Terms and Conditions modified???

[shangoto]

With all due congratulations to the contest winner, I'm wondering.. Besides at least one of these, were any other sections of the Terms & Conditions agreement modified before judging?

https://www.itglue.com/api-contest/ https://www.itglue.com/api-contest/clkn/rel/c-3-lightbox.html

2. Eligibility and entry restrictions 2.1b entrants must not be our employee, officer or agent, or an employee, officer or agent of any person or organisation involved in the running of the competition, and you must not be a family relation of any such person. 2.2 The maximum number of entries to a competition per person is 1.

3. Start and closing dates 3.2 Any entries received before the opening or after the closing of the competition will be invalid and will not be entered into the competition.

4. Judging 4.2 If a competition entrant does not meet the eligibility requirements or is subject to any entry restrictions, that entrant shall not be entitled to be adjudged a winner, and will not be entitled to a prize in any circumstances.

Contest Winner: https://github.com/itglue/api-contest/pull/19 - 5 submissions IT Glue blog post from April or earlier that happens to even be discussing the integration that won 🤔

[COCodeCode]

shangoto raises the questions I had on my mind as well:

• 5 different script submissions from the same applicant. This is unfair to other applicants that followed the rules. I could have dumped a dozen scripts as submissions but did not because it clearly violates the given terms.
• the winning one was obviously received by ITGlue far prior to the contest opening. How is this not an unfair advantage that also violated the rules, as it was already on the "radar", "famous", and "incredibly popular with our partner base". It previously had been tried and tested internally, as well as that Judges would have already been familiar with this script, and they also knew the popularity of it with the community. Please explain why this was not disqualified for these violations of the terms of the contest.

[shangoto]

So the Terms & Conditions were pulled the day after this issue went up. Add in what's already been brought up here, PLUS the fact that the terms were very, seemingly purposefully, hidden for the majority of the time the competition was open (by a huge block of whitespace until someone else raised an issue). Then consider the silence on the matter. It all adds up to some pretty bad optics.

It is very clear that the terms were either modified or just not adhered to. So are they just nullified now? All those parts in the copyright section about how the entries are now owned by IT Glue and the submitters "irrevocably and unconditionally waive your rights to be identified as the author" don't seem like they would hold much weight after this.

"1.5 The terms & conditions are subject to change without notice at the sole discretion of IT Glue." Also, I dont believe this applies as these terms were posted until after the contest was closed (conveniently right until a day after this issue was raised). And though you don't need to notify contestants of any changes, I do believe that the applicable terms need to at least be made accessible.

https://www.competitionbureau.gc.ca/eic/site/cb-bc.nsf/eng/03126.html

Here is a copy of the Terms and Conditions as they were posted:

IT Glue API Documentation Contest Terms & Conditions

1. Introduction

1.1 These rules apply to the IT Glue API Documentation Contest (“Contest”) promoted on and running through our website or social media channels.

1.2 To enter a competition you must enter as directed on our website or social media channels.

1.3 Our competitions are free to enter (no purchase required, unless otherwise stated).

1.4 Promotions on social media are in no way sponsored, endorsed or administered by, or associated with, Facebook, Twitter, Google Plus, Instagram, LinkedIn or any other social network. You are providing your information to IT GLUE and not to any other party. The information provided will be used in conjunction with our Privacy Policy.

1.5 The terms & conditions are subject to change without notice at the sole discretion of IT Glue.

2. Eligibility and entry restrictions

2.1 To be eligible to enter a competition

(a) entrants must be a real person and at least 18 years old (proof of or age may be required)

(b) entrants must not be our employee, officer or agent, or an employee, officer or agent of any person or organisation involved in the running of the competition, and you must not be a family relation of any such person.

2.2 The maximum number of entries to a competition per person is 1.

3. Start and closing dates

3.1 A competition shall open for entries on 1100AM PT, March 26, 2019 and shall close to entries 1159PM PT, June 30, 2019.

3.2 Any entries received before the opening or after the closing of the competition will be invalid and will not be entered into the competition.

