How to Vote Again in a Poll

How to win or cheat Any online voting contest

It's no secret that I'm not a fan of voting competitions, especially ones that are built irresponsibly. That's why I've set out to create the definitive guide on breaking (/cheating) poorly designednonprofit voting competitions.
The problem with voting competitions is that they pit nonprofits confronting each other for a prize that commonly doesn't come shut to the true price of the votes that these organizations push button to get. What's more, they run the risk of burning out the supporters of these great organizations.

In the worst example scenario, one organization decides to crook because the arrangement is designed with flaws past some marketing firm and they run across a fashion to easily game the system to win money for their cracking cause. I am not justifying or endorsing cheating – I really believe the merely way to win these contests is by non playing. However, in an effort to scare the pants off of people creating these contests I decided to create this guide.
Notation Whole Whale does not crook on behalf of our clients. Information technology is not a service WW offers nor will ever offer.
Wow! @WholeWhale simply wrote the guide on how to beat most nonprofit online voting contests. Click To Tweet

Pace 1: Effigy out how it is congenital

Online voting competitions volition use a variety of ways to track votes through a website. Here are the most common building technical:

A Web Form Built with the GET method

This method (low security) means that the class will push the information into the URL and you will run into information technology. eastward.g.  wholewhale.com/thank you.asp?orgname=charity&vote=true
How to interruption: Notice that URL and go ham on the refresh button. Hibernate the cookies and IP accost if they are tracking. Post that link anywhere you tin can and every click will equal a vote. Honestly, no reputable contest will be built this way because information technology isn't 2006, but hey, you never know…

A Web Form Congenital with the Post method

This method (medium security) ways that the course will push the data through the torso of the request and will not show in the URL.
How to suspension: you may exist able to use the back button if cookies aren't being set. If they are existence set you can hibernate cookies with a browser like Chrome with cookies disabled. If they congenital it correctly yous will demand a more avant-garde homo assisted tech approach (see step 2 below).

• Cookies – contests that don't require a sign in and permit anonymous votes depend on cookies that may accept timers in some cases. To suspension: clear your cookies, vote, echo. Use Chrome and a cookie remover to cake the cookies of the site, if information technology yet lets you vote you're all ready to click away. The Dauntless.com browser has very good privacy protection that will cake this type of tracking.
• Cookie and IP on mobile – if you are using a mobile device y'all can try switching to airplane way and using a wifi network to confuse the IP tracking.
• IP – Some apply the IP to determine location voting. You lot can use a proxy server or a local VPN like Hotspot Shield.
• Online Account – This volition require multiple accounts and a more advanced approach to get plenty votes. Depending on how the business relationship is authenticated, it may exist non be possible to automate mass voting.
• Email confirmation – This is the most mutual organization I meet, it requires an email to be confirmed from the inbox with the link to record the vote.

Stride two: Human assisted automation

The post-obit are various tactics which can be combined to break most voting systems with a little help from third party tools. In guild to not look suspicious it is important not to show suspiciously large voting counts – I can immediately tell if a distribution of votes is unnatural and violating an expected power constabulary (20% of the contestants getting 80% of the full votes). One time we spotted this in a contest one of our clients were considering and we brash them not to participate – later we establish several manufactures on the adulterous that had occurred.
NOTE Whole Whale does non cheat on behalf of our clients. Information technology is not a service WW offers nor will always offer.

Figurer Macros

A macro is a program that you can setup on a computer that goes through a serial of clicks and keyboard strokes on a timed interval. If a voting system doesn't crave a captcha or other human exam, a macro can exist created to go through a voting wheel unabated. Combine these tools with a hotspot shield and cookies disabled on a computer can break virtually non-e-mail verification process. Some tools:

• Macro Express – downloadable software that will let you turn your computer into a bot that is timed to click and enter information as needed.
• AutoHotkey – downloadable software that will let you click the heck out of buttons or load pages.

Email Generators

For secure voting systems that don't have strict email confirmations, there are ways to generate emails quickly. These email hacks can too be used to create accounts for systems the require logins.

• Any unmarried Gmail, Hotmail, Yahoo or normal domain email address can exist made into thousands of emails past adding a "+" or "." afterwards the name and before the "@" sign. For case, yourname@gmail.com tin can exist yourname+anyword@gmail.com and the email will still be delivered to your accost.
• If you lot own your own domain, you tin create a bunch of aliases for one email account.
• Mailinator – this is a site that will generate emails for you on demand and give you a quick inbox that the confirmation link volition be sent to. Using a variety of email domains can help make this look less spammy. This is a list of temporary email domains hosted via mailinator: http://torvpn.com/temporaryemail.html

Outsourced Voting

For a nominal amount of money, an organization can purchase votes or emails through 'Vote Brokers'. These groups will do your bidding in the aforementioned way they interpret audio to text or practice other unproblematic outsource tasks for companies. Technically it is against the Amazon Turk policy to pay workers to vote – which is bully.  However yous tin can still hire someone on a site similar UpWork to build a script that could employ the higher up tactics.

Proxy Voting

A proxy vote traditionally means that a voter transfers their correct to vote to a 3rd party. Massive lists of proxy accounts tin be managed by a single person but logging in ane by 1 and voting. Imagine if political staffers could collect permission to vote on behalf of voters in a district in perpetuity — non actually the volition or action of a oversupply, but highly effective.
The best mode to win a nonprofit voting competition is by not inbound. Click To Tweet

Finally, for the contest creators

This mail service is meant to ruin poorly designed voting competitions and to scare anyone thinking about building a nonprofit voting competition. I detest the idea of cheating nonprofits and I recall that starts when a contest doesn't use responsible pattern.

Responsible Contest Pattern Questions

• Can your online system be quickly gamed by the exploits higher up? (I beg you not to use GET requests or anonymous voting)
• Tin you utilise a third political party authentication to end the email hack?
• Is the prize pool big enough to make an expected value equation make sense for all participants?

Expected Value for Voting Contest = Prize amount  *  (total # winners / total # charities)

• Do the nonprofits involved get to go on the voter data that relates to their org? In the case of emails, do they get them?
• Is there a way to build this and so that every participant wins in some way?
• Is the fourth dimension frame express and so there is only a pocket-size window of nonsense voting requests?
• Is in that location a clever way to pattern the voting process then that it actually produces some positive impact for the nonprofit? e.thousand. voters have to submit photos they take of the crusade that the nonprofit can take access to afterwards for their photograph database. Or they must submit 1 thought that they call back would meliorate their piece of work. etc.
• Could yous use a threshold voting, where nonprofits need to go to 10 votes to be considered by a panel? This caps the voting nonsense while still getting a fleck of the network outcome you are hoping for your brand. This pairs well with a social integration.

I hope these questions will spur some more artistic approaches to contest pattern and will add more value to the nonprofits who participate.
Annotation Whole Whale does not cheat on behalf of our clients. Information technology is not a service WW offers nor will ever offer. Also, please don't reach out to us to vote for your competition.

And then there you have it – our guide to breaking online voting contests so your nonprofit can win. And more chiefly, to bring transparency to this one-sided marketing tactic.

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Source: https://www.wholewhale.com/tips/how-to-win-or-cheat-any-online-voting-contest/