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When Vote Counting Goes Bad

Posted by timothy on from the it-increments-the-database-or-else-it-gets-the-hose dept.

ZipK writes "Television singing competition The Voice disclosed on Wednesday 'inconsistencies' with the tallying of on-line and SMS-based voting. Although host Carson Daly claimed the show wanted to be 'completely upfront,' the explanation from their third-party vote counter, Telescope, was anything but transparent. In particular, Telescope claims that disregarding all on-line and SMS-based voting for the two nights in question left no impact on the final results, but they haven't provided any detail of the 'inconsistency' or their ability to predict a complete lack of impact. Sure, it's only The Voice; but tomorrow it could be American Idol, and by next month, America's Got Talent."

13 of 128 comments (clear)

  1. News for nerds by Ironchew · · Score: 5, Funny

    Sure, it's only The Voice; but tomorrow it could be American Idol, and by next month, America's Got Talent."

    And nothing of value was lost?

    1. Re:News for nerds by Capt.DrumkenBum · · Score: 3, Informative

      Thank you. I came to post exactly this.
      Without the question mark.

      --
      If I were God, wouldn't I protect my churches from acts of me?
    2. Re:News for nerds by gstoddart · · Score: 4, Informative

      Well, admittedly, I don't care about the reality shows.

      But since there are laws about how you have to handle contests and the like, they need to really be able to prove that ignoring those votes had no effect on the outcome, or they could open themselves up for lawsuits.

      Basically they'd have to show that the votes they ignored occurred in exactly the same distributions as the other voting methods.

      And, since there's potentially a cost with voting, I have no idea if that even further mires things in.

      I think they really do need to be able to explain this, and demonstrate that it didn't affect any outcomes. And if you've got several million people watching and voting, if they suddenly find out their voting is being ignored, will they keep watching?

      --
      Lost at C:>. Found at C.
    3. Re:News for nerds by vux984 · · Score: 3, Informative

      Well, admittedly, I don't care about the reality shows.

      "admittedly" you don't care? I'd not just admit it, I'd proudly proclaim that they are worthless trash and a complete waste of time that just leaves you dumber for watching them. :)

      But since there are laws about how you have to handle contests and the like...

      If they were legitimate contests they might actually be more watchable. But if you read the fine print...

      Half the time there's stuff that often amounts to the equivalent of "The producers reserve the right to override viewer votes whenever they want, because they're more interested in finding conflict and drama than talent."

      Reality shows are a farce.

      Half the time there's stuff about scenes being "re-enacted" based on something actually happened.

      Participant release forms often include terms to consent to having personal, embarrassing, information disclosed. That information may be factual or fictionalized. ... ie; if the producers want to give you an embarrassing and untrue "backstory" about you, they can and will.

      There was a recent incident where an Obama speech pre-empted a few reality shows so there was a disclaimer that "although the show was not broadcast in its entirety in some markets, it has not affected the result."

      Yeah. That's credible. A whole state missed 20 minutes of the show; but that didn't affect anything.

      I presume that's because voters don't really matter anyway and we just pull numbers out of our ass anyway.

  2. nt by shentino · · Score: 4, Insightful

    The sad news is that people are probably going to rage more about this than they would for REAL politics that choose who gets into office.

    1. Re:nt by dkleinsc · · Score: 4, Insightful

      Network television is one of the best means of social control invented so far, second only to religion. Think about how many people really care about who wins American Idol, and think about how many people really care about who is elected to their local government. Who the American Idol winner is has no real effect on my life, whereas my local city council does when they decide whether to put money into repairing nearby streets or changing the zoning to accommodate a CVS in my neighborhood.

      --
      I am officially gone from /. Long live http://www.soylentnews.com/
    2. Re:nt by TWiTfan · · Score: 4, Insightful

      That's because people actually feel like they have a real CHOICE when voting on American Idol.

      --
      The cow says "Moo." The dog says "Woof." The Timothy says "Thanks, valued customer. We appreciate your input."
  3. They reversed the charges though, right? by FatLittleMonkey · · Score: 4, Insightful

    I can only assume they did the right thing and cancelled the charges for all the votes that weren't counted? They surely wouldn't profiteer at the expense of true fans.

    --
    Science is all about firing a drunk pig out of a cannon just to see what happens.
  4. Still more transparancy... by Dartz-IRL · · Score: 3, Funny

    That's still more transparancy and objectivity that most US elections that use electronic voting machines.

    --
    So there I was, scribbling down some notes off the PC screen by hand, when I reached for the keyboard and Ctrl-S'd.
  5. Reality shows are absolutely real and honest. by wcrowe · · Score: 3, Funny

    You mean people actually think the voting is honest and real? That the TV execs don't advance the contestants that they think will be better for ratings?

    --
    Proverbs 21:19
    1. Re:Reality shows are absolutely real and honest. by wcrowe · · Score: 3, Interesting

      I see, so you're sure it's a contest? And not just a show that appears to be a contest?

      --
      Proverbs 21:19
    2. Re:Reality shows are absolutely real and honest. by gstoddart · · Score: 3, Insightful

      You don't have to say anything about the tastes of the voters (which from what I've seen is questionable).

      It's not about better, it's about favorite.

      And that still needs to be held to an objective standard by law. It's a contest, there are winners, and people vote on it -- that part is still covered by laws.

      --
      Lost at C:>. Found at C.
  6. Where are the Storage Wars posts? by dstyle5 · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Slashdot mods, come on, where are they. I could also use some Jersey Shore, Teen Mom or Fix This Kitchen related posts.

    I only wish DICE would've bought /. sooner to give us great content like this.