Voting Spam: How Bracketology Will Address It
There were 112 new journals created which appear to be for the sole purpose of voting in the championship match-up for the Prime Time TV Hits Championship. It is possible the poll was promoted outside of LiveJournal, and the new journals were created by non-members so the non-members could contribute their support. This practice is acceptable. Unfortunately, because this opportunity was abused in this particular match-up, and because the contest remained very close right until the 1:30 PM EDST (GMT-4) ending time today, the following criteria has been used to remove these votes from the game.
The discounting criteria I have used is that a journal meets two of the following three conditions:
1 - Account has not been personalized in any way
2 - Account was created on or since the day the championship round began (5/2) AND has a non-typical/questionable email address.
3 - Account has no posts and is not a member of any communities other than the default communities added during account creation.
I have chosen to withhold the journal names of discounted votes for the time being and would ask that others do the same. I have a hand-written list of the 112 journals which were discounted if anyone has a question about any in particular.
If you feel YOUR journal may have been discounted, post a reply here and I will add your vote in again if it has been removed.
Future Solutions
In the community information, users will be discouraged from what I have dubbed "voting spam" in future polls. However, recounts and vote removing will no longer be exercised, and users must trust one another to do what is right when it comes to supporting an opponent during a match-up. Users are expected to come out in a hearty show of support for their favorites AND to make a reasonable effort to do so.
Happy voting!
The discounting criteria I have used is that a journal meets two of the following three conditions:
1 - Account has not been personalized in any way
2 - Account was created on or since the day the championship round began (5/2) AND has a non-typical/questionable email address.
3 - Account has no posts and is not a member of any communities other than the default communities added during account creation.
I have chosen to withhold the journal names of discounted votes for the time being and would ask that others do the same. I have a hand-written list of the 112 journals which were discounted if anyone has a question about any in particular.
If you feel YOUR journal may have been discounted, post a reply here and I will add your vote in again if it has been removed.
Future Solutions
In the community information, users will be discouraged from what I have dubbed "voting spam" in future polls. However, recounts and vote removing will no longer be exercised, and users must trust one another to do what is right when it comes to supporting an opponent during a match-up. Users are expected to come out in a hearty show of support for their favorites AND to make a reasonable effort to do so.
Happy voting!