Swords down, the voting is completed.
Congrats to Wulf and 10K Skulls for the *unofficial* Win.
Congrats to myself and Terat for the *unofficial* Place.
Congrats to Wulf and myself with Terkuss and the Centaurim tied for the *unofficial* Show.
All claims are currently unofficial as Scrasamax and associated subsidiaries are not responsible for rules and regulations of the War Quest or other associated quests. In line with terms of horse racing, the first three positions are named Win, Place, and Show, corresponding with first, second, and third place finishes.
Small print (also known as fine print in the United States) refers to the practice of including necessary legal terms, warnings, disclaimers or other phrases in small writing on commercial or contractual documents. Small print is usually included at the end or bottom of a document, in a smaller type size (as well as generally being in capital letters to make reading more difficult).
Some countries require by law certain information to be included on advertisements or leaflets offering goods or services. Advertisers include this information in small print in order to meet the requirements while drawing the minimum attention away from their sales message.
In other cases, small print is used to preempt claims of false advertising with statements such as the common "Dramatization" or "Actors shown". In extreme cases these subtle notices may not be considered sufficient, but they can considerably strengthen a company's defense.
Unscrupulous businesses may use jargon in contractual small print to conceal terms disadvantageous to the other party, or to obscure legal rights and obligations. Consumer protection laws have been enacted in several jurisdictions in order to combat this.
Loyalty programs are structured marketing efforts that reward, and therefore encourage, loyal buying behaviour - behaviour which is potentially of benefit to the firm[1].
In marketing generally and in retailing more specifically, a loyalty card, rewards card, points card, or club card is a plastic or paper card, visually similar to a credit card or debit card, that identifies the card holder as a member in a loyalty program. Loyalty cards are a system of the loyalty business model. In the United Kingdom it is typically called a loyalty card, in Canada a rewards card or a points card, and in the United States either a discount card, a club card or a rewards card. Cards typically have a barcode or magstripe that can be easily scanned, and some are even chip cards. Small keyring cards are often used for convenience.
A retail establishment or a retail group may issue a loyalty card to a consumer who can then use it as a form of identification when dealing with that retailer. By presenting the card, the purchaser is typically entitled to either a discount on the current purchase, or an allotment of points that can be used for future purchases. Hence, the card is the visible means of implementing a type of what economists call a two-part tariff.
The card issuer requests or requires customers seeking the issuance of a loyalty card to provide a usually minimal amount of identifying or demographic data, such as name and address. Application forms usually entail agreements by the store concerning customer privacy, typically non-disclosure (by the store) of non-aggregate data about customers. The store — one might expect — uses aggregate data internally (and sometimes externally) as part of its marketing research.
Where a customer has provided sufficient identifying information, the loyalty card may also be used to access such information to expedite verification during receipt of cheques or dispensing of medical prescription preparations, or for other membership privileges (e.g., access to a club lounge in airports, using a frequent flyer card).
A pyramid scheme (also known as "Pyramid Scam" [1]) is a non-sustainable business model that involves the exchange of money primarily for enrolling other people into the scheme, usually without any product or service being delivered. Pyramid schemes have existed for at least a century. Matrix schemes use the same fraudulent non-sustainable system as a pyramid; here, the victims pay to join a waiting list for a desirable product which only a fraction of them can ever receive.
There are other commercial models using cross-selling such as multi-level marketing (MLM) or party planning which are legal and sustainable, although there is a significant grey area in many cases. Most pyramid schemes take advantage of confusion between genuine businesses and complicated but convincing moneymaking scams. The essential idea behind each scam is that the individual makes only one payment, but is promised to somehow receive exponential benefits from other people as a reward. A common example might be an offer that, for a fee, allows the victim to sell the same offer to other people. Each sale includes a fee to the original seller.
Clearly, the flaw is that there is no end benefit; the money simply travels up the chain, and only the originator (or at best a very few) wins in swindling his followers. Of course, the people in the worst situation are the ones at the bottom of the pyramid: those who subscribed to the plan, but were not able to recruit any followers themselves. To embellish the act, most such scams will have fake referrals, testimonials, and information.