Go here to vote for The White Rose: http://www.dimestoreproductions.com/forum-t46857.html

IDOL REPORT 6/5 from Ian Shires

Well. Yesterday saw some RECORD things. Both in votes that came in, and in new voters, and all that. The sheer volume of it is amazing. It unfortunately carries a shadow.

Something called hidemyass.com has become a top referring URL in the past week. It would basically allow anyone to register as many accounts at dimestore as they want, and I couldn’t prove that they were the same person as anyone associated with a project. We are investigating this thoroughly. Anyone with any information about it, can come forward anonymously to me and know I won’t tell WHERE that info came from.

So, IF someone is actually cheating out there, I don’t know if we can catch them in time to make a difference this round. Because, ALL the top project…and a few that aren’t, are showing RECORD new voters. I think my only real solution may be to add a fourth #0 issue to round 4 - and let the Sales round tell the real story. That is NOT a final decision at this point though, I am waiting to learn more about this situation and what the numbers are telling me.

Basically, do I believe that ALL of the users that signed up in rapid fire within minutes of each other and voted…are all individual people? No. But I know SOME are - including a dozen so from a school and another large batch from a store, and I can’t REALLY prove others aren’t. Integrity in this contest needs to be as high as possible. And I’d rather see us include the questionables, than ruin it for everyone…and just make Round 4 a little bigger.

Would that mean I drop the OTHER line down one? I’ll consider it. But. I am not going to make ANY final decisions until AFTER the voting is over. At the rate I’m going right now, it might take a full day to get the info on all the new accounts into the spreadsheet so I can analyze it fully.

One thing I do know - I’ll be able to track which people that voted - BUY in Round 4…so it will become very evident who had real support and who tried to pad their numbers, if that is what’s going on. The shadow that brought this up, remember, is that Hidemyass.com URL IP thing. We’ll figure out more about that.

SO! Today was a big mess, and I had to run out a few times, which is why today’s results are so late. I’m going to leave all of this here, Remember, these are THIS MORNING’s numbers…I’ll be doing another count tomorrow, but that’s going to be the LAST ONE until Monday Morning’s FINAL NUMBERS. It’ll be a very interesting thing to see how this all plays out. Welcome to Idol Round 3 final weekend folks….it’s gonna be a dog fight.

1.) 970 Votes (+127) AVG/DAY: 54 - 199 Voters (+37) FAN%: 62 Varsity Squad - Judges Vote: 2 Yes.
2.) 960 Votes (+125) AVG/DAY: 60 - 194 Voters (+43) FAN%: 61 Faction - Judges Vote: 3 Yes.
3.) 908 Votes (+121) AVG/DAY: 70 - 188 Voters ( +9) FAN%: 54 The Underground - Judges Vote: 3 Yes.
*********************** The Line for #0/R4 Contention *****************************
4.) 894 Votes (+153) AVG/DAY: 69 - 236 Voters (+44) FAN%: 55 The White Rose - Judges Vote: 3 Yes.

5.) 639 Votes ( +44) AVG/DAY: 36 - 151 Voters ( +5) FAN%: 35 Steel Rising - Judges Vote: 3 Yes.
6.) 478 Votes ( +27) AVG/DAY: 27 - 104 Voters ( NC) FAN%: 32 Hometown Heroes - Judges Vote: 3 Yes.
7.) 457 Votes ( +42) AVG/DAY: 29 - 87 Voters ( +4) FAN%: 45 The Machine - Judges Vote: 3 Yes.
8.) 385 Votes ( +24) AVG/DAY: 21 - 89 Voters ( +4) FAN%: 32 The Associate - Judges Vote: 3 Yes.
9.) 374 Votes ( +31) AVG/DAY: 21 - 148 Voters ( +1) FAN%: 16 Maddie Scientist - Judges Vote: 2 No.
**************** ********The Line for Cover Projects************ ******************
10.) 307 Votes (+17) AVG/DAY: 17 - 73 Voters ( +2) FAN%: 29 Diary of a Teenage Heroine - Judges Vote: 3 Yes.
11.) 304 Votes (+54) AVG/DAY: 28 - 100 Voters (+16) FAN%: 52 The Doorknob Society - Judges Vote: 3 No.
12.) 205 Votes ( +6) AVG/DAY: 11 - 50 Voters (3NC) FAN%: 23 Dogman and Lester - Judges Vote: 2 No.
13.) 140 Votes (+13) AVG/DAY: 13 - 59 Voters ( +1) FAN%: 26 Boulder Colorado - Judges Vote: 3 Yes.
14.) 117 Votes (+11) AVG/DAY: 11 - 59 Voters ( +1) FAN%: 22 Mr. Man - Judges Vote: 2 Yes.
15.) 116 Votes ( +5) AVG/DAY: 7 - 58 Voters (2NC) FAN%: 12 Haxxor - Judges Vote: 3 Yes.
16.) 26 Votes ( +2) AVG/DAY: 2 - 32 Voters (3NC) FAN%: 9 Project Mercury - Judges Vote: 3 NO.
17.) Earthman - Has taken Ill, will eventually be a back up feature.
17.) Dead Duck - Needs personal time, will eventually be a back up feature.
17.) Monsters of Love - Did not turn in pages, will eventually be a back up feature.
17.) Nevil Von Dunst - Did not turn in pages, will eventually be a back up feature.

