Update (11/22/2004): There are no more invites to give out. Thanks to everyone for taking the time to find the information and enter correctly. If you missed your chance, I should get another batch of 6 invites sometime soon and will be doing something like this yet again since it seemed to work (albeit very, very slowly debunking my internet crack theory somewhat, but who cares).
I've had these for a while and I thought I'd use a very simple contest for people to get their hands on it. If you have an account already, please don't try doing this. I won't send an invite to any gmail.com users, so you'll need a different email address to sort of “prove” you're genuine. Anyone in their right mind can get around this though, but I'm going by the code of honor here.
Note: Whoever I send invites to ends up in my contact list. When you're added to gmail whatever you sign up as gets added to my contact list as well. It'll be a little late for me to be angry at that point, but I will make a mental note of it. I'll also use this list for future contests but by then you'll have your own invites which you should use.
To put a long story short: let everyone get their turn. A lot of people I know haven't even heard of Gmail and I'd like them to get the chance to use it.
Here's the rules, etc:
- Name the exact name of every RobOS article posted on this blog. Hint: there are a total of 6
- Send me an email using the Contact form of my blog with the exact article names. This can be found by going to my blog address in a web browser and clicking the Contact link at the top left of the page.
- Use a valid email address because the invite will go to the address you give me.
I will be sending out a test message to the lucky winners to validate the email address. I will then wait a little bit to verify the correctness and send out the invites once I'm sure the addresses are in order. You can reply to my test message if you want the invite quicker.
I only have 6 invites total, so the first 6 who are verified will get the invites. If by chance one person puts in their address wrong, or it doesn't work then I'll move to the next person until all invites are filled. Make sure everything is in order before submitting the email because you probably won't get a second chance. Any rude comments, spam, or weird emails will most likely result in an addition to my hotmail block list, effectively eliminating all chances for future contests or invites from me. You have been warned.
Note: My email will be from a hotmail.com domain so it may show up as spam. Check your spam filters to make sure my email can get through.
Note, Note: I know this seems weird but I am not doing anything funny with this. I just wanted a way to semi make sure that those who haven't had a gmail account get their chance. I realize this is not the most perfect method, but it's all I could come up with within a 5 minute span. If you can think of a better method, please leave a comment. I want to make sure all gmail virgins get a chance at testing the service out.
I will update this post when all invites have been given away, so make sure to verify before sending your email. If this post has not been updated then the contest still stands. All judgments are final, blah blah insert legal-mumbo-jumbo hocus-pocus-type-stuff here.