THE BRIGHT SIDE PROJECT WINNERS CLAIM CHEAT SHEET
Miss B here, I am the one that gets the bulk of your emails that are 21 kinds of frantic. Although we have tried to make the BSP as easy as pie, it seems that to some it’s more like a pop quiz. We do have a FAQ (frequently ask questions) tab at the top of our site that answers A LOT but for those that refuse to read that I am going to attempt a Cheat Sheet of sorts. We had a very insane night with the introduction of SWOOP which is where you can claim an unclaimed prize that has been sitting in the YELLOW box marked ‘You Won!’ for over a week. I had a few readers email me a virtual shopping list of claimed prizes. Claimed. Sorry if there was confusion but UNCLAIMED only can be SWOOPED. The name must be sitting in the YELLOW box for one week. Example–we announce on Wednesday’s (unless a contributor is having a rough time choosing) so by the following THURSDAY if you still see a name in the box, it’s SWOOPABLE between the hours of 9a-12p.m. Pacific time BUT you knew that because Miss K did an AWESOME, AWESOME job of explaining that in her SWOOP post, that Miss K is pretty AWESOME. I am NOT that awesome, so I made you a visual Cheat Sheet above that should explain it all. IF the contributor didn’t choose on a Wednesday the winner has ONE WEEK from the time they were listed in the YELLOW box to claim their prize. You see this SWOOPING bit is not for the meek or uncompetitive amongst us, it’s for the readers that are loyal (die hard) readers and are ardently following the project we know who you are and we wanted to reward you for your dedication. If you aren’t a die hard yet, try it you might like it. Honestly I was hard pressed to be convinced that we shouldn’t just divvy up the unclaimed prizes between the two of us but that’s where the awesomeness of Miss K comes in. Aren’t you glad she co-runs this joint?
So look through the above if you are still confused, hmmm? Well, just let me know in the comments and I will try to clarify because if you have a burning question chances are another reader is thinking the same thing and I aim to please…
P.S. For those that swooped last night and won because of their incredible reflexes, big brains and attention to detail, Congrats! Please note if you try to SWOOP without all the information requested in your email the email is disqualified and deleted. Again, PLEASE read Miss K’s post she has bullet points! I promise it’s easy just ask winner and Swoopette Extraordinaire Kelsey K. she took home THREE prizes last night.
P.P.S. We announce winners on WEDNESDAYS so for those that are busy like Miss K and myself (trust us we understand BUSY!) all you need to do is check in the Yellow box on Wednesday afternoon or evening even Thursday, Friday, Saturday, Sunday, the following Monday, following Tuesday or even the following Wednesday–Just ONCE we ask that if you play and are interested in the prize just check in ONCE to see if your name is in lights. Then what? Well, read our FAQ page that gives the 411 on how to claim your bounty. See simple as pie, no?
Miss K’s post was clear as anything. But still. I didn’t win. I suppose I was late. Wrong time zones :( . Three prizes?! Holy moly :O !! Kelsey K must be a happy girl!!!
Speaking of time zones… what are the times when we can swoop? The original post said 9pm pacific time. Yes? I think? I swear I can read…
9am-12 pm pacific was the original time frame….
Okay so I made a mistake, you ladies are right it 9a.m.-12p.m. I will fix, thanks!
Man!!! I saw the “Swoop Now!” letters in red in the yellow box and was like, “what the heck?” I should have scrolled down to read the post about swooping, for some reason I didn’t see it. Rats!!!
Hmmm. I think that’s about 4pm-7pm for me, if I counted right. If not, I hope it’s not 4am-7am … lol!!
Oh, I’m in the New Zealand time zone, btw.
For those of us who use the RSS feed heavily (and for those of us whose time zone offset from US Pacific is quite large), it would be much easier to remember to check if we win if you post an entry each time the winners list is updated. Also, it’s not obvious from the winners list when each winner was announced, so it’s difficult to see whether a week has passed on the TBA indications.
Thank you for clarifying! I understand completely now. :) Let’s hope all those would-be swoopers get the message and stop sending you silly requests!
I still don’t understand how you can tell whether the prize has been claimed or not. If the prize has been claimed, then their names wouldn’t be in the “previous winners” box? Is it highlited that they haven’t claimed it yet?
