I think of "gaming" as monkeying with otherwise straightforward and honest systems. If someone sets up a system to let people vote as often as they want as long as they return to the site every hour, then they're not remotely interested in an accurate vote count or actual popularity. They're interested in site traffic, which they are drawing by creating a reason for people to visit the site more often.
They don't want their servers slammed with a botvoter attack AND they don't want the results to look so ridiculous that nobody could possiblly take them seriously. But if it were really about fairness, you could vote only once and that would be it.
So does that make ballot-stuffing okay? I think that's up to the individual. Two wrongs don't make a right, but neither does respecting the dishonest premises of a system that's representing itself as serving one function when actually it's serving another.
A moral dilemma for the tender collective conscience of OoB.
VOTE OOB IN AUSTIN360
Discuss the festival, ask questions, and get the word out.
Moderators: arclight, happywaffle
Do you think the book festival enthusiasts are playing with those ethical questions?ratliff wrote:I think of "gaming" as monkeying with otherwise straightforward and honest systems. If someone sets up a system to let people vote as often as they want as long as they return to the site every hour, then they're not remotely interested in an accurate vote count or actual popularity. They're interested in site traffic, which they are drawing by creating a reason for people to visit the site more often.
They don't want their servers slammed with a botvoter attack AND they don't want the results to look so ridiculous that nobody could possiblly take them seriously. But if it were really about fairness, you could vote only once and that would be it.
So does that make ballot-stuffing okay? I think that's up to the individual. Two wrongs don't make a right, but neither does respecting the dishonest premises of a system that's representing itself as serving one function when actually it's serving another.
A moral dilemma for the tender collective conscience of OoB.
In a cut and dry world would either festival really beat out Pecan Street or Austin Film Festival?
You just wait til Best Improv Troupe, Come late January...then we'll see the ethics hit the fan.
If you disrespect your character, or play it just for laughs, it will sell some gags, but it's all technique.
It's like watching a juggler-- you'll be impressed by it, but it's not going to touch you in anyway. "
-Steve Coogan
It's like watching a juggler-- you'll be impressed by it, but it's not going to touch you in anyway. "
-Steve Coogan
-
- DollarBill Offline
- Posts: 1282
- Joined: March 7th, 2006, 12:57 pm
- Location: Chicago, IL
- Contact:
