[ Poll ] Voting for Carlos A in the Keysight contest - Page 1
Forum section: electronics / general

author: DimitriP
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: April 06, 2016, 02:03:54 am
content: ^^^ Scroll Up there is a poll question above and pick an answer . ^^^Well...it's pretty self explanatory.......and while we wait for Dave to decide...Go Vote for Carlos A.

author: Brumby
author_rank: Unknown
timestamp: April 06, 2016, 07:39:40 am
content: If I were Dave, I'd be a little hesitant about promoting any particular entrant. Promoting the contest as a whole - absolutely - and perhaps even giving the hows and whys of voting - but promoting a particular person would fail the impartiality test.The fact that the leader in the voting at this time does not seem to make as good a technical case for the particular scope on offer is not as significant a factor in the big picture that it might seem. In itself, the details of that particular project are not as important as the people who worked on it. These people have collaborated on a truly engineering project and have performed well enough to be noticed by an industry group - but it's what these people could bring to the table in the future that is relevant.

author: kripton2035
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: April 06, 2016, 07:54:20 am
content: +1 - do not promote any particular entrantbut encourage people to go, watch the video at least the 3 people in top of the list and vote what they think deserve the scope

author: rx8pilot
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: April 06, 2016, 06:12:36 pm
content: SELFISH ME:Of course Dave should do a video per day breaking down the details of how much Carlos A. should win.FAIRNESS ME:I would love to win on merit alone. If people watch the videos and vote for the one they think is the most worthy, what else could I ask for.PRACTICAL ME:This contest is about social media reach. Social media is driven by personal decisions and support for those in your circle. It is abundantly clear that Nilu J has supporters, but they are not voting on any analysis of the video - they are her friends and her friends friends. I am doing the same thing, begging for support from people that don't have the slightest idea of what an oscilloscope is or how it can help a small business. David K is pulling in some serious votes and closing the 3rd place gap rapidly. What is wrong with pushing a forum member that has made a big effort to contribute to the community? Dave has already shown support because he liked the content - the pitch. A video post is no different than any of the current effort by any of the competitors - it's just that Dave has a bigger audience by far. He is not forcing anyone to push a specific button, only making his opinion known as he always has with every other video. We have all made our pitch via the videos - now is the time for the community to make their decisions of 'worthiness' and cement those decisions as votes. I certainly hope that my story is compelling enough to convince the whole forum that the scope will be fully utilized, provide enormous opportunity for professional growth, and benefit a hard working 2 income family.Thank you to Dave for the support so far. I can only dream that you will consider posting video(s) to support the contest, and double dream of being endorsed in any way based on the merits of the video.David K's acceleration rate is nuts. Nilu J may not be the one to worry about.

author: PA0PBZ
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: April 06, 2016, 06:28:24 pm
content: I think Dave already did some good promotion, so in case anyone missed it:https://www.eevblog.com/2016/04/06/keysight-6ghz-scope/https://twitter.com/eevblog/status/717543864093966337

author: rx8pilot
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: April 06, 2016, 06:51:06 pm
content: 1st and 3rd place positions are held by students with huge access to very active social media.I am 42 years old. Work 7 days/week at home. I am not a social media junky and the social connections I have are my age and don't want to be bothered by something they know nothing about. I literally have no chance of success without any big push from a big crowd. It's that simple. Dave could be my University portal.

author: ez24
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: April 06, 2016, 07:02:29 pm
content: Quote from: PA0PBZ on April 06, 2016, 06:28:24 pmThanks for the info

author: rx8pilot
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: April 06, 2016, 07:11:14 pm
content: Votes in 3.5 hoursDavid K +361Nilu J. +181Carlos A. +115

author: DimitriP
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: April 06, 2016, 08:30:50 pm
content: Quote from: PA0PBZ on April 06, 2016, 06:28:24 pmDave very seldom dissapoints!!!

author: rx8pilot
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: April 06, 2016, 08:37:32 pm
content: Votes in past 5 hoursDavid K +577Nilu J. +213Carlos A. +139Whatever David K. is doing to get votes clearly has some social media reach. At this rate of acceleration, the sky is getting darker.

author: ChunkyPastaSauce
author_rank: Unknown
timestamp: April 06, 2016, 09:20:42 pm
content: Quote from: rx8pilot on April 06, 2016, 08:37:32 pm

author: DimitriP
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: April 06, 2016, 11:50:38 pm
content: ..started to taper off...

