eevBLAB #25 - IEEE Maker Contest Extreme FAIL! - Page 1
Forum section: electronics / general

author: EEVblog
author_rank: Unknown
timestamp: September 05, 2016, 01:32:01 am
content: The IEEE Maker contest has turned into a complete joke!Rampant vote rigging & ridiculous overunity & BS energy harvesting projects.You won't believe the latest project!http://transmitter.ieee.org/makerproject/view/9c968http://transmitter.ieee.org/makerproject/

author: Brumby
author_rank: Unknown
timestamp: September 05, 2016, 03:20:34 am
content: I don't know which way to go.....orNow, where's that auto 'Like' project.....?

author: station240
author_rank: Unknown
timestamp: September 05, 2016, 03:47:00 am
content: Quote from: Brumby on September 05, 2016, 03:20:34 amhttp://transmitter.ieee.org/makerproject/view/9c968For some odd reason the website is really slow to load. I blame aliens.

author: Brumby
author_rank: Unknown
timestamp: September 05, 2016, 03:56:00 am
content: My question was rhetorical....Never bothered with writing scripts before. Gee, that was too easy.

author: Brumby
author_rank: Unknown
timestamp: September 05, 2016, 04:04:58 am
content: ... and, yes, the site was painfully slow. More than half the time I was served with a "Page Could Not Be Loaded" message.

author: Muttley Snickers
author_rank: Unknown
timestamp: September 05, 2016, 04:05:12 am
content: Quote from: station240 on September 05, 2016, 03:47:00 amI had the same problem and gave up trying to load the other pages/ projects, during the prolonged waiting period I went and created something immediately beneficial, a sandwich and a coffee and it's still trying to load.

author: Mr.B
author_rank: Unknown
timestamp: September 05, 2016, 04:09:37 am
content: Quote from: station240 on September 05, 2016, 03:47:00 amIf loads of people are running a script to create 'likes' the site will be suffering a DOS attack...

author: Barny
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: September 05, 2016, 04:12:53 am
content: This project is good too:http://transmitter.ieee.org/makerproject/view/76405(Empty Project)

author: Bud
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: September 05, 2016, 04:51:51 am
content: Congratulations to IEEE going down the drain adopting Keysights's stupid winner selection system by simply voting on line.

author: Brumby
author_rank: Unknown
timestamp: September 05, 2016, 04:56:43 am
content: Normally I wouldn't go in for this sort of thing - but the IEEE should know better.This has started me on a self-taught scripting venture. Sure beats the "Hello World" standard intro....

author: Brumby
author_rank: Unknown
timestamp: September 05, 2016, 05:07:24 am
content: Interesting....That 'project' seems to have picked up well over 30,000 votes in the last hour! 89,646 at last (painfully slow) refresh.

author: kalleboo
author_rank: Regular Contributor
timestamp: September 05, 2016, 05:08:38 am
content: Quote from: Bud on September 05, 2016, 04:51:51 amI thought even the most clueless people would have learned that after Boaty McBoatface.Time to create an IEEE Maker Project "Projecty McProjectface" I guess

author: Brumby
author_rank: Unknown
timestamp: September 05, 2016, 05:11:29 am
content: .... and, no, I'mnotgoing to chart this contest.Quote from: kalleboo on September 05, 2016, 05:08:38 amWhy not!

author: Brumby
author_rank: Unknown
timestamp: September 05, 2016, 05:37:53 am
content: 100,629.It's still going strong!

author: station240
author_rank: Unknown
timestamp: September 05, 2016, 05:39:56 am
content: Quote from: Brumby on September 05, 2016, 05:37:53 amSort of.Threw "502 Bad Gateway" a few minutes ago, but it's back for more punishment.

author: Brumby
author_rank: Unknown
timestamp: September 05, 2016, 05:58:55 am
content: I meant the count ..... not the serving of pages.

author: Mr.B
author_rank: Unknown
timestamp: September 05, 2016, 06:54:07 am
content: @BrumbyPost a copy of your script.We can all get on the bandwagon and expose their stupidity...

author: EEVblog
author_rank: Unknown
timestamp: September 05, 2016, 07:06:34 am
content: Quote from: Brumby on September 05, 2016, 04:04:58 amOops

author: Barny
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: September 05, 2016, 07:31:14 am
content: Quote from: Mr.B on September 05, 2016, 06:54:07 amhttp://transmitter.ieee.org/makerproject/vote?code=9c968 hammering works too

author: Mr.B
author_rank: Unknown
timestamp: September 05, 2016, 07:40:52 am
content: Quote from: wilfred on September 05, 2016, 07:03:15 amI'm over it... Don't really give a shit.But, i will have a lie down anyway...

author: EEVblog
author_rank: Unknown
timestamp: September 05, 2016, 07:44:01 am
content: Go!

author: elgonzo
author_rank: Unknown
timestamp: September 05, 2016, 07:58:21 am
content: Where can i vote for India?

author: Brumby
author_rank: Unknown
timestamp: September 05, 2016, 08:05:15 am
content: Quote from: Mr.B on September 05, 2016, 06:54:07 amI'm not one to enable such moves, but......Watch the video in the project ...It's only 4 lines - and one of those isn't necessary.

author: EEVblog
author_rank: Unknown
timestamp: September 05, 2016, 08:06:39 am
content: Quote from: Brumby on September 05, 2016, 08:05:15 amCue the Linux script fanboys

author: station240
author_rank: Unknown
timestamp: September 05, 2016, 08:42:55 am
content: It's now second, another 10K fake votes to bag first.

