I need the volnations' help!!!
- Thread starter DrRosenRosen
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OrangeEmpire
The White Debonair
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SmokeyVol
I like conebred
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BearCat204
Second Chances
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Ok guys. Let me lay it out here.
I'm gaining, but obviously, time is running against me.
I have more horsepower coming. A couple avenues I was persuing came up dry. One technique is working but not quick enough.
If you can vote or want to help, please do. If you want to vote a bunch simply open different browser types. I use IE, Firefox, Chrome, Avant, Opera, and Maxthon. I can usually type in the phrase on all 6 in roughly 30-35 seconds. I go one by one and enter the code, hit enter, backspace (to go back), and F5 (refresh) to get a new code. Go to next browser. Enter code, backspace, refresh. Next browser....
Any help is greatly appreciated. I think I'm getting close to the point where we'll be making up ground at a good rate this afternoon. Fortunately, I'm off tomorrow and have about 3 more computer coming to the basement of 5 so far...
I'm gaining, but obviously, time is running against me.
I have more horsepower coming. A couple avenues I was persuing came up dry. One technique is working but not quick enough.
If you can vote or want to help, please do. If you want to vote a bunch simply open different browser types. I use IE, Firefox, Chrome, Avant, Opera, and Maxthon. I can usually type in the phrase on all 6 in roughly 30-35 seconds. I go one by one and enter the code, hit enter, backspace (to go back), and F5 (refresh) to get a new code. Go to next browser. Enter code, backspace, refresh. Next browser....
Any help is greatly appreciated. I think I'm getting close to the point where we'll be making up ground at a good rate this afternoon. Fortunately, I'm off tomorrow and have about 3 more computer coming to the basement of 5 so far...
BearCat204
Second Chances
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BearCat204
Second Chances
- Joined
- Aug 6, 2008
- Messages
- 68,827
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- 49,503
- Joined
- Oct 23, 2003
- Messages
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Here is the final email I sent to my daily email list.
----------------------------------
First off, a sincere 'Thank You' to anyone that voted. We made a valiant effort. If you put one vote in or hundreds, I say 'Thank You' from my heart and I'm glad you were willing to help.
Yesterday evening, on Wednesday, Dave Thomas and I decided that this was a battle we were not going to win. Since last Thursday we made up tremendous ground. It all started while no one was looking. It wasn't long before the Ohio army took note and brought their forces back to seal the deal.
If you're interested in the fight we put up, please read further. If I've already spam'ed your email enough, thanks for playing along and we'll see you next year. I also say 'Thank You' once again.
- The Push: The Fight We Tried to Win -
While all you generous people were voting, Dave Thomas and I were working as hard as we could in the command center. I pretty much gave up after the first weekend. Dave kept at it and encouraging me. Finally, after drinking late last Thursday, I made a break through and finally got a computer to auto-vote for me 24/7. Immediately, we began searching for more machines. By the end of the weekend, we had 5 machines in my basement voting around the clock. These machines weren't able to do it very quickly, but were able to average a vote every minute or two on each machine. By Tuesday night we had 6 machines auto-voting around the clock. On Tuesday we pulled out most everything we could. We had 7 machines auto-voting along with Dave Thomas and myself putting in votes. On Tuesday alone I entered in over 1200 votes. That's 4800 of those stupid characters. Dave Thomas was close behind entering from his house.
Early Tuesday afternoon we also convinced the former 2nd place design group to join forces. Neither of us was thrilled with the current winner and wanted to take him down. Of course, this gave Dave and myself renewed energy as this happened early in the day. Our final Push could be helped considerably.
Tuesday evening, around midnight, I spoke with Dave and wanted to call it off. He convinced me yet again to go for one more day. I ultimately feel asleep numerous times at the keyboard putting in votes as Tuesday became Wednesday morning. I finally broke and had to sleep. When I awoke, we were up a full percentage point from when I fell asleep. This miracle jump is still somewhat of a mystery to me. Perhaps it was the Skip Rock folks.
As hard as we tried, the Ohio army was able to fairly easily combat our efforts. We made up several thousand votes* between Thursday and Sunday when we came out of nowhere. The leader knew his spot was firm until our 'robots' and strong manual voting fired up. He put in some votes Saturday and Sunday, but didn't realize we were making a serious run until late Sunday or early Monday.
