Blog Your Way to Antarctica: The Competition

Awesome! Smart idea. I hope photography is required.

Photography is not required, CWHOA! That’s because one can’t easily send photos from Antarctica. Antarctica is virtually smart-phone and Internet free. Satellite connections are the way our ships communicate to the outside world. When we post photos with blog postings it is after the blogger has returned.

Prisca Campbell
Marketing Manager

I just registered. Still waiting for that email to be sent to continue registration process. Impatient. Perhaps, I should use this time to write my 300-word essay!

Anyone lurking around yet for someone to vote, I’ll take it!
http://sendmetoantarctica.com

Thanks!

@CWhoa – yep, it is a brilliant idea by Quark.

I definitely entered the contest right away… and then slowly realized that it was nearly impossible to win as there is someone on here who already has 500 votes… and I have a mere 6 so far. Oh well… it’s gonna be an amazing trip for whoever wins it!

Smart marketing on Quark’s behalf. I hope this isn’t strictly a popularity contest. Will the entries be reviewed or is it simply he/she who has the most votes wins?
Thanks, Prisca
http://www.blogyourwaytoantarctica.com/blogs/view/242

Saw this competition and reminded me of the expertise of your Zodiac drivers, dropping me off to do daily video dispatches this spring – http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PTxqxS5yt9Y. A pity it sounds like you won’t be doing daily dispatches for this competition.

I’ve tried voting, but the site won’t send me the confirmation email. I’ve heard other people have the same problem. So far, there has been no response to my emails asking for help.

As you can imagine, I’m not impressed.

A substantial number of people have attempted to vote on this contest but have been unable to register due to the incompetence of whoever set up your registration confirmation system.

Here is a clue to help you fix it: “serveradmin@someurl.com” is not a valid envelope sender address.

Someone has worked out why so many registrations aren’t working: http://scienceblogs.com/grrlscientist/2009/07/update_antarctic_vote_count_2.php#comment-1754321

Any chance of a fix?

Love this concept. Great fun. One suggestion, though: I think Quark needs to enable comments on the entries submitted. For one thing, I’ve read a number of posts I would love to comment on, not just offer up my vote. The reality is, this is just a popularity contest, and the blogger with the biggest readership will prevail. But that doesn’t mean there aren’t some really great bloggers and writers out there who we all should thank for their sincere efforts. It’s just more – friendly, I think. Nonetheless, I still like the idea of this. It’s been lots of fun reading all the posts. Cheers, BW

Problems with Registration:

The email for problems is bywa@quarkexpeditions.com. It is on the site. You will receive a prompt response by using that email. I know – because I’m monitoring it .

Registration problems are about 1% – we’ve over 10,000 people registered successfully. We have identified the two most common problems – aggressive firewalls that do not permit the confirmation email to arrive and human error.

Anyone having problems registering should email with his or her full name and the email address with which he or she registered. We will confirm manually.

Prisca Campbell

Prisca – I’ve responded to your email, but for the benefit of the public discussion, I reiterate that this is nothing whatsoever to do with ‘aggressive firewalls’ and EVERYTHING to do with incorrect configuration on YOUR server.

The fact that you have many successful registrations doesn’t make your configuration any less incorrect – it just means that some sites (often large ones that skip the validation for performance reasons) happen to ignore the invalid return-path and accept the mail anyway.

Why not stop disclaiming responsibility and just fix the problem? It would take a competent person much less time to fix it than you’ve so far spent writing email and blog comments about it.

It is a very interesting way to promote your work and for the bloggers that are running for the price is fantastic!I hope this contest will be the first of many! I will vote for my Portuguese blogger Luis Monteiro and hoping that he can win!

I’m voting for the front-runner Portuguese blogger named Luis Monteiro! He’s the best!!!

wow! voting someone because he or she likes that person? isnt that is called fake? please vote someone who is rightful for it. not just someone you like. i’m not telling you to do it, it is just a plain suggestion. i think i will be voting Melvin Girado his blog is simple but has a huge content and has heart on it if you look deeper into it. simplicity is a must. and i like it.

Question, is the food and equipment also free? or only the trip itself?

*sorry for my english i’m a german*

Is there any way we can follow the standings according to the votes??? Any ranking table or so?

I wanna see Luis Pingu in his natural habitat as well (LOL)!!

CYA!

I´d love win The Competition Way to Antarctica. I´d like it as a gift to my wife. I really like nature!

Please, vote for me.

Thanks a lot.

Hello all,

thank you Quark for the initiative, it will certainly be an unforgettable adventure for the winner!