author: rx8pilot
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: April 07, 2016, 12:40:35 am
content: Quote from: DimitriP on April 06, 2016, 11:50:38 pmDavid K went +896 votes in a little over 8 hours. That is about 300 voters that were convinced to go to the site search, vote, captcha three times. Is it announced at school and the students get extra credit?Not sure what to do next, I have burned all of today on managing the 'campaign' - I have to go make circuit boards now. I am going to try to listen to music and calm down a little while I run the boards.Thank you VERY much for those taking the time to get involved in the conversation and those that are voting. The support is a really great feeling.For those lurking or passing by, I encourage you to take a moment to watch the videos - make your choice about who the winner should be. I believe it should go to the entrant that has the best use case for the scopes intended purpose - measuring and analyzing fast and complicated signals.I just happen to be a professional with a small business in the motion picture and TV industry. There are very fast and very complex signals in this world - All of which are off limits to me until I have the test equipment to design for those signals. It is a big barrier to moving up. The 6000X scope is a surprisingly good match for what I want to do with it in the process of changing the course of my business and what I can offer. Any professional move up directly provides for my family so this is not a small thing to me. It is both personal and professional with a long lasting impact.

author: DimitriP
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: April 07, 2016, 12:45:30 am
content: In over 24 hours, there have been 360 views and only 25 people cared to express an opinion one way or the other, and voting on this thread is waaaaaaaaaay easier than any other voting.....Go figure

author: rx8pilot
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: April 07, 2016, 01:32:54 am
content: Add 'POLL' to the title - may help participation. Took me a second to notice it at the top of the page.

author: DimitriP
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: April 07, 2016, 03:16:25 am
content: Quote from: DimitriP on April 06, 2016, 02:03:54 amlet's see what happens now

author: rx8pilot
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: April 07, 2016, 04:29:10 am
content: David K blasted upward +900 votes in an 8.5 hour period followed by ZERO votes for 4hrs and still counting.Maybe there was a TV commercial or an announcement at a huge event, who knows how that would have happened. Regardless of how it happened, I believe that if people in this field, both pros and amateurs, watched the 3 videos and examined the prize, I would have a far better chance. Like I said before, the content of the videos is irrelevant to the majority of the current voters - including mine. I have spent enormous amounts of time bugging the crap out of my 641 Facebook contacts and the groups that I participate in. To most, it just blends into the background noise on Facebook. When they see "vote for Carlos A" on the timeline, it looks like work. Getting people to vote daily is excruciatingly difficult and I cannot risk annoying my professional contacts with constant begging for votes. Those that know me or know of me, have been voting obviously (2300+ Votes). My sisters are traveling to the UK to run a big competition with kids where they will try to use that as an opportunity to blast some big vote numbers. It all seems crazy, that a scope contest is going to invade a kids sporting event in the UK where none of them have any idea what an oscilloscope is or what profession might use one. But they will be voting, as many as my sisters can wrangle. WTF?An EEVBlog video, on the other hand, is something that people volunteer to watch, they are able to understand the presentations and make a reasonable decision. Hopefully, many would be motivated enough to vote when they see a $70,000 scope on the line. The stakes are high, the race is tight. David K got some sort of huge gust of wind from somewhere - is it unfair that others get a gust of wind as well from whatever legitimate source they can? A 'worthy' winner is a good end-game for most people. Right now, it is totally random and based on who hustles to most for two straight weeks and gets anyone with a FB account to vote. The power of the EEVBlog and the forum community is that can change - THIS CAN BE AN ENGINEERING CONTEST. A contest of merit. Please join in.If Dave specifically describes his opinion about why he likes my specific entry - huge bonus. Break it down, talk details. Examine the use case. The viewers will still make up their own minds - a YouTube video provides information and opinions - it will not vote on anyone's behalf. For anyone that does not agree with Dave or if they think I am an idiot - they can vote for anyone or not at all. Please join me in voting and pushing for a YouTUBE presence for this.

author: jancumps
author_rank: Unknown
timestamp: April 07, 2016, 05:50:48 am
content: Carlos, you keep insinuating your fellow contenders. Now number 3 is maybe giving extra credits at school according to you..Why don't you stick to a positive story for your own entry?

author: Richard Head
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: April 07, 2016, 06:02:26 am
content: Carlos A. Full marks for effort.But seriously, if you need a scope of that calibre why don't you sell you RX8?