We actually had 4 more machines to hook up and program this evening. However, after looking at all the data and the work involved, we decided that it was time to call it quits. I have been running on a few hours sleep each night. Since Thursday I've gotten up every 2or 3 hours during my limited sleep to check the robots and make sure they were working. If any got off track, I reset them and got them back on. I would stay up late to put an extra 400-700 votes in. We worked our asses off to make a good run.
Why did we lose? I don't think I can give that answer. I have my ideas and theories, but I think those are best left unsaid. I don't think anyone can fault Dave and myself for thinking there's some method of 'voting' that he discovered. I don't think me saying that should offend him, either. If he was to accuse me of 'cheating' when we started the Push on Thursday then he'd be right. I couldn't get mad at such an complaint because it was indeed happening here. Without going into much detail, the auto-voting robots were powered by a company I paid, most likely out of India, that decoded the 4 letter phrases. I'm good enough with programming and computers to rig up a system that was fairly good, albeit slow. We needed 40 or 50 computers going, and some money, to pull it off. I'm also good enough at math and observation to have my doubts he was playing straight up. However, I cannot be mad if he did indeed have something.
Another method was discovered but ultimately decided against due to cost. For a few hundred dollars, we could have rented the horsepower to possibly pull it off. It would also have required even more work. And, if the leader was indeed using some method that wasn't quite kosher, like me, it might have been all for nothing.
We were 15 to 20 thousand votes behind middle of last week. We narrowed to roughly 5000 at our closest moments. His army poured it on this week and we just didn't have the horsepower to gain quick enough. Since shutting down the robots and turning off all the computers, I have seen his army going strong all night. At least I was out playing TEE having a good time while his army was wasting yet another evening at the keyboard. So I got that goin' for me, which is nice.
I've spoken with my IT contact during this process. It's easy to see they wanted to drive new folks to their site but the actual contest came down to a few people. It is silly the time and effort we (the top 3 finishers) all wasted on this at the end of the day. I'm told they are going to change voting next year. I personally can't think of a good way to do it, but a new approach is better than this current situation.
If you've read this far, I hope you enjoyed the story. If you know me at all, you know I'm the type of guy that loves the fight, the chance to hack and play angles, and the chance to defeat something on the internet. Unfortunately, this was a battle I didn't win this time around.
A special thanks to my friend Dave Thomas. I had thrown in the towel more than a week ago and he kept voting. He kept making me vote. He kept on me to not give up. He put in long hours at night when he should be sleeping. He even had his mom voting for at work every day. When I did discover a way to aid our manual voting, he was willing to do whatever it took to get machines up and running. He was the driving force behind the Push while I supplied some of the horsepower and alternate ways of possibly cracking the system. He's done a ton of great things for me and this is just another on the long list. Thanks buddy.
There's too many other names to list that have emailed/text/called me letting me know they are voting along with people I've actually seen voting. It is all greatly appreciated. I just wish it had ended in our favor.
As for me, I'm glad to have it over with and return to my normal life. The wife is also happy to have me back. The weekend came 2 days early for me when we finally called it quits this evening.
Thank you.
Jeff Epperson
* - I have a good friend at Incredible Technologies who is the contest/promotions lead. He was able to provide me actual vote counts if I kept mum during our push.
----------------------------------
First off, a sincere 'Thank You' to anyone that voted. We made a valiant effort. If you put one vote in or hundreds, I say 'Thank You' from my heart and I'm glad you were willing to help.
Yesterday evening, on Wednesday, Dave Thomas and I decided that this was a battle we were not going to win. Since last Thursday we made up tremendous ground. It all started while no one was looking. It wasn't long before the Ohio army took note and brought their forces back to seal the deal.
If you're interested in the fight we put up, please read further. If I've already spam'ed your email enough, thanks for playing along and we'll see you next year. I also say 'Thank You' once again.
- The Push: The Fight We Tried to Win -
While all you generous people were voting, Dave Thomas and I were working as hard as we could in the command center. I pretty much gave up after the first weekend. Dave kept at it and encouraging me. Finally, after drinking late last Thursday, I made a break through and finally got a computer to auto-vote for me 24/7. Immediately, we began searching for more machines. By the end of the weekend, we had 5 machines in my basement voting around the clock. These machines weren't able to do it very quickly, but were able to average a vote every minute or two on each machine. By Tuesday night we had 6 machines auto-voting around the clock. On Tuesday we pulled out most everything we could. We had 7 machines auto-voting along with Dave Thomas and myself putting in votes. On Tuesday alone I entered in over 1200 votes. That's 4800 of those stupid characters. Dave Thomas was close behind entering from his house.
