oohhh I hope that they tell the results soon! I would not mind getting one of those =)
March 21st, 2010 at 12:04 am
http://twitter.com/joby14/status/10810947412
March 21st, 2010 at 3:12 pm
I follow as carolynishis and i tweeted here.
http://twitter.com/carolynishis/status/10840156527
Thank you for havinf this contest.
March 22nd, 2010 at 8:07 am
Great Contest :) Tweeting @rsj2000mrs
March 23rd, 2010 at 7:31 am
Count me in!! :) http://twitter.com/gppkd/status/10927414362
March 23rd, 2010 at 9:52 pm
http://twitter.com/ferdinand_dti/status/10949476706
http://twitter.com/ferdinand_dti/status/10842572454
http://twitter.com/ferdinand_dti/status/10815954837
http://twitter.com/ferdinand_dti/status/10768274195
http://twitter.com/ferdinand_dti/status/10694337743
http://twitter.com/ferdinand_dti/status/10644051409
http://twitter.com/ferdinand_dti/status/10592756092
http://twitter.com/ferdinand_dti/status/10540784841
http://twitter.com/ferdinand_dti/status/10511291327
http://twitter.com/ferdinand_dti/status/10445093575
http://twitter.com/ferdinand_dti/status/10397821228
http://twitter.com/ferdinand_dti/status/10345485822
http://twitter.com/ferdinand_dti/status/10295532675
http://twitter.com/ferdinand_dti/status/10242441894
http://twitter.com/ferdinand_dti/status/10193539061
http://twitter.com/ferdinand_dti/status/10153875972
http://twitter.com/ferdinand_dti/status/10046829257
http://twitter.com/ferdinand_dti/status/10242441894
http://twitter.com/ferdinand_dti/status/10112319773
http://twitter.com/ferdinand_dti/status/10046829257
http://twitter.com/ferdinand_dti/status/10010318454
http://twitter.com/ferdinand_dti/status/9949587052
http://twitter.com/ferdinand_dti/status/9905845886
http://twitter.com/ferdinand_dti/status/9905242061
http://twitter.com/ferdinand_dti/status/9842258269
http://twitter.com/ferdinand_dti/status/9842148559
http://twitter.com/ferdinand_dti/status/9796391212
http://twitter.com/ferdinand_dti/status/9652108520
http://twitter.com/ferdinand_dti/status/9610570188
http://twitter.com/ferdinand_dti/status/9550586876
http://twitter.com/ferdinand_dti/status/9512758477
http://twitter.com/ferdinand_dti/status/9449227230
http://twitter.com/ferdinand_dti/status/9311727495
http://twitter.com/ferdinand_dti/status/9212549851
http://twitter.com/ferdinand_dti/status/9138286104
http://twitter.com/ferdinand_dti/status/9091621090
AND COUNTING….