Hi corin_5, coincidentally we're working on improved date flexibility right now. You'll be able to specify before/after and many more day period options. We're doing the same for passenger type. Not just adults, but students, infants, etc.
We can't enable public viewing because the experts don't want to divulge their most prized tips and tricks to the wider public. This is their livelihood, and we are mostly holding these contests to test their skills and proving something more interesting that the typical simple return trips.
Glad you're giving us a go. Please let us know if you have any issues or questions.
Another piece of flexibility feedback - wildcard destinations, for finding a decent priced holiday (obviously with some guidance on rough location). I guess this is possible from the competition you just ran, but I must have missed the option.
As to the reasons for not enabling public viewing... as you've publicly shared here on HN, could you not at least share that much on the site? Alternatively could you not offer an option for people to "buy it now", to use an ebay phrase? Or would the necessary price tag be too high for most people to be interested?
p.s. The 5 was attached to the number of minutes, not my name! ;D
Great point re destinations. You can actually do wildcard destinations right now, but it's just not obvious. We have an autocomplete function on the airport box, but you can enter anything you want. As you'll see on the RTW contests, we just entered "Round the World" for 'from' city and "6 Continents" for the 'to' city.
That said, we need to make this more obvious and probably tease out more adventurous use of this feature. Thanks for the feedback.
I think corin_5 was suggesting more that you have the option to display more info on a case by case bases. I understand why you don't show detailed information for all contests by default. But on high profile contests, that you have permission from the expert, it would make sense for you to have the option to show detailed information.
We can't enable public viewing because the experts don't want to divulge their most prized tips and tricks to the wider public. This is their livelihood, and we are mostly holding these contests to test their skills and proving something more interesting that the typical simple return trips.
Glad you're giving us a go. Please let us know if you have any issues or questions.