WIN A FREE TRIP OF A LIFE TIME!!!
Posted by christiancarguy on 4 April, 2009
This post was filed in Uncategorized and has 22 comments
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22 Comments on “WIN A FREE TRIP OF A LIFE TIME!!!”
This is great! Thank you for organizing such an awesome contest!
Now I just hope I get enough votes to win!
I think that cheating on a Christian contest is the lowest of the low. The person in third place with the “Mother In Law Seat” is a wonderful person who gives her time, money, heart and soul to make this world better and would never ever think of cheating on anything. I think the Christian thing to do is to disqualify those who have decided to be “good Christians” by cheating. This trip would be a dream come true for her because she gives of herself so freely and never asks for anything in return. I truly hope that you decide to do the right thing by disqualifying these cheaters. Everything else in life that someone gets caught cheating on is usually always disqualification for lying and cheating especially on a Christian contest.
Hi Stephanie,
I would definitely agree, if the contestant were the person cheating. It gets sticky, though, when you start trying to discern whether to disqualify a contestant because someone else cheated to raise their vote count.
If that were the case, people would start cheating for the other contestants to have them eliminated.
I have to believe that the course of action that Robby has taken is the best possible in this situation.
I’ve been watching the voting very closely, and actually e-mailed Robby this past weekend when I noticed a dramatic increase in votes on my accessory, and asked him to check and see if they were legitimate or not. I have absolutely no idea who ran the votes up on either of the top two contestants, but I’m glad they were adjusted accordingly.
One other note… if it makes you feel any better, hundreds of the votes that were removed from my accessory were completely legitimate. My church network has 50+ staff computers, and they have been voting for me daily, so those votes were removed. I also have friends at two colleges, among other places, who have been asking their fellow students to vote for me, and since most of them are on two networks, they’ve also been removed.
I have no problem with this, as it’s the only way to keep things fair. I hope this helps to clear things up a little.
Dear Stephanie
Some of our multiple votes we know came from colleges where more than one student, faculty member, etc. was voting. Some of our multiple votes came from large families of 11 or so. Some of our votes came from school buildings where friends were voting. All of these were legitimate votes but we understand that they had to be removed to clear up any possibility of a person voting more than once. I agree that if the contestants had cheated or encouraged cheating they should be disqualified.
One other thing. A good name is rather to be chosen than great riches. Please make sure you are aware of the facts before labeling someone. The one thing in life we treasure is a good name. Unfortunately we have all been guilty of jumping to a conclusion before knowing the truth.
lovingly,
and may the LORD bless you,
Mrs. Corbett
I noticed this “controversy”, and would like to give personal testimony, as you have Stephanie, for your friend, that Steven is one of the most honest and giving people I have had the pleasure of knowing, and I doubt seriously that he would ever want to win something by cheating. I am certain he has been above board in this contest. I have personally asked many people to vote for him, sharing some of the facts of his life, and believe that he too is very loving and giving and deserves a chance for to win the trip as well. I suspect that all of the contestants love the Lord and would not want to cheat or lie to win a contest. Just wanted you to know that I can personally vouch for his character, and have seen him give many times to help others. I pray there will be peace regarding the contest…May the Lord bless you for your love for your friend and your desire to see her rewarded. I have the same desire for Steven!
Blessings,
Suzi
Cheating is cheating. Whether they cheated or someone cheated on their behalf..it is still cheating no matter how you look at it. Just removing votes does not send the right message and is not the right solution. I they don’t get disqualified, then the contest should be ended, & a new one begun now that they have the ability to catch the cheaters. That way all can compete on a fair playing field with cheating not allowed.
Lauren, as humbly as I know how to ask this, do you know of any cheating that took place? Personally, I don’t. The fact that many votes were removed means nothing more than that many votes were placed from the same location, which was not in any way against the rules.
Also, like I mentioned in an earlier comment, no contestant can control what others do- if you disqualify a contestant for someone else’s cheating, these cheaters will catch on and cheat for the opponents, causing them (everyone) to be disqualified… I hope this makes sense.
After reading through the comments (albeit, with a little sadness) the Lord brought this beautiful hymn to mind. For your edification and joy, “Trust and Obey”:
When we walk with the Lord in the light of His Word,
What a glory He sheds on our way!
While we do His good will, He abides with us still,
And with all who will trust and obey.
Refrain
Trust and obey, for there’s no other way
To be happy in Jesus, but to trust and obey.
Not a shadow can rise, not a cloud in the skies,
But His smile quickly drives it away;
Not a doubt or a fear, not a sigh or a tear,
Can abide while we trust and obey.
(Refrain)
Not a burden we bear, not a sorrow we share,
But our toil He doth richly repay;
Not a grief or a loss, not a frown or a cross,
But is blessed if we trust and obey.
(Refrain)
But we never can prove the delights of His love
Until all on the altar we lay;
For the favor He shows, for the joy He bestows,
Are for them who will trust and obey.
(Refrain)
Then in fellowship sweet we will sit at His feet.
Or we’ll walk by His side in the way.
What He says we will do, where He sends we will go;
Never fear, only trust and obey.
(Refrain)
Thank you for this beautiful reminder.
I am so sorry that this incident has so obviously hurt our wonderful contestants, their family members and many others who were simply doing there best in an upright manner. It really does sadden me to see, what I wanted to do for good turn to pain for all involved.
This problem is really my fault that I didn’t make certain that we had the systems in place to keep this from happening, I should have. Please find it in your hearts to forgive me and our organization for our short sidedness.
We are continuing in prayer to monitor and administer the contest according to the rules and the spirit of the contest. We, like all of you have a fair Judge in heaven whom we all love and our doing our best to seek His wisdom in the handling of these matters.
