Have a question for some savvy internet types...

[jimeezlady]

So of course I turn to y'all who have taught me most of what I know. Online photo contest that allows one vote per 24 hours. I know how to dump cookies and I am familiar with using bots or multiple IP address/email accounts. But how can someone spam a contest that requires facebook account verification for each vote? Clearing cache/cookies does NOT change the outcome.

I'm not talking about a few extra votes here and there...I'm talking about a contest where the top 3 have taken nearly a month to get 1500-1800 votes. All 3 of these guys have facebook followers in the THOUSANDS and are professional photographers who are well known outside of facebook. Yesterday a High School kid with 300 or so friends on facebook enters a mediocre image and has gathered OVER 2000 votes in 24 hours. Something is definitely amiss, but how is he doing it?

[Drachen596]

Spambot accounts?

[overpowered]

Ask all of your FB friends to vote?

[jimeezlady]

Using facebook profiles? The contest actually requires you to allow "access" to your facebook profile, much like those annoying game apps. Normally I never allow ANY apps to access my page but I did this one just to experiment...it also requires you to let it "post" to your facebook announcing your vote in the contest.

The contest is being held on the Weather Channel website but the voting is covered by an outside source called "OfferPop" and this is their cookies policy: http://www.offerpop.com/cookie-policy/

The kid is pretty good at photography but the rapid rise in the number of votes screams foul... All of the other top images have a fairly equal number of facebook "likes", but this kid's pic has over 2000 votes and ONE facebook like.

[jimeezlady]

Ask all of your FB friends to vote?

He only has 300 or so FB friends...

[Yw-slayer]

Pay to promote a post?

[Kchrpm]

He could have posted on 4chan or reddit or the like and asked for their support for the lulz, or a genuine reason.

[thesameguy]

I'd say non-Facebook friends is the likely answer. Sure, you can buy likes for not much money but I doubt a kid is going to fork over a $1/like to some shady foreign company. But asking on an internet forum or in a school newspaper? Sure.