What is this site all about?

It's a place where you can post a gift idea for someone, or yourself, and if enough people vote for it Wishnut.com will buy it and send it. We hope this will create a bit more happiness in the world. The site was created by some advertising pros who are getting bored with meaningless commerce and want to try something different.

How do you pay for the stuff you're giving away?

When you make a gift idea for someone, you also post links to the places where we can buy those gifts. Every link you post is automatically converted into something called an affiliate link. Any other users who see your gift ideas also see these links. Anytime anyone goes and buys something through those links, we get a commission. As people use this site, and post innumerable and profoundly pleasing (we hope) gift ideas for their friends/loved ones/mortal enemies/selves, others will use the gift ideas to discover interesting things and make purchases, and we'll make enough money to cover the site. We hope.

Who can post a gift idea?

Any registered Wishnut user can post a gift idea.

How does voting work?

Any registered Wishnut user can vote, by logging in, going to a gift idea, and clicking on the little green "thumbs up" button next to it. You can vote for as many gift ideas as you want, but you can cast only one vote per gift idea. The gift idea with the most votes during each weeklong contest wins. In the event of a tie, we at Wishnut will pick the winner from among the tied gift ideas using whatever criteria we happen to feel like using at that moment.

When does each contest run and when is the winner announced?

Each contest runs for one week, Monday through Sunday, Eastern Time. We announce the winner of each contest on the Monday after the contest ends. You may submit a gift idea at any time while a contest is running (you might therefore increase your chances of winning by submitting your gift idea early in the week, obviously.)

What happens if I win?

If you win, we'll contact you through the email address that you gave us when you registered for Wishnut, we'll hammer out the details, and we'll also interview you and post the results on our blog, in either written or video form. If you want to claim the prize, you must do the interview! Otherwise we'll pick another winner (the next-highest vote-getter).

Can I enter more than one gift idea into a contest?

Yes. You may enter as many as you want.

How Many Winners Are There Each Week?

2 winners. One from the "Gift Ideas For Others" category, and one from the "Gift Ideas For Oneself" Category.

Can my gift idea consist of multiple parts that have to be purchased separately?

Yes. As long as the total cost comes in under the cost limit for that week .

Is there a limit to how much you're willing to pay for gifts?

Yes. For now, the limit is $150, including shipping. If your winning gift idea calls for more than that, you will be ineligible for the prize, and we'll give the award to the highest vote-getter whose gift idea costs less than $150. The limit may go up or down at any time depending on how much revenue the site earns. We'll announce the prize limit each week. You can make it grow by donating to the prize fund here, or more indirectly just by making interesting gift ideas and letting others know about this site.

Do you pay shipping and handling for the gifts?

Yes.

What if my gift idea can't be bought? Like happiness?

It will be ineligible for the prize, unfortunately. We've got a plan for making these kinds of gift ideas possible later, but it'll have to wait, because we lack the resources for it at the moment.

What other things will you refuse to buy?

We won't buy anything that's illegal according to U.S. state or federal law, we won't buy drugs or drug paraphernalia, tobacco products, or anything else that our consciences would make us feel queasy about. We won't buy anything that can't be bought with US dollars. More generally, we reserve the right to refrain from purchasing anything we damn well please, for any reason. We're almost certain that there will be times when we refuse to buy stuff on the behalf of the winner because we think it would do a disservice to humanity. We'll be upfront about it when it happens. If you've got a problem with this, suck an egg.

Can I post a gift idea for a pet?

No. Humans only. If a gift-idea for a pet wins, we'll pretend it doesn't exist and didn't win. Also, if you post such a gift idea, it might be a sign that you don't understand animals and their needs. This policy applies to gift ideas for dead people in addition to gift ideas for pets. No offense to grandma.

Are there any other instances wherein you can pretend the winning gift idea doesn't exist and give the award to someone else?

Yes. Because we have no idea what we're doing with this site, as insurance, we reserve the right to give the award to whomever we wish for any reason or to not give it out at all on any given week. Naturally, the site will fail miserably if we meddle much for reasons that aren't stab-in-the-face compelling, so we'll do everything in our power to make sure that the prize is awarded properly according to the voting each week.

Ok. What else is cool about this site?

Every week that this site reaches an all time high either in traffic to the site or gift ideas submitted to the contest, I (Nick Bentley; see below for more about me) will do ten hours of community service the next week. I'll blog about it (here) and post pictures and video to prove that I've followed through. I might also let the users pick what community service I do.

Who are you?

Collectively, we're a tiny advertising firm called Scientific Click, LLC. Individually, we are:

• Nick Bentley, neurobiologist (Don't ask. It's complicated).

• Preston Howard, programmer and musical-theatre-appreciator, who's responsible for creating nearly every pixel of this site.

• Nick Holliday, titan of industry, who has the best yoga wall ever, knows a lot about basketball, and has very, very functional nasal passages.

Confidentially, you can hold Nick Bentley responsible for everything that you don't like about this site, since these other guys are letting him make this bed however he wants to, and now he's lying in it. He screws up a lot but also tries to admit it and fix it, so if you've got an issue, let him know here.

Do you have a suggestion box?

Yes, here. We will rely heavily on user feedback to develop Wishnut further, so let your feedback fingers fly.

Who's my daddy?

I think you know.