We do plan on taking the matter head on this Saturday on the show, feel free to call in and express your concerns.
Thank you all for your honesty and sweet spirit in discussing what I’m sure is a very difficult issue for all concerned…. Robby
As I read the above comments, I was deeply saddened. I pray that we all remember that God is ultimately in control, and He sees all. Thank you, Robby for doing your best to make sure that this contest is fair, and handled uprightly. In my humble opinion, what you have done seems to me like the best possible solution. Thank you Brother Aaron for the sweet song – a wonderful reminder to all of us! Whether “my” contestant wins or loses, I pray that God gives me a humble heart and a joyful attitude, pleasing to Him!
Lets not make something that was intended as a gift in the first place, turn to something vicious or ungrateful! Thank you Christiancarguy for hosting the contest! May we all remember that this is very small in the grand scheme!
It seems that everyone is saddened by the notion of cheating, and it is apparent that something faulty did occur or votes would have not been removed for fear of a greater scandal.
It is obvious that things went awry, and as Wes pointed out, it is small in the grand scheme, the fact is that this is occurring in our lives here and now and that this makes it large and emotional. We cannot ignore it and hope it will go away. The elephant is in the room.
sbcjr pointed out that it is sticky because of the question of who did the tampering, but the fact remains that the tampering has occurred or no votes would have been removed. If there is no way to know what was legitimate and what was not, then the contest should be started over with protocols in place to prevent the dishonesty.
sbcjr humbly asked Lauren if she knew that any cheating took place. again, if something wasn’t wrong, no votes would have been removed.
Ms Corbett and s beeman have presented testimony on someone’s behalf, but this doesn’t address the integrity of the contest.
christiancarguy noted that the proper protocols were not in place from the beginning, an easy oversight if you assume the integrity of your participants. while i understand you may continue to monitor the process, there already has been damage done.
Everyone seems to be defending their own stake in the matter, not the integrity of the contest.
To restart the contest would mean a little more work and time on everyone’s behalf, but isn’t personal sacrifice in the face of adversity the Christian thing to do? Or is it easier just to wash our hands of this matter?
To sbjcr: you asked if I knew if cheating took place…YES. We were notified that someone or more than one had altered their computers somehow so they could vote multiple times from the same computer in the same day. This wasn’t just a simple mistake..this was actual cheating done on purpose. Also…if it wasn’t cheating, no votes would have been removed. I am well informed on this from the man running this contest. Whether it was the person competing or their friend, cheating was involved. This contest should be ended & restarted with the new protocol to prevent this cheating from recurring. I also know that life is not about riches….but life is about having morals & values & not compromising them to cheat & lie especially in a Christian contest to win a trip to the Holy Land.
And I agree with R….everyone is so worried defending their particular friend or contestant. No one seems upset that people destroyed the integrity of this contest & it is no longer fair to anyone involved. It seems you all should be able to see that.
Hello r,
There actually is a way to know what was legitimate, and what was not. The particular voting script used for this contest has a page that displays the IP address each vote was placed from. Robby’s web techs have gone through all of the votes and removed any votes that were duplicates.
The end result is that we have a score which is the same as if these protocols had been in place from the beginning. There is no discrepancy, and starting the contest over will not give us a different outcome.
As far as tampering goes, there is no evidence that the votes removed were non-legitimate votes. They were simply removed to be 100% certain. I don’t know about the other contestants, but I had many, many people voting from within individual networks, i.e., our church staff, and all of those hundreds of votes were removed. There was nothing at all wrong with those votes, and they were completely within the rules.
Again, the talk of tampering or cheating is purely speculation, with no evidence (actually evidence to the contrary).
If Robby decides to restart or even cancel the contest, I will support him completely. That said, the integrity of the contest would not be helped by this action, as the issues have already been taken into account and vote totals adjusted accordingly.
To Lauren: Were the only ones who had votes removed “The Rebuke Yourself horn” and “Pop-up window signs to alert other drivers”? Are you saying that no other votes were removed?
Also if I really enjoyed the “Mother-in-law seat” idea and have a large family (all with their own email address) who share 4 computers, but only one IP address, should the “Mother-in-law seat” be disqualified? The rules did say one vote per e-mail address per day.
I really see no way to make this work. We just have to trust people, and get the word out to vote.
New contest! I’ll be out of town, but it still looks like another exciting week coming up!
Great way to look at it! We’re still pulling for the “Rebuke Yourself Horn”, but hope that we can all have Christ-honoring attitudes, no matter what the outcome is!
And, thank you Robby for making a tough decision, but striving to do what was best.
Congratulations Robby for making the best decision possible! That was a tough one. We salute you! No matter who wins, we are at peace. Mrs. Lisa Corbett
A man that hath friends must shew himself friendly: and there is a friend that sticketh closer than a brother. Prov 18:24 But don’t forget that those friends have other friends who are friendlier than others and so on and so forth (and hopefully all their friends are friends with Jesus).
For a lesson in IP address and how organizations utilizing multiple workstations on a “router” can be registered under the same IP address when connecting to the internet please visit: http://ezinearticles.com/?How-to-Connect-Multiple-Computers-to-One-Broadband-Internet-Connection&id=647934.
And to set the record straight on another scenario that would cause “multiple votes” from one IP address – a family (husband/wife/children) who have only one computer (Lord knows they can’t afford more and are content with one) with everyone voting once per day for their selected candidate.
Christian character works both ways, you should win with it and lose with it.
Go Rebuke yourself horn!! We are still pulling for you! =) And so is everyone else!!