So, lately I've been seeing a lot of this in giveaway/contest entry threads: Player 1: 73, please. Player 2. 41. Wow! Huge congrats to you! Player 3: 73. Congrats! Player 4. 41. If that's taken, then 47, please. Player 5. 73, please. 47 if that's taken, 41 if that's taken. Congrats! You get the idea. There are a LOT of repeated numbers and requests for "this, if not, then that, if not that, then this" kinda things. Now, some of these threads are understandably long, so I can see where it could be hard for you to look at every single post and then pick an unpicked number. Well, look at it this way: If you have to do that work, then imagine how much work the person running the contest has to do. Either they keep a list of numbers or they have to look at every single post every single time there's a new one. And even if they keep a list, then they still have to monitor the numbers and tell people if their number is taken! Sounds bad, right? So what can you do? Well, take a piece of paper or a document and just write down five numbers that you'd be okay with. If there's a list of taken numbers, cool, check for your numbers and write down an untaken one. Otherwise, go through the posts and cross of each number on you're list that is taken and then choose an untaken one. Not only this will save the runner time, but it will also save a lot of un-needed/repeated posts. So, that's my two cents on the issue. It's not much, but hey. If it makes EMC better, why not do it?
