So do you want them to double the number of ads per page and/or try to make the site unloadable with adblock running in order to be able to hire a global team of lawyers to do it legally (which much bigger companies can afford to do), or to run illegal contests and hope no one decides they're worth the effort of busting (fine for your personal blog but not for a multi-million dollar business).
I'm not sure why no-one's ever tried to offer a global giveaways as a service platform; but would guess that even reduced to a cookie cutter platform that the per event cost is prohibitively high.
This would make more sense if far smaller sites then AnandTech didn't manage to do so, and I'm dubious they have huge teams of lawyers and certainly don't have unusably ad laden UI's. (Hexus, PCPer, TechReport, etc if we narrow the list exclusively to sites catering to the same niche AnandTech does)
I'm sympathetic to the argument that it's simply not worth the time for an American site to spend sorting out legalities elsewhere with the uncertain benefit of viewer engagement. This is a perfectly reasonable justification. But the idea that it's impossible without a huge financial outlay and an entire team of lawyers dedicated to it is absurd.
He already addressed why some smaller sites do it anyway: They are NOT doing it legally. Read the terms, if they even have them, for their contests and you will note that they rarely if ever have terms for the nations they permit entries from. They are relying on authorities in those nations not noticing the contest, or some idea that they are unreachable legally by the authorities of other countries.
You are getting angry with Anandtech for complying with international law. That is not a reasonable position.
HollyDOL: Tom's was always an international site, started in Germany and the UK. A lot of their reader base is there. It's also possible that some promos are being run by the manufacturer and fronted by the site, if the manufacturer has international rules then the site would likely be covered.
Purch has local websites (mostly tom's hardware) in many countries so it just takes some will power to contact each team and ask them to sort out the local stuff, without lawyers.
No, it takes time and resources, and the OEM behind the giveaway may not be interested in participating since these giveaways are part of their marketing effort which is likely a regional team. Chances are high that if OCZ wants to do a giveaway in, say, Germany, they will approach Purch and ask them to advertise the giveaway on the sites that are popular there, such as Tom's Hardware.
Anandtech's audience is mostly based in the US, and is part of marketing plans for companies that want to sell to the US market. If they want to reach Germans and others, they will do giveaways on the regional sites popular there, rather than going through a lot of effort to include those regions on websites with few visitors from there.
I'd happily accept a VX500 for free since I'm using a 240GB Patriot Torch Pro in my laptop and though it's been working well for me, there's nothing wrong with more storage space.
I have an OCZ Vertex 4 and two Vector's that have never given me a problem, and I drive them hard. I'll admit all my boot drives are always Intel SSDs, though. OCZ's failure problems are over, and Toshiba is doing a good job.
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StevoLincolnite - Wednesday, April 12, 2017 - link
Just so no one wastes their time to look at the rules. - It excludes the entire planet except for the USA.You are welcome.
notjamie - Wednesday, April 12, 2017 - link
Thanksvladx - Wednesday, April 12, 2017 - link
Just the usual with all AnandTech contests/giveaways.AndrewJacksonZA - Wednesday, April 12, 2017 - link
Which is *sigh* normal and already explained before. :-(C'mon Purch! If other companies can have global giveaways and sort out all the legal stuff, get your backsides in gear and do it!!!!!
DanNeely - Wednesday, April 12, 2017 - link
So do you want them to double the number of ads per page and/or try to make the site unloadable with adblock running in order to be able to hire a global team of lawyers to do it legally (which much bigger companies can afford to do), or to run illegal contests and hope no one decides they're worth the effort of busting (fine for your personal blog but not for a multi-million dollar business).I'm not sure why no-one's ever tried to offer a global giveaways as a service platform; but would guess that even reduced to a cookie cutter platform that the per event cost is prohibitively high.
Rand - Wednesday, April 12, 2017 - link
This would make more sense if far smaller sites then AnandTech didn't manage to do so, and I'm dubious they have huge teams of lawyers and certainly don't have unusably ad laden UI's.(Hexus, PCPer, TechReport, etc if we narrow the list exclusively to sites catering to the same niche AnandTech does)
I'm sympathetic to the argument that it's simply not worth the time for an American site to spend sorting out legalities elsewhere with the uncertain benefit of viewer engagement. This is a perfectly reasonable justification. But the idea that it's impossible without a huge financial outlay and an entire team of lawyers dedicated to it is absurd.
