So I've been watching the voting over at the Zeus Excuse for Mr. Litterbox with some interest, being young and having never voted before Miss Litterbox. These are the first contests that I've ever seen that actually allows ballot stuffing! I always thought that was illegal or something. So I tried to reason it out. One of the reasons Zeus decided to hold the contest is all the boys whined that they couldn't enter Miss Litterbox. Interestingly, Zeus also allowed as many votes as you wanted to do in Miss Litterbox too, but it wasn't done in the comments field, it was done using Free Online surveys, so we couldn't see all the votes. So who knows what happened there. At least in Mr. Litterbox, the aggregious ballot stuffing is transparent for all to see. In fact, there were 252 votes placed last time I looked in the comments, compared to 22 comments for Miss Litterbox! Now, is this a guy thing? Is it win at all costs? Or is it more indicative of the American way that we can expect in the comming election? The candidate with the most resources (i.e. money) to get the most voters out wins, regardless of how it is done? What happened to one kitty, one vote? Or you could look at it as a way to level the playing field. Not all kitties have the resources that, say, Skeezix has (although he is whining the most...) to make a glam entry, but they can get all their friends out to vote for them.
So, my question, my fellow catizens, is this: Is this fair? And what do you think about it? Or is it good that this time Zeus let us see what was going on, so we could question our own motives? Do cats really have motives or really care? I mean, we are cats after all. It can't be any worse than what the beans do. Or should we be above them? I think this is important as Chey and Latte launch their campaign.
This is a scientific survey. Post your response in the comments, and I'll post a summary when Mr. Litterbox is announced. This will help me in working on my MzD practice my analytical skills, and using special meezer statistical techniques.
18 comments:
o, Tara, u's be so smart. 'n workin on ur's MzD. Zeus' ballot box be a good place ta look.
it's mazing how many votes there be... i jus voted one time 'n so did Missy. i fink that be fair.
purrrsssss, KC
Hmmm...we is into sports...but not this kind of sport. Is this a real sport? I personally don't fink I would look furry good in speedo swim trunks, and I'm not really a formal suit kinda guy - I would say...L.L. Bean is my style. Sabi & I did not enter...we is too busy still playin' wif all are prizes from Kimiko & Yuki!
Kimo
Tara, this is my first competition, since I'm still a kitten. My mom says that these contests are usually popularity contests, and since Skeezix has the most popular cat blog and has lots of resources, he'll probably win. I think she's trying to prepare me so that I'm not too disappointed when I lose.
I think one cat or one human = one vote should be enforced for these types of competitions, but it's Zeus' contest, so he can do whatever he wants.
We figgers it's Zeus' game so he can make the rools. Dunno what that has to do wif pollyticks tho. We fink our brofur looks grate in his tux no matter hoo wins. We's curious what all that analyzin will say tho.
Purrrrrrrrrs,
Sanjee, Boni, Mini, and Gree
Well, I don't know about looking great in my tux, but it was fun to try one on. I think I kind of look like Gree in it.
Purrrrrs,
your bud Pepi
Tara, what a smart kitten you are! Really, I don't care if I win, I think all the entries are great and I just have fun creating an entry and seeing everyone else. I have to say though, it is discouraging if you know only the most popular cats will win but Meowmy says that is pretty much like high school so its kind of a fact of life. But all of the entries are great cats so whoever wins certainly deserves the title!
Latte
Thanks for posting on our blog... invite your mom to our St Patty's party! (My pet human pretends to play this annoying thing called a banjo. It is worse than the vaccum cleaner)
There is an emergency session of Poose Congress today. I am sorry we cannot participate in the Litter Box competition.
ciao
zevo calamari
Wow Tara that's tough to decide. I was shocked to find that we could stuff the ballot box. Chey did her share but I'm not sure it was right--'cause then maybe I would have won!
You must have just missed my update! Chey and I would be thrilled to adopt you as our kitten!
Latte
I have been thinking and thinking about this. And I have concluded that, as long as it is part of the rules for the contest, there is nothing wrong with voting as often as you wish. Every cat has the same opportunity to stuff the ballot! Besides, nothing could stop my fuzzy fingers from voting as much as I can for Skeezie. I think if I had a contest, I would limit it to one vote per cat. But, since the girls' litterbox contest allowed unlimited voting, then it is only fair to allow the same for the boys, in this case. Anyway, that's just my opinion.... I could be wrong.
ballot box stuffing - i really fink that Zeus allows as many votexs as possible so that efurrycat can vote for ALL the contestants and not haf anyone feel bad that a kitty voted for someone else and not him. We haf spread out our votes, not just voted for one kitty.
Well, we think ballot box stuffing should be illegal, but we agree that every cat should receive some votes so they don't feel bad. But we agree that whoever runs the contest can make up their own rules. (To be fair, we think 1 cat (or human), 1 vote is the way to go when Chey has her presidential voting.) Skeez is a great guy and has done a lot for the blogosphere so he'll probably win in landslide. We're interested to see your scientific results, Tara.
I agree with you Tara. I don't think that you should be able to vote for yourself or more than once...I do think it should be fair, or its not worth winning...
Purrs,
Nicky
Uhmmm, Tara, we know that we are VERY GLAD that we don't have to count the votes.
Yup.
Luf, Us
I think you should be able to vote all you want, but it still has to be a secret vote.
So many of the kitties in the contest are furiends. How can you just vote for one of them?
My choice was to vote once, for everyone!
I voted once, but I don't think my vote counted because I forgot to add my reason why!
All this thinking is making me sleepy.
Tara, it is a very perplexing dilemma, but we think that it all depends on the rules set forth in the beginning. We would make a contest to be just one vote per cat, but it's Zeus' contest and if he wants to count all those votes, he gets to make the rules.
When we left the polls this evening, after leaving another THIRTY votes (with reasons) for Skeezix, it was up to 339. For us, it was a lot of fun to try to come up with DIFFERENT reasons for voting in each comment posting. It really forced us to be creative, which is not one of our strengths.
We just hope all of us kitties will remain friends after this fierce competition.
~J&B
We think it should have been one vote per cat.
We think the stuffing got way out of hand, but it was encouraged, so we should have expected that.
We sent in a late ballot with all the voters we could think of at the request of our cat friends' mom. Like Jake & Bathsheba we had the most fun coming up with names & reasons.
All our cats are special, each is a true winner.
we didn't vote at all on account of we like efurrybuddy and didn't want to just pick one, though we would have if it had been a secret ballot.
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