I would like to clarify one important point with Quark, namely with Prisca Campbell:
one of the candidates, Devorah Bennu, posted on her blog the following: “According to Prisca Campbell, the marketing manager for Quark, there is an interview for the top finishers after the voting has ended to ascertain which of the top candidates best fulfill Quark’s requirements before their official blogger is announced.”
In my opinion, this is not entirely correct: according to point 2 of the rules (defined in http://www.blogyourwaytoantarctica.com/users/rules), my understanding is that indeed an interview will take place to confirm the entrant’s elegibility (if he/she is over 21, if he/she is not affiliate with any of Quark’s employees, etc), but this interview will not serve the purpose of further evaluating the blogger with the biggest number of votes.

I believe this is an important point, that I would like to see clarified.

Thank you,
B Lewis

I am also competing. I see this as a real opportunity for an avid writer, not necessarily for a scientist (though I am most certainly a naturalist!).

Check out my entry and vote for me here: http://bit.ly/3b6ve1

You can also visit my blog at http://www.avoidingregret.com.

Our competition is about finding the best person for the job. We expect that our blogger will be a capable communicator, passionate about the environment and eligible according to the rules. We trust that voters will keep our requirements in mind when they support their favorite candidate. If a candidate does not meet the eligibility requirements, even if he or she has amassed the most votes, the competitor will be disqualified.

Please check out my entry entitled, Proceed. I would love your support!

A really cool competition except for one detail: unfairness. Voting should be enabled only after a deadline, so all participants would collect votes for the same period of time. The way it’s layed out, a mediocre entry posted on day one has more chances to win than a Pulitzer-worthy one posted on the last day. Pity.

Thank you for your comment. Should we run another competition in a similar fashion, we will give due consideration to it. We know there will be never be a solution that makes every participant happy. However, fairness is always a goal.

Prisca Campbell

Will the Quark Blogger takes photos and bring them back?

Ditto brilliant idea – want to see more amazing pictures like these – http://www.komar.org/faq/travel/vacation/antarctica/

At first,I thought this was a brilliant marketing idea. I know several of the entrants, so I have been following their progress. It has become so incredibly depressing to see how many people can’t even spell Antarctica, or think that there are polar bears in Antarctica, or think that if they visit the coast of Antarctica, they are going to see the South Pole (which is about 800 miles from the nearest coast). Not to mention the math- and calendar-challenged entrant who thinks that 11 days = one month.

Thinking that people like this might go to Antarctica is painful. Risking despoiling even this tiny part of Antarctica to amuse the uneducated masses, and people who just think it would be cool. This is a special place, not Disneyland.

Sorry – but it gives Antarctic tourism and Quark a bad name. It is NOT just one more place to go. They all say it is special, but they know less than about it than you could learn from Wikipedia in 60 seconds. This contest has revealed the thoughtlessness and lack of caring about preserving natural places. It is all about the selfishness of just wanting to check off that last continent on the list. Or just because they are bored and want excitement. Right.

The guy from Portugal – Luis – he is having great fun and working so hard and I don’t begrudge him the trip, should he win. But overall, this has become so disheartening.

Dear Ellen,
We had a number of objectives for our Blog Your Way to Antarctica competition: Education was one of them. We believe that the surest way to protect the fragile environments of the polar regions is to develop a network of ambassadors. These ambassadors return to their home communities to act as advocates, and through the advocacy educate others about the polar regions.

We were not surprised by the broad range of understanding demonstrated by our competitors. We know that our winning competitor, even one with a rich knowledge of Antarctica, will deepen his or her understanding. And through the posts, as he or she blogs, will teach others.

We believe that a good number of voters will return to our website in February to follow the Official Quark Blogger. Those who return to read will inevitably become better informed. From our perspective a better educated public will be of lasting benefit to Antarctica.

Thank you for your comment.

Prisca Campbell
Director, Marketing
Quark Expeditions

We anticipate that the Quark Blogger will have photos to upload on his or her return from Antarctica. Communication from the southern latitudes is difficult. The OQB will not be able to upload pictures in real time.

Prisca Campbell

Well… If that first guy doesn’t win, it would have to skip that girl Kristina because she has 302 words in her bio. The rules said strictly 300. Just saying.

Congratulations to Luís Monteiro! I’m anxious to read your blogs from Antarctica! Bon Voyage!
Regards,
Elizabeth

I had taken part in the previous contest but gave up when I saw the number of votes. Now I am registered for a trip to singapore – trailing far behind so maybe same story – I do not know how people get votes!!!
Sunitha Palaveettil