User blog:KurwaAntics/Polls

I recently held a contest and it requires users to vote. What I found is so disturbing.

The existing poll feature only provides very basic functions, which I didn't use for the contests. I used Poll Maker and recently PollDaddy for the voting, but I found users stuffing the ballot box. When they see their desired candidate is left behind, they vote the same candidate using their phones, tablets, etc. which could be worse as this.

Even I set to block multiple votes by cookies and IP addresses, but since the ballot is tied to the device, it has no effect. You can view the results of the past contests here.

Users on Polandball Wiki are also having the same problem. Admins hold election via blogs, which requires users to use templates in order to vote. Some users are not eligible to vote but they still did it, some voted after the voting session and some voted without using the templates.

Such inconvenience made me seek other solutions for a flexible poll system. I eventually found the SecurePoll extension. I requested staffs to install it, but since the extension is not available on Fandom, it was rejected.

The extension provides a special page for users to vote, and admins can set which user groups are eligible, start and end time of the voting session, description texts etc. The ballot is tied to the account instead of the device, making it nearly impossible to be rigged.

I want you to know how frustrating we are when holding contest polls and elections like that. We need to improve the current poll system, by making it more flexible and secure. I would also like the staffs to consider making SecurePoll available on Fandom. Your help will be much appreciated. Thank you.