No-bots policy: how we keep contest promotion human

Where does promotion stop and a vote begin?

Our work ends at presenting your entry and giving interested people clear instructions. Each person decides independently whether to vote and follows the contest’s own steps.

We do not sell votes, followers or engagement. We do not use bots, scripts, fake accounts or click farms, and we do not help people get around voting protections. That boundary applies to every channel we use.

What we can do instead

• Set up advertising through a platform’s own ad system, subject to its review.
• Prepare creative and copy that explain the entry and the voting steps accurately.
• Contact creators about disclosed paid placements and review the audience information they share.
• Send messages through community, email or messenger channels where the audience has agreed to receive them.

The right mix depends on the contest’s rules and where its likely supporters spend time. See the options across contest marketing, or review community and consent-based outreach when you already have an audience to contact.

What goes into an audience source check?

We review where attention is expected to come from and compare campaign activity with the information visible to you. These checks help make reporting traceable; they are not a claim that we can identify every individual who sees an ad or visits a voting page.

For paid promotion, the platform’s own campaign analytics show the delivery and interaction figures available to the account. For a creator placement, we ask to review relevant audience screens from the creator’s analytics before recommending a booking. For outreach, we confirm that the proposed group or list is appropriate for the message and that permission to contact people is in place.

Tracking links can connect visits to a source. If the voting page provides a visible counter, we can note it alongside campaign activity. If the page does not show whether a visit became a completed vote, our report says that plainly rather than treating clicks as votes.

For creator selection, see influencer and creator outreach. For a broader explanation of how we assess promotion, visit the contest promotion methodology.

What will you know before promotion starts?

Before work begins, we explain the proposed channels, the tasks we will handle and the information the reporting can show. You should be able to describe the campaign to a contest organizer without hiding how people were reached.

Our written plan separates campaign activity from the contest outcome. It identifies which work is ours—such as preparing an ad, coordinating an agreed creator placement or sending approved outreach—and what we can observe through platform analytics or tracking links. We label projections as projections, not as promised votes.

Bring these items to the first review:

• The contest rules and any organizer guidance on outside promotion.
• Your entry link, voting instructions and any limits supporters must follow.
• The channels you already control, plus any audience or creative material you want considered.
• Any concern about a tactic another participant has proposed.

If the rules prohibit outside promotion, we do not plan around that restriction. The contest rules and risk check can help you organize the relevant details before we assess the options.

How do we handle requests that cross the line?

We decline requests for automated activity, fake accounts, click farms or purchased votes, and we do not offer a quieter or smaller version of those tactics. We explain the issue and, when the contest permits promotion, can suggest a white-hat alternative based on advertising, creative work or permitted outreach.

The organizer sets the contest rules and decides whether an entry complies. Advertising platforms also control ad approval and delivery. We commit to the agreed work and clear reporting, not to votes, a contest ranking or a win.

If you receive a proposal that seems questionable, do not share account access or agree to a tactic before checking the contest rules. Send us the proposal and the contest link; we will review what is visible and tell you whether we can help within the rules. Start with a free contest analysis and we will assess the entry, the rules and a suitable promotion route.