Of particular note is the Technical Support forum, where you can open new issues and see which have been resolved by Raffstar Team Members. Additionally throughout all of the forums you can now create polls, subscribe to topics, and sort by popular keyword tags.

As always, if there are any extra features you’d like to see, let us know!

We’re launching the very first giveaway as we speak: a $25 Target E-Gift Card! We’ll continue to host new giveaways every week through June, ending each Saturday. Check the leaderboard before watching those cartoons to find out if you’ve won!

Nolan Touchstone is the winner of a $25 Visa Gift Card!

Congratulations Nolan, and a huge thank you to everyone who joined up on Facebook!
Stay tuned for more ways to win, and as always, let us know what prizes and drawings you’d like to see held.

And as always, if you have any suggestions on what you would like to see on Facebook or elsewhere, just let us know! Visit our Facebook Page today!

This month we will begin cracking down on accounts suspected of cheating.

WHAT IS CHEATING?
Cheating is any attempt to manipulate the results of the system other than manually clicking the “Get Ticket” button within the allowable time for each giveaway. This includes, but is not limited to:

• Creating multiple accounts* to get extra tickets
• Using a script, application, or automated bot to automatically get tickets (even if it stays within the allowable time).
• Hacking or injecting code into the system for any reason whatsoever.

* Individual members in a household may each have separate accounts, but if one member’s account is caught cheating, all accounts may be affected.

WHY IS CHEATING BAD?

• It discourages advertisers from participating.
  Companies are paying for actual people to see their ads. If those impressions start coming from a bot or automated script, we can say goodbye to the financial backers of this site permanently.
• It discourages others from playing.
  When a new member sees that someone already has over 2,000 tickets for a prize, they’ll turn right around and leave the site thinking there’s no chance. Without members, there’s no reason for advertisers to stick around either.
• It causes problems with our system.
  Our site was designed to run a specific way, and any foreign code or interference can generate bugs and errors that affect everyone playing.

WHAT IF MY ACCOUNT IS FLAGGED?
We will be rolling out new security measures this month with three forms of response based on the severity of cheating involved:

• Account Handicap
  Member will be forced to verify their authenticity each time they get a ticket.
• Account Suspension
  Member will not be able to get tickets for an extended period of time.
• Account Ban
  Member (and similar accounts, including families) will be permanently banned from Raffstar.

We realize there are some members who eagerly (and fairly) get tickets with startling regularity and we’ll seek to resolve any confusion as it arises.

WHAT IF I NO LONGER CHEAT?
If a flagged account resumes normal activity before we contact the account holder, we will not pursue the issue. But if an account remains flagged when we start cracking down, the account holder will be permanently banned as an example to the other members.

How do you know if your account is flagged? A good rule of thumb is if you’re still cheating, you’re probably flagged. This is your ONLY warning.

We appreciate all all of our users who have been playing fairly since launch! If you have any questions or comments, don’t hesitate to leave a comment or contact us! Thank you.

• Check your odds of winning
• Find out what those odds are equivalent to in the real world
• View all of your tickets together
• Compete against other members on the projected leaderboard
• Witness the un-luckiest members on a given prize
• And more to come!

Check it out now on any one of our prize giveaways, and as always, let us know what you think!

Don’t let that work go to waste — Become a Raffstar Fan on Facebook!

The good news is, a whole lot of our expectations stuck, and the 2nd quarter of 2009 is shaping up to be a very cool time for everyone.  Much of what we’re doing is behind the scenes, like improving the way we order and ship out prizes, opening up communication channels so our team can get out and socialize with the community, and of course, working on new features that will make Raffstar that much cooler to play.

They say a picture’s worth a thousand words, however, so I’ll stop talking and just show you a few snippets of what we’ve been working on this month:

As always, we love to hear what you guys think, and we really do read every email that we receive!  So let us know what you’d like to see in the future!

- David
The Raffstar Team

We have some great features coming out soon.  I know that you are probably tired of hearing about new features without seeing them, but they will be worth the wait, I promise.   I’m hesitant to give any sort of timeline just because of the complications that can come up programming new features, but we are closer to launching them today than we were last week.  Here’s a sneak peek… we are adding some new stats to the giveaway pages including listing the tickets you have received and calculating your odds of winning.

Many of the updates we are working on are directly from your comments and suggestions, so keep them coming.  Also tell your friends about Raffstar.  The more people we have getting tickets the more prizes we can give away and the more we can help charities.  It’s a win-win situation so tell everyone you know to sign up and get some tickets.

April
- The Raffstar Team

In addition, each of our team members will be taking turns on the blog to update you on the upcoming plans for Raffstar and to give you a chance to get to know our team a little better. But we want to hear from you too, so please keep your comments coming. In fact, many of the new updates we’ve come up with (and are currently working on) are a direct result of various comments posted throughout the site. We want Raffstar to become a user-driven site, so keep sending us your input, suggestions, and feedback. Don’t forget to check the forums and leave a message, comment here on the blog or on as many of the giveaways as you want, or send us a direct message.

One of the main things we are currently working on is a Celebrity Encounter giveaway. So if your uncle’s, landlord’s, daughter’s, fiance knows Brad Pitt, go ahead and make a few calls to see if you can let him know what an amazing site Raffstar is. After all, everyone is only 6 degrees of separation away from everyone else on the planet- including Kevin Bacon (hey, another celebrity… anyone know him?)! So keep spreading the word about Raffstar, and start coming back to the blog for more regular updates and exciting news.

Nathan
-The Raffstar Team