
                     B O A R D W A T C H   M A G A Z I N E
                                 Announces the
            Boardwatch 100 Reader's Choice Bulletin Board Contest
                                  for 1993

                    WIN A FREE HIGH SPEED MODEM

  Boardwatch Magazine is sponsoring a contest to find the 100 most popular
  bulletin board systems in North America - and the ONE BBS most popular
  among callers.  The contest will run from January 1, 1993 through July 1,
  1993.  Winners will be announced at the Online Networking Exposition and
  BBS Convention (ONE BBSCON) held at the Broadmoor Hotel in Colorado Springs
  Colorado, August 25-29, 1993. The Boardwatch 100 list will be published in
  subsequent issues of Boardwatch Magazine and distributed in electronic
  form world-wide.

                    PRIZES FOR BULLETIN BOARD OPERATORS

  1ST PRIZE: Air fare, hotel accommodations and registration at ONE BBSCON
  for one is awarded to the system receiving the most votes.  Additionally,
  the system will receive a free full-page black and white advertisement in
  Boardwatch Magazine for a period of three months.  An award trophy will be
  presented at the ONE BBSCON and a feature story on their BBS will appear 
  in a subsequent issue of the magazine..

  TOP TEN:  The ten most popular bulletin boards selected by the voters will
  each receive an award trophy during a special presentation at the Online
  Networking Exposition and BBS Convention (ONE BBSCON) August 25-29,
  1993.  Additionally,  a story describing their system will appear in
  Boardwatch Magazine, they will be included in a special TOP TEN BBS listing
  in the magazine, and they will receive a free quarter-page black and white
  advertisement in three successive issues.  Finally, they will be listed in
  the Boardwatch 100 BBS list.

  TOP ONE HUNDRED: The 100 bulletin boards receiving the most votes will
  each be listed in the Boardwatch 100 readers choice BBS list.  This list
  will be published in Boardwatch Magazine and freely distributed
  electronically on thousands of bulletin boards world-wide.

                          PRIZES FOR VOTERS

  All valid ballots submitted by voters will be entered in a random
  sweepstakes drawing.  As of the opening date of this contest, prizes
  include TWO U.S. ROBOTICS COURIER DUAL STANDARD 16.8K MODEMS, two HAYES
  OPTIMA 14400 + FAX 144 modems, and two ZyXEL U-1496 14,400 bps modems
  - and more are on the way.  A minimum of six valid ballots will be
  selected from all entries and each will receive a free modem - from the 
  most popular modem manufacturers in the world.

  RULES FOR CALLERS

  Each voter can vote once, for a single bulletin board system.  Each ballot
  must be fully completed, and individually mailed by each voter.  One vote
  per address, and we will verify ballots as necessary.  There are three ways
  to vote:

  1. Printout and complete this ballot and mail to:

                             BOARDWATCH MAGAZINE
                             READERS CHOICE BBS CONTEST
                             5970 South Vivian Street
                             Littleton, CO 80127

  2. Print out, complete this ballot and FAX to (303)973-3731.

  3. Or, dial the Boardwatch BBS at (303)973-4222 and complete the online
  ballot provided on the main menu.

  Balloting closes at 23:59:59, June 30, 1993.

  This contest is not limited to Boardwatch Magazine subscribers, and no 
  purchase of any kind is required to participate in this contest.

  NOTE: We held this contest during 1992 and it generated 11,152 votes by the 
  close of balloting for some 1250 different bulletin boards.  The TOP system
  received about 450 votes. Your individual vote can have a tremendous impact 
  on the outcome of this contest.  Further, the odds of winning a modem in
  last years contest, were 1 in 1394 (8 modems awarded).

  RULES FOR BBS OPERATORS

  Bulletin Board Operators may encourage callers to vote for their system 
  by offering whatever inducements/encouragements they like.  There is one
  rule to this contest for BBS operators.  YOU MAY NOT HANDLE ANY VOTE AFTER
  THE CALLER HAS COMPLETED THE BALLOT.  YOU MAY NOT HANDLE IT IN ANY WAY.

  You may provide callers with anything you like, including postage paid 
  envelopes, printed matter, solicitations, etc.  But once they have 
  completed a ballot, if you touch, handle, or otherwise deal with the ballot
  in any way, your BBS will be disqualified from the contest without appeal 
  or recourse.  

  If you wish to post an electronic ballot on your BBS, you may post this file
  IN ITS ENTIRETY.  You may post any additional information you feel is
  appropriate, but this entire rules file must be available to all callers.

  Despite the fact that this contest has a minimum of rules, this one rule 
  does cause problems each year.  You cannot post online surveys or doors
  to allow voters to vote online.  This is vote handling.  You cannot accept
  ballots from callers and mail them for them.  You cannot accept ballots and
  fax them in for callers.  The rule of thumb is pretty clear: You can provide
  anything you like TO callers to induce them to vote.  There is NOTHING you
  can accept FROM callers in any way pertaining to this ballot at all.  THEY
  must complete the ballot and forward it to us themselves.  

  We actually received FEDEX packages on the final day of the contest last
  year from BBS operators who claimed to have collected a hundred or so 
  votes.  Infractions are dealt with quite economically - the BBS is summarily
  disqualified without recourse or appeal.

  One new element introduced in the 1993 contest is date scoring.  All ballots
  received from 1 January 1993 through 30 June 1993 will receive a date score
  based on the date of receipt.  Date scores will range from 180 for votes 
  received 1 January down to 1 for votes received on June 30.  These date
  stamp values are cummulative for each BBS and will be used to eliminate ALL
  ties in the TOP 100.  Since ties are quite common in this contest, it pays
  to get your votes in early.

  This contest is open to all bulletin boards worldwide with the sole 
  exception of the Boardwatch Magazine BBS - which is ineligible.  
  Commercial services such as Prodigy, America Online, CompuServe, are 
  considered to be networks and not bulletin boards for the purposes of this
  contest. HOWEVER, individual forums, roundtables, or special interest areas
  moderated by a specific human  SYSOP on those services and allowing callers
  to post messages in that specific area ARE considered to be bulletin boards
  for the purposes of this contest and may participate.  

