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

[helen41]

this was just posted on the vivint site "Using vote exchange websites is a practice that is not allowed during the Vivint Gives Back Project. One of the main purposes for the Vivint Gives Back Project is to help you grow your network base and social media following. Using a vote exchange site defeats this purpose. Therefore, those charities thought to be using vote exchange websites can be disqualified." That's pretty clear

 

[Sasha]

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.

I think that your computer has some sort of ID number that would show if you had set up a load of fake Fb accounts maybe.

I agree it's hard for them to keep things pure. In an ideal world they wouldn't be making us jump through a ton of hoops for our money but assigning it in terms of disease burden (or the non-medical equivalent) and prevalance (as would our governments) but until I am world dictator, I guess we're stuck with Facebook!

 

[eric_s]

I think there are two ways to identify you, the IP adress and the MAC. The IP might change, every time you turn your router on and off, depending on the contract you have with your ISP, but the MAC is unique to each network card, as far as i know. But you could for example go to an internet cafe and use 10 different computers, if that doesn't make you feel embarassed...

Probably you could also cheat using only one computer, but i wouldn't know how to do it. And we don't need it anyway, we're so many.

 

[frenchtulip]

Thanks for the technical info. And we definitely don't want to cheat.

We can't swap votes. But in the Pepsi and Chase Contests, people from one organization would vote for another organization and comment something like "I voted for your great organization. Would you please consider voting for ours." Is that acceptable in the Vivint Contest? I should think so. You have no assurance of receiving a return vote. You are just showing support by voting for another organization and then asking them politely to consider voting for your group. If enough voters from one nonprofit leave comments for another group, it does show strong support and probably leads to some return votes. The WPI built a nice relationship with Florida Quest in the Chase Contest in this way and probably got quite a few votes in return. If that is permissible in the Vivint Contest, we could go over to the Pepsi Contest and target some worthwhile projects and perhaps sell them on the merits of the WPI and/or the National ME/FM Action Network. Do you see anything wrong with this approach in this contest?

 

[eric_s]

It's really hard to tell wheter that would be against the contest rules or not. I don't know anything about the Pepsi contest. What exactly did you mean? To go over there and ask them to vote for our charities? With us voting for them later, in return? Or just like that?

 

[SpecialK82]

Helen - you are exactly right - I feel like Vivint is writing the rules as we go along - isn't this the third thing that had to be clarified??

First it was the voting for one charity or voting for one charity per region issue, then they took a long time to reply to your question about contests, and now the vote swapping issue which was commonplace in Chase and they should have seen that coming.

It's a bit frustrating when we have to keep adjusting strategies, I wonder if charities would get penalized if vote swapping happened before this rule came out??

 

[SpecialK82]

Graph of Pacific Region

Here's a graph of daily votes for every charity in the Pacific Region. I did this so that we could see at a glance if anyone was sneaking up their votes on WPI. It's a bit messy because I had to fit in 20 graph lines, but you can increase the size of the chart when you view it.

- WPI looks great at the top of the chart, pretty steady all the way.
- Conejo is taking a big dip and continuing in a downward trend
- Be Perfect, dropping, dropping, dropping
- Others, no surprises, can't see any upticks or rallies

(I split day 3's incremental increase in half for day 2 and day 3 since we don't have day 2 data)

 

[helen41]

@SpecialK- I sure hope they wouldn't penalize us, as we asked more than once well before the vote phase with no response. Now that we have one, the posts are down. That graph is AMAZING, and so very useful. It shows what a solid group we are. Today felt a bit like a kick in the stomach, but seeing that graph really did lift my spirits

 

[frenchtulip]

It's really hard to tell wheter that would be against the contest rules or not. I don't know anything about the Pepsi contest. What exactly did you mean? To go over there and ask them to vote for our charities? With us voting for them later, in return? Or just like that?

Eric, in the Pepsi Contest, you get to vote for 5 or 10 projects daily (not sure what the number is at present). After you vote, you may leave a comment saying that you have voted for a particular project and ask that project to please consider voting for your project. I have voted quite a lot in previous Pepsi Contests. I have seen those from completely different contests vote in the Pepsi Contest and leave a message (and a link) asking supporters of that project to consider voting for them. It's a little different than a straight vote swap. Whether it's between projects within the Pepsi Contest or between a Pepsi project and a group in a different contest, you don't know if the group you target will actually give you a return vote, but you hope so.

 

[eric_s]

I guess it would be against the rules, because this

Using vote exchange websites is a practice that is not allowed during the Vivint Gives Back Project. One of the main purposes for the Vivint Gives Back Project is to help you grow your network base and social media following. Using a vote exchange site defeats this purpose. Therefore, those charities thought to be using vote exchange websites can be disqualified

sounds as if they only want people to vote for a charity that really are behind this charity. They don't want votes that just happen out of a deal of some sort. But i might be wrong of course.

