New Voting Script Online! Vote Away!

[theFerf]

Thank you all for your patience while the Podcast Alley voting script was being updated. In order to provide fair and accurate voting for all podcasters, I have implemented this new system.

Everytime someone votes, that person has to insert their email address. They then have to click on a link that is sent to their email inbox in order for the vote to be added to the podcast count.

I really hope this helps keep all the voting fair and accurate for all podcasters out there. I pride myself on providing the best directory out there, and only through providing fair and accurate stats can this be true.

If you find any bugs, loop holes, errors, omissioins, or any problems, do not hesitate to email me @ info@podcastalley.com. Thanks, and Enjoy!!

[Ian]

Excellent,

Well done. Is it possible to reset the vote counts? Those who have been listed here longer have a head start on this new system.

Either way, Free Talk Live will soon be on top! 8)

Best Regards,
Ian

[theFerf]

i cant reset the votes, but in coming versions, there will be a top 10 for each month and a top top overall...so you will have a chance then to work your way up, month by month :)

[Ian]

Too cool. Had a new listener clue me in that he came from here. This site was already the best podcast site, now you have ensured it's continued success!

Regards,
Ian

[cc_chapman]

Very cool and a good change to cut down on voting scripts.

[theFerf]

That is the plan. I know there is no way that voting scripts are hack proof, but this is the best solution yet. It uses a couple of different methods of protection.

One limitation I am starting to see.... hotmail does not seem to work. i have seen replies from tons of domains, gmail and more...but none of the hotmail ones seem to be working.

anyone have any idea why this might be? (programmers can email info@podcastalley.com for more specifics if you want to help.)

[planetneutral]

I have a theory as to why you're not getting Hotmail votes. Hotmail is sorting the email as junk. Even if the voter finds it there, if they try to click on the link from within the junk folder, it won't work as Hotmail disables this content. However, if you move the email to your inbox, it works fine.

[theFerf]

its very curious, because when i test with my hotmail account, it does not come through at all...no junk, no inbox, nothing.

im thinking it has something to do with the way the message is sent ... will have to research the mailing class a bit more.

[Neil]

I think that everyone may be taking this voting thing a bit seriously. I mean yeah its fun to be able to support your favourite podcast but quite frankly I can't be bothered to go through my email just to vote for a podcast.

I'm not saying its a bad system because it probably will stop unfair voting, but does it really matter if someone does vote unfairly. It's not like there's any award or prize which the most popular podcasts get.

[theFerf]

its not that someone is voting unfairly buy giving themselves say, 10 votes. the problem is they give themselves 7000 votes. this site is supposed to be a fun and informative place to find out what podcasts are out there, and which ones others find to be excellent or poor.

[Ian]

My listeners have no problems checking their email boxes. If you don't want to go through that much effort, obviously you don't care enough about that podcast, or podcasting in general.

More votes = more exposure = more listeners.
Ian

[Brian]

I can't say that I'm thrilled with the new voting system. It's great to be able to ask your listeners to go to PodcastAlley to vote for your show, but to ask them to do it every 24 hours? I'd rather spend my time producing quality content for my show than pimping my listeners for votes every day.

I see the potential for a lot more vote "fixing" with this sytem than the last system, with many domain hosts giving you 200 email addresses with a hosting account.

Love everything else about PodcastAlley!

[Ian]

Feeling the heat, Brian?

My listeners have no problem voting more than once. They may not all do it everyday, but they do it.

Perhaps you just need more dedicated listeners.

Good luck!
Ian

[Ian]

To be fair though, I agree with the multiple accounts concern.

Regards,
Ian

[theFerf]

The point of the voting system is to give listeners a chance to let other listeners and the podcast creator themselves know that they are doing a good...or bad job. It is mighty difficult to find good shows out there with the number of podcasts already, and i can only imagine it is going to become increasingly difficult in the coming year +.

The point of the voting system is not to solicite all of your listeners to go and vote everyday. I think thats actually a good way to lose listeners. But mentioning it now and again on your site, blog and podcast lets people know that you are listed in this directory, and that they should let others know that your podcast is good by power of thier votes.

The podcasts that are well done with great format and content will, in the end, prevail in my opinion.

[Ian]

The podcasts that are well done with great format and content will, in the end, prevail in my opinion.