author: rx8pilot
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: April 07, 2016, 06:04:57 am
content: Quote from: jancumps on April 07, 2016, 05:50:48 amIt is true that I am letting too much emotion get in the conversation. I don't mean to sound accusing and agree that I should stick to the positives of my own story. My big frustration is not with my fellow competitors, but really with the fact that this does not have much to do with the stories presented. I got my hopes up too early and now that the lay of the land is known, it seems clear that my chances have diminished substantially. I will, however, try to keep the narrative clean and just hope something changes in my favor. There is little I can do at this point anyway. I have planted the seeds everywhere I know of. It's just a slow waiting period I guess.Thank you.

author: Richard Head
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: April 07, 2016, 06:27:50 am
content: I'm wondering when this is going to degenerate into a mud slinging competition.

author: rx8pilot
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: April 07, 2016, 06:40:38 am
content: Quote from: Richard Head on April 07, 2016, 06:02:26 amMy RX8 and all hobbies are long since gone in a crushing 2006 divorce. I had to sell my business, move to a new state and start from scratch in the span of a week. The RX8 was gone early 2007. That is a long story - 10 very long years of recovery and I am still underwater to this day. Long story kept short - I barely get by. My business is now built into my garage and based on random eBay leftovers. I am not trying to make a sob story for anyone, but I have spent 10 years recovering from a cheating ex-wife that literally stole everything and convinced to the California family court that I should give her even more after she stole everything (since she took everything before filing for divorce). The RX8pilot handle is from another life. When I landed in California, I was able to get a small shop up and running making camera equipment. Because of the absence of cash, I made some bad decisions to align myself with other companies (for a quick buck) that ensured I would never get anywhere. Once I wiggled out of that, again in a financially desperate condition, I tried another pseudo partner ship that ultimately spelled the end of my machine shop when it failed. Again, picked my bruised ass up and decided never to partner or align myself with anyone again - and started down my electronics path. This was a GREAT decision and offers fantastic promise. The past two years have been consumed by learning and developing electronics after dusting off my incomplete EE education that is over 20 years old. What little I had when the machine shop fell apart has been used to cobble together the absolute minimum needed to design and deliver my power product. My new wife carries the majority of the financial weight right now, but every once in a while I get a burst of work. Generally, each month is break even. If we have a good month it's nothing to get exited about, because the next month may be slow and it will average out.Anything that I can add to my arsenal of options gives me the chance to escape the never ending month-to-month hustle to pay the basic bills. I see this scope as spending time with my children and not working every single weekend. As rough as it is, I do have the skills and the ability to design and build concept to completion products out of my garage. The dream is to add to a break even average so that it can actually turn a profit and provide a stable life. I don't mind a simple life, but unstable is a rotten place to be with a wife and kids.That is why I cannot purchase a scope of the appropriate caliber to design what I am hoping to design. All my credit is maxed and I have no cash. With all that said, this is the best position I have been for 10 years.Right now, I am desperate for a break.

author: rx8pilot
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: April 07, 2016, 06:44:07 am
content: Quote from: Richard Head on April 07, 2016, 06:27:50 amNo mud slinging, just a pinch of emotion during the course of a plea for support.

author: lpc32
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: April 08, 2016, 12:35:42 am
content: Good luck!

author: EEVblog
author_rank: Unknown
timestamp: April 08, 2016, 12:39:53 am
content: Quote from: rx8pilot on April 06, 2016, 08:37:32 pmUnless David K and Nilu J are celebrities or have large (hundreds of thsoudands of) followings, I can't see how they can possibly be legitimately getting these votes, it's just not possible.Big companies like Keysight know this. They might have a mailing list with 100,000 emails on it, but the amount of engagement they'll get with an email blast for example is bugger-all, let alone actionable events like I mentioned before.I've enetered vote based contests before and won, but even with my large audience, the number of people who actually vote is small.

