
Originally Posted by
MakinBaconNeked
If they handle the contest this year the same as last year then the online voting does not determine the winner. The radio show hosts actually pick the winner. Let's try this ....
Do you have to be here locally to vote? I am going to say no because, my mother doesn't live near me, she can't get a signal from this radio station so should she not be allowed to vote ... or rather if I ask her to vote is that cheating? I am going to say no, that is why the voting is online, so that people not in the area can also vote for someone. But then you're going to say, that's different because it's your mom and you know her.
Ok, granted, but why would the radio station want my mom going to their website?
Upon further investigation of the radio stations website, I noticed there is an option for people to listen online. Does this suggest that they would like people to go to their website and ... listen live? I think we can probably agree that it in fact does. But the radio station already broadcasts on an FM band, so why would they want people listening online? Oh you know I just thought of something ... maybe it's so that people can listen to their station when they are somewhere that doesn't not get the signal their towers send. So this tells me that my mom, while living in a completely different area could actually start listening to their station.
But why would the radio station want my mom to listen? I guess we have to dig a little deeper.
I'm going to take a wild stab in the dark here and assume that radio stations make money from advertisers. But they need people to hear the advertisements so that they want to buy the stuff that advertisers are selling. It seems to me that the best thing the radio station could do for their advertisers is to get more people listening to their broadcast. But there is limited range on how far they can broadcast ... oh wait ... with the internet there is not a limited range. I think it's all starting to come together now.
If you could somehow find a way to get current listeners to put out their name (also known as word of mouth) and get more people to go to their website then some of those people may actually start listening. I got it! Hold a contest with online voting where the contestants give them the free website advertising by asking people to go to the website. Then maybe, just maybe a fraction of the people who go there and vote might start listening online and then they start to hear advertisements and then they buy stuff and it is a glorious day for the companies trying to make money.
Now all this is just my reasoning. There might even be a little logic in it. Maybe I am wrong, maybe you are right, maybe the radio station doesn't want me to send people there, even if I have never and probably will never meet them. Maybe there should also be a rule that I cannot have anyone vote for me unless I have physically met them in a social environment at least 3 time in the last year and prior to the start of the contest. Maybe I should not be allowed to ask anyone to vote. I mean is it cheating if I ask my wife to also vote on her computer? Maybe it should be random voting by only people who go there with no idea who owns any of the vehicles entered.
I'll tell you what, you go ahead and do everything you can to get me disqualified. Send your emails, get the number and call ... whatever it takes. I understand that businesses like this radio station probably get tons of junk email sent to them everyday. My biggest fear is that your concern over me "cheating" doesn't get heard. So let me offer this help to you. Just in case somehow the contest ends and they didn't get a chance to hear what you have to say. If I can get to the finals then I will thank the people from BG Forums for helping me to get there. Yeah, that's a radio plug for the forums. Then if I have done something wrong, they can announce my disqualification right then.
But you will have to take my word on it that I would actually do that ... oh my gosh, wait ... you don't have to take my word on it because you could actually go to the website and listen live right through your computer as it happens. It's an amazing world we live in ... what will they think of next?
tl;dr -
My asking for votes is free advertising for the website