Contest entries request
I would like to make a request to the Indiblogger Webmasters to have contest entries hidden like it was in the past. I feel that this will prevent participants from being "inspired" (read "copy") ideas from others' entries. Like earlier, the entries can be shown only after the closing date.
Also, I would like to know if the entries get locked in once submitted or perhaps after the closing date? That is, if the participant makes a change later on, after initial submission / after closing date, does it get reflected in some manner to be known to the contest organizers?
I personally like the entries to be opened up from the time they are posted. Earlier I used to try and post on the very first day a contest got opened so that I get some readers at least that way - people looking at other's posts for ideas. If all are opened after contest is closed, no one visits the blog and reads. Anyways that was my view. I would risk some of my ideas inspiring people for the traffic.
Making entries visible from the day they are posted is a good idea and I agree with TF. It is the way an idea is executed that matters... and anyway, why be afraid of being copied?
Koi nahin sunega.
Contest toh ab majaak ban Gaye hain... It's like we are hungry for vouchers so no matter whatever happens we will blindly run for another contest ... Kya pata kuchh mil jaaye !!!! In such a scenario why to expect anything from inditeam.
You second part of the question seems to be little tricky. I don't think the organizers would be notified if you make a change later. But, we do have a rule in every contest that says
"You agree to ensure (to the best of your abilities and circumstances) that your blog post remains accessible in an un-altered state for a minimum of one year."
Umm. So I think to the best of our abilities, we stick to it. 
Alterations to correct spellings or some cosmetic retouching in grammar obviously don't hurt anyone. However, we ahd been informed earlier that snapshots of submissions are taken by Inditeam and any major change does come into focus. And anyway, submitting a blank page with only the title and then adding the entire post at a later date isn't good BloggerIQ, is it? For major transgressions, people have been caught and disqualified earlier, I guess.
I think, eveyone participating are posting it on the public domain. So, wheather you post it in the IndiVine and tag is for contest or not, it is already on public domain. Only solution is to email the writing or providing a private link to blog. Feasible? I doubt.
Fear of being copied is irrational. Every idea already exists in some form or the other. Even when we write we write giving familiar ideas a new interpretation or new clothes. We are also copying ideas that have flocked together in our memory bank and lie there like deep assets.
Let me add to this by reminding you of Shive Khera's quote that went: 'Winners don't do different things. They do things differently.' If I have written a post where I have treated differently an idea that sounds familiar, it is possible that someone else will read my post and use the basic idea to write another post infused with better creative interpretations. If this be the case, then the better one does deserve to win. If we stay fearful of being copied, I'm afraid we will never really be happy with creativity.
Wonderful reply, super quote 
- going to quote it somewhere, some time 
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