Listener Reports Problem with Voting, no Podcast Alley reply

[netactivist]

A listener wrote in the following to me:

fyi jack. i've tried a few times to vote for your webcast program but i
never get the email i'm supposed to get so that i can verify my vote and
make it count. i asked a friend to try from her computer with her email
address and she said the same thing happened to her. i email contacted
podcastalley about the issue but have gotten no reply. (should i take this
all the way to the Supreme Court?)

i am not using any filters and get a plentiful load of spam each day on my
hotmail account, which is what i used for things of this nature.

i just thought you should know. Anyone else having problems?

And what can I suggest to this listener?

[WyethDigital]

i am not using any filters and get a plentiful load of spam each day on my
hotmail account, which is what i used for things of this nature.

i just thought you should know. [/list]Anyone else having problems?

And what can I suggest to this listener?
Have you tried an account other than Hot Mail? I know some of the big email farms (most notably AOL) have had problems in the past. And some folks in Europe. I'm not entirely sure why, but I believe it has something to do with their IP settings.

I understand that the servers here block IP addresses once they've been used to vote, so theoretically you can only vote once per IP address. Whether someone is cheating and using a proxy voting method (and thus has used your IP address), or Hot Mail's handling of IPs is the cause of the problem is beyond my knowledge.

Eric

PS -- if you or your friend are worried about PCA saving and using your email address for Spam or other purposes, it ain't happening. These guys just don't do that sort of thing.

[TALK RADIO SHOW]

Also, if you are a registered forum member you can vote without the email confirmation. it automatically counts the vote if you are logged into the site.

And that's why you are the smartest man in podcasting. And fashion!

[fogarty]

Even thougth my spam filter settings are REALLY low, I had to whitelist the podcast alley email address before my votes would make it through.

[armchair president]

i am not using any filters and get a plentiful load of spam each day on my
hotmail account, which is what i used for things of this nature.

i just thought you should know. [/list]Anyone else having problems?

And what can I suggest to this listener?
Have you tried an account other than Hot Mail? I know some of the big email farms (most notably AOL) have had problems in the past. And some folks in Europe. I'm not entirely sure why, but I believe it has something to do with their IP settings.

I understand that the servers here block IP addresses once they've been used to vote, so theoretically you can only vote once per IP address. Whether someone is cheating and using a proxy voting method (and thus has used your IP address), or Hot Mail's handling of IPs is the cause of the problem is beyond my knowledge.

Eric

PS -- if you or your friend are worried about PCA saving and using your email address for Spam or other purposes, it ain't happening. These guys just don't do that sort of thing.

I have had problems reported to me from hotmail accounts. My e-mail account at godaddy does not receive the confirmation e-mail as well.

Getting listeners to vote is next to impossible. Getting listeners to register with podcastalley, log-in and then vote - come on ferf, that is asking more than I think almost any listner will do.

This means that the voting system has some sort of serious flaw in it that needs to be fixed or the system should be changed. I have heard many people lose interest in podcastalley because of this defect in voting.

Is podcast alley trying to be Florida circa 2000? I think this principle is a good one, but you can not disenfranchise listners, especially one that want to participate. More would likely participate, but have given up.

[WyethDigital]

Is podcast alley trying to be Florida circa 2000? I think this principle is a good one, but you can not disenfranchise listners, especially one that want to participate. More would likely participate, but have given up.
In fairness to PCA and The Ferf, I don't think PCA is trying to be Florida. What happened in Florida will affect national policy, foreign policy and civil liberties for years to come. Voting problems at PCA will affect exactly nothing of any national significance for exactly one month at a time.

At it's best, the voting system can be viewed as a handy, free marketing tool. And no offense to the Ferf, but at it's most basic level it really is only just a simple way to get some limited feedback.

Eric

[mikey]

Funny thing.... I've had several hundred listners tell me the same thing... Podcast Alley, could you please rectify this situation?? :D

[ElNacho]

i think the new PCA thing, the PDN i guess will be it...is coming out soon. im guessing because they started playing the adverts in the podshow shows.

[fogarty]

Is podcast alley trying to be Florida circa 2000? I think this principle is a good one, but you can not disenfranchise listners, especially one that want to participate. More would likely participate, but have given up.
In fairness to PCA and The Ferf, I don't think PCA is trying to be Florida. What happened in Florida will affect national policy, foreign policy and civil liberties for years to come. Voting problems at PCA will affect exactly nothing of any national significance for exactly one month at a time.

At it's best, the voting system can be viewed as a handy, free marketing tool. And no offense to the Ferf, but at it's most basic level it really is only just a simple way to get some limited feedback.
Eric

The outcome of an action, based on scale and impact is irrelevant. I agree that the effect for the nation and the world from the voting, shall we say, problems in Florida are far reaching and pervasive. The net result is further distrust and avoidance of the system by many. The similarity of voting problems and a failure to register votes with vastly less national and global importance will alienate the people from podcast alley much more easily than that for the US elections.

Since I presume that the voting system was a design ploy by podcast alley to generate traffic and interest for the directory (and a very good concept at that) that Podcast Alley would not want their asset transformed into a liability by alienating people (podacastors and listeners) like it seems that it is doing.

In fact, I believe that this thread is proof that the novel voting system that has been set-up is valued. It is podcast alley's uniqueness and it is a shame to see that tarnished and being counterproductive for podcastors, listeners, and Podcast Alley.

What is the PDN that El Nacho mentions? Is this a Podcast Alley redesign, new voting system, or ???

[fogarty]

That last post was not by Absolute Science. It was by Armchair President. Logged in using my wife's account. My login was not working,Sorry for the confusion.

[WyethDigital]

The outcome of an action, based on scale and impact is irrelevant. I agree that the effect for the nation and the world from the voting, shall we say, problems in Florida are far reaching and pervasive. The net result is further distrust and avoidance of the system by many. The similarity of voting problems and a failure to register votes with vastly less national and global importance will alienate the people from podcast alley much more easily than that for the US elections.
I agree with you that a broken voting system does lessen it's impact. I had no real problem with the premise I was responding to. I just felt the comparison was unnecessarily dramatic. In other words, if you really want to bitch about voting, let's look at a voting system that really counts (since the comparison had been made to FL). :)

What is the PDN that El Nacho mentions? Is this a Podcast Alley redesign, new voting system, or ???
Podcast Alley is part of Podshow, and Podshow is revamping their entire network, which is being rechristened the Podshow Delivery Network (or PDN). Podcast Alley is reportedly slated for a redesign along with the rest of the PDN.

Eric