How to run a contest on this forum?

Informal
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Hi everyone,

I have an exciting offer and need your advice. I’d like to host a website review contest on this forum (thanks for InfinityFree for hosting and help me start learning making website), where the winners will get a real domain name absolutely free (not for renewal and transfer cost). I’m looking for guidance on how to properly organize and run a contest here.

Here’s what I have in mind:

I want to give away one domain name to each of the winners. (2 domains total)

One winner will be selected by the admin or moderators of the forum, and the other winner will be chosen by me personally.

What I need help with:

  1. Contest Rules: What are the best ways to set clear and fair rules for participants?
  2. Prize Distribution: Any advice on how to handle the domain name transfer and ensure the winners get their prizes without any issues?

I want to make sure everything is done the right way and in accordance with forum rules, so any tips or recommendations would be greatly appreciated.

Looking forward to your suggestions.

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Hello!

I am not the Admin, so my advise should be taken with a pinch of salt. But, I don’t think this would work out.

I have many questions with this, such as:

  • Who really owns the domains when they win them (would you keep these in your name, or does the user have full ownership)?
  • What are the domain names?
  • How long would they last?
  • Why is the transfer costs not included for the domains?
  • Where are these domains coming from registrar-wise, and would they permit these actions?
  • If you don’t transfer ownership of the domains, how would you handle situations where the winner hosts bad content on said domains?
  • How could this affect InfinityFree, especially when something goes wrong with the contest or domains?

So far, that’s the questions I have in mind.

There are many things that could go wrong, and we would rather have no issues.

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Thank you for your thoughtful questions, you’ve raised some very valid points and I’ll address each one to ensure clarity.

  1. Who owns the domains when they win?

When a winner receives a domain from me or someone on behalf of me, they will receive full ownership of the domain name. I will transfer the domain into their account at the registrar (Must have a good condition account to receive the domain name), so they will have complete control over it. The domain will no longer be associated with me once the transfer is complete.

  1. What are the domain names?

The domain names are “financialsmartpath.com” (gTLD) and “ifw.my” (ccTLD). The first winner can select their preferred domain (within available options), subject to availability. These domains have already been registered by me.

  1. How long would the domain last?

The domain will remain active until the expiration date shown from the original registration. You can check the exact expiration date of the domain by using a WHOIS lookup at whois.domaintools.com or somewhere else. This will show you when the domain is set to expire, and the winner will need to renew the domain before it expires in order to keep it active. I already cover the initial registration fee for the first year.

  1. Why are the transfer costs not included for the domains?

The transfer of ownership is free if done properly through the registrar. However, there may be some fees for domain transfers depending on the Registrar’s Policy. One of the domains that I want to give-away for free is a ccTLD type domain, and is registered with a Registrar that does not support “Account push transfer” and requires “Registrar auth transfer”. As for ongoing costs like renewals, those will be the responsibility of the winner once the domain is transferred into their name.

  1. Where are these domains coming from, registrar-wise, and would they permit these actions?

The domains are sponsored by me, coming from reliable and reputable registrars (Spaceship & Shinjiru). I’ve checked their policies, and they allow transferring domains as long as the rules are followed (More than 60 days of ownership).

  1. If you don’t transfer ownership, how would you handle situations where the winner hosts bad content?

If I don’t transfer ownership of the domain, then the domain would technically still be under my name, and I would be responsible for it. However, once transferred to the winner, it will be their responsibility to manage and ensure they are not hosting harmful or illegal content.

  1. How could this affect InfinityFree, especially when something goes wrong with the contest or domains?

I understand your concern. I’ll be very careful to ensure everything is done according to the rules to avoid any issues. If there are any complications, I’ll make sure to work with InfinityFree to address them. I plan to stay transparent and communicate openly with everyone involved to ensure the contest runs smoothly.

I’m aiming to keep everything above board and will ensure the process is fair and clear to everyone participating. That’s why I plan to work with admin or moderator to ensure the winners get the price (Maybe like transferring the domain first to admin to hold).

It just a website review contest and participant must have a blog or website to post the review.

Thanks again for raising these points.

Lastly, why am I giving the domains for free?

I’m doing this because I really appreciate this community and all the support it provides. InfinityFree has been an amazing platform that helps so many people get started with their websites including me, whether they’re beginners or experienced users.

