EH-Net

Congrats to this month's winner and good luck to all of you as we continue our mission to help EH-Netters accomplish their dreams of hacking for a living... the legit way!!

Permanent link: [Article]-March 2012 Free Giveaway Winner of Training Camp Prize (http://www.ethicalhacker.net/content/view/417/8/)


Still plenty of time to make a good impression for this month's prize,
Don

When I look up El33tsamurai, I don't see him posting anything at all for the month of March.  Is this participation-based or is it a random drawing of all members?

Thank you so much I really appreciate this.  To the last post I do apologize that my posts were lacking in March but I was heavy in to the OSCP, as well as writing grad papers for all 3 of my grad class, and I started a new job so I was really busy.

Congrats, El33tsamurai!


It requires some sort of participation, but it can be kind of random. Sometimes previous activity is rewarded, or maybe someone really earned the prize one month won it then but had to turn it down for some reason. It needs to be somewhat relevant for the person too. If the prize is CISSP training and all the top contributors are CISSPs, it obviously goes to someone who needs it. There is also some intentional rotation, so the same people don't win repeatedly.

At least, I think, anyway. Those are just my observations ;)

I was just curious how it works.  I don't mean to take anything away from you and I'm aware you've been active in the past.  I get tied up with school as well.

Congrats and enjoy the class.

Congrats, El33tsamurai!

well done

ajohnson is correct in that I look at many factors several of which he hit on the head. One that he mentioned does happen often, where I contact a member and for whatever reason can't accept the prize. So most of the time I have to ask several members before I get to someone who not only needs it but can use it. That is also why the winner sometimes isn't chosen until later in the month

I do try to have the winner selected before making the announcement, so that I don't have to keep making updates to the articles and forum threads. That happened in the past where I put someone in the announcement who found out after the fact that they couldn't use it. I felt it was only fair to give that member another prize in a future month. Lo and behold, another member noticed the winner's name twice in a given year and sent a very direct note to me questioning the process.  ::) All of this happens behind the scenes, and it's something that I usually don't share. It's just part of running the site.

Another thought... Since we work very hard at coming up with these prizes, we don't want them to go to waste. So I ask bluntly that if the person can't use it (or thinks he might not be able to) then let me give it to someone else. I'd hate for a prize to sit on the shelf for a year and eventually not be used.

There is a method to my madness. So although it may seem random, I feel the eventual outcomes are more than fair.

Case in point... El33tsamurai. He was not the first member chosen this month. But in the end, he was the memebr with the most posts who had yet to ever win and who could also utilize the prize.

Hope that helps give a glimpse into how it's done.

Don

Thanks everyone.

Congrats man!  Have fun at camp!  don't let the bigger boys bully you! :D

never got the prize :(

Why not?

Don says he was working with the company but does not seem like they want to give the prize.

Hmm. Sounds like they got a free month of advertising. Scammers! Sorry to hear about that.

I guess I am just really disappointed!

How disturbing. I should be attending a course with them in a few weeks, I intend to bring this up to the staff if it hasnt been resolved by then.

"March 2012 Free Giveaway"

Its now 6 days from Nov, I don't think its going to be fixed :(

Well at least I hope they will be banned for ever being mentioned here on EH-net unless it's in a bad way  ;D A bit extreme, but you can't just promise to give something away and get free advertising of your products, and then not give anything away. That's cheating  ;D

If it makes you feel better, I had to wait 18+ months to take my February 2011 prize. Don't give up unless the company actually told you they were not going to do it. Good luck!

What a crock...  I hope they get their act together, and make things right for you.  It's fairly unommon to pull a 'bait and switch', when it's so highly visible, on a popular website.  I'd think a little 'pressure' would go a long way towards resolving the situation. 

Worst case, they should know they're going to lose any potential business from members here.

 :o I'm still waiting to receive the OSCE code for the Offsec prize. Want to take it early next year so I hope I don't have to wait that long.

@shadowzero - did you already knock out the pre-reg challenge?  (assuming, but just making sure...)

Yeah I already beat the fc4.me challenge just for kicks. Will obviously have to do it again when I'm ready to take the course. Anyway, when I go to register for the course I see a section on Voucher Code, so I assume that's what I'm waiting to receive so I can take the course for free.

The company did not even contact me!

They did not contact me either. I had to hound them every couple of months for a year and a half. I wasn't going to take no for an answer. I'm sure I was a huge pain in the ass but in the end I got what I wanted so whatever.

I don't have the contact info did Don send that to you?

That's complete bullshit. I'm surprised Don let that fly.

Last message I got from him was hes working on it but think hes been really busy

Don was very supportive and followed up with me quite a bit during that period. Much of the issue had to do with course popularity and they kept having to cancel the course due to low registration numbers. Eventually they just did a remote live training for me and 1 other student. So while it sounds really bad I don't think there's much more Don could have done.

Congrats on winning enjoy the course and dont forget to report back on  how you found the site and material.

Is this a joke?

strange...

im not happy with TC right now, their site needs some updates, and I dont know if the class I was planning on attending is still scheduled... They were closed yesterday, we'll see what happens today.

No its not a joke El33tsamurai others member may want take their course so any feedback on the course will help everyone :)

@Jamie.R - El33t's point was that the complaint was he never GOT the course, and is unsure if he ever will.  And the giveaway was from March.  So it seemed as if you hadn't read the full thread / context.

oh my bad I thought this was for Octobers give away sorry El33tsamurai

NP all good.