author: Fohdeesha
author_rank: Regular Contributor
timestamp: April 08, 2016, 02:58:10 am
content: Dave you hit the nail on the head. After the keysight manager posted in the other thread that they looked and didn't find any evidence of vote purchasing I wanted to post the below info but decided not to as I didn't want to come off cynical or like I was slinging mud at other candidates. I have zero stake in the contest and who wins it, I know Carlos through the film industry but it's not like I'll get to borrow the scope if he wins or somethingI've just dealt with this exact situation before on another site, and through my own company experiencing the other side of it (running one, and seeing first hand how much illegitimate activity even a $100 prize attracts)The latest graph is a pretty big giveaway and I've seen the pattern before. It's not even the amount of votes that's suspicious, it's the bursts then brick walls, I've seen it before in other contests. "large legitimate social media campaigns" don't result in a 60 second transition from a thousand votes to literally 0 votes for four hours. Statistically improbable actually, if there really were hundreds of thousands of people being reached (which is what you'd need to get 1000 or so actual engagements in 12 hours), votes would trickle off, it wouldn't climb and climb then hit a brick wall and go to zero engagements like the internet disappeared. Note that this has happened twice for the third candidate now. Vote surge, then plateau of zero votes for quite a long period. You can see after people started to question his votes they completely stopped and plateaued for all of today. I'm not sure how I can put this any clearer - Nilu's and Carlos' growth is completely smooth and organic, because they have no control over when people click. There's no abrupt changes in their plot lines because it's impossible to rapidly stop votes when you've got thousands of links out there. The votes are going to happen. The third line? well.....yeahI know keysight has said they looked into some individual profiles and didn't see any evidence of cheating, but what I don't think they realize is that they're not going to unless someone is using the cheaper foreign voting services (which I imagine are the profiles they *did* find). The decent services (like the ones I idiotically linked to in the other thread right before contestant #3 surged in votes which I have now removed) use *real US profiles that real people use normally everyday* originating from *legitimate united states IP addresses*, they just happen to make some extra money on the side voting in contests day to day for vote/click farmers, it's a great stay at home part time job. there's no reliable way to discern them from friends/family of the contestants, and the nearly perfect feedback and results posted to these sellers profiles are a testament to this.This is all common knowledge in the online marketing world, just read some basic online contesting literature. it's impossible to run a contest online for a $100 prize without attracting hoards of cheaters, and Keysight is giving away something with 700 times that value - do you have any idea the length people will go to for that? Every expert opinion you'll find is that the only real way to verify votes as legitimate when using facebook is that they have had past engagement with your brand, which in this case would be something like the profile having liked Keysight in the past, posted about oscilloscopes in the past etc. Given that 99% of the legitimate votes in this case are from friends and family outside of the industry, that's a useless method.Sorry for the grim view, I've just seen this ruin legitimate winners out of a prize on another site twice now, and it's depressing. All I can hope to do is keep voting legitimately for my favorite contestant and hope honesty prevails. None of this matters to keysight of course, contesting is a great form of online marketing regardless of who wins, every single one of the hundreds of twitter, facebook, etc shares the contestants make are a free keysight advertisement, and unlike most online advertisement that gets maybe 0.1% engagement, most contestants family and a lot of friends are actually clicking

author: Brumby
author_rank: Unknown
timestamp: April 08, 2016, 04:46:10 am
content: When you think about it, a big online campaign may reach hundreds of people that might be semi interested enough to be inclined to throw in a vote in response to it. Getting them to vote 3 times might be more of an ask ... and to continue to vote day after day, a near impossibility. Should one try and repeat the exercise in an attempt to keep the voting going, it is going to come across as 'pestering'. I can see such a tactic failing - and it could easily backfire.A faithful crew of supporters who take the time out to vote regularly will maintain a steady increase and that's what Carlos has, and Nilu has something similar.There's something about this race that has me thinking about The Tortoise and the Hare.

