Basic guidance on how to effectively "hit those polls" etc online

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everallm

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Folks,

On a regular basis there will be a link telling you of an online poll or a comment section we should "go and hit".

Or you go to a web site with LOTS of very loud and nasty comments

Activism like this is fast and easy but to have some effectiveness needs to follow some basic steps if you want your vote and voice to be counted.

Rule

NEVER go directly from THR to another other site by clicking the link then voting

Reason

When you enter a web site the web server logs capture all sorts of information about you including where you have just come from. If 50% of all poll results come from THR, the frequent response will be "Damn gun nuts"

Work around

Where there is a link, right click with your mouse and copy the link. Open a clean window or tab to another site, say the ACLU or Brady, paste the link in the browser address bar and hit enter.

Rule

Multiple voting can work against you

Reason

I know certain politicians like the "Vote Early - Vote Often" option but in the Internet world you will probably be caught.
Many times when you enter or perform an action on a website you will get a small text file called a cookie dropped into your computer. This is used to remember preferences etc and can also used to ensure your identity for things like voting. So the web site owner can and frequently will discount multiple votes. Not saying don't do it but be aware

Work around

With Internet Explorer you can only delete ALL cookies which is more trouble than it's worth. If you have another type of browser such as Firefox you can delete individual cookies then you re-enter and re-vote.

Rule

Keep it high road when you post

Reason

Yes we're all passionate about our rights and beliefs. Guess what so are other people about theirs.

Work around

Nothing turns people off faster then ranting, swearing and gibberish.

Basic rule of thumb should be "Would I be happy if my parents read this without knowing its me?"

Never swear, keep your comments to the matter in hand, keep CAPITALIZATION to a minimum, check your grammar and spelling, don't use slang, be polite.

Not rising to the bait earns greater respect for your position.

Finally remember, the Internet never dies, anything you post will be archived, indexed, search engined and backed up. Don't put down something you would be unhappy with in a couple of years time.

Email and posting/blogging is frequently the electronic version of Tourette's syndrome, engage mouth then brain.....:barf:

Be careful out there......:D
 
You guys really need to quit obsessing over referrers. No one pays these polls enough credence to even bother to correlate the responses. These polls are throwaway web features to make sites seem "interactive" and nothing more.

Activism like this is fast and easy but to have some effectiveness
It isn't effective regardless. Once again, Slacktivism.
 
That's a good post and would make a good stickie, but for the fact that people don't read stickies.
 
One question I have about this...

When we copy the URL, and enter it into the browser, wouldn't it just appear to the server as people coming from nowhere to the poll?

If that is the case, then a legit vote should have come from the parent domain, and then accessed the poll.

Example:

Small news station in Everytown, USA runs an article on weapons on campus and it's linked on the mainpage, but hardly the top headline. THR forum goers all copy the URL to the poll and vote pro-2A, whereas people involved locally in Everytown, USA are going to the main page, reading various articles, and moving from the main page to the poll.

Basically, wouldn't the site admin be equally likely to notice an influx of people who went directly to the poll to vote a certain way?
 
Good thoughts by evereallm, especially about the qualitative nature of advocacy posts.

But, like Jorg implies, no one with a knowledge of polls, statistics and generalizability relies on online polls for anything. They're utterly useless for any meaningful critical analysis, even informal critical analysis.

Whenever people start suggesting to "Hit this poll--hard!", I always think of how many folks don't mind being a little mouse in a Skinner box. ;)
 
If the site is owned by an anti, they won't care anyway. They can rig the poll if they really want. It doesn't matter.

Even if they do not, the online polls are not scientifically valid, so they carry no weight.
 
You guys really need to quit obsessing over referrers. No one pays these polls enough credence to even bother to correlate the responses. These polls are throwaway web features to make sites seem "interactive" and nothing more.

I disagree. These polls mean more than you think. Obviously, they're not used to set "policy". However, anyone who sees those polls takes a mental note of the vote % - people can't help themselves. If they see 60 - 80% pro gun - it could have a positive affect. Most people are followers and don't like being in the 10 to 20 %.........
 
HK

As you move from site/page to site/page, your web browser will, if requested hand over various items of information

Referrer URL, this lets the site know the web site and page you have JUST come from.

IP address, this is the unique numerical internet address your PC has at that moment. Depending upon your service provider this may be static or regularly changing. If someone is really interested they can deduce your ISP, your probable basic physical location and your network type.

Your browser type and operating system

Your PC machine name

If you don't flush your cookie cache periodically it will may be able to check if you have visited the site previously depending upon the cookie type.
 
Wacki,

The URL link cannot be anonymous itself, your going from somewhere to somewhere.

You can try and use anonymous proxies on the internet which you connect to and which pass your requests through them. These will mask your origination but means all off your traffic is being captured in one location.

This is itself a potential security concern as the proxy can be used to track your activity, build profiles and sell this on to marketing and other entities.

Also if the proxy is accidentally or maliciously set up in in certain manners it will be able to intercept what you think is encrypted and secure traffic, say to your online bank account.
 
everallm,

There are several website (can't seem to remember their name right no) that add a prefix of http://anon.to: or something to your link and protect your link. It filters you through a wide range of proxies automatically.

There is always this firefox extension which is outdated right now:

https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/1502

But should have a upgrade to Firefox 3 soon enough.
 
The URL link cannot be anonymous itself, your going from somewhere to somewhere.

This is simply wrong. You can simply set up FireFox (and some other browsers) to not send referrers. The website will not know where the link came from.
 
Wacki

Your "Anon" refers to using an anonymous proxy

Jorg

Your confusing what Wacki asked just use an anonymous reference which doesn't exist with setting up your browser to limit what it passes on.

Incidentally I am using Firefox 3 on Ubuntu 8.04 and it does not provide this functionality out of the box currently. There are add-ons that will allow this, the best anonymizer being through the Tor network
 
Perhaps I misunderstood you using "URL link" to mean "TCP Connection" instead of "URL link?" By "going from somewhere to somewhere" I thought you meant a referrer, which is what this thread seems to be about; avoiding websites associating referrers with votes. Anonymous proxies may or may not block this. Some do, some don't. Likewise, some Tor implementations have this, some don't.

Just block your referrers if you're worried about that, but be aware that will break some things.
 
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