polls , are they being manipulated ?

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lebesset
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Joined: 06 Aug 2008, 14:00

polls , are they being manipulated ?

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just had a quick look at the poll for the winner in china

more than double the number of votes for massa compared to alonso ....or anyone else come to that ; over a thousnd votes cast so far

something wrong there methinks ; is the circuit such that only massa can drive fast there ?

if you look at something that tells you what people really think about the merits of the drivers , who they bet on , the picture is totally different

manipulation ?
to the optimist a glass is half full ; to the pessimist a glass is half empty ; to the F1 engineer the glass is twice as big as it needs to be

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Hangaku
0
Joined: 20 Apr 2009, 16:38
Location: Manchester, UK

Re: polls , are they being manipulated ?

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I'm almost certain that someone or something is swaying the voting.
Yer.

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Mr Alcatraz
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Joined: 18 May 2008, 15:10
Location: San Diego Ca. USA

Re: polls , are they being manipulated ?

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Where is the poll?
(then I'll tell you what is wrong with it) [-X
Those who believe in telekinetics raise my hand

mx_tifoso
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Joined: 30 Nov 2006, 05:01
Location: North America
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Re: polls , are they being manipulated ?

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Tazio, the poll is on the front page on the right hand side.

Manipulation? I don't know to be honest. I've voted once and that's it.
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Steven
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Joined: 19 Aug 2002, 18:32
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Re: polls , are they being manipulated ?

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Something looks fishy indeed with the polls.
I checked the logs and it looks like lots of votes for Massa were made in a very short timespan.

I am going to implement some changes to that system to prevent abuse.
One wonders what's the fun in false voting for polls anyway...

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Mr Alcatraz
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Joined: 18 May 2008, 15:10
Location: San Diego Ca. USA

Re: polls , are they being manipulated ?

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Never underestimate how shallow people are that visit sites like this.
He's leading at the moment, and his name is first on the list.
Other than a article featuring him on this web site, I see no reason for him to have any advantage.
To be the run-away leader is obtuse IMO. [-X
Those who believe in telekinetics raise my hand

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jon-mullen
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Joined: 10 Sep 2008, 02:56
Location: Big Blue Nation
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Re: polls , are they being manipulated ?

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Tomba wrote:I checked the logs and it looks like lots of votes for Massa were made in a very short timespan.
And from the same IP?

It's not very difficult to write a program to do that, me and a friend made one back in '99 to vote for him as Time Magazine's most influential person of the century using...I believe it was the sendkey() function in VB. We didn't know how to use the DLLs, I'm sure you could make one that voted at an insane rate with those.

Why someone would do it for such an obscure (no offense, mods) poll is beyond me.
Loud idiot in red since 2010
United States Grand Prix Club, because there's more to racing than NASCAR

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Steven
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Joined: 19 Aug 2002, 18:32
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Re: polls , are they being manipulated ?

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Our poll system used to rely solely on cookies. Although this is obviously not failsafe, I found it not necessary to build more logic as it's not really mission critical.

Nonetheless, after the fraudulent votes, I've added ip checking as well. As for the Chinese GP poll I also removed the obvious double votes, but the results may still be a bit distorted.

I hope the results will be a bit more realistic in the future :(

lebesset
7
Joined: 06 Aug 2008, 14:00

Re: polls , are they being manipulated ?

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as you say tomba , hardly of great import
just offends my sensibilities that some idiot thinks they can fool us , when it jumps of the page that this is wrong

what doesn't jump off the page to me is that the thread is marked moved but seems to be in general chat as before
to the optimist a glass is half full ; to the pessimist a glass is half empty ; to the F1 engineer the glass is twice as big as it needs to be

mx_tifoso
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Joined: 30 Nov 2006, 05:01
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Re: polls , are they being manipulated ?

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lebesset wrote:what doesn't jump off the page to me is that the thread is marked moved but seems to be in general chat as before
What's left in the General Chat section is a 'shadow'. I don't see the point of it but I forget to unclick the 'leave shadow' button sometimes. Although in this case it wasn't my doing.
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"You do it, then it's done." - Kimi Räikkönen

Por las buenas soy amigo, por las malas soy campeón.

Giblet
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Joined: 19 Mar 2007, 01:47
Location: Canada

Re: polls , are they being manipulated ?

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it would have been a fun project to trace a bunch of the ip's and see what ISP's they came from.

I suspect one near Marenello or Sao Paulo :)
Before I do anything I ask myself “Would an idiot do that?” And if the answer is yes, I do not do that thing. - Dwight Schrute

andartop
14
Joined: 08 Jun 2008, 22:01
Location: London, UK

Re: polls , are they being manipulated ?

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See? Everyone cheats in F1!!!
:lol:
The most merciful thing in the world, I think, is the inability of the human mind to correlate all its contents. H.P.Lovecraft

lebesset
7
Joined: 06 Aug 2008, 14:00

Re: polls , are they being manipulated ?

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well , here we go again
latest poll , big alonso lead
if we had lots of spanish members you would expect that bias , but I don't think that is the case here
on the evidence so far alonso certainly wouldn't be ahead , some engine difficulties , and only the second best chassis behind red bull ; in mixed conditions not as good as the McLarens

so why ?

I may be wrong tomba , but I don't think that your efforts so far have cured the problem , my guess is that someone is using another method
to the optimist a glass is half full ; to the pessimist a glass is half empty ; to the F1 engineer the glass is twice as big as it needs to be

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