Concerns Regarding DUing a Poll--"Resistant" Polls Bothering Me

[davidlynch]

Friends, I've made it a point to always get involved in DUing polls. In many cases this has made a noticeable difference. There have been some polls where the results were amazingly refreshing. But there have been others that haven't seemed to budge much from the original values, particularly AOL and CNN.

My instincts suggest that some media portals are just setting the desired percentages and then largely ignoring inputs. This is particularly troubling because I believe that many people are swayed, at least a little, by the results of these online polls, albeit unscientific.

Does anyone share this suspicion, or am I wearing a tin-foil hat? Also, does anyone know enough about the polling technologies to suggest some means that one could dramatically alter the results by using a computer program that would masquerade as multiple users via a technique such as IP spoofing? Particularly for "resistant" polls, I wouldn't be averse to using such technologies to prove that the polls are actually being rigged.

[AX10]

1. These polls tend to favor non-right wing principles (the left's active).

During the Alito hearings, the polls have been on the right wing side. The media has been making Alito's rise to power unstoppable. You may be right.

[davidlynch]

3. That's When I've Really Noticed It--Alito Polls are "Resistant" n/t

[AX10]

5. Same for me. I noticed that all online polls were suddenly...

supporting a right leaning point of view/idea.

[davidlynch]

6. Are They Being "Freeped" Or Are the Percentages Fixed By The Portal?

[Rigby Reardon]

2. I DU as many polls as the next person

Just cuz its fun, but any results of a DU'd poll are just as fake as if the person on the other end hand picked the results.

Internet polls mean nothing... In fact, most polls mean nothing. So, don't worry about it.

[davidlynch]

4. Thanks Rigby, I Might Be Taking This Too Seriously n/t

[applegrove]

7. They could easily be freeped. Why we should never take polls

seriously - even here. Or on any website.

[unhappycamper]

8. I've noticed that AOL & CNN polls do not always count votes.

Many times I've watched DUers vote on a poll and neither the total number of votes nor the results change. I suspect these guys use Diebold to report results. . . .

[SoCalDem]

9. I have seen poll questions "flipped" but not the numbers

There was one a while back..(got the screen cap somewhere).. NO was the first choice which struck me as odd, since usually the yes options are first.. anyway, people voted and voted and voted, and the numbers were 40K something for NO..and a few minutes later I looked in a,d YES was the first option now, but with the numbers that had been cast for NO.

They can be and are manipuated..and the freeps (some of them) brag about software that does an "autovote" hundreds of times, so I never bother anymore.

online votes are kind of meaningless anyway..

[PBass]

10. online polls aren't taken very seriously

since they can be manipulated... Freeped or DU'd.

As far as why they don't move or update, maybe they are rigged. Another more plausible explanation is that it could take a certain number of votes before the page updates it's graphic, or it might update on a time basis (on the half-hour for example). Someone who knows about building web pages or programming online polls would probably have some insight.