Contests

New Contest: A trio of Xboxes for our top three users

Now through the end of April, you can not only show off your IT skills by asking and answering questions on ITKnowledgeExchange.com, but you can earn the chance to spend some quality time honing your bad-guy-vaporizing skills on your very own Xbox 360.

From today (March 18th) through April 30th, you have a chance to win one of three Xbox 360 consoles. The winners will be the top 3 community members who have the most Knowledge Points earned and have asked 5 IT-related questions (you still earn Knowledge points for asking questions) during the contest period. So tell your friends and co-workers to post their IT questions on ITKnowledgeExchange.com so you can answer and rack up your Knowledge Points.

The top three Knowledge Point earners (who have qualified by also submitting 5 IT related questions) will earn:

	1st Place: Xbox 360 Elite
	2nd Place: Xbox 360
	3rd Place: Xbox 360 Arcade

Some important details:

• This contest is only open to members in the following countries or regions: United States, Canada, United Kingdom and Western Europe.

• Previous Xbox contest winners are not eligble for this contest.

• All answers, discussion and questions will be reviewed for validity.

You can start asking your toughest questions by visiting our Ask a Question page here. To start showing off your IT guru skills, you can visit the unanswered question sections here:

Good luck, and happy posting!

Community Manager

Is there an Amazon gift card in your future? Only your Knowledge Points will tell.

It’s that time again — a chance to win an Amazon.com gift certificate based on your activity in the IT Knowledge Exchange community! Remember: the more you ask, answer and discuss questions, the more Knowledge Points you will earn.

The top 10 most active members from today (February 11th), until end of business on Friday, March 13th that reach the following Knowledge Point levels will be eligible for:

• 3000+ Knowledge Points: $200.00 Amazon gift card
• 2000+ Knowledge Points: $150.00 Amazon gift card
• 1000+ Knowledge Points: $75.00 Amazon gift card
• 500+ Knowledge Points: $50.00 Amazon gift card

Please remember: Knowledge Points will only be rewarded for actual questions, answers and discussions that are relevant to the site. We will be reviewing all contributions prior to announcing the winners.

Be sure to check out our Contest Rules, and then ask, answer and discuss questions to earn as many Knowledge Points as you can!

Not sure where to begin? Refer to this blog post for links to all categories of unanswered questions. And remember — we need your smart questions just as much as we need smart answers!

Good luck, and happy posting!

Community Manager

New member giveaway: Ask a question and answer a question, receive a t-shirt

As a welcome to new members, we are introducing a new giveaway: ask and answer one question each, and you will be eligible to receive an IT Knowledge Exchange t-shirt. Simply e-mail me at jenny@itknowledgeexchange.com once you have asked a question and answered a question, and tell me your address and preferred t-shirt size. You will receive a t-shirt as thanks within 2-3 weeks.

What’s the catch, you ask? None whatsoever! Of course, we will be reviewing all questions and answers for relevancy, so make sure your posts are applicable. Please remember: No sales or marketing messages will qualify. This promotion is for a very limited time as a welcome to new members. However, anyone is eligible — so get into the community and start spreading the knowledge!

Happy posting,

Community Manager

Ask a question, win a t-shirt through February 9th

We’re rewarding great questions on IT Knowledge Exchange by giving away ten t-shirts to good questions asked in the community over the next 30 days. All you have to do is submit a well-thought-out, well-written (and hopefully well-tagged) question to the IT Knowledge Exchange community, and we’ll choose our favorites in time to announce in our newsletter on Tuesday, February 10th.

Remember — if you think a question is well-written, say so! Let us know by e-mailing us or, even better, posting a comment in the discussion.

Need a refresher on how to write a good question? Check out our best questions guide.

Need some examples of great questions? View the winners of past question contests for some ideas.

Happy posting, and good luck!

Community Manager

Winning contest entry for Tales from the Data Center

Grand Prize Winner

An anonymous entry takes the Nintendo Wii grand prize.
Click to see why this member wishes to remain anonymous.

Data Center Contest: Now that’s what I call multitasking

Well folks, our whacky Tales from the Data Center contest has ended and the winner has been determined. The lucky winner wished to remain anonymous – but don’t miss the winning entry by clicking the link above.

Stay tuned to this ITKE Community Blog or subscribe to our newsletter to learn more about other contests we feature. To receive our newsletter (currently twice a week) just login to IT Knowledge Exchange and click the Edit My Account link. You’ll see a checkbox that can be selected to receive our IT Knowledge Exchange Community Newsletter.

Thanks for contributing to IT Knowledge Exchange and thanks for entering the contest. Take care.

