I won’t say it. Ok, I’ll try really hard not to say it!
Two weeks ago I wrote about my dislike for web contests, and as on Monday, August 20th (two days ago), it was apparent why. Ashwin of AshwinKhanna.com recently held a CONtest supposedly worth $2,500 to the winner, and news of it spread through the web like wildfire. It elevated his Technorati ratings from near obscurity to the top 5,000. Only being in existence for a little over a month, this is a feat that very few blogs can accomplish, contest or not.
However, it appears that no congratulations is in order.
The contest ran through August 20th, and at that time the winner was announced: BloggerSlogger. Who is BloggerSlogger? Beats the heck out of me, and a lot of other people as well! The site looks like it was just put together, and…coincidence? The only post is one that talks about the CONtest over at AshwinKhanna.com, posted on AUGUST 19th! It’s a Wordpress blog, so we can’t see the WHOIS information, but nine times out of ten it belongs to none other than Ashwin himself.
Watch this video review that captures both websites in their essence as of Tuesday, August 21 (check back if video does not appear immediately, YouTube is running slow today):
Website: www.ashwinkhanna.com
Online Since: July 7, 2007
Google PageRank: 0
Alexa Rating: 339,133
Technorati Ranking: 7,745 (and dropping fast)
Technorati Authority: 468 (and dropping fast)
RSS Subscribers: 39 Monday; 27 Tuesday and dropping fast (removed as of Tuesday afternoon)
Top Commentator Plugin: Yes
Do-Follow Enabled: No
Best Feature: No sorry half-ass explanation
Worst Feature: Absolutely no explanation
Why you should visit this site: There is absolutely no reason to
Hustler’s Rating: 0 hustle men (out of 5)
AshwinKhanna.com is a disgrace to the hustle. Please remove all links to his site if you have any in your blogroll or posts, and spread the news so he cannot start another one. 
*These figures may have risen or fallen since the video and post were originally produced.
27 Comments Received
August 22nd, 2007 @7:35 pm
Good catch and nice video. i don’t have time to enter contests and am too cheap to have one myself
August 22nd, 2007 @10:11 pm
Thanks for the heads up, but it seems that “Blog Slogger” has actually posted more content. Of course it is a copy and paste rip off from somewhere else. The whole thing smells pretty rotten to me.
August 22nd, 2007 @11:53 pm
It’s sad and I’m really giving away a Barry Bonds card and barely got any comments or entry’s.
http://bloggerforlife.com/free-barry-bonds-card/
August 23rd, 2007 @12:41 am
that guy sucks. boo in name of the hustle
August 23rd, 2007 @12:54 am
Unfortunately, we won’t be seeing the end of CONtests anytime soon. If it weren’t for his laziness, he would have been pretty successful.
Becoming A Master
Bruce-Leroy.com
August 23rd, 2007 @12:57 am
One word… KARMA. This Ashwin guy is pathetic!
Kudos to you for breaking this, jones.
August 23rd, 2007 @3:13 am
Thanks for alerting me. And for some reason the video isn’t working form me. It’s a shame when people use a good community like blogging and con them.
August 23rd, 2007 @6:25 am
He better hustle himself out of here.
August 23rd, 2007 @9:37 am
Contest blogger has done the right thing as part of his job in his blog about contest.
August 23rd, 2007 @10:25 am
Ha! Bloggerslogger has linked to a short post on my blog.
August 23rd, 2007 @11:55 am
That guy really needs a slap. Makes me feel dumb for believing him, and even dumber for running my own contest now that trust in the blogosphere is dipping fast.
August 23rd, 2007 @2:52 pm
Great post, I’m glad to see you took the time to reveal this scam for what it is and to set it straight that it is not a hustle. The video, very clever. I like the idea of a weekly video highlight.
August 23rd, 2007 @3:24 pm
damn scamer! i have been blogging since a 10 months or so but never had the urge to do quick fix money earning schemes. Btw why the morons went to that site in the first place… it was more then fishy. 2500$ from a school goer thats cheap crap.
Hey cooliojones thanks for putting few comments on my site. Real grateful for that.
August 24th, 2007 @3:26 am
Just as the last time, I’m so in love your voice. Another great video you did here. I saw through this contest, so I didn’t enter it. I wasn’t surprised when contestblogger reported what was going on. Too true that he was sooooooo lazy. I like contests, but I do see the downsides of them and also there seems to be too many coming out.
ps. the links in your post go to last weeks video guy oneyeargoal.com
August 24th, 2007 @8:28 am
Shame to blogosphere. Ashwin Khanna dot com
August 24th, 2007 @9:57 pm
Eh. What a jerk.
August 26th, 2007 @12:51 pm
hes a big time loser… he suck
August 29th, 2007 @7:43 pm
Nice video!
September 1st, 2007 @5:59 pm
Hi… Thanks for the great video. I was suckered, too. I have, obviously, pulled all of this scammer’s links from my site. Still makes me mad, though.
And, I have to say… I *am* running a contest on my blog (winner by vote, actually, so I’m doing this at arm’s length) but only insofar as to gain readership (I have a personal blog) and to celebrate my 10 years of blogging. The contest is only to thank my community for making blogging so much fun over the past decade… Nothing more.
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