Contest: The Perfect Road Trip!

Although the number of posts in this contest could not cross the WeChat one, the few that I have read show some great creativity.

I wrote on a road trip in the UAE and one in Uttarakhand. I did see one more post on Uttarakhand (the theme is different from mine though), but has anyone else written on the UAE (just curious)?

I wrote on Uttarakhand ......... 

I am not too sure if my Uttarakhand one would be eligible though. My "vehicles" were mini buses (only thing big enough to carry the whole batch) 

and it was a different one that I read, k2. Seems Uttarakhand is famous ;)

pics in ur post made me remembr our nainital college trip of last year

 yep Uttarakhand is famous 

Mine was Doon to Mussoorie. And ahem .. the first one to be submitted.  Called 'Steam'. 

Well.... my "imaginary" trip was around the World, and it went through UAE. Does that count

If there are no other posts on the UAE, it definitely counts 

Don't worry it'll count   [confused smile]

K2 ... Why a confused smile ??? If you want to smile - Smile like this

yeah .... thats much better

Thank god I posted in the end. does anybody know when they will declare the winner?

It will take a LOT of time.

make that long LONG time 

Time and tide waits for none. You need to keep waiting for the results time. 

[ I know that it was a bad joke.  ]

I was just wondering....

Is it just a formality why they write "IndiVotes" don't matter? Because I have conscious attempts on the part of bloggers to collect them :) Not complaining though...and regarding this contest, very few have read my post owing to an early post... ummm...I got to target the "deadline" line now :|

Look at the results of the previous contests. Even posts with less than 10 votes have won. So, IndiVine votes really do not matter. 

And the reason why everyone likes those votes is that getting more votes moves the post onto the first page of the entries when they are sorted by popularity. Also, the post will get featured on the home page. Which means more visitors to your blog.

In the WeChat contest also, entries were hidden till the end. No one talked about posting at the last moment for increased vsiibility. But now, everyone are talking about it. @Nandini See what you [ and I ] have done. 

Well I never talked about "votes"...I hardly care whether I win a prize or not ...Just about whether people read these posts, because that's the reason why we write in-spite of our tight schedule. I used to write on paper mostly and blogging has been a new direction; that's it :) On the other hand, I am NOT in favor of having a voting option either... "comments" on the blog do have a greater impact I feel.... 

It was just a coincidence that I posted the above reply just after yours. 

Even I'm talking about people reading posts. More votes give your post more exposure and so more people who read your posts. 

And if voting feature is removed from IndiVine, how will posts be sorted?

I don't think that "sorting" has any sort of relevance with the votes... sorting can be addressed in numerous number of ways...will discuss those in due course of time maybe :)

The reason why I say this? The moment someone uses the terminology "vote" there's an intrinsic association with "quality"...a common principle says, a better post might fetch more "votes".....however, people might write an exceptional post that never gets highlighted. I guess here expansion of "network" also fetches more "votes". Do correct me if I am wrong . Again, it's my POV... nothing serious though!

I agree with SAMMYA. If only votes were cast according to quality. I have seen some horrific language mistakes and shoddy grammar getting popular. And often, frills and ribbons on blog templates are given more importance than content. Yes, WHAT you write is important but equally important is HOW you write something. When we call ourselves 'writers' the least we are expected to do is justice to the language we have willingly chosen to express our minds in. If we cannot get the 'the' in the right place, the copy lacks quality. But then, those who blog for votes alone, know how to get them too. At the end of the day, it boils down to WHY you write - some write for freebies, others to take their blogs one step closer to what good content is made of. Different strokes for different folks.  And no one is really 'wrong'!

I never said more votes implies more quality ( It's a different thing that what appears to be a quality post for one person isn't so for another one ) . Did I ? And posts are ordered by votes on the Popular tab. 

And my reply was not in response to your reply. It was just a coincidence that I posted it under your reply. It was meant to have some fun with Nandini. 

Excellent topic..loved every bit of writing my idea of perfect road trip. Made me relive some golden moments!! :) .. Thank you Indiblogger and Ambi pur. 

~ Best Wishes

@KIMI - Best wishes to you also

Thanks :)

All the best Kimi. You are here after a VERY long break. 