author: rx8pilot
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: April 08, 2016, 05:45:47 pm
content: While I am not a social media super-star, I do have some very popular friends and family. My votes have been nearly a straight line from the beginning after spending about 60 hours campaigning from Saturday to Wednesday - ignoring all of my real work.The engagement is almost exactly what Dave describes - VERY LOW. A very low number of the engagements actually act. Most of the actions only act once - many do not come back daily because they have lives to live and don't think about the Keysight voting. This is all normal and expected. It' show people work, especially in a crowded and noisy social world where there is a cause around every link.When Dave tweeted to 27,000 followers that Carlos A was his favorite - there was no spike.When Dave posted on the blog to check out the contest and Carlos A was his choice - there was no spikeWhen my (actual real) friend with 15k followers on is FB page posted several personally written appeals to vote for Carlos A - there was no spike or other discernible increase in votesMany other socially prominent supporters of mine have blasted Twitter and Facebook relentlessly to at least 100k people now. - still no spike in votes, just a straight lineThe EEVBlog thread I started has 8,400+ views - no spike in votesI made a sponsored ad on FB that has reached 3000 people - 30 engagements - ZERO clicks. That is right - ZERO clicks.My sisters run a large cheerleading/dance competition that is about to start in the UK. They are going to make announcements to the kids and parents. Many thousands of them, will hear an appeal to vote for the brother of their leader. Will it result in a vote spike? Will they vote until the 15th? We shall see.I am completely and totally perplexed that the fate of an exotic oscilloscope lies in the hands of a bunch of teen cheerleaders and their parents. I do not know any of them at all. I doubt any of them know what an oscilloscope is - yet their participation or non-participation will have a big impact on this. There is enough people at this event that if 25% vote 3x for one day - it will close the gap. Only 1/4 of the people that will be addressed via microphone from a big stage all at once have to go to scopemonth.com and vote for Carlos A. and the gap will be closed.The reality is that it probably will not happen - they will cheer for the underdog, and clap for the appeal that my sister makes and they will then carry on with the competition. That is how it works when they don't know me and have no skin in the game.Imagine there was a house with no doors and has $70k worth of jewels inside. It was announced to the world that if you can steal the jewels without being caught, you keep the jewels. If you get caught, there are no consequences and you are free to go.

author: PA0PBZ
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: April 08, 2016, 06:26:19 pm
content: Carlos,I wonder how many voters have looked at all the entries (close to zero?) and how many that vote for you have seen your entry (less than 50%?). To be honest I only watched the top 5, and I vote for you every day now because you seem a nice guy and I think you deserve the scope. On the other hand you make it sound like your business plan and the health of your family depends totally on winning this and that kept me from voting for the first days, it just doesn't sound right. Anyway, this whole voting thing is not about the entries anymore, but about social media skills, and it doesn't look good for you. You simply can't compete with a whole school voting every day. Does Keysight regret the way things are going? I guess publicity is publicity...

author: rx8pilot
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: April 08, 2016, 06:46:12 pm
content: Quote from: PA0PBZ on April 08, 2016, 06:26:19 pmI would hazard a guess that only the tiniest percentage of voters have watched the videos. Only a tiny percentage even know what an oscilloscope is. Very sad that the fate of this instrument is in the hands of whatever random people click a button for whatever random reason.The video appeal was trying to say that I have followed my dreams to design and manufacture electronics but just barely making that happen. All of my time and all of my money has gone into the effort that got me to where I am today. I don't have the option to buy or finance a scope of this caliber until I spend the next couple of years paying for what I have already leveraged. My business plan is not counting and the scope win at all - I will continue to slog through the daily small biz challenges if I don't win and that is that. The hope, however, is that winning this contest will allow me to skip a few rungs as I climb the success ladder. This scope will give me opportunities that I will otherwise have to wait years for. That was the goal of the video. It is exciting to dream of moving up in a giant leap. When moving up means a better life for my family as well - it is MUCH more exciting. There is definitely an emotional component to my video - this a something that will shift my business for the better. That directly impacts my family that is now dealing with the reality that my business had just recently reached a break-even position.It is also devastating that the fate of this dream/opportunity is in that hands of people that have no idea at all what the videos even mean. I feel that if a panel of esteemed EE judges was formed to figure out the winner - I would have had a very good chance of winning. Presenting the use case for this specific scope was the directions for the videos. My use case is real, appropriate, and professionally motivated - so why is it that the competition is dominated by a student claiming to have a new invention (patented in 1918)? Like you said, it does not matter. The Nilu J entry could be about changing a tire on a car.

