StrBellydSneetch
07-23-2007, 07:41 PM
I was searching the web for little known negative information about the presidential candidates for research purposes and came across this one about Ron Paul. Read it, and then I'll add my two cents.
Supporters spamming web polls (http://oppodepot.com/paul.html)
Ron Paul is styling himself as the straight talker in the GOP primaries, but his web fans are engaging in some pretty crooked dealings with online polls. A number of political sites have been forced to pull Paul's name from their polls because his campaign is encouraging his supporters to flood the polls with pro-Paul votes. In mid-May, Charles Johnson of Little Green Footballs caught Paul's spammers at work:
I'm going to be removing Ron Paul's name from any further LGF straw polls, because his supporters are deliberately spamming our polls to make it appear as if Paul has more support than he does. . . . They aren't "cheating," as in voting multiple times, but they have sent out emails and posted the link to our poll at several spots on the web, urging people to go vote for Paul. The end result is the same -- the poll results are skewed, and it's not an accurate measure.
------------------
Ok, first off, this shouldn't be included in reasons that Ron Paul shouldn't be a viable candidate. Second, doesn't every OTHER candidate's supporters have the same opportunity to email the link and get other known supporters to vote? This isn't cheating and personally I don't think his name should be removed. They are simply SPREADING information about the poll so that more people are aware that their vote is needed. That someone is setting up a forum so that they can ask many people all at once who they think should be president.
Personally, I think that this is ridiculous. Ok, so they set up this poll and then when people tell other people that there is a poll, they get angry and say the results are skewed? But every candidate supporter can do this. Don't the people that are setting up the poll WANT more people to know about it because every person that has ever taken a class on statistics or political science knows that the larger the number of people that are involved, the more accurate the poll really is. Now, this works with random samples, yes, I know, but setting the poll on a website really isn't a random sample anyways, now is it?
Other opinions?
Supporters spamming web polls (http://oppodepot.com/paul.html)
Ron Paul is styling himself as the straight talker in the GOP primaries, but his web fans are engaging in some pretty crooked dealings with online polls. A number of political sites have been forced to pull Paul's name from their polls because his campaign is encouraging his supporters to flood the polls with pro-Paul votes. In mid-May, Charles Johnson of Little Green Footballs caught Paul's spammers at work:
I'm going to be removing Ron Paul's name from any further LGF straw polls, because his supporters are deliberately spamming our polls to make it appear as if Paul has more support than he does. . . . They aren't "cheating," as in voting multiple times, but they have sent out emails and posted the link to our poll at several spots on the web, urging people to go vote for Paul. The end result is the same -- the poll results are skewed, and it's not an accurate measure.
------------------
Ok, first off, this shouldn't be included in reasons that Ron Paul shouldn't be a viable candidate. Second, doesn't every OTHER candidate's supporters have the same opportunity to email the link and get other known supporters to vote? This isn't cheating and personally I don't think his name should be removed. They are simply SPREADING information about the poll so that more people are aware that their vote is needed. That someone is setting up a forum so that they can ask many people all at once who they think should be president.
Personally, I think that this is ridiculous. Ok, so they set up this poll and then when people tell other people that there is a poll, they get angry and say the results are skewed? But every candidate supporter can do this. Don't the people that are setting up the poll WANT more people to know about it because every person that has ever taken a class on statistics or political science knows that the larger the number of people that are involved, the more accurate the poll really is. Now, this works with random samples, yes, I know, but setting the poll on a website really isn't a random sample anyways, now is it?
Other opinions?