$$$ for WPI vote daily now in Vivint Round 2!

[eric_s]

Best of luck, although sounds like you could end up doing work for all sorts of charities, including ones we might be in opposition with?

I agree, i would also keep it ME/CFS (or related diseases) only. Why aid the opposition? I think it would be best if other groups don't even know about it. Probably some would find out either way and it probably wouldn't matter too much, because we are a very large community, but i wouldn't go out and invite them.
All the good charities deserve support, but we need it badly and at this moment we are not getting our fair share from other sources, such as public budgets and donations by the general public.

 

[frenchtulip]

I like the idea of a vote swapping page for charities. Ideally, it would be great if it were for health-related charities or maybe restricted to neurological illnesses. I would be delighted to vote for any of them as long as they were not the opposition. But I would also vote for many other types of charities if it meant more votes for our cause. Right now we could be swapping votes in the Pepsi Contest and not hurting ourselves in any way since PANDORA's project didn't make it in. I'm going to have to think about this a bit more. It's a most interesting idea!

 

[eric_s]

But think about this, for example: At the moment, the National ME/FM Action Network is competing against the Saint John Regional Hospital Foundation in Canada. And in the overall ranking, the WPI is competing against Journey 4 A Cure Inc, International Rett Syndrome Foundation and Foundation For Angelman Syndrome Therapeutics. All those 3 competitors are health-related charities. Now, even if that group we are thinking about founding was for health-related charities only, are you sure that group would give our charites more votes than the other 3 here? ME/CFS unfortunately is not very well known, understood and accepted. So i see a real danger that other, better known and understood illnesses would get more votes than us from such a site and what would happen is that we are worse off with it than without it.

 

[Aileen]

I think it's a good idea, actually i had similar thoughts (really ;-) ). In this contest here it might also be important to be able to split the vote and such a site might help with that. I guess this is a situation that will happen again (the necessity to split the vote).

I think we would have to think well about how to set it up. And i would not mix it with other things, i would let it be a group only for this kind of contests, nothing else.

I think the group should only serve as a platform to tell people about upcoming and active contests, but not tell people who to vote for. The members could discuss about that themselves, but everybody should be free to think and do what he likes. If it's not like that, there would probably always be problems and it could never reach everybody, people who don't agree would leave again. It would be good to have people from all the organisations there, so they can bring their members there.

Great idea Eric. We've probably been missing opportunities and this sounds like the perfect way to change that.

 

[Aileen]

But think about this, for example: At the moment, the National ME/FM Action Network is competing against the Saint John Regional Hospital Foundation in Canada. And in the overall ranking, the WPI is competing against Journey 4 A Cure Inc, International Rett Syndrome Foundation and Foundation For Angelman Syndrome Therapeutics. All those 3 competitors are health-related charities. Now, even if that group we are thinking about founding was for health-related charities only, are you sure that group would give our charites more votes than the other 3 here? ME/CFS unfortunately is not very well known, understood and accepted. So i see a real danger that other, better known and understood illnesses would get more votes than us from such a site and what would happen is that we are worse off with it than without it.

I agree. And there is another problem. If charity x doesn't know about it and we ask them to vote for us this year, next year they will be our competition!

 

[Aileen]

One thing that I am finding. I have been following up on a few relatives that I had previously emailed with phone calls. They didn't pay attention to my earlier email but when I actually talked to them and explained what it was about and why we needed the money so badly they agreed to help and asked for details. I think some people don't pay attention to their emails or else something in the email sent it directly into their trash file due to a filter. Maybe this is happening to other people as well?

 

[Dolphin]

One thing that I am finding. I have been following up on a few relatives that I had previously emailed with phone calls. They didn't pay attention to my earlier email but when I actually talked to them and explained what it was about and why we needed the money so badly they agreed to help and asked for details. I think some people don't pay attention to their emails or else something in the email sent it directly into their trash file due to a filter. Maybe this is happening to other people as well?

I know at least guy was talking friends through how to vote for Chase Community Giving.

People should ideally try to remember/note who is supporting this year as Vivint will be on next year (presumably).

