Tuesday, April 07, 2009

Fangoria Voting Problems Update: Sparklit is working on it

*UPDATED 1:15 PM CST:

I got a really nice email from Sparklit, the folks running the online polling:


"I am currently working on finding out why voters are having trouble voting on this poll. I have done several tests using 3 different email providers (yahoo, gmail and shaw) and I have been able to vote, and receive the email confirmation on all 3. I have also tried the confirmation links, and they have worked as well.

I am not sure as to what is causing the emails to not be received. They seem to be entering our mail queue system correctly, and being sent without problems. One thing that could help me however, would be for you to let me know which email providers specifically have been having problems receiving the confirmation email.

I am aware that a select few email providers do, sporadically it seems, block emails from Sparklit entirely, and do not even send them to the junk folder. However, I would like to test these email providers out one by one to see if I can find out why that may be happening."


So, if you had problems not getting your confirmation emails, please email and let me know who your email provider is and I'll forward that information to Sparklit.

Thank you, all of you, once again!
_____________________

The problems continue, unfortunately. Nora only advanced by around 3 votes overnight, and I know of at least 8 people that tried voting for her.

Clearly something is wrong. I have found out that some confirmation emails are showing up a day or so late, and some are going into spam or junk folders. This is only happening in a small number of cases, however. Some people tried unsuccessfully to vote earlier, and as of this morning tried again and were able to vote.

Nora is near heartbroken--she's gotten angry messages posted on the IMDB message board from frustrated voters and people telling her, in so many words, "thanks for wasting my time--I'm not voting now."

In answer to your comments and emails, I'm sorry for the frustration you've experienced. I have sent several emails to Fangoria, Creation Entertainment and Sparklit and so far have not received a response. We'll see what happens in the next day or so. One friend of ours emailed Fangoria and got a response that was dismissive, bordering on douche-like, blaming our friend's spam filter. If this keeps up I'll shortly post the email addresses of everyone involved and encourage you all to contact them directly about the problem

Until then, all I can say is thank you for trying, and if your vote hasn't gone through, please keep trying, and keep checking your email and spam folders. Remember, when if you do get that elusive confirmation email, you have to click the enclosed link.

Thanks.

You can try voting here:

Fangoria Weekend of Horrors Spooksmodel Contest

22 comments:

deadspot said...

I voted using my work address and didn't get a confirmation email. If it doesn't arrive by lunchtime, I'll try again using my gmail account.

SkylersDad said...

I used all 3 of my email accounts and only received one confirmation email. But I am not discouraged, I shall continue on sir!!

Randal Graves said...

Fangoria is full of shit. I think it's a scam, or possibly scamola.

Dena said...

I'm sure my vote went through, as I got my confirmation email reasonably fast. But I know at least 2 people who voted for her yesterday from Rutopia, and I had outlined the whole process for them so I'm sure they got the confirmation emails.

BeckEye said...

I've tried twice and didn't get a confirmation.

Why would people get pissed at Nora for that?? It's not her fault that the voting system is effed up. People are such assholes.

Suzi Riot said...

Got the confirmation so I hope it gets counted. Best of luck to Nora!

Coaster Punchman said...

What Becks said. Angry emails to Nora because they couldn't vote? I smell voting fraud!!! This stinks almost as bad as 2000.

My email provider is Yahoo! though I was able to vote finally.

Tenacious S said...

My confirmation letter came the next day. I know of at least 3 of my FB buddies that voted late yesterday, so I hope their votes get counted.

Coaster Punchman said...

It just started working for me. The poll shows her in first place right now!!! I hope you guys remember the little people when you're (more) famous!

Anonymous said...

I just voted, too, and no problems.

lauralu said...

I voted from 2 email addy's and got confirmation back on both.

Barbara Bruederlin said...

I haven't had any problems, except that I have only been able to vote once per email address. I guess that's the general idea though, eh?

Motormouth said...

As of right now, 11:16 EDT, Nora's in first place!

Dino said...

IT worked and she is still in first place :) i got yahoo to work

Anonymous said...

The only reason she's in first place now is because there was a major error in Sparklit's polls and 8 of the contestants drastically lost their vote count.

UNFAIR.

Joe said...

Anonymous, I saw that one contestant lost something like 160 votes, all at once...that was weird. I didn't see anyone else lose any though. Nora stayed at the same amount. The voting throughout has been very strange.

Dino, glad it worked finally!

Barbara, yes. There was evidently a problem with ballot stuffing in the semi finals.

Laura, Kirby, CP, TenaciousS and Suzi, thanks for hanging in there and voting!

Beckeye, thanks for trying. Hopefully the confirmation email will come through for you soon. IF it doesn't, maybe give it one more shot. I'm hearing that whatever was preventing the emails seems to be working now.

Dena, that's good to hear.

Randal...now now. I think it was some kind of technical glitch, and not some..."scamola" or any other Homer-esque problem.

SkylersDad and Deadspot, thanks for trying!

Anonymous said...

It didn't work yeaserday....but,It worked today and Nora as leading with 22% right now.

Anonymous said...

Sparklit contacted two of the other contestants apologizing for their loss of vote count. Apparently there's no way to restore them. Sucks for them.

Erik Donald France said...

Thanks for your persistence. I was able to vote today with confirmation emails via Juno and Gmail (same ones that didn't work before). Mercy be!

jin said...

Just tried 3 more addys again (all @sbcglobal)... no go so far but maybe I'll get at least one confirmation tomorrow??? I'll let you know!

jin said...

...still zero confirmation emails...

dguzman said...

I tried both my work and my gmail accounts and still haven't gotten confirmation emails -- wtf!? I'm trying to be a supporter, Bubs!