Haha...thanks Ranjith and Rio..Being a new mother is tough and keeping me a lot busy..Thanks to you guys for bringing such awesome ideas in contests and steer people like us back to blogging time and again!!! :D

Hello admins, one of my posts for the contest is not visible anymore. This is the message I get when I click on the link through indivine - Sorry, the page you were looking for in this blog does not exist. However I can aceess the post when I check it directly through the blog.Can somebody help or guide on this. Not sure if I should share the link here. 

@ Ragini Instead of submitting http://solitarytravels.blogspot.in/2013/07/a-road-trip-with-mirza-ghalib.html you have submitted http://solitarytravels.blogspot.in/2013/07/a-road-trip-with-ghalib.html and so you are getting that error on your page. As Rio said, you can mail IndiBlogger or do the following which is simpler ( and you need not refresh your mail every few minutes to see if your problem has been addressed  ) :

1. Go to Settings  ›  Search preferences
2. Under Errors and redirections ›  Custom Redirects , click the Edit button.
3. In the from text box, enter /2013/07/a-road-trip-with-ghalib.html  and in the To text box, enter /2013/07/a-road-trip-with-mirza-ghalib.html
4. Click Save 
5. Click Save Button

Now, if you go to http://solitarytravels.blogspot.in/2013/07/a-road-trip-with-ghalib.html, you will be redirected to http://solitarytravels.blogspot.in/2013/07/a-road-trip-with-mirza-ghalib.html. 

Brilliant workaround Ranjith 

Thanks Vijay. 

@ Ragini I forgot about that screenshot thing which has been implemented recently. After the deadline, they take a screenshot of your post page to ensure that you don't submit an empty page ion the deadline day and fill it with a post after deadline.

So, after doing the above thing which I told, open a support ticket saying what you have done. 

Ranjith, you are a godsend! Thank you so much. I remember changing the title of the post a couple of days back thinking just Ghalib sounded a bit disrespectful, as if Ghalib Sahab was my buddy buddy! :P So changed the title to Mirza Ghalib. :) And yes I am technically challenged, so your step by step instruction detail was of great help. Thank you again.

You're welcome Ragini. 

@Rio, thank you to you too! :)

Wow, I have 40+ page views in a day. I think it's all thanks to this post, which has had 150+ views in 4 days! Many people want to go on a road trip perhaps? :))

@Ranjith - When the result will be declared?

Results will be declared only after you send me an S4. 

When r we going to get the winners?

when they declare the results

When will they declare the results? 

.

@ Indu You will have to wait for some days ( sorry, MANY MONTHS )   Sometimes, it takes just a month, sometimes it takes 3-4 months. 

@ Nandini You should say : when Akash sends Ranjith an S4 

why he sends u, why not me?

Because he asked me about the results and not you. 

@ Akash I think your message is missing : 

Look, I've sent you an S4.... Now tell Renie to...

no he gives me by the way u already got samsung for some other contest, now my turn

I'm not using that Samsung mobile I got. I want an/a S4. 

u wont use this one too, so its better i get it ok?

No, I'll use it.* 

* if I feel like using it 

But let me first win. 

@ rajnith. Oho ji ! Itna late... Itne toh koi purchase hi kr lega.. .. bt I decided to wait because I should demand a better gift on my birthday  

Be careful. Sometimes, results get delayed for too many months.  You may have to postpone your birthday. 

@Ranjit, why are you using an for S4, it sould b a S4 ? For this mistake, Akash will not send a S4 to you, but instead will snatch urs, if u win one... U know he is so particular abt gramatical mistakes...right Akash...

an S4 sounds better than a S4. 

an S 4

an es 4

I will appoint a security guard to take care of my S4 if I win it so that Akash doesn't snatch it. 

Security guard? For how many days? instead u can buy a new S4 at tht cost n hand over the price to me I will take care of it better

I will ask Renie to pay for the security guard. 

Bt I will be surely happy If I grab that too... 

@ rajnith. I am defintly not postponing it. It comes only once a year.. So long for long awaited gifts! I am ready to have it on someone else birthday...lol   

If someone gifts you an S4 on your birthday, remember to share it with me. 

I can see some plagiarism in few entries i read :)

basically not the conten exactlyt but format etc used by people who submitted early has been 'borrowed' by a few late submitters... 

but anyway good luck to everyone!

@ Rajnith. I will definetly share if I get 2 of them..lol..

.

Hi, a rhetoric (and probably redundant) question here : Has every one got their Ampi Pur samples? I got a call a couple of weeks ago confirming my address, but the sample never came.

nop i didnt get, nor the call either.