 

[eric_s]

Thanks for the graph, Special K. I wonder how Conejo could get so many votes on some of the first days. We are looking good... I think if it continues like this and if we manage to get a couple of hundreds of additional voters into the contest we have a good chance to get the National ME/FM Action Network to number one. If the WPI voters help.

 

[SpecialK82]

My pleasure on the graph, I'll try to do one on the Canadian Region tomorrow.

My thought on Conejo is that they must have had some sort of event for a day or two that drove up the numbers. I don't get the feeling that they are playing weak now just to hit it hard later. It wouldn't make sense in this sort of contest where the votes accumulate each day.

If they had that sort of strategy, it would seem that they would still try to keep up with the WPI without making us too nervous at about 600 - 800 votes a day??

Eric, I think you are right about the National ME/FM, just hope we get it in gear before it's too late!

 

[helen41]

Eric, in the Pepsi Contest, you get to vote for 5 or 10 projects daily (not sure what the number is at present). After you vote, you may leave a comment saying that you have voted for a particular project and ask that project to please consider voting for your project. I have voted quite a lot in previous Pepsi Contests. I have seen those from completely different contests vote in the Pepsi Contest and leave a message (and a link) asking supporters of that project to consider voting for them. It's a little different than a straight vote swap. Whether it's between projects within the Pepsi Contest or between a Pepsi project and a group in a different contest, you don't know if the group you target will actually give you a return vote, but you hope so.

Personally, I don't see a lot of difference between the 2 formats. That is exactly what I have been doing. There is a return of about 1 out of every 3 votes given. You vote for someone and you hope. At the same time, the Vivint sponsors might see it differently. I think if the wording is right, it could work. I only wish I knew what their thinking is.

They might think that vote trading is a vote exchange site, where you can buy votes for 25 cents or so each. People will buy blocks of votes and workers from poor countries will fill the order. Those are the entrants that suddenly have a spike in their votes (not pointing any fingers, but that is why I have not been so worried about the blips in voting), then revert back to their normal rate. People do get away with it, but I suspect with such a large prize they scrutinize the winners and spikes like that could be addressed, in the same way they were in the Chase contest. Just random thoughts. I so want to get 2 groups in!

 

[frenchtulip]

I guess it would be against the rules, because thissounds as if they only want people to vote for a charity that really are behind this charity. They don't want votes that just happen out of a deal of some sort. But i might be wrong of course.

Thanks for your thoughts, Eric.You may be absolutely right. Apparently, Pepsi and Chase don't have a problem organizations/projects helping one another. I think it would be great if everyone voted for an organization because they truly believe in it, but I think Vivint is being overly idealistic about an online contest.

 

[frenchtulip]

I think if the wording is right, it could work. I only wish I knew what their thinking is.

A message like "Voting from the WPI" might be acceptable. I don't know. Yes, I, too, wish I knew what their thinking is.

 

[eric_s]

Eric, I think you are right about the National ME/FM, just hope we get it in gear before it's too late!

I agree. I'm waiting for the replies of one forum and one organisation i've asked to advertise for the contest and then i can contact more. But i'm also waiting for answers to some pms. I've asked a couple of people about starting a group to gather the voters and i would also like to get some clarification about one point in the contest rules. But Vivint seems to be a bit hard to reach, so i've asked someone who already was in contact with them to ask them. As soon as that point is clarified i can try to ask more groups. I also think it's very important to try to reach out to goups in Canada, maybe there are local groups that we could try to contact? Because what we need most are additional voters for the National ME/FM Action Network. Preferrably new voters, so the WPI can continue to expand it's lead.

 

[SpecialK82]

You are on fire Eric - way to go!

 

[Dolphin]

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)

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 groups in pacific to see if there are groups further down making any moves.

Pacific:
(Summary: none of the others got over 200 votes)

Whittemore Peterson Institute: 21622 + 1071 = 22693
Be Perfect Foundation: 8415 + 197 = 8612
Conejo Valley Friendship Circle: 6965 + 128 = 7093
Surfers Healing 5629 +147 = 5776
The Hailey Mayz Foundation 3656 + 133 = 3789
NextGen Academy 3211 +117 = 3328
Invisible Children 3060 +85 = 3145
Jumpstart 2807 + 112 = 2919
Kingdom Causes Bellflower 2550 + 123 = 2673
Sean Vernon Feliciano Amazing Day Foundation Inc. 1847 + 51 = 1898
Partnerships in Community Living, Inc. 1595 + 41 = 1636
Shared Hope International 1550 + 65 = 1615
Austin's House 1303 + 74 = 1377

Canada:

Light and Love Home- Vancouver 12699+574= 13273
Saint John Regional Hospital Foundation 5811 + 268 = 6079
3rd: National ME/FM Action Network 2570 + 181 = 2751

 

[cfs info]

I think the rules are clear that the Pepsi thing would be a violation - no trading or exchanging votes.

 

[cfs info]

Also, the best way to get Vivint's attentin is to post your questins on their wall.