Pauline
20-09-2010, 01:16 PM
I have been contacted by Haven Fun and Fitness about members using the forum to artificially inflate their support of the scheme.
Below is a statement from Haven, which I trust you will all read and adhere to their request. Please can I ask members NOT to use this forum to seek support as threads and posts will be removed. Thank you.
Haven statement:
“The Haven Fun & Fitness Sports Equipment Giveaway was devised to benefit as many under-5’s as possible at early years settings throughout the UK. The scheme encourages parents to support their own child’s pre-school environment by clicking on our website and leaving a message.
To make the scheme wholly inclusive it has been possible to leave a message of support for your child via an email address or computer that was not registered to yourself.
Sadly some supporters have seen this as an opportunity to leave multiple messages of support for early years settings and child-minding groups all over the UK that are quite unrelated to their own child.
Whilst this might have the effect of benefitting unknown children and securing equipment on their behalf, the spirit of the campaign is to encourage parents to be actively involved in their own child’s fitness. For settings to reach their target as a result of a few individuals logging on and leaving dozens of messages is contrary to the aims of the giveaway.
The campaign did not launch until today, and we have been monitoring the situation on this forum and via the Fun & Fitness website and have found a number of groups registering and reaching their targets before launch day. The site was up and running over the weekend for testing purposes and from reading this forum it is evident to Haven Fun & Fitness that these totals have not been reached by fair means, which excludes the other hundreds of schools who work hard to get their support and obtain their equipment.
Fun & Fitness were aware of this mechanism of gaining support over previous campaigns, however to have stopped it would have meant that we had to take away the ability to support two or more children, which many families will encounter. It was not a big issue last year so therefore we did not take this action, however, after watching the activity over the weekend, and to have such a large number of settings gaining totals through illegitimate means, indicates that this is a bigger problem this year than we are prepared to accommodate. Therefore all settings who have used this method to gain support will have their totals returned to zero and offered the chance to get their equipment using the proper method of asking the parents and relatives connected to their setting.
We do apologise if this has a negative effect on parents who have children at more than one early years setting – or parents that don’t have their own registered email address. However, we have to think of all settings on this campaign and from now one only one email address per parent, per child for one setting can be used. We trust that parents will continue to support their own child and that under-5’s will enjoy the benefit of the free equipment available through Haven Fun & Fitness.”
Below is a statement from Haven, which I trust you will all read and adhere to their request. Please can I ask members NOT to use this forum to seek support as threads and posts will be removed. Thank you.
Haven statement:
“The Haven Fun & Fitness Sports Equipment Giveaway was devised to benefit as many under-5’s as possible at early years settings throughout the UK. The scheme encourages parents to support their own child’s pre-school environment by clicking on our website and leaving a message.
To make the scheme wholly inclusive it has been possible to leave a message of support for your child via an email address or computer that was not registered to yourself.
Sadly some supporters have seen this as an opportunity to leave multiple messages of support for early years settings and child-minding groups all over the UK that are quite unrelated to their own child.
Whilst this might have the effect of benefitting unknown children and securing equipment on their behalf, the spirit of the campaign is to encourage parents to be actively involved in their own child’s fitness. For settings to reach their target as a result of a few individuals logging on and leaving dozens of messages is contrary to the aims of the giveaway.
The campaign did not launch until today, and we have been monitoring the situation on this forum and via the Fun & Fitness website and have found a number of groups registering and reaching their targets before launch day. The site was up and running over the weekend for testing purposes and from reading this forum it is evident to Haven Fun & Fitness that these totals have not been reached by fair means, which excludes the other hundreds of schools who work hard to get their support and obtain their equipment.
Fun & Fitness were aware of this mechanism of gaining support over previous campaigns, however to have stopped it would have meant that we had to take away the ability to support two or more children, which many families will encounter. It was not a big issue last year so therefore we did not take this action, however, after watching the activity over the weekend, and to have such a large number of settings gaining totals through illegitimate means, indicates that this is a bigger problem this year than we are prepared to accommodate. Therefore all settings who have used this method to gain support will have their totals returned to zero and offered the chance to get their equipment using the proper method of asking the parents and relatives connected to their setting.
We do apologise if this has a negative effect on parents who have children at more than one early years setting – or parents that don’t have their own registered email address. However, we have to think of all settings on this campaign and from now one only one email address per parent, per child for one setting can be used. We trust that parents will continue to support their own child and that under-5’s will enjoy the benefit of the free equipment available through Haven Fun & Fitness.”