I saw it mentioned in the TGIF thread about the Unfairness of the Fansign offering because members don't know the Odds of Winning...

Hint:
It's a RANDOM selection from ALL of the Members who enter..

so if 10 members enter the Odds are 10 to 1
if 100 members enter is 100 to 1

It's random... every one who enters has the same chance as every other member.

What is the Random Seed.

It is a randomly Generated number used to Verify the Random Results of a Random Selection.

All the Member names are entered in to a Table.
A random Seed is Generated and Entered in to the Random Algorithm.
One Winner is then Chosen at random based on the Seed value.

All lotteries must report the random Seed along with the Winner.
This is so the Win can be Verified.

The same Random Seed will Always display the Same random choice.

The Seed is usually generated based of the system or Universal time.
Often the Number of Milliseconds since midnight, or the Number of nanoseconds since midnight is used to feed the Seed Generator.

There are 86400000000000 nano seconds in a day.
If the current nano second count is used as the seed in the Seed Generator, and the Generator picks the 1000'th pseudorandom number as the resultant Seed,

it's 86400000000000 ^ 1000th power that, that seed will be unique.

this seed number is then used to pick the winner..

Enter the randomly generated Seed number and a random winner is selected.
If you Later need to verify or Prove the random selection

you can Enter the Same Seed number and you will get the same results again.
If you enter a different Seed number, you will get a completely different set of results.

I never meant that the generation was unfair, it would just make more sense to show the odds rather than the seed generation (or maybe along with the seed generation if it's necessary)... if a paragraph is needed on explaining how the seed generation works it tends to suggest it was the ***** choice. I'm still trying to calculate that variable...

I just think that 100:1 is easier to digest, rather than a large seed string.

I need to tell google that these are not the seeds I'm looking for, moving along. ;)

@shodan084

When they first started doing these drawing, they explained exactly how it works. The Random Seed thing is just the mechanism for picking one name from a list of names. They can't publish the odds until the last person has signed up. But the odds don't really matter. Everyone has one chance of wining for an entry fee of ZERO. Those are good odds.

Could the odds not change with every F5 refresh and post added? It'd also add another way to see a draw as it drops from a hopeful 25:1 to a hopeless 180:1 within an hour. ;) I always thought that the seed was there to keep the draw honest, but with no linky script, you're left looking at all the wrong sorts of illegal and dodgy imported medications.
A random seed is just a list of useless numbers without the generator to plug them into, or an ocd mind to calculate. Obfuscation is an easy stepping stone to jump to, whether it be a random, free draw or a lucky scratch card. An easy to see, changing or static variable tends to keep everyone clued up as to how unfavorable a game of chance has become, or really is.

Maybe the waters need to be muddied to draw in the punters?