Early Tuesday afternoon we also convinced the former 2nd place design group to join forces. Neither of us was thrilled with the current winner and wanted to take him down. Of course, this gave Dave and myself renewed energy as this happened early in the day. Our final Push could be helped considerably.
Tuesday evening, around midnight, I spoke with Dave and wanted to call it off. He convinced me yet again to go for one more day. I ultimately feel asleep numerous times at the keyboard putting in votes as Tuesday became Wednesday morning. I finally broke and had to sleep. When I awoke, we were up a full percentage point from when I fell asleep. This miracle jump is still somewhat of a mystery to me. Perhaps it was the Skip Rock folks.
As hard as we tried, the Ohio army was able to fairly easily combat our efforts. We made up several thousand votes* between Thursday and Sunday when we came out of nowhere. The leader knew his spot was firm until our 'robots' and strong manual voting fired up. He put in some votes Saturday and Sunday, but didn't realize we were making a serious run until late Sunday or early Monday.
We actually had 4 more machines to hook up and program this evening. However, after looking at all the data and the work involved, we decided that it was time to call it quits. I have been running on a few hours sleep each night. Since Thursday I've gotten up every 2or 3 hours during my limited sleep to check the robots and make sure they were working. If any got off track, I reset them and got them back on. I would stay up late to put an extra 400-700 votes in. We worked our asses off to make a good run.
Why did we lose? I don't think I can give that answer. I have my ideas and theories, but I think those are best left unsaid. I don't think anyone can fault Dave and myself for thinking there's some method of 'voting' that he discovered. I don't think me saying that should offend him, either. If he was to accuse me of 'cheating' when we started the Push on Thursday then he'd be right. I couldn't get mad at such an complaint because it was indeed happening here. Without going into much detail, the auto-voting robots were powered by a company I paid, most likely out of India, that decoded the 4 letter phrases. I'm good enough with programming and computers to rig up a system that was fairly good, albeit slow. We needed 40 or 50 computers going, and some money, to pull it off. I'm also good enough at math and observation to have my doubts he was playing straight up. However, I cannot be mad if he did indeed have something.
Another method was discovered but ultimately decided against due to cost. For a few hundred dollars, we could have rented the horsepower to possibly pull it off. It would also have required even more work. And, if the leader was indeed using some method that wasn't quite kosher, like me, it might have been all for nothing.
We were 15 to 20 thousand votes behind middle of last week. We narrowed to roughly 5000 at our closest moments. His army poured it on this week and we just didn't have the horsepower to gain quick enough. Since shutting down the robots and turning off all the computers, I have seen his army going strong all night. At least I was out playing TEE having a good time while his army was wasting yet another evening at the keyboard. So I got that goin' for me, which is nice.
I've spoken with my IT contact during this process. It's easy to see they wanted to drive new folks to their site but the actual contest came down to a few people. It is silly the time and effort we (the top 3 finishers) all wasted on this at the end of the day. I'm told they are going to change voting next year. I personally can't think of a good way to do it, but a new approach is better than this current situation.
If you've read this far, I hope you enjoyed the story. If you know me at all, you know I'm the type of guy that loves the fight, the chance to hack and play angles, and the chance to defeat something on the internet. Unfortunately, this was a battle I didn't win this time around.
A special thanks to my friend Dave Thomas. I had thrown in the towel more than a week ago and he kept voting. He kept making me vote. He kept on me to not give up. He put in long hours at night when he should be sleeping. He even had his mom voting for at work every day. When I did discover a way to aid our manual voting, he was willing to do whatever it took to get machines up and running. He was the driving force behind the Push while I supplied some of the horsepower and alternate ways of possibly cracking the system. He's done a ton of great things for me and this is just another on the long list. Thanks buddy.
There's too many other names to list that have emailed/text/called me letting me know they are voting along with people I've actually seen voting. It is all greatly appreciated. I just wish it had ended in our favor.
As for me, I'm glad to have it over with and return to my normal life. The wife is also happy to have me back. The weekend came 2 days early for me when we finally called it quits this evening.
Thank you.
Jeff Epperson
* - I have a good friend at Incredible Technologies who is the contest/promotions lead. He was able to provide me actual vote counts if I kept mum during our push.
IPorange
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- Jun 15, 2007
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