Numbers Explained: # Votes Total - # Voters Total (# in parenthesis is new since last count)

Thanks for your support!
George Burnett
Creator of The White Rose

Could we be any closer?!? (see below)

Go here to vote for The White Rose: http://www.dimestoreproductions.com/forum-t46857.html

IDOL WEEKEND REPORT from Ian Shires

Well folks…let’s talk about integrity. Everyone is up in arms about the Hidemyass.com revelation for spoofing accounts. We’ve found a way to eliminate accounts from ANY project’s counts, no matter what spoof spoofed them.

First of all: It’s probably IMPOSSIBLE to find out WHO - and we’re not even going to WORRY about WHO. It could be a competitor zapping their higher up, it could be the project itself trying to up it’s counts, it could be a fan thinking they are helping the project they love, it could be someone we cut last year, trying to discredit the contest. who know, it doesn’t matter.

How are we going to handle it? We are tracing back IPs, and flagging any that resolve to nowhere. Then, we’re finding any and all accounts that those IPs have attached in the database. We are contacting them - if there is no reply or if the e-mails bounce…then they are fake accounts, and will be deleted votes and all, AFTER the final count. It will be a day-or two project to un-spoof ourselves, I think. We want to do it as thoroughly as possible, and end with a final 3 that got real votes. Only if I look and see that, after the de-bugging - that the top 4 projects are STILL really close…will I make any decision on if we add a 4th to Round 4. I don’t know what the numbers will tell us yet.

One thing is certain, there ARE lots of new voters, real new voters, in here…and that’s a great thing. We’ll see how it all translates in round 4. Another thing - I struck upon the idea that will make spoofing accounts impossible next year. Not going to unleash it yet. But I am pretty sure it would work really well.

OK! After ANOTHER record day of voting, that saw 4 projects hit into record vote counts - ever…just incredible support out there.

I will not be posting a results count tomorrow. I WILL grab the numbers and reset the polls in the morning, but will not process them until Monday. It will be a huge count, I am sure, and, then I will dig into the data we are getting on accounts that may or may not be real…in the end, I’ll have any decisions made that need made, and we’ll surely have one heckofa show for all in the process. Keep your eyes peeled here folks!

1.) 1108 Votes (+138) AVG/DAY: 58 - 217 Voters (+18) FAN%: 64 Varsity Squad - Judges Vote: 2 Yes.
2.) 1088 Votes (+128) AVG/DAY: 64 - 203 Voters ( +9) FAN%: 60 Faction - Judges Vote: 3 Yes.
3.) 1032 Votes (+124) AVG/DAY: 74 - 209 Voters (+21) FAN%: 58 The Underground - Judges Vote: 3 Yes.

************** *********The Line for #0/R4 Contention********** *******************
4.) 1031 Votes (+137) AVG/DAY: 74 - 246 Voters (+10) FAN%: 52 The White Rose - Judges Vote: 3 Yes.
5.) 675 Votes ( +36) AVG/DAY: 36 - 151 Voters ( NC) FAN%: 33 Steel Rising - Judges Vote: 3 Yes.
6.) 506 Votes ( +28) AVG/DAY: 27 - 105 Voters ( +1) FAN%: 32 Hometown Heroes - Judges Vote: 3 Yes.
7.) 497 Votes ( +40) AVG/DAY: 29 - 91 Voters ( +4) FAN%: 47 The Machine - Judges Vote: 3 Yes.
8.) 420 Votes ( +35) AVG/DAY: 22 - 100 Voters (+11) FAN%: 37 The Associate - Judges Vote: 3 Yes.
9.) 397 Votes ( +23) AVG/DAY: 21 - 151 Voters ( +3) FAN%: 17 Maddie Scientist - Judges Vote: 2 No.
**************** ********The Line for Cover Projects************ ******************
10.) 345 Votes (+41) AVG/DAY: 29 - 102 Voters ( +2) FAN%: 49 The Doorknob Society - Judges Vote: 3 No.
11.) 334 Votes (+27) AVG/DAY: 18 - 78 Voters ( +5) FAN%: 33 Diary of a Teenage Heroine - Judges Vote: 3 Yes.
12.) 211 Votes ( +6) AVG/DAY: 11 - 50 Voters (4NC) FAN%: 23 Dogman and Lester - Judges Vote: 2 No.
13.) 152 Votes (+12) AVG/DAY: 13 - 60 Voters ( +1) FAN%: 25 Boulder Colorado - Judges Vote: 3 Yes.
14.) 134 Votes (+17) AVG/DAY: 11 - 62 Voters ( +3) FAN%: 22 Mr. Man - Judges Vote: 2 Yes.
15.) 123 Votes ( +7) AVG/DAY: 7 - 59 Voters ( +1) FAN%: 13 Haxxor - Judges Vote: 3 Yes.
16.) 27 Votes ( +1) AVG/DAY: 2 - 32 Voters (4NC) FAN%: 8 Project Mercury - Judges Vote: 3 NO.
17.) Earthman - Has taken Ill, will eventually be a back up feature.
17.) Dead Duck - Needs personal time, will eventually be a back up feature.
17.) Monsters of Love - Did not turn in pages, will eventually be a back up feature.
17.) Nevil Von Dunst - Did not turn in pages, will eventually be a back up feature.

Numbers Explained: # Votes Total - # Voters Total (# in parenthesis is new since last count)

Thanks for your support!
George Burnett
Creator of The White Rose