New Feature: Save Groups of Recipients with a private nickname

We are testing a small but much-requested feature: now, when you are spanking some contacts, you can save them under a single name -- for example, "My Best Friends" -- and then spanks those contacts in the future with the click of a little button.

See those black buttons? Ultra-fast spank nicknames,
that you can save as you spank by checking that little box under the recipients
and picking a name

It's just another way that we try to make Linkspank not only ridiculously fun, but also ridiculously convenient. Spank your friends faster than ever - by email address, facebook, or at a spanky profile.

We are testing and improving this feature, so let us know what you think. After all, this feature was your idea.

A Memo from Elaine

Just released are four instructional videos as part of our new "Dear Elaine" series. We'll be incorporating them into the New Spanker Orientation process.

By the way, you can find Elaine, our host of Linkspank TV, at www.linkspank.com/elaine. She likes having lots of Spank Friends so her profile and add her!

How to Spank


How to Spank ALL your friends


How to Win Stuff


How to Win a Wii

Spank your Facebook Friends

You've poked them. Now it's time to spank them.

Your life gets cluttered easily, and that includes your Facebook. Linkspank is helping to increase the fun AND reduce the clutter. It sounds impossible...but it is the truth.

You can now spank any of your Facebook friends, and they can join the spank automatically in one click.

Once you've added the Linkspank application in facebook, you can start typing their names and spank them immediately. (They also appear in your Address Book.)

Start typing a friend's name and you can spank them in facebook

If you have previously added the Linkspank app, try logging into Linkspank via facebook and this should make sure your Facebook contacts are imported.

Your facebook spankees receive your spanks as a notification:

Your spankees can pick up the Spank with minimal effort.

Give it a whirl and let us know what you think. With the stuff managed in Linkspank accounts, and with no need to create a new profile, your conscience can be clear as you spank the crap out of your friends.

When is the Next Contest?

Soon! Probably to begin in January.

Log in, Join, Invite Friends to the Spank via Facebook

We're testing some new features where you can log in to Linkspank through facebook, you can Join the Spank with one click using your Facebook information, and you can invite your Facebook friends to Join the Spank.

If you're a Spanker, you can help in two ways:

1. From the home page, try logging in via facebook
2. Click under "invite friends" to invite a few facebook friends, and ask them how it worked for them!

Let us know how it works so we can continue our vein attempts to satisfy everyone.

Coming soon: the ability to spank facebook friends who haven't joined yet.

Winners of the Holiday Contest.

The Holiday Contest has two winners - MrZach in the Eastern Division, and KidBaby, in the Western Divisions.

They each can choose from an iPod Touch, an iPhone, a Bose SoundDock, a Roomba, a KitchenAid Mixer, a TomTom GPS, or a Zappos gift certificate.

Splitting the contest made it a pretty wide-open game. Really our baby site could have done fine with one division but we are getting our technology ready for big multi-divisional contests coming soon.

Final Standings: Eastern Division



Final Standings: Western Division


Since MrZach has won twice now we'll probably take him out of the running, at least temporarily, with maybe the same treatment for KidBaby.

Every one else in the Top 6 will get a spanky T-shirt (send us your address), and also a Point Certificate that they can play in a future contest to add points to their contest score instantly to win a future grand prize. The Point Certificates will have big face values to help those #2's and #3's move into number one :-).

Thanks everyone for being such a great spanker!

Is your Quality Rating Insane?

During the contest, some people reported insane behavior in their quality rating. Specifically, their quality rating shot up, giving them a massive score.

This was not an error. It happened for two reasons. First, remember (due to recent changes) you now have a separate Quality Rating for each Contest. That quality rating isn't based on your whole lifetime of spanking, so it can change more easily than the lifetime quality rating can.

In particular, it's possible for your quality rating to go up or down when a bunch of people visit linkspank and read or don't read your spanks to them.

Second, the quality rating is VERY influential in calculating your score. It is designed this way to make sure that people's inboxes don't get clogged with an excess of unread spanks.

We change our algorithms from time to time. It's part of our mission to build the ultimate, most efficient procrastination machine ever. We don't change our algorithms during any contest though (that would hardly be fair).

For general info, see how to keep a high quality rating.

Get Paid to Procrastinate

An experiment:

"We are hiring Researchers to add one quick step to their daily online browsing by "spanking" a link, up to once per day. It takes just a moment and we give you at least $5.

Honestly, this is a mindblowingly easy way to get a small amount of cash each day for doing something that you already do.

If you're good at it, there may be further opportunities and even a chance to get hired as a Full-Time Procrastinator. And would that not be the best job imaginable?

For more information see http://www.linkspank.com/researcher

or contact us at http://www.linkspank.com/index.php?page=contactus

Thanks for your interest."

Currently, this position is only open to people who are Level 1 or lower at as of the time of this post (or people who haven't joined the spank). So pass it to your friends :-).

Tips: How to End a Contest

The current contest is almost over. Here are some tips on how to maximize your points (and chances of winning something) as a contest draws to a close.

Send a few Spanks on the last day. Sending a few Spanks before the contest is out can get you some extra points. How many spanks is the right amount? For most people, 3 spanks seems to be the magic number. Just make 'em good ones. :-)

Remember that your quality rating will "settle" over the next few days. People who forget this send an avalanche of spanks at the end of the contest. You totally have the right to do this, but your quality rating will almost certainly suffer, and hence your points as well.

Get friends to Join the Spank. You may have sluggy friends who haven't tried out the Spank yet. Explaining to these people that there is a deadline for their being a friend with you will motivate them... and can get you lots of extra points.

Hope that's helpful. Not that the Spank is just about contests. Tomorrow we'll share plans for new stuff coming soon on Linkspank.

Is that Nintendo Wii for today, or tomorrow?

Dear Linkspankers, another Nintendo Wii has been won through the Spankathon. That brings the total number of Wii winners so far to 2. Both of these glorious individuals will be actually receiving their Wiis in the next week or so.

Someone got their Wii in one week... will you?

Which brings us to an interesting factoid: we currently have a third, unclaimed, Wii in our office. What does this mean? It means that

if you are the next spanker to complete a pledge, you will receive your Wii pretty much immediately.

There are a couple days of red tape, but no ordering, waiting, or acting like a desperate parent shopping during the Christmas season for you!