Poll #2 hijinx
It's become blatantly obvious that the current poll is being manipulated by a person or persons voting mulitiple times.
Tom Benson, a campaign worker and lawyer who works in Springfield, is getting votes far out of proportion to his name recognition and viability as a candidate.
His votes will remain static for a number of hours, and then if someone passes him into first place, his votes will pour in just until he's in the lead, and then the votes will stop.
Myself and others have documented this. So it appears Benson or someone on his behalf is having a little fun at the expense of our poll.
Watchers of the poll should bear this in mind. Apparently, the poll service that I've used is not fool-proof, and either Benson himself or someone else has not only discoved how to cheat, but is doing so in a blatantly obvious way. (They could have at least been subtle about it.)
I should also point out that if voting for one candidate is skewed, then it follows that votes for other candidates may or may not be padded as well, though the numbers appear in keeping with a straight count. I'll attempt to find a more fool-proof polling method if I can.
posted by The Inside Dope @ 6/30/2005
10 comments
10 Comments:
HA!
I think I'm on solid ground to suspect mischief.
Tom, even if your votes were legit, the pattern of them is enough to cause anyone to question them.
As I said, they come in huge clumps, always enough to put you in first place, and then they stop.
You received a huge amounts of votes in two or three large surges. But since 11 a.m., today, shortly before I made this post, you've received a total of 1 vote.
I commend you for telling your supporters not to game the poll, but irregardless, you can't fault me or others for finding your vote pattern suspect.
At least now we know a little more about you.
Oh boy. I've been had.
Let me try to explain, as I now realize what happened here.
First I should explain that previous to the poll, I had no idea who Mr. Huntoon was. I've never met him to my knowledge, nor, until I read your comment above, did I know anything about him.
"HeadUsher" posted a list of potential candidates in a comment and I used the names on his list, misspellings and all, to help construct the poll.
You can find the comment in question below this post.
In redoing the poll, I simply cut and pasted the names on the list to save time. This is how the misspellings got into the poll.
It was my mistake, as I thought at the time that the spelling looked odd, and I now realize I should have verified it somehow.
Phil Banaszek's name was also misspelled in the list and appeared incorrectly as "Banazick" in the poll.
I hope you understand that the misspelling was not meant as a slight or derrogatory comment towards Mr. Huntoon in any way on my part.
I deeply regret that this happened and sincerely apologize to anyone whom it offended, and in particular to Mr. Huntoon.
Can you read Jethro?
Before stumbling in here from the bars and making an ass out of yourself, I suggest you get someone to help you read my explanation above, that's all you need to know.
Then take back your little hissy fit or explain to me what I have to be ashamed of.
Or better yet, just shut the hell up and don't come back.
Mr. Benson.
I did mention that Ahern had gotten a huge number of votes in a short period.
"The votes did come in at an amazing rate at some points, including one 45 minute period I observed between 4:50 and 6:35 p.m. Tuesday in which 97 votes were received for Ahern vs. McNeil's 3."
And just where do you get that I "indicted" your supporters? I mention "Benson or someone else", but at no point do I refer to your supporters as a group.
Maybe you ARE cut out to be a politician. But that kind of distortion sounds more like a Republican. ha!
And thanks for your good humor in all of this.
SkipRope,
I find it interesting as well that I heard from NO ONE once the poll was up about the misspelling of Mr. Huntoon's name. It wasn't until the wee hours of this morning that someone appeared in full indignation.
Why is that?
If ANYONE had bothered to point it out to me earlier, I could have made a correction.
Did you just want to wait until it was over to try to drag me across the coals?
Rope, take a few deep breaths.
You can get your panties in a knot because I don't know the names and spellings of every precinct committeeman. (Hell, I don't WANT to know the names and spellings of them.) You can get freaked out because I copied some candidates names from a comment because it was simply easier than retyping them all into a form. I was in a great hurry and trying to get it up as quickly as possible.
And what the hell difference does it make that the source that posted the list was partisan? Huh? Are you saying that the people on the list were wrong? Were there people in the poll who shouldn't have been there? I don't think so.
So let's see, you're screaming that I should assume that there must be misspellings in the list because the person posting the list is partisan? Don't be stupid.
I'm familiar with the name Huntoon. I'm aware that there are attorney's by that name and I believe there's even an historic house associated with it.
I admit that I thought that spelling looked suspicious and I did think it must have been Huntoon, but I made the mistake of figuring that Head Usher must know. That was my mistake. I should never give HeadUsher the benefit of the doubt, especially on spelling. I've apologized for not verifiying it, and I've appologized for any harm it caused anyone.
The fact remains that it was a completely innocent mistake, and you come off like some frothing lunatic for continuing to attack me.
Evidently, in your mind I'm supposed to be the keeper of all political knowledge in the area.
I have a life. I don't want to spend my time memorizing the spelling of hundreds of precinct committeepersons.
I don't even want to know every Dem official high and low. Shocking, isn't it?
Yet to you, I'm supposed to be all-knowing. And if I don't happen to know people YOU know, then I'm supposed to be "ashamed" of myself?
Get real.
I've never held myself out as the ultimate expert at anything. I rely on real cracker-jack players like yourself for that.
And Rope,
You amuse me by accusing me of being a poor journalist.
News flash Rope.... I'm NOT a journalist, ok? I don't get paid. I don't work for a for-profit media outlet. If you want to bitch about sloppy journalism, take it to the Dispatch or howl to CNN or the Washington Times.
And I work hard enough to try to make sure mistakes aren't made around here. I'm not going to take your bluster for one minor mistake.
I regret anytime mistakes happen, but I've certainly got nothing to be "ashamed" of.
And I'd love to see you follow through on your empty threats.
I bet it would be a hoot.
Hell Rope, I think it would be so "interesting" for you to give me hell, I'll even give you an entire post on the blog to express your views. Just let me know.
You have some interesting and apparently knowledgable views on Boland that more people should see. They likely won't when they're buried in a long string of comments on a poll.
I'll give you a free one Rope. Just contact me by e-mail, send me what you want to say to all the folks out there, and I'll put it in a special "all-Rope" post.
How's that?
Jeeze, I really hate to see you go.
Please let the door hit you on the way out.
Listen, the fact is that you're a boorish clod who doesn't have any sense of proportion.
It's not that I'm pissed that anyone criticized me. Come on! I get criticized constantly!
I got a big earfull from "Firsthandwitness" above. That sure was criticism, was it not?
And how did I react to that? Did I go off all over them? Hell no!
I replied respectfully, explained what happened, and apologized for any harm it caused. End of story.
But then after the fire was already out, you ignore the facts and come home at 2:30 in the morning and jump on and start spewing all sorts of garbage.
It's that you jumped ugly like some frothing dog for a completely innocent mistake. That's why you piss me off. I'm not going to sit still for bullshit like that. Why should I?
You can "watchdog" all you want, though I'd suggest a better hobby. The fact remains that it doesn't take a real genious to sit around waiting to jump on someone for a minor, though unfortunate, spelling mistake.
Get a life!
Now there's a guy that would get my vote anytime.
Thanks for your graciousness Mike.
And again, I truly regret what happened.
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