Alright, now it’s personal because there’s shame involved. The company I used to work for (Lycos) used a project in which I was originally involved (a redesign of HotBot) as a base for a CSS skinning contest (Hack Hotbot). I don’t care what the internal debates and politics have been between HotBot product management and Lycos Legal, but this situation totally blows:
Terra Lycos ran a CSS design contest open to US residents only. I complained on [mezzoblue.com] and linked the contest. An employee found the link and e-mailed me, telling me I should enter, but obviously didn’t bother reading that I was Canadian and therefore ineligible. I responded. They told me to enter through a US citizen. I did.
Dave won, and is now being informed that original rules still apply: he is not eligible to win any part of the contest because he is Canadian. Even though Dave was targeted with an open invitation to enter by one of the contest organizers (Lincoln Jackson), and assured ahead of time by Lincoln that it would be ok to enter through a U.S. resident. If Lycos needs to be a stickler on a technicality which Lincoln did not thoroughly research and clear with Lycos Legal, then I say it’s on Lincoln’s head to act with integrity and rectify the situation. Either by convincing Lycos to pony up. Or with his own wallet.