author: mikeselectricstuff
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: September 05, 2016, 08:59:23 am
content: $500 is a pretty pathetic prize for the IEEELooks to me like they're just trying jump onto the (10 year old) bandwagon & show they're trendy & not an outdated dinosaur organization...At Maker Faire they had a pathetic stand with a guy ( In a suit as I recall) showing off a label printer connected to a Raspberry Pi...

author: EEVblog
author_rank: Unknown
timestamp: September 05, 2016, 09:10:34 am
content: Turns out there is no prize for community voting!It actually judged! but they do encourage community voting:QuoteWhy bother for a lousy $500/$150/$50 voucher prize?https://www.ieee.org/about/news/2016/17may_2016.html

author: Brumby
author_rank: Unknown
timestamp: September 05, 2016, 12:25:51 pm
content: 239,413Plus there are a few more similarly themed projects along the lines of 'the system is broken'.I'm glad the judging is separate to the 'Like' stats...... and the site is still painfully slow.

author: Cliff Matthews
author_rank: Unknown
timestamp: September 05, 2016, 12:44:42 pm
content: With a little push from EEVblog, India strikes back!Too funny.

author: simcop2387
author_rank: Contributor
timestamp: September 05, 2016, 07:36:16 pm
content: Took a look this morning and it looks like they removed all the projects that were trying to game the system.http://transmitter.ieee.org/makerproject/?keyword=&sort=popular&category=all

author: Jacob2000
author_rank: Newbie
timestamp: September 05, 2016, 10:06:45 pm
content: Oh look.... a notice.

author: Sonny_Jim
author_rank: Unknown
timestamp: September 05, 2016, 10:44:51 pm
content: Seems no one can vote at all and they've rolled back the votes to just before the voting script was posted?

author: EEVblog
author_rank: Unknown
timestamp: September 05, 2016, 10:50:37 pm
content: #1 is now Radu's uRAD monitor

author: belasajgo
author_rank: Contributor
timestamp: September 05, 2016, 11:22:51 pm
content: I can't believe that IEEE made such a big mistake and forgot to think about this kind of vulnerabilities. But in the same time I'm happy that Radu Motisan's uRADMonitor made it to the 1st place. He deserves it! I know, there is no prize for community voting, but the 1st place is the 1st place... I am a happy uRADMonitor owner since february 2014 (1200000A).

author: Sonny_Jim
author_rank: Unknown
timestamp: September 05, 2016, 11:24:14 pm
content: It's fairly evident that whoever setup that website is very, very inexperienced. Not only did they screw up the voting system, it seems that their text import system can't handle anything outside of alpha numeric characters, it just replaces them with a '?' symbol.For example, it's becomes it?s, can't becomes can?t etc etc

author: station240
author_rank: Unknown
timestamp: September 05, 2016, 11:51:31 pm
content: Funny part is all this happened over the US weekend, so 9am Monday the IEEE people running the contest get to work then...Shiiiitt.

author: belasajgo
author_rank: Contributor
timestamp: September 06, 2016, 12:02:54 am
content: Quote from: Sonny_Jim on September 05, 2016, 11:24:14 pmThis happens when companies / organizations are hiring only cheap (and unexperienced) "professionals" and / or when the deadlines are hard to reach.

author: Brumby
author_rank: Unknown
timestamp: September 06, 2016, 03:05:32 am
content: You now need to validate your vote with an email address and a confirmation link.I voted for the uRad..... properly.(Some sound following robot was ahead.)

author: EEVblog
author_rank: Unknown
timestamp: September 06, 2016, 04:33:59 am
content: Quote from: Brumby on September 06, 2016, 03:05:32 amYep, they have beefed up security around the WOPR

author: Kadah
author_rank: Newbie
timestamp: September 06, 2016, 06:26:45 am
content: This was something they brought upon themselves by not taking even minimal steps to prevent. This was a lesson on internet polls/voting that was learned back in the mid-90's. Definitely worth a facepalm and a hearty laugh.

author: cbrandabur
author_rank: Newbie
timestamp: September 06, 2016, 07:21:49 am
content: it was about time someone noticed that, we've sent notifications, we've sent warnings and nothing. Then we begun screwing with the top projects by generating their votes +1. We did that on 3 different ocasions hoping someone would notice. Still nothing, then we got bored and dropped it

author: Sonny_Jim
author_rank: Unknown
timestamp: September 06, 2016, 12:41:55 pm
content: After rolling back to an earlier vote state, it appears with the new system that all votes have been reset. The uRad project for example had ~4000 votes, it's now on 201 votes in 2nd place.

author: StuUK
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: September 06, 2016, 03:08:37 pm
content: They should be ashamed of themselves for not following their own rigorous standards.

author: firehopper
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: September 06, 2016, 04:01:32 pm
content: Quote from: EEVblog on September 05, 2016, 10:50:37 pmthat deserves a prize I kinda want one of those, guess I need to google and see if it can be bought

author: Yansi
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: September 06, 2016, 05:44:16 pm
content: Well... we have a problem!//Oh, sorry, someone already posted. My bad.

author: artag
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: September 07, 2016, 01:24:46 pm
content: Quote from: EEVblog on September 05, 2016, 10:50:37 pmNot any more. It's being beaten x 4 by a suggestion to use a raspberry pi for remote industrial monitoring.A fine student project but not going to fly in an industrial user where a) they want something reliable and b) they already have perfectly good remote interfaces from all of the usual automation vendors.