Well, contests seem fun and would make our community more fun. but on the bad side it would increase spamming, so that is really the staffs' decision to make.
Well, we've started free rider contests... Check the Free_Rider_Contests profile.
We might organize some contests but it'll take time because we want to be able to control them all... We don't want users to make their own contests, because it would lead to spam...
yeah, the old stuff were you be asked to make something and get paid. That wouldn't increase spam unless people came on and bragged about it,that would suck.
Btw-I am not saying this for my own sake, as I suck at most of the subject challenges, but rather the community's, that was part of the old sites appeal, it was an advantage. This site kind of feels out of place now.