Or not... Just curious gang. Anybody here ever win any of the Kalmbach Publishing contests? Anyone here ever know anybody who won any of the Kalmbach Publishing contests? Maybe I am just full of sour grapes here lately but I recently realized that I have been entering those Model Railroader and Trains Magazine contests for as long as they have been doing them and have never won so much as free copy from them. Nor do I know of anyone who has. So who wins these contests? I realize it is a big world but is it just luck, or is it a conspiracy? Hmmmm... Same goes for the Dr. Pepper contests. Over the span of the last 25 years I estimate that I have drank at least 32,000 gallons of Dr. Pepper. I have looked inside every 12 pack carton and on the bottom of every bottle cap from day one, and all I have to show for it is a gut and a couple of kidney stones in a little vial!
Nope! But I can't even count how many times I was ALMOST a winner in the Publisher's Clearinghouse sweepstakes!
Not only that, these damn sweepstakes is what causes a substancial amount of junk mail to be stuffed in your snail-mail box-- Entering them is what gives out your address.
I've won nothing at all - Since MR is based in the USA they can easily afford to disregard those North of the Border - including layout reviews but they never forget you at subscription time.
Not bashing Kalmbach Publishing but so many of these things are not worth your time. I believe for those that are US based you can ask for company for that information and they will provide it (in time and most likely at a cost to you). SOme of these contests can actually go on for years and that info is documented in the fine print that you have to obtain from them. As an example: The Model Railroader 70th Anniversary Boxcar Sweepstakes - OFFICIAL RULES #6 Winner’s List. For a list of winners, send a stamped, self-addressed envelope to: The Model Railroader 70th Anniversary Boxcar Sweepstakes Winners List, P.O. Box 1612, Waukesha, WI 53187-1612. Residents of FL, VT, and WA may omit stamp. Requests must be received by November 30, 2004. Or check the Model Railroader web site (www.modelrailroader.com) each month for the previous month’s winner.
"Win" is an interesting word these days. I do not know about Kalmbach, but every time you click on a site, someone knows about it and you will eventually go on multiple mailing lists and other more subtle lists. Evern notice that the ads that appear on your Yahoo opening page seems to be keyed to where you have been cruising? I noticed it a year ago when I went on line to get information on a two automobiles I was going to purchase. To this day, ads appear for new cars and financing therefor, even though I never even tried to download a mortgage calculator, no less visit GMAC or the like.
Yahoo states up front, when you sign on to their services, they gather user information. Even if you choose to "opt out" they still gather certain data. Yahoo, and their Groups, survive and thrive by selling advertising. They want you to see the banners, and click on those ads. So their money keeps coming in. You can minimize some of the data gathering, by using anti-spyware tools that block tracking cookies. They are not 100% certain. But are a great help. Such as Ad-Aware, SpyBot, SpySweeper. It's up to you to be knowledgeable, and to protect yourself. Boxcab E50
Microsoft offers a great Anti spyware for free at http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyID=321cd7a2-6a57-4c57-a8bd-dbf62eda9671&displaylang=en It is BETA but I have been using it for over a year and no problems with the cookies and the push and pull stuff
I currently use Adaware and Spybot. A year ago, a friend of mine was over at the house. He is a programmer and I mentioned that I thought Spybot and Adaware were terrific. He sat down and opened my registry and showed me what was planted in there and for how long. Neither program even saw the stuff. I am considering installation of the Microsoft program and will probably do it soon.
I was a winner once. I filled out the contest form and sent it in. The one that says you don't have to subscribe to enter the contest. They started sending me MR mags. Then they started threatening me with non payment stuff, and I was like "well gee I guess they'll stop sending me the mag now" but it came for a while longer. I never signed up, I never sent them any credit card infoeither. They just started sending me MR and hoped I'd be willing to pay for it. I got about half a years worth of mags. I never did hear back from them.