Enter My Foto Contest!

Last night it was brought to my attention that some "anon" messages were making the rounds on Tumblr asking if people are "doing the foto contest." 

I got this message, too, and was confused, at first. Watching my feed, though, shows that it is definitely this contest that is being bantered about. 

The messages don't seem to be positive or negative, really - just annoying. They certainly aren't helping the contest, since most of the ones I've seen don't mention anything about the contest itself, and if answered by the people receiving them with questions - like "what contest?" - the anon doesn't ever seem to answer the questions. That's not helping lol...

I can't be sure who is posting, and whether they trying to be supportive, annoying, or are just curious and trying to size up the competition. 

But I am suspicious of the messages, too, and while I can't be sure, I think I have an idea of the origin of them. After I posted the initial post about the contest someone slid into my DM's to offer some helpful "promotional services" - in short, I'd get a number of reblogs from accounts with what were said to be a large number of followers - but only if I provided free product or payment in exchange. 

I posted about this last week. My blog is not a business, and unless I begin babysitting professionally or launch a store and begin selling products, I won't make any money from it. I've posted a lot of posts for diaper companies, ABDL events, and even posts to people's personal blogs and Tumblr's through the years, and with more than 1,250 blog posts over the past 8 + years I have never made a penny off of anything related to Abysitter.com. 

I also don't solicit or receive free product, and never have. I've been offered free products many times, but I don't accept anything free or reduced because I like the ability to be honest about what I post without obligation to anyone. I pay full-price for diapers and other products, and I don't complain about that. I think that this is the first time I've even written about it. 

The one exception, of course, is prize sponsorships. A number of amazing community partners - ABDL companies, events, and even other ABDLs - have donated prizes for this contest, as they did for my contests in 2013 and 2012. I am grateful for their support. They do it out of a genuine enthusiasm for the ABDL community, and out of excitement for contests like this. They get to showcase their products and events to a dedicated audience, but the truth is they could probably put the amount of money they donate in product to my contest into PPC ads or some other form of advertising and at least equal their return on investment. 

One option, it appears, is paying Tumblr users to reblog contest announcements and sales in exchange for freebies. I honestly had no idea that this existed until I launched this contest. Now I'll be suspicious - when I see someone who almost never reposts anything for anyone suddenly repost something for a company, I'll think - paid post, can't trust it. And that sucks. 

Rest assured, the people who have reposted my Tumblr contest posts, and retweeted and otherwise shared them on other platforms, are sharing and reposting out of support for the contest, my blog, me, or just the community in general. And the companies that have donated products to this know those products will not go to me - they will go to you, the people who enter and win. 

If you see people responding to anon posts asking random questions about my "foto contest" feel free to hit them up with an answer to their questions. Or just link them to contest.abysitter.com. 

This contest is supposed to be fun, and isn't intended to be a business, and I won't let kids who have apparently turned their Tumblr followings into a microindustry hijack that. 

Thanks for your support, 

Cwis