Agreed. Only the most dedicated of your listeners will vote daily, and if that's the case, if just shows how much they care about your 'cast.

Ian

[Ian]

Technical note.. a couple of my listeners have commented that they are getting a "you're already voted today" message, when they haven't. And ideas?

Regards,
Ian

[theFerf]

Well, looking at the logs, there are a couple of things I am noticing:

1. People are putting in fake email addresses. This does not count as a vote because you have to click on a link went to that email address

2. People are not typing correct email address like: info@podcastalley.co instead of .com

3. Other Possible Problems:
- It logs IP Addresses. So you can not use multiple email addresses in 24 hours from the same computer
- They refresh the window and it tells them they have already voted, b/c it has already sent and email to them for verification
- They clicked on the verfication link twice
- Maybe there are other problems, but these are the ones i can think of

[paulc]

hotmail does not seem to work.

I just tried my hotmail account and it worked. Like planetneutral mentioned, it put the confirmation message in my junk mail folder.

You should add a message telling the voter to look in the junk if they are using Hotmail.

[radioclash]

tried voting but got both 'Link is out of date' - after 2 mins after voting and getting the email...thought it was Norton Firewall/blocking but disabled all the Ad and Popup blocking to no joy.

And both emails got 54 out of 100 for spam in Eudora 6.2 so were junked....had to go find them in the Junk folder (this is the standard Bayes spam filter in Eudora)

Maybe not use HTML emails and repeat PodcastAlley as a phrase so much? And make sure your reply and headers are all legit return addresses - all classic spam techniques that you could be falling foul of.

But I'm not sure this is working? I doubt anyone will vote if it's this difficult... :(

[radioclash]

Feeling the heat, Brian?

My listeners have no problem voting more than once. They may not all do it everyday, but they do it.

Perhaps you just need more dedicated listeners.

Good luck!
Ian

:roll:

[phylaxis]

3. Other Possible Problems:
- It logs IP Addresses. So you can not use multiple email addresses in 24 hours from the same computer


This would also mean if they are behind a corporate firewall that masks the IP addresses that it would be only one vote per office.

[radioclash]

voting still doesn't work for me :-(

[radioclash]

Worked out what it was - I'm using Eudora 6.2 and when you click on the links it only shows:

http://podcastalley.com/vote_verify.php?p

not the rest of the link

Copying in the link direct works fine.

I think Eudora doesn't like your URL for some reason...

[theFerf]

Thats interesting. i will have to investigate ways to make sure that link gets through. Thanks for pointing this out!

[Craig]

Chris, can you change the voting so it's once a day (voter's time) instead of once every 24 hours? I think that might be part of what's causing confusion in why people can't vote sometimes. It took me a while to realize that's what was going on.

(In other words, it would be legal to vote at 23:59 one day and 00:01 the next.)

Craig

[paulc]

If you attempt to vote earlier than 24 hours, does the timer get reset again? This is what seems to be happening for me.

[Ian]

Ferf,

Do you have an ETA on the Top Ten per Month system? I'm really looking forward to that.

Regards,
Ian

[theFerf]

im working out the final timeline now, so i can not give any definte answers. But when it happens, the new features will blow you away!

[theFerf]

Just a quick update about the voiting system...although a few people are still having troubles voting...over 3500 votes have been cast since the new voting system has been online. quite amazing in my opinion.

[notyourusualbollocks]

I've managed to secure cheap labour in India that will vote every 24 hours for a podcast. It costs you only $0.02 per vote.....

I believe the Drew and Carey show are already spending big bucks on these guys.

;)

[Craig]

Is something up with the voting system today? I haven't voted since Friday but am getting the "you already voted" message whenever I try to vote for a podcast I've voted for before. Anyone else experiencing this?

Craig

[theFerf]

CRAIG:

please try again. i have cleared out some of the logs of previous days. hopefully this will work. if it does, i will set this script to delte the logs on a CRON job.

[Craig]

Works fine now...thanks Chris.

Craig

[Ian]

I'm so excited for the addition of a monthly top ten. That will be where the competition happens. It will allow any new podcast to become #1, instead of just bolstering the lead of a long time caster.

It would allow anyone to have a shot at the press coverage.

Regards,
Ian