Okay, let’s start wih Amy! Amy, Swoop was instituted for the die hard, dedicated readers, these lovelies know EXACTLY when I’ve posted something because they know say Tuesday the TBA was up and then on Wednesday it’s a name. As mentioned SWOOPING was made for these people, these are the people that email me and tell me that someone hasn’t claimed their prize, etc. Not everyone will be this dedicated, we know that. My suggestion is if you really want to get on this SWOOP frenzy, follow one item you want BAAAAD and watch if the winner claims or not. We know not everyone will be as meticulous as the Swoop All Stars, but maybe say you are better at answering questions and the Swoopers are better at well, swooping…
Imelda L. :: The YELLOW box is where you will be watching for unclaimed prizes. We announce winners on Wednesdays, the winner has 1 week to claim their prize, once an item is claimed within that week they get removed from the yellow box. Since I work full-time, I don’t take claims down the second they are claimed but I DO take them down before the week is up.
Again, Swooping isn’t for everyone and I do believe that the Swooper Sect has that competitive gene going because everyone that won had the concept down in like 2 secs, the emails were detailed and formatted perfectly and they knew EXACTLY what they wanted.
Thank You Miss B!!
I missed the whole time zone thing AND that it starts on the Thursday of the following week…..LORDY I’M SORRY FOR THE FAUX SWOOP EMAILS TODAY…my most humble apologies :) I promise I’ll get better at this….it was just so exciting to see there was a second chance at these amazing giveaways!
I’ll admit to being confused. I’ve been waiting (im)patiently for the time to turn 12:00 pm EDT (9:00 am PACIFIC). I haven’t seen new winners posted, nor have I seen SWOOP next to the prizes that should be up for grabs. I sent two emails seconds after 9 a.m. PACIFIC, but should I have waited until the SWOOP appears? Yes, I am a college grad, believe it or no!
Thanks for the opportunities and the lovely idea of bringing a bit of sunshine into each and every day – yellow is my favorite color!
I have to admit I am still quite confused in the swooping. Are the people listed in the “previous winners” link swoopable? How can you tell if the prize has been claimed?
Ohh Miss B….what’s with the new dates in red in the Yellow Box? Inquiring swooping minds want to know.
Delia–The red dates are to let people know when the winner was announced. That starts the clock for the winner to claim the prize.
Miss K, thank you! Got it now. One week from date and we pounce, erm, I mean swoop. :)
:)
Miss B. and Miss K.-
Just wanted to give a shout out to both of you for your patience!
Nice work :)
Hi Linda! You can only SWOOP items that have been left UNCLAIMED in the YELLOW box for OVER ONE WEEK since they were announced. The red date indicates when they were announced. We try to get all contributors to give us their winners on Tuesday evening so we can post on Wednesday, it doesn’t always work that way thus the red dates. A CLAIMED prize gets moved out of the yellow box. AGAIN, they have ONE WEEK to claim and I have one week to move them (this is a volunteer venture right now and I do have a full-time j-o-b) but I promise I will NEVER leave a claimed prize up there for over a week. I hope this helps:)
The Valsey & Me winner is listed in the yellow box, which would indicate that it is unclaimed so far. However, there’s no red date listed beside it. Was there just not enough room? What date was that winner announced?
Thanks.
And thank you for spreading so much sunshine! :)
I thought I had the swoop thing down but….SFGIRLBYBAY winner was announced Tuesday 8/4 and was swooped Tuesday 8/11. Isn’t that a day premature? Thought they would have had Tues to Tues to claim the prize and it would then be swoopable on Wed by 9am pacific. I’m trying to get this down so that I don’t miss another opportunity. Thanks!
I have no Idea if my claimed prize will actually be sent to me ; the posted winner..I must be getting old and fuzzybrained is there any way to tell?????.I sent an email to winner@thebrightsideproject and I got back an email failure notice
I am still thinking that something fishy is going on….I have tried to SWOOP at the exact moment and don’t win. I also think it’s fishy that the same people (example: Gail Knowles, Tara, Lindsay) have won like 3 or 4 times. Huh?
I think I will no longer read The Bright Side Project. It doesn’t make me feel bright, but like a loser. Sorry, but it’s the truth. I am taking you guys off my “everyday” blog list.
Tonya, I do not know Miss K or Miss B. I just love this site and happen to have a long and colorful life, which I share with the contributors. If it would cheer you up, I haven’t won anything in quite a long while!
The original swoop post is missing, I can’t find it when I click on the links in the post above.
I tried to read the post also and it’s still not working for some reason. I want to read the bullet points! I’m assuming we just send an email to winner@thebrightsideproject.com with the info as if we are the actual winner.