I want to give back by offering these free domains as a way to help others grow their online presence without the initial cost of the domain name. It’s my small way of supporting this community and helping more people bring their ideas to life on the web.

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Three things:

  1. What if the user does not have an account at any registrar?
  2. What if the user’s registrar account is in a bad state?
  3. What if the user’s registrar account does not accept transfers, or charges a significant amount for transfers?

One of the domain names you mentioned does not seem to have been registered.

I have noticed your correction, and have updated this post accordingly.

Screenshot_20260103-214348
Screenshot_20260103-214348720×1612 122 KB

Screenshot_20260103-205426
Screenshot_20260103-205426720×1612 121 KB

If you are to do this contest right, you have to have everything available. You don’t want a domain name to, say, be registered by somebody else (out of your control).

So you are not guaranteeing a year or anything, it’s just going to last as long as you paid for. If the contest were to go through (which I still don’t think will happen) I don’t think it would be a good idea to give somebody a domain that, say, only lasts 2 months.

To my knowledge, most registrars require a fee to be paid. But I could be wrong on this one.

If you’re not going to pay for the transfer fee, if there is one, at least provide a domain that will be worth the reward. (Again, it would not be a good idea to give somebody a domain that will last, say, 2 months. Or even shorter.)

Do they even permit domain transferring as part of a contest? (Not sure if this matters).

What if you fall short of contact, and you are not able to, say, support the user with transferring the domain or something. Or what if admin nor moderators are not able to hold the domain, the users win their domains, but you’re not able to transfer them? Or simply, what if you’re not able to transfer them?

Or, let’s say a user wins a domain, and they have issues with using it. How are you doing to make sure that you or InfinityFree is not affected, and user does not bring any negative reputation or emotions to you or InfinityFree?

While I understand your way of wanting to “give back” to the InfinityFree Community, I still don’t think this is a good route. You can help out by rating InfinityFree on TrustPilot, recommending the service to friends and family, by upgrading to premium hosting (Admin receives a kickback from upgrades, further helping InfinityFree), and by staying around and helping people on this forum with your Adblocker turned off.

Giving away domains isn’t a good idea. I wouldn’t want to do this (even if I could) because I wouldn’t want to tarnish Jri’s reputation nor InfinityFree’s reputation.

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Registrar account issues: You’re right, not everyone has an account with a registrar and some people’s accounts could be in a bad state. That’s something participant have to decide and check before participate in the contest. If it turns out someone doesn’t have an account or can’t receive the domain transfer, that could definitely cause problems. Participants must open their own accounts based on registrars that can accept these domains. It can also help participants learn how to manage domains and DNS.

Domain availability: I checked, and yes you are correct. I have corrected the domain address, it was a typo.

Transfer fees and short expiration: The FinancialSmartPath.com domain was registered at 2025-11-01T23:21:16Z and will expire at 2026-11-01T23:21:16Z (November 01, 2026). The IFW.my domain was registered at 2025-12-08T02:53:40.901Z and will expire at 2026-12-08T02:53:40.901Z (Disember 08, 2026). So at this time, at least 9 months this domain can be used without paying a renewal fee.

Potential issues with domain transfers: I hear you on this one, if something goes wrong with the domain transfer, it could end up reflecting badly on me or InfinityFree. I wouldn’t want to cause any negative feedback or trouble for the community.

This is a contest offering free gifts, and participants should not blame anyone for any mistakes that are not caused by the organizer or InfinityFree. The primary intention is to provide the domain to the winner without any charge. If there is a delay in receiving the prize, it could be due to technical reasons involved in processing the domain transfer.

Based on my personal experience, I have completed numerous domain transfers, whether within the same registrar or between different registrars. However, the organizer cannot be held responsible for any issues that arise during the transfer process. Since this is a free gift, the recipient should approach the matter with patience and understanding.

Other ways to support InfinityFree: I appreciate your suggestion, and I do see how helping out by rating the service or upgrading to premium can be more beneficial in the long run. It’s something I’d think about.

Overall, you’ve given me a lot to think about and I might take a step back to reevaluate if giving away domains is really the best way to help out the community in a fun way. Thanks again for your feedback.

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What if the user doesn’t understand their registrar, and proceeds to join not knowing that, maybe they can’t transfer the domain?