 

[eric_s]

I suggest we start a subforum (if that's possible) or thread here for the discussion about starting a group, forum, website or whatever for these contests.

Then we can discuss everything there. I think it's good to think about it here first and then get it out to the rest of the world.

 

[SpecialK82]

Agree, setting a Facebook page just for ME/CFS would be good, when we want to talk to our own community. How about then setting up a second page, just for neuroimmune illnesses, so when any of us are in contests we would all know and support it.

For example, if we are competing against an Autism charity, we could just put it on the ME/CFS site.

I have thought about Facebook for spliting the votes too, as someone else has said. It would be easy, just post a message that we need 200 voters to switch, for example, and people just reply back with #1, #2, #3, etc, until we hit 200.

 

[helen41]

there is no limit to the number of groups that could be set up, but my personal interest is in developing something for all charities, otherwise we end up just preaching to the choir. The other person who I have spoken to, who has more admin experience than I do, supports animal shelters. I see no conflict there, and I would be happy to tap into their voting resources in return for my support.
I am still working on the rules and setup right now to ensure we provide both choice and an expectation of a reasonable vote return.

 

[eric_s]

I would be very careful with bringing in additional groups. The more groups, the higher the risk that some will vote for our competitors. We are such a large community that we don't need outside support for the contests. If we can mobilise a sufficiently large percentage of our own community we can win every contest of that type. The best charities in this one get around 3'000 votes per day. We are supposed to be a couple of millions. So if we could find 10'000 participants we would be miles ahead of anyone else. And as long as only us have that kind of group, we have an edge on the rest. If other groups copy this idea, we lose it.

 

[Dolphin]

Votes from midnight eastern time/10pm Mountain time last night - incl. increase over previous 24 hours.



Pacific:
Whittemore Peterson Institute: 19594+ 994 = 20588
Be Perfect Foundation: 8045 + 212 = 8257
Conejo Valley Friendship Circle: 6621+ 203 = 6824
Surfers Healing 5331 +155 = 5486

Canada:

Light and Love Home- Vancouver 11618+521= 12139
Saint John Regional Hospital Foundation 5348 + 209 = 5557
4th: National ME/FM Action Network 2243 + 160 = 2403 (they have still not gone over 200)

Overall (groups ahead of the WPI):
Foundation for Angelman Syndrome Therapeutics (FAST): 46321 +2693 = 49014 Team Sanfilippo Foundation: 45617 + 2381= 47998
CHERUBS: 30362 + 1187= 31549
International Rett Syndrome Foundation 22657 + 1078= 23735
Journey 4 A Cure Inc 21473 + 999 = 22472

(There could be a tiny different with the attachment - the version saved at 479 hrs 57 mins isn't letting me make a pdf so I'm using the version from 479 hrs 53 mins)

Votes from midnight eastern time/10pm Mountain time last night - incl. increase over previous 24 hours.

As long as the WPI is only getting in the region of 1000, I don't think it is going to have any chance of winning overall. So I think I'm going to report for a while anyway on more of the people in pacific to see if there are groups further down making any moves.

Pacific:
Whittemore Peterson Institute: 20588 + 1034 = 21622
Be Perfect Foundation: 8257 + 158 = 8415
Conejo Valley Friendship Circle: 6824 + 141 = 6965
Surfers Healing 5486 +143 = 5629
The Hailey Mayz Foundation 3520 + 136 = 3656
NextGen Academy 3103 +108 = 3211
Invisible Children 2989 +71 = 3060
Jumpstart 2763 + 44 = 2807
Kingdom Causes Bellflower 2474 + 76 = 2550
Sean Vernon Feliciano Amazing Day Foundation Inc. 1785 + 62 = 1847
Partnerships in Community Living, Inc. 1556 + 41 = 1595
Shared Hope International 1516 + 34 = 1550
Austin's House 1260 + 43 = 1303

Canada:

Light and Love Home- Vancouver 12139+560= 12699
Saint John Regional Hospital Foundation 5557 + 252 = 5811
3rd: National ME/FM Action Network 2403 + 167 = 2570
(So they have gone up to 3rd place in their region. However, as Shania Twain would say, "that don't impress me much": they have still not gone over 200)

 

[eric_s]

Lol, Dolphin, that song by Shania Twain always irritates me a bit :tongue: They like to play it on the radio in Spain.

