From:	keith@***********.com (Keith Johnson)
Subject:	Get a free SR4 book when it comes out... (WAS: RE: ShadowrunFour)
Date:	Tue, 5 Jul 2005 11:48:16 -0700

> #Create a Paypal account, and I'm in. :)
> #
> #Matthäus
> #
>
> I have a Paypal account, actually. I'm looking for
>a way to keep a tally online somewhere, so people
>can easily see how much is in the "pot". That, and
>I'd like to judge response to this.
>
>For now, I'll give my Paypal account, but if there
>isn't enough of a response, I may not be able to
>actually do it.
>
>Paypal: australianwraithslayer@*****.com.au


This is something I'd participate in as well...


There are going to be a lot of logistical considerations to
making this happen in addition keeping track of who
contributes what to the lottery pool...

You'll need to account for PayPal taking their cut
before you have the money in your account...

You'll need to figure on shipping and handling for
all the locations to which items will need to be
delivered.

You'll need to worry about currency exchange (should
be trivial in today's world).

You'll need to deal with the ability to purchase
with an account and have it delivered to a completely
different person (not trivial in these days of identity
theft protections).

You'll need to come up with a reasonable price for
a lottery ticket (too low and the 'odds of winning'
become too high to be attractive, too high and it
becomes more attractive just to go out and buy one
on one's own).

You need to set up the basic rules for the lottery:
A) Can someone buy more than 1 lottery ticket?
2) Can a single person win more than 1 book?
iii) What is the timeline for opening/closing the lottery?
delta) What happens if you don't get enough *actual* interest to buy even a
single book?

My experience with this sort of thing is that a lottery
ticket price that is between 1/8th and 1/10th of the
retail price is the most advanctageous. I would also
set it so that an individual cannot win more than once,
and I'd close the lottery and select the winners well
before the books become available.

Keeping track of who bought how many lottery tickets
is easy; PayPal keeps track of it for you... Keeping
that information in an open/honest/independently-varifiable
way in not possible in a simple way... However, I've
found that you can go to your PayPal account, view the
History, save it as a webpage, complete, edit out private
information, then upload it to a public server so that
eveyone can see it. If a person who has purchased a lottery
ticket doesn't see his transaction on the public webpage,
then he or she can speak up...

It's not perfect, but it is easy. It's predicated upon the
people participating to be forthright, and I really like
that.

>PS: Mods, if this sort of thing isn't allowed, let
>me know and I'll shut it down.

As a side note, it is technically illegal to do this
sort of lottery in most of the United States without
acquiring a permit first. I doubt that that's really
an issue with us moving forward, however...

Cheers,

-k