Or, what if the user’s registrar account goes into a bad state while in the contest or when the user wins the domain?

I have also reflected this change in my previous post.

What if we take months to decide, and we finally approve it, say, 5 months later (I still doubt this would happen). Then what?

There are times where InfinityFree was blamed for something that wasn’t InfinityFree’s fault. I have had users blame me/my services for something out of my control. By adding domain giveaways into the mix, you’re asking for more bad reputation without realising it, in my opinion.

In the end, it would not work out. But here’s a random suggestion: Maybe you could make some digital art for InfinityFree!

Okay, maybe that’s not fun for you. But if you make some good digital art, the community would possibly enjoy it.

Just an idea.

I am not Admin, do not treat my information as information from Admin. I am also not a Moderator. Nor a Leader. Nor a lawyer. All information is my opinions and my knowledge, but I may be wrong. I am a human who :heart: koalas, after all. :koala: See my Bio/Summary for more information.

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  1. Transferring a domain requires a fee.
  2. Upon transfer the domain’s expiry will be extended by a year under most circumstances.
  3. While some registrars allow domains to be internally moved to another account, not every one have, or could not (like requiring non-existent personal informations or non-supported payment methods in certain countries or of certain ages) sign up for the same registrar as yours in the first place.
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This looks like a fun idea but I feel like many wouldn’t want to be bothered by future fees by renewing/recurring domain registrations. IF provides free subdomains after all for far longer. Judging from posts appearing in the forum, premium plans might be more attractive and more impactful as a prize. Just a suggestion, in case you are set in donating for the community, you might want to donate one of the domains to IF (if that is allowed or possible). That one domain ifw.my is short, neutral, and easy to type.

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For reference

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Hello!

Mod here, this sounds interesting as a concept (we’ve never really done a true contest around here that I recall), but I do have a few concerns.

You mention that such contest would revolve around website review, while a related topic to IF, would need to have some clearly defined rules of what a website is and how it is going to be evaluated (SPA, web app, landing page, looking at Structure/content/UI, etc).

My first thought is that many users would submit a website they already have, which would lead to a wide variety of different website types being submitted.

I also have some concerns with the prize, while have pre-determined domain names to give away is interesting, it would (1) discourage submissions from people who don’t care for the domains you listed, leading to less entries, and (2), by the time the submission and voting periods are over, the domains will have less then a year remaining. Personally, I would want to choose a domain I want, or (preferably) receive some sort of credit towards domain renewal (I don’t need more domains lol).

Lastly, this may violate forum rules if users are entering the contest as a way to advertise their website, as advertising is prohibited here.

Overall a great idea, but unfortunately I don’t think it will work in practice.

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I think the idea is interesting, but I think there are some key details that need to be worked out.

Evaluation Criteria

You want one winner to be picked by forum staff and one to be picked by you. That’s fine, but then what are we going to select based on. Content? Design? Functionality? Something else?

My personal gut feeling says to just keep things simple and go for a straight-up popularity context: no complex grading criteria or evaluation frameworks, just let everyone pick which one they like. Although we might need to do some pre-selection or filtering the candidates depending on the number of submissions.

Prizes

If we are going to do prizes, I do think it would be good to offer a price that is actually appealing to a broad audience.

And specific domain names are not very good at that. The domain financialsmartpath.com is only appealing if you’re working on a website for financial advice for an English language audience. If that’s not your thing, the value of the domain to you is $0, even if it has 10 years remaining until expiration.

The .my domain has sort-of the same issue. With the added twist that it technically has a local presence requirement. So it’s intended for Malaysian individuals and businesses. You can register it through a trustee service, but that adds an intermediary party with additional risks and potentially costs. So while the domain itself is pretty cool for InfinityFree subdomains, that local requirement makes it too dangerous (I’ve been burned too many times by unhelpful intermediaries).

I’m not too worried about transfer fees itself, assuming that 1) the domain extension allows free registrant changes and 2) the registrar allows free, internal transfers between customers.

So if you are going to offer domain names prizes, I would prefer offering a domain name of the user’s choice, using one of a few available extensions, and registered at a well known registrar that allows for internal pushes. And I’ve never heard of Shinjiru before - they might be well known in Malaysia but not worldwide I think.

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