Reflex - Wednesday, April 12, 2017 - link
He already addressed why some smaller sites do it anyway: They are NOT doing it legally. Read the terms, if they even have them, for their contests and you will note that they rarely if ever have terms for the nations they permit entries from. They are relying on authorities in those nations not noticing the contest, or some idea that they are unreachable legally by the authorities of other countries.You are getting angry with Anandtech for complying with international law. That is not a reasonable position.
HollyDOL - Thursday, April 13, 2017 - link
On a side note, Tom's Hardware, Purch site, occasionaly has some giveaways that are all around the globe. Not all by any means, but some do.Those who want, look for ways, those who don't, look for reasons.
ddriver - Thursday, April 13, 2017 - link
Nope, they look for excuses :) A reason is very different from an excuse.Reflex - Thursday, April 13, 2017 - link
HollyDOL: Tom's was always an international site, started in Germany and the UK. A lot of their reader base is there. It's also possible that some promos are being run by the manufacturer and fronted by the site, if the manufacturer has international rules then the site would likely be covered.ddriver - Thursday, April 13, 2017 - link
"make the site unloadable with adblock running" - might as well pull the plug LOLMurloc - Thursday, April 13, 2017 - link
Purch has local websites (mostly tom's hardware) in many countries so it just takes some will power to contact each team and ask them to sort out the local stuff, without lawyers.Reflex - Thursday, April 20, 2017 - link
No, it takes time and resources, and the OEM behind the giveaway may not be interested in participating since these giveaways are part of their marketing effort which is likely a regional team. Chances are high that if OCZ wants to do a giveaway in, say, Germany, they will approach Purch and ask them to advertise the giveaway on the sites that are popular there, such as Tom's Hardware.Anandtech's audience is mostly based in the US, and is part of marketing plans for companies that want to sell to the US market. If they want to reach Germans and others, they will do giveaways on the regional sites popular there, rather than going through a lot of effort to include those regions on websites with few visitors from there.
Samus - Thursday, April 13, 2017 - link
USA USA USA /homerMurloc - Thursday, April 13, 2017 - link
it's not written anywhere in the post or the gleam.io widgetDevilsmurfau - Thursday, April 20, 2017 - link
Logged back in to specifically thank you !Shadowmaster625 - Wednesday, April 12, 2017 - link
Hey, OCZ drives are finally selling at their true market value: you cant even give em away!BrokenCrayons - Wednesday, April 12, 2017 - link
I'd happily accept a VX500 for free since I'm using a 240GB Patriot Torch Pro in my laptop and though it's been working well for me, there's nothing wrong with more storage space.Sivar - Wednesday, April 12, 2017 - link
I have an OCZ Vertex 4 and two Vector's that have never given me a problem, and I drive them hard.I'll admit all my boot drives are always Intel SSDs, though.
OCZ's failure problems are over, and Toshiba is doing a good job.
shabby - Wednesday, April 12, 2017 - link
Where's the review?Ryan Smith - Wednesday, April 12, 2017 - link
Both reviews are linked in the article.=)Scarier - Wednesday, April 12, 2017 - link
Yeah papa needs this goodness.dachrael - Wednesday, April 12, 2017 - link
OCZ's faster than butter as a storage medium. Good enough.cbm80 - Wednesday, April 12, 2017 - link
In for 2.bobbozzo - Wednesday, April 12, 2017 - link
Yep!hypopraxia - Wednesday, April 12, 2017 - link
I'll Bite.Magichands8 - Wednesday, April 12, 2017 - link
Even I couldn't have a problem with these SSDs! :D I believe OCZ came out of its doldrums long ago and would be proud to own one of their drives.VulkanMan - Thursday, April 13, 2017 - link
The VX500 is stellar, no issues at all with these units.Haven't tried the other ones, but, I see no reason why they wouldn't be just as good.
This is not the OCZ of the past, Toshiba has really turned things around for them.
insane_sockeye - Thursday, April 20, 2017 - link
I like pie.