About Hint Codes

Lately there has been some questions about giving hints for codes. Many people find it hard to tell the difference between giving a hint and basically giving the code away through a hint.

*I would like to note that the following are my thoughts on the subject and is NOT an official guideline. Use at your own risk.*

To start out, I would like to remind everyone that while posting an active code can result in your account getting banned, it is OK to post code hints.

Here is how I define what is ok and what is not ok...Click on "example" to be shown an example on swagbucks blog. I will use the example from the swagbucks blog when explaining GOOD and BAD.

Example 1: The code is posted directly on the blog, with the phrase "The code is..." or other similar phrases.

1. GOOD - Telling people to go look at the blog. Giving people the url of the blog (The whole blog, not the individual post). Letting people know that it says "The code is..." or one of the other phrases (without actually posting the code itself). Using a hint like "This is one code you won't want to pass up. Hurry before it's all over."
2. BAD - Telling people under which post the code is located (Read the post about Passover). Giving them the url directly to the post with the code. Actually telling them the code. Using a hint like "You won't want to Passover this code." **The difference between the 2 hints is this one actually posts the code, while the other one makes people have to think a little harder to get it.**

Example 2: Clues are posted on the blog and you must figure them out to find the code. *Note that the original post was everything above the "UPDATE."*

1. GOOD - Letting people know what is a good site to find the stats on. Making the directions more clear (By total they mean...). Mentioning that a site has the wrong stat.
2. BAD - Giving people any part of the equation (The first number is...). Removing all the effort of the code hunt (10950 / 2 = code). Giving the url that contains any part of the equation or code (You can find Griffey Jr's home run total here).

Example 3: A code hunt is posted on FB, the code is posted somewhere on YouTube and something on the blog could help you find it. *To see the blog post that would have helped, clickhere.*

1. GOOD - Telling people that one of the songs of the day, on the blog, has a link to YouTubewhere the code can be found. Giving a hint like "On the blog, TSG said he gets HYPED when listening to this song." One other hint could have been "The song of the day makes me glad to be a Citizen of swagbucks. It helps me Cope with many things." Letting people know that when they find the right page, the code is posted in the comments section. Reminding people that the code is either case sensitive, or letting them know it's in all CAPS.
2. BAD - Telling people exactly which blog post has the link to the code. Posting the url that takes you directly to the code. Directly telling people which song of the day it is.

Example 4: Here is one other example of a code posted directly on the blog. However, this code was posted on this blog post a few days after the post originally came out. I'm using this one because there were many good examples of hints that came out.

1. GOOD - Again, telling people to read the blog and providing them with the main blog url. Giving hints like "Think of candy," "This blog post is pretty Shady" or "Maybe we should find the Marshall." Since the code was put on a post a few days back, you could give a hint like this "It's one of the songs of the day from the past few days."
2. BAD - Giving the exact blog post away, or giving the blog post url. Telling people the song title or the artist.

Basically, I feel it comes down to is this...Hints should help people figure it out on their own, without giving them the code or an answer to part of the code hunt directly. While there are no set guidelines as to what is OK or is NOT OK, just make sure you really think about it before giving out a hint. If you aren't sure if a hint would give away too much info, it's probably best to not post it.