'Pick this site’s charities for the next year.' Poll results/discussion

guinnessgirl

belisha-beacon wrote: »

There is also the other issue which is growing in the charity sector at the moment which is people's unease if they feel that a religious charity is covering up its religious roots in order to appeal to a wider base. Christians Against Poverty (CAP UK) is one of those. Some Christians don't like the fact that a charity with Christian values is ashamed to show them by altering its name and literature, whilst some atheists and non-Christians are uncomfortable about the idea of being 'duped' into giving money for an organisation which is not making its aims transparent. So, I think that it would have been better to use its official name so that people can see what they are getting and make a properly informed decision.

Belisha, I'm not sure what your point is here. CAP UK is simply an acronym which is easier to say and shorter to write - it's not the charity's official name. When you visit the website, the name "Christians Against Poverty" is everywhere. CAP is certainly not ashamed of its Christian values in any way! It doesn't alter its literature either, as the charity's full name is part of the logo and therefore prominently on every piece of literature it publishes.

gomann

Do I have a suspicious nature?

Shelterbox, having had less than 1000 votes on Saturday morning, is now in 2nd place and picking up at least 1 vote a minute. Who are these 3000 people who suddenly decided to support them after many days of apathy?

A good cause but the Poll behaviour seems a more than a little unusual.

gomann

Tricky1 wrote: »

I wondered how long it would take someone to come up with the "charity begins at home" line. This planet is our home, not Europe, not the UK, not England, not YOUR county, not YOUR town, not YOUR street, not YOUR house and most of all, NOT YOUR TINY PEA-BRAINED HEAD.

1. No need to shout.

2. Who are you shouting at?

fatbelly

gomann wrote: »

Do I have a suspicious nature?

Shelterbox, having had less than 1000 votes on Saturday morning, is now in 2nd place and picking up at least 1 vote a minute. Who are these 3000 people who suddenly decided to support them after many days of apathy?

A good cause but the Poll behaviour seems a more than a little unusual.

Despite my post in support of Shelterbox above, I have to agree with Gomann that there's something odd happening here.

gomann

fatbelly wrote: »

Despite my post in support of Shelterbox above, I have to agree with Gomann that there's something odd happening here.

I've been tracking them for the last hour, continually.
At 1205 they had 3600
At 1303 they had 3704
At 1329 they had 3750 .... !
100 votes an hour? And the rate is almost linear! Almost [dare I suggest] as if a computer was generating them.

All these new-found supporters may well have received an email asking for support, but would they then decide to vote in such a tidy and regular manner?

It just seems very strange.

Ooops - another 6 votes in 1 minute.

fatbelly

gomann wrote: »

All these new-found supporters may well have received an email asking for support, but would they then decide to vote in such a tidy and regular manner?

It just seems very strange.

It's even more strange in that I have links to four of these charities and Shelterbox is the one that hasn't alerted me to this vote

3810 now

JayZed

It's also blindingly obvious that the charity currently in the lead is doing so well mainly because various forces-related talkboards are not only encouraging everyone on their mailing lists to come and vote, but also encouraging them to vote multiple times. See:

http://www.navy-net.co.uk/cpgn2/Forums/viewtopic/t=15161/postdays=0/postorder=asc/start=0.html

http://www.arrse.co.uk/cpgn2/Forums/viewtopic/t=101319.html

(note in particular comments such as "Hopefully none of you will keep going to Naval Gazers link to vote more than once" and "Done and voted from all the arrse sites...hint... ")

I've nothing at all against Help For Heroes, but this kind of behaviour, as well as whatever's going on with Shelterbox, rather makes a mockery of the poll, don't you think? Woudn't it be more meaningful to have a poll that actually reflects the views of users of the MSE website?

gomann

fatbelly wrote: »

It's even more strange in that I have links to four of these charities and Shelterbox is the one that hasn't alerted me to this vote

3810 now

Being a bit of an anorak here, but I'm working with another website and keeping them updated.

At 1930 yesterday it was ..

18% Help For Heroes ... now 18%
14% Samaritans ......... now 13%
11% Carers ............... now 11%
10% Shelterbox ......... now 14%
10% Bliss ................. now 10%
9% CAP .................... now 9%

I guess it won't affect the selection of the "Top 4", but it's leaving a very odd taste in my mouth.

3836 now ... that's over 120 in the last hour, regardless of the previous figure. In fact, 236 votes in 2 hours.

gomann

JayZed wrote: »

It's also blindingly obvious that the charity currently in the lead is doing so well mainly because various forces-related talkboards are not only encouraging everyone on their mailing lists to come and vote, but also encouraging them to vote multiple times. See:

http://www.navy-net.co.uk/cpgn2/Forums/viewtopic/t=15161/postdays=0/postorder=asc/start=0.html

http://www.arrse.co.uk/cpgn2/Forums/viewtopic/t=101319.html

(note in particular comments such as "Hopefully none of you will keep going to Naval Gazers link to vote more than once" and "Done and voted from all the arrse sites...hint... ")

While I've nothing against helpforheroes, this kind of behaviour rather makes a mockery of the poll, don't you think? Woudn't it be more meaningful to have a poll that actually reflects the views of users of the MSE website?

I had seen one of those, but I believe this site has filters to prevent multiple voting anyway. Don't believe everything you read on the Internet! :cool:

gomann

Shelterbox on 3906 ... that's 300 votes since noon, still running just about 120 votes an hour [and the rate is still linear].

If Help For Heroes were doing something dodgy, I think you might expect them to be a little more successful than just picking up 87 votes over the same period.

I rather like Shelterbox as a Charity, I must admit. And so, apparently do nearly 3000 people who didn't care until some time on Saturday afternoon.

Still, it's only the Internet, innit.