3.3 No responsibility can be accepted for entries not received for whatever reason.

3.4 We reserve the right to cancel or amend the competition and these terms and conditions without notice. Any changes to the competition will be notified to entrants as soon as possible by us.

3.5 Entry into the competition will be deemed as acceptance of all of these terms and conditions.

4. Judging

4.1 Competition entries shall be judged or winners selected on the basis of those criteria specified on our website andor social media channels in relation to the competition.

4.2 If a competition entrant does not meet the eligibility requirements or is subject to any entry restrictions, that entrant shall not be entitled to be adjudged a winner, and will not be entitled to a prize in any circumstances.

4.5 Our decision in respect of all matters to do with the competition will be final and no correspondence will be entered into.

4.6 The competition and these terms and conditions will be governed by Canadian law and any disputes will be subject to the exclusive jurisdiction of the courts of Canada.

5. Winners and prizes

5.1 The winner of the Contest will be awarded $5,000 (USD) and have their integration featured on the IT Glue website. Second and third place winners will receive a $1,000 USD Amazon gift card and a $500 Amazon gift card, respectively.

5.2 Competition prize winners will be notified of the competition result by email (if address is asked forprovided)

5.3 Reasonable efforts will be made to contact the prize winner for 14 days but if the winner fails to respond to our notification attempts within this time or provide an address for delivery of the prize or fails to meet any of the eligibility requirements or is otherwise unable to comply with the competition terms and conditions, we reserve the right to disqualify that entrant and offer the prize to the next eligible entrant and thereafter until a winner is found.

5.5 No cash alternative to the prizes will be offered for third and second place winners. The prizes are not transferable. Prizes are subject to availability and we reserve the right to substitute any prize with another of equivalent value without giving notice.

6. Copyright and moral rights

6.1 You warrant to us that you created your competition entries, that you own all of the copyright in those entries, and that our use of the entries in accordance with these rules will not infringe any person's intellectual property rights or other legal rights.

6.2 You grant to us an exclusive, worldwide, royalty-free, perpetual and irrevocable licence to copy, store, edit, distribute, transmit and publish your competition entries.

6.5 To the maximum extent permitted by applicable law, you irrevocably and unconditionally waive your rights to be identified as the author of your competition entries and to object to any derogatory treatment of your competition entries.

7. What happens to entries

7.1 Competition entries will not be returned. Please, therefore, keep a copy of your competition entries. Entrants agree that all submissions verified by IT Glue’s Development team will appear on the IT Glue GitHub, and may be used or adapted by IT Glue. The competition winner agrees that their entry will appear on the IT Glue website.

8. Publicity

8.1 We may undertake publicity activities relating to competitions and prize awards. The winner therefore agrees to the use of their name, photograph and disclosure of town or region of residence in any post-prize-winning publicity names, surnames, towns or regions of residence and prize details.

8.2 All other personal details collected as part of the competition will be used in conjunction with our Privacy Policy.

9. Our details

9.1 This prize competition is run by ITG Software Inc.

9.2 Our registered office is 700-128 W Pender Street, Vancouver, BC V6B 1R8

9.3 You can contact us

(a) by post, using the postal address given above;

(b) using our website contact form; httpswww.itglue.comcompanylets-talk

(c) by telephone, Toll-Free +1.844.235.GLUE[4583]

(d) by email, using the email address marketing@itglue.com

(e) by direct message on our social media channels.

[firefox15]

Man, the optics of this are really bad. What is IT Glue thinking here? We didn't even enter (reasons fully documented here), and this just smells bad to me. Removing the T&Cs is an obvious attempt to obfuscate the issue.

Personally, I think IT Glue was probably disappointed in the number of submissions (again, perhaps they should not have had such draconian T&Cs), and it felt like they just wanted this to go away. It wouldn't surprise me if the person who chose the winner did not even check the T&Cs beforehand and is now trying to back-pedal.

In any event, this is definitely the wrong way to handle this. I'm fairly confident they won't be holding this contest again.