Community Manager

Be sure to browse these other contest entries

Data Center Contest: Disaster recovery using non-Microsoft “Windows”
Data Center Contest: Successful treatment of Mayo Clinic kill switch
Data Center Contest: Ooh, ooh that smell …can’t you smell that smell?
Data Center Contest: Oh what a tangled web we weave
Data Center Contest: Bathroom or Server room?
Data Center Contest: Saran Wrap to the rescue!
Data Center Contest: The 2:00 AM Wind Tunnel
Data Center Contest: Nuns bring network to its knees
Data Center Contest: The great Chicago flood of ‘91
Data Center Contest: Zut alors! How many cables?
Data Center Contest: Hose down those hard drives!
Data Center Contest: The Orville Redenbacher backup technique
Data Center Contest: Last one out, turn off the lights

Ask 2, Answer 2: the Winners!

We are proud to announce the following IT Knowledge Exchange community members will each be receiving a $50 Amazon gift card as winners of our “Ask 2, Answer 2″ contest:

• BruceWayne
• Flame
• Mariodlg
• Markpg
• Mshen
• Rickmcd
• RoadDust
• Technochic

Congratulations to all of our winners. Remember to keep asking and answering in the community — we’ve got some exciting contests and promotions planned through this upcoming year!

Thanks, and happy posting,

Community Manager

November Knowledge Point Contest Winners

We are happy to announce our November Knowledge Point Contest Winners. Our top Knowledge Point earners in the past month are receiving Amazon.com gift cards just in time for holiday shopping!

•   $200 –> Carlosdl, Technochic (over 3,000 Knowledge Points)
•  $150 –> Flame (over 2,000 Knowledge Points)
•  $75 –> Labnuke99, Gilly400, Mrdenny, Mshen (over 1,000 Knowledge Points)
•  $50 –> Philp1jb, Yasirirfan (500+ Knowledge Points)

Congratulations to all of our winners!

Remember: through the month of December, you can win one of ten $50 Amazon.com gift cards, just by asking two questions and answering two questions on IT Knowledge Exchange! Click here for details.

Happy posting,

Community Manager

Ask, Answer and Win

As 2008 winds to a close, IT Knowledge Exchange has one more fun contest to end the year.
From today until December 23rd, you can enter to win one of ten $50 (US) Amazon.com gift cards.
There are two things, however, that you must do in order to enter:

1. Ask 2 questions
2. Answer 2 questions

That’s it!

We will randomly draw ten eligible members, and each will receive a $50 (US) Amazon.com gift card. It’s that simple!

Remember — you have to both ask 2 questions and answer 2 questions in the community to be entered to win. Anyone who can receive an Amazon.com gift card is eligible.

–> Click here to ask a question

–> Click below for unanswered questions by topic:

Good luck and happy posting,

Community Manager

Be thankful you don’t work in these data centers

An early ‘Happy Thanksgiving Day’ to you all. No matter whether the Thanksgiving holiday is celebrated where you live, we can all think of things to be thankful for …especially family and friends.

You can also be thankful that you don’t work in one of the data centers highlighted in our Data Center contest. Our contest runs until the end of November, so hurry, you still have time to send us your own story before the contest ends.

You can read some of the crazy tales we’ve received in my previous post that listed the first 10 contest entries — and here are 4 more below.

Data Center Contest: Disaster recovery using non-Microsoft “Windows”
Data Center Contest: Successful treatment of Mayo Clinic kill switch
Data Center Contest: Ooh, ooh that smell …can’t you smell that smell?
Data Center Contest: Oh what a tangled web we weave

Hurry, because the contest is almost over. We’ll be awarding a Nintendo Wii game system to the Data Center story judged best. But even if you don’t win first place, we’re also giving away twenty (20) copies of System Specifications and Project Manual for Data Centers (this is a $250 value!). So take a moment and send us your own data center story today. Thanks!

Community Manager

Get some Amazon.com gift cards for your holiday shopping

Now is your chance to win an Amazon gift certificate based on your activity in the IT Knowledge Exchange community. Remember, the more you ask, answer or discuss questions, the more Knowledge Points you will earn.

The top 10 most active members from noon today (November 3rd), until the end of November, that reach the following Knowledge Point levels will be eligible for:

• 3000+ Knowledge Points: $200.00 Amazon gift card
• 2000+ Knowledge Points: $150.00 Amazon gift card
• 1000+ Knowledge Points: $75.00 Amazon gift card
• 500+ Knowledge Points: $50.00 Amazon gift card

Knowledge Points will only be rewarded for actual questions, answers and discussion that are relevant to the site.

So hop on over to our Contest Rules, then most importantly, ask, answer and discuss questions and earn those Knowledge Points!

Not sure where to start? Refer to this blog post for links to all categories of unanswered questions. And remember — we need your smart questions just as much as we need smart answers!