Are Your Invites Joining Linkspank?

It's Spankathon time, so here is a brief note of encouragement to pledgers.

Consider these two facts:

1. The average spanker required 3 invitations before joining the spank.
2. 90%+ of spankers remain active on the site.

Combine these facts and you get the following conclusion:

Invite your friends at least three times -- 90+% of them will thank you later!

In fact, your friends may not even have opened your invitation yet! You can see who has, and reinvite your friends, all on the fancy Invite Tracker page.

Complete Your Profile: A Checklist for Spankers

We've created a little checklist to help spankers finish off their profile and get started using the site's fantastic features.



This feature was inspired by LinkedIn's similar feature. There is a lot to learn and get used to on Linkspank. I guarantee you that if you go through it you will be a better spanker. Plus, you will have the satisfaction of completing something 100% - and getting 30 points.

Go to the checklist

Operation Antarctica

In the spirit of the Spankathon, here is a bonus point-winning opportunity. (It will count toward your lifetime points, and also your points during the Spankathon, which can help you win the mysterious, still-unnamed prize for the top contest scorer.)

Linkspank currently has registered users on five of the seven continents: North America, South America, Europe, Africa, and Asia. You can browse linkspankers on our Friend Map,

The Linkspank Friend Map

which is built on Google maps (the "API") and which has benefited from recent improvations in "geocoding" made by Google.

In the spirit of charting the globe, we will aware 50 points to the first person who recruits a spanker in Australia, and 150 points to the first person who recruits a spanker in Antarctica.

Recruiting this penguin could earn you 150 points

The spankers you recruit don't have to be permanent residents of those continents (those are hard to come by in Antarctica) but they have to be actually logging into Linkspank from those locations.

If you achieve your goal, declare victory to us so we can give you your points.

Extended Spankathon: Making the Possible Inevitable.

Getting a Wii has gone from "possible" one step closer to "inevitable."

Many spankers have pledged in the Spankathon and are out there busting their humps to get a Wii. Other spankers have pledged and are slacking a bit.

For all of you, getting 50 friends on takes time and we want to give away as many Wii's as possible.

So, the Spankathon has been extended until October 31.

Go to the pledge page to make a pledge and track your progress.

Spanking Emails: Easier than Unlocking the iPhone?

Spanking Emails

Spanking emails has gone from easy to super-easy. So if you're looking for a Nintendo Wii (which has outsold the other game systems worldwide) pay attention:

Now when you click "spank", choose "all contacts who haven't seen it"...
...to automatically fill the box with people you've invited, as well as your friends on linkspank. The emails you spank can still go and watch / see what you sent them without joining linkspank - but it's a good reminder to them of the rich tapestry of spank that is available to them.


How to Get 1,000 Points

A beautiful milestone was reached today: MikeWMiller hit 1,000 points. While his points may decrease (due to the vicissitudes of quality ratings), he still has hit it and that's a great milestone.


How did he do it? By inviting friends, and spanking them great links. Consequently, an iPhone and special Flair-giving powers have rained upon him.

Who knows what special powers will await him if he attains the fabled Level 6?

Join his ranks! Make your pledge, try a spank or two to your contacts, and go for that Nintendo Wii.

Special Power: Giving Flair

We stated a while back that spankers of higher Levels would acquire special powers, and we are now testing the first special power: giving flair.

A piece of flair

To give flair, you must be a Level 4 or higher spanker. (Anyone can receive flair.) Visit the profile of the lucky recipient and click "Give Flair" under their picture.



The Importance of Flair

More details:
+ Flair is vital to your social status and self-respect.
+ You can only give flair once a week.
+ Both you and the recipient receive a couple points.
+ The flair item and your message are PUBLIC.
+ Flair must be approved by the recipient - then it will appear in a "flair" tab on that person's profile.

Four Steps to Get Friends

Spankathon pledges continue to rise -- very exciting! Do these Four Steps to get friends on linkspank.

Step 1. Import your contacts from webmail or from Outlook.

* Be REALLY enthusiastic!! Or your invitation may be ignored.
* Invite Groups - for a "domino effect."

Step 2. Urge your friends to join by email, phone, and in person.

* Send separate emails to your friends, asking them to click the link (maybe in the spam box ) and join.
* Call your friends and be like, "WTF?!"
* Give them a demo at a computer and make them join.

Step 3. Reinvite your friends.

* Most people don't even open the first invitation to a site!
* Can you remember how many times you were invited to linkspank before you joined?

Step 4. Send spanks to their email addresses.

* If you keep spanking people at their email address, they will eventually succumb.
* Just start typing an email in the "recipients" box to get it auto-filled.
* Repeat, until they join.

(This page is maintained here on linkspank.com)

It takes a lot of work to get people to try something new... but in the case of Linkspank they are usually glad they did!

New Feature: Quick Search

We are testing out a new feature: quick search. There is a little button at the top right of your screen, where the old search used to be:

click "quick search" to search right in the same page

Here is what it should do for you:
* make it really fast to find a link you have received, sent, clicked, saved, whatevered, by searching "my stuff"
* make it really fast to find and visit the profile of a particular spanker
* give you a new way to find new new new stuff online.

For example, you may wonder what is new with the Nintendo Wii, especially if you're planning on winning one in the Spankathon:



The search results are not as comprehensive as a search engine like Google, but the links are REALLY REALLY new :-)

Give it a whirl and let us know what you think!

Spankathon begins on Friday!!

The Spankathon begins on Friday -- cast your pledge now on the contest page.

There are six prizes for meeting your pledges, including the Team Spank Track Jacket:



and the Nintendo Wii:


There will also be a special price, announced soon, for the person scoring the most points during the contest.

Can I pledge now?

Yes, pledge now to build our collective goal, which currently stands at 260 new spankers.

You get credit toward your pledge prize for any spankers who join after your pledge. (However, you get contest points only for spankers who join after the contest starts on Friday.)

260 new spankers and counting

This is the first ever Spankathon, so our pledge level of 260 so far is very exciting. The more spankers we have, the better our content gets (and the more people you have to share links with). That's why for Linkspank, Bigger is Better.