It looks as if Be Perfect, Conejo, etc. are breaking in a bit. That's good for us, because it increases the chance to bring the National ME/FM Action Network to number 1 as well. Of course we have to be careful, but the weaker the competition in the Pacific region, the more votes we will be able to give to the NM/FAN.

 

[cfs info]

I've been corresponding with Vivint to try to get the rules clarified. Here is there latest response.

"Vote trading is not allowed in the contest. Voting exchange websites are also not allowed. I will have a detailed list sent to you as soon as possible thank you for your inquiry."

 

[helen41]

I've been corresponding with Vivint to try to get the rules clarified. Here is there latest response.

"Vote trading is not allowed in the contest. Voting exchange websites are also not allowed. I will have a detailed list sent to you as soon as possible thank you for your inquiry."

I'll contact the others. How frustrating to hear this now, when I asked them twice in the past with no response

 

[Sasha]

I'll contact the others. How frustrating to hear this now, when I asked them twice in the past with no response

That is annoying - at least they are getting this stuff sorted out during their first contest.

I have to admit that I'd like charities to win by having genuine supporters, not by generating votes with prize draws or vote trading (not to knock anyone here who has suggested that - I know it's for the sake of trying to get a level playing field).

I think there is also the concern about letting other charities know that there are these great opportunities to get funding that might turn them into our competitors.

I still like the "Facebook batsignal" idea of being able to ping PWC when a contest starts. We are in such numbers internationally that we ought to be cleaning up in every single contest. Success breeds success, though - if WPI wins $100k in the Pacific in Vivint, I hope that telling PWC about that will help encourage people to join in the next contest. People like to join in with something they have a chance of winning.

 

[helen41]

That is annoying - at least they are getting this stuff sorted out during their first contest.
Sasha, they ran this contest last year too, and allowed the giveaways and vote trades. Cherubs gave away $1000 for votes last year

 

[frenchtulip]

Raising awareness worldwide about corporate giving in the U.S.

It seems to me that our big job is to raise awareness worldwide about the millions of dollars available in corporate giving to charities and worthwhile projects here in the U.S. (and perhaps in other countries, too)--a relatively new online phenomenon. We can show that voting efforts do pay off by citing the successes of PANDORA, The CFIDS Assn., and the WPI.* Cash prizes are within reach if we all vote. We could point out that there are an estimated 17 million ME/CFS/CFIDS patients worldwide and many of them have Internet access. I think many people feel that their one little vote doesn't matter and the chances of winning are remote. So why bother?

A second issue is Facebook phobia since many of the contests are on Fb. (My own sisters will not open a Fb account.) I see that as a more difficult problem. (I need to read the Fb phobia thread.)

But I think we could work toward educating patients worldwide about corporate giving in the U.S. I see it as a matter of motivating through enlightenment. The easiest way is to post on nonprofits' Fb pages. And, of course, we could email nonprofits that do not have Fb pages or post on their message boards. In a time when government funding for our illness is minimal, corporate contests are a golden opportunity for us to help ourselves!

*We could also point to some rare illnesses that have won huge bucks in online corporate contests--e.g., Sanfilippo and Angelman's Syndromes.

 

[Sasha]

That is annoying - at least they are getting this stuff sorted out during their first contest.
Sasha, they ran this contest last year too, and allowed the giveaways and vote trades. Cherubs gave away $1000 for votes last year

Oh! Then it is doubly annoying!

 

[frenchtulip]

Vivint wants to keep the contest pure. They want the winners to be the choice of voters based on a genuine interest in the cause. Nice idea. But can the voting in an online contest ever be pure? It's doubtful. Vivint can make statements against vote swapping and offering incentives for votes, but some will find ways to get around the rules--esp. if arrangements are kept off Fb., Twitter, or anything searchable.

I also suspect that some contests have been won with the help of fake voters. If each voter sets up 25 fake email accounts with matching Facebook account names, would auditors be able to spot votes from those accounts as fraudulent?

I think it is very hard for corporations to keep online contests pure.