author: edy
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: April 08, 2016, 08:03:02 pm
content: I watched Carlos's video and have added my 3 votes today.The one thing I don't like is Keysight asking me to log in using Facebook. I guess they need a way to ensure legitimate users and since most people don't have multiple Facebook accounts it is their way of reducing abuse of the voting system.Also, the Facebook system lets them market and reach possibly more of your contacts. I'm not sure how they can leverage the Facebook login but I'm not a fan. Initially I thought I was voting but actually was not (on a Mozilla browser the Facebook login popup gets suppressed and it goes back to the front page automatically)..... So you aren't really voting.On Chrome it properly popped up the Facebook login, then once logged in it showed the Captcha... Then I voted and it incremented the vote count so I know it worked.Either way, it would be cool if you win the scope, if you could somehow get it to Dave for a review and then he can send it back to you. I'm not sure if Dave did a review yet on the Keysight 6000 series. But overall this is creating publicity for Keysight. To be honest, if you have to worry about paying the taxes for this thing, it's got to cost more than most of the voters in this contest are willing to pay for a scope.... And if you have to ask how much it is, you probably can't afford it. I assume mostly corporations and institutions doing heavy work are buying this thing.... Not the target market that is actually getting exposed to it via the contest and through EEVBlog?I'd rather see Keysight giving away a bunch of more affordable scopes to more people than riding it all on their flagship. I don't know their product portfolio or costs but if someone can post what these things cost normally and when you would need a 6 GHz scope, please let me know.

author: rx8pilot
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: April 08, 2016, 08:23:21 pm
content: Thank you for the support, I really appreciate it.If I win, this will be a business tool and I have already worked out the potential tax challenge that will come with it. Fingers crossed.

author: mike1305
author_rank: Contributor
timestamp: April 08, 2016, 10:19:00 pm
content: Rooting for you dude. The EEVBlog brigade is doing good things for your vote count. Still a week left it's anyone's game. IIRC, my attention span in college was awful, maybe the students will taper off their activity. Especially over the weekend. :beer: (need an emoticon for that, Dave!)

author: Keysight DanielBogdanoff
author_rank: Unknown
timestamp: April 08, 2016, 10:43:45 pm
content: Hi All,We are doing everything we can to manage and legitimize votes as best as we can. At least with Facebook voting we can check voter's profiles. Any sort of online voting is very, very difficult to regulate.Please, please, please keep rallying around your preferred candidate. I'm also working on some stuff behind the scenes.

author: rx8pilot
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: April 08, 2016, 10:44:16 pm
content: I am still hoping, still a lot of time to turn the tide.Thank you very much for voting! Spread the word if possible. A little plug from a relatively small number of people can change this race.Sent from my horrible mobile....

author: ez24
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: April 09, 2016, 01:05:36 am
content: Quote from: Keysight_DanielBogdanoff on April 08, 2016, 10:43:45 pmI hope it is a free scope (normal ones) for all blog members(One for Carlos if he loses ? )

author: nctnico
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: April 09, 2016, 01:31:33 am
content: Quote from: rx8pilot on April 08, 2016, 06:46:12 pmI'm still wondering what kind of specific measurements you really need a $70k scope for. Sure better equipment enables to learn new things but there is so much second hand gear out there for little money which can also do the job.QuoteI fully agree. She has definitely put a bunch of vote monkeys to work!

author: Brumby
author_rank: Unknown
timestamp: April 09, 2016, 01:36:34 am
content: Quote from: ez24 on April 09, 2016, 01:05:36 amDreamer... but I like the way you dream.QuoteThat would be nice... but it would need to be a couple of notches up from 'normal ones'.

author: DimitriP
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: April 10, 2016, 08:54:25 pm
content: QuoteI was on the fence on how this was going to go.I figured worse case scenaria the post will get deleted , or get PMs asking me to delete the post, get banned, or have a massive amount of people voting NoBut Nooooooo.....I was wrong. Dave, although he didn't feature Carlos on youtube (yetthere is barely any time for that, since its not over 'till it's over) he did tat lease tweet to his thousands of followers.Instead what I ended up with is fifty people , (as in 48,49,50) bothering to pick yes or no.I have the feeling if the Poll was about this vs that scope or multimeter, there would have been hundreds of votes.Very few retweets, and likes . Sometimes it's not enough to lead the horse to water, you have to push it in, and hold it's head down.Of course I thought of starting a "Which scope should Carlos buy if he doesn't win?"but although the thread may be a "success", I dont' believe it will result in any more votes.There is already a thread for that!Now I must refill my coffee cup, replace my dead car battery and find more horses and people to PM and get them to go vote...three times, every day until the 15th.

author: Richard Head
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: April 11, 2016, 05:46:55 am
content: Sometimes it's not enough to lead the horse to water, you have to push it in, and hold it's head down.

author: kripton2035
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: April 11, 2016, 06:25:27 am
content: Quote from: Keysight_DanielBogdanoff on April 08, 2016, 10:43:45 pmnot sure it works : my facebook profile is completely anonymous, I dont like the facebook methodsbut sometimes it's usefull in contests to vote or write you on the list...so my facebook profile is somewhat completely anonymous... althought I'm a real voter !

author: Brumby
author_rank: Unknown
timestamp: April 11, 2016, 06:29:23 am
content: Quote from: kripton2035 on April 11, 2016, 06:25:27 amSounds like my approach.

author: lpc32
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: April 11, 2016, 03:18:34 pm
content: My Facebook profile is as anonymous as it gets: it doesn't exist.I wonder what's the percentage of people in the forum with Facebook accounts. I'm guessing it's lower among techies?

author: Keysight DanielBogdanoff
author_rank: Unknown
timestamp: April 11, 2016, 05:11:04 pm
content: I shudder to think how much suspected cheating there would be without the Facebook requirement...Also, keep rallying! We're working on making sure the voting is clean.

author: rx8pilot
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: April 11, 2016, 05:15:11 pm
content: Quote from: Keysight_DanielBogdanoff on April 11, 2016, 05:11:04 pmThere is no question that it is difficult to run online voting without DNA scans or fingerprints. It's a crazy world out there.I just voted 3x for the day. Keep voting everyone, if you cannot figure out who to vote for - just ask me. I have a good idea who you should vote for.

author: Brumby
author_rank: Unknown
timestamp: April 12, 2016, 12:09:46 am
content: This is interesting ....I was having a look at what measures can be taken to keep the voting honest - and one 'solution provider' included the following in their means of detection...QuoteDescribes my account - and I'm absolutely bloody real! Just because I don't choose to blather all over social media to reflect a 'life' of a real person..... Sorry - I have a life ... and Facebook isn't it.I suppose this makes the detection business a little more difficult - but there are some crazy things happening with this vote. But, then, a $70,000 scope package is likely to attract some serious salivating.

author: ez24
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: April 12, 2016, 01:03:15 am
content: Quote from: Keysight_DanielBogdanoff on April 11, 2016, 05:11:04 pmI think the way Dave does it will be clean. He does not use Facebook, nor is there a way to buy votes as far as I can tell.

author: Carl_Smith
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: April 12, 2016, 01:49:19 am
content: QuoteThe only reason I ever signed up for Facebook was to be in contact with (and spy on)family members, and use Facebook messenger to talk to them. I have about 30 friends, and with the exception of one good real friend, they are all family - Mom, sister, aunts, uncles, cousins. I refuse to friend anyone else. Almost all of my posts are friends only, you won't see much if you look at my public page.I suspect that a large number of EEVBlog followers fit this description, or have no Facebook account at all. Shame that their votes would be disqualified because their social media activity is not public enough.

author: Brumby
author_rank: Unknown
timestamp: April 12, 2016, 02:13:21 am
content: I should add that the quote I took was from a place that was offering an App to help keep voting on the up-and-up. There may be some bias towards supporting the mechanisms they utilise in their App. (It is marketing, after all.)

author: Keysight DanielBogdanoff
author_rank: Unknown
timestamp: April 12, 2016, 04:46:46 pm
content: What we've seen from fraudulent voter accounts is a lot of the same thing posted so the accounts all look identical.We've been checking accounts regularly and DQing any that are clearly fake. It's pretty easy to tell.

author: ez24
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: April 12, 2016, 10:49:24 pm
content: Quote from: Keysight_DanielBogdanoff on April 12, 2016, 04:46:46 pmMaybe considering the value of the prize and the size of the company, KS will send a private investor to the winner's home to at least make sure they are "real". Seems like it could backfire on them if the winner turns out to be a con artist.

author: Keysight DanielBogdanoff
author_rank: Unknown
timestamp: April 13, 2016, 03:48:57 pm
content: Our concern is not about the entrants, I've personally been in contact with all of them and I'm confident they are legitimate. What is in question issomeof the votes forsomeof the contestants.

author: Brumby
author_rank: Unknown
timestamp: April 14, 2016, 12:39:10 am
content: Quote from: Keysight_DanielBogdanoff on April 13, 2016, 03:48:57 pmThis tells me Daniel and Co. at Keysight are taking the correct approach.We can't really expect them to say any more at this point.

author: MarvinTheMartian
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: April 14, 2016, 02:56:49 am
content: Quote from: Brumby on April 14, 2016, 12:39:10 amI'm with you Brumby