Posted on 12/23/2005 12:48:38 PM PST by SandRat
SIERRA VISTA — The Herald/Review’s online opinion poll recently became a pawn between right- and left-wing political organizations.
On Sunday, the newspaper was alerted by a woman in Los Angeles to the fact that the Herald/Review’s poll was being “freeped.”
“Freeping” is the act of directing the members to influence an online poll, according to Internet encyclopedia Wikipedia. The term is derived from a Fresno-Calif.-based Web site, www.FreeRepublic.com. It was founded in 1996 by Jim Robinson as a vehicle of protests against President Clinton.
A voicemail was left for Robinson at his Fresno office, but had not been returned by press time Thursday night.
The unscientific, informal poll asked the question: “Do you believe the president should be able to authorize secret spying operations on Americans in order to battle terrorism?” Respondents could answer yes, no or undecided.
FreeRepublic.com rallied its troops Sunday to freep the poll, with one member, “Diverteach,” providing instructions on how to change one’s computer settings to permit multiple votes.
“Just a hint from a master poll freeper,” Diverteach commented on the Web site. Later, he boasted, “I’ve given my 30 votes.”
When an editor posted a comment on FreeRepublic.com to expose and criticize that behavior, the comment was soon stricken from the site. The editor’s privilege of posting further comments was also revoked.
Soon after the Herald/Review discovered the freeping, a second woman sent an e-mail to the newspaper, advising the following:
“Your poll has been posted on the radically Liberal Web site, Democratic Underground, with instructions to skew it.”
DemocraticUnderground.com is based in Washington, D.C. A voicemail was left at its office Thursday and had not been returned by presstime that evening.
On Sunday, it was evident that the DU members had been called to action on the Herald/Review’s poll.
A member named “K8-EEE” and using a photo of Democratic Congressman John Conyers Jr. had started a fresh discussion thread with this challenge: “Unfreep This ‘Bush Spy Approval’ Poll, S’il vous plait!”
Within three minutes, there were multiple replies of “Done” and some comments such as “… we need lots of help; the freepshow has been there.”
Messages were not always kind. One Democrat posted, “What kind of crap newspaper is this?”
The freepers seemed to sense their nemesis was countering the freep. One posted, “The yes’s are going down a bit. Maybe the DUmmies are dummying the poll.”
Shortly before 6 p.m., the Herald/Review had enough, and removed the poll, replacing it with this statement:
“Because of manipulation of this poll by right- and left-wing organizations outside this community, this poll is temporarily suspended.”
There was immediate reaction from both sides.
A freeper said, “I guess it wasn’t going the way they planned.”
A DU-er said, “They don’t like the attention their little paper is getting …”
Diverteach admitted, “I’ll take FULL credit for the ‘manipulation’ LOL … I freeped it about 30 times.”
At about 2 a.m., when it appeared that the liberal and conservative poll responders had gone to bed and activity had ceased on both Web sites, the Herald/Review re-posted the poll with a blank slate.
As of Thursday night, there had been nearly 600 responses with the majority in favor of Bush’s spying program. Messages posted on FreeRepublic.com indicated that its members were again freeping the poll, but not with the intensity of Sunday’s freepathon.
CITY EDITOR Ted Morris can be reached at 515-4614.
BTW, after all that the poll shows
Do you believe the president should be able to authorize secret spying operations on Americans in order to battle terrorism?
Yes. 63.7%
No. 33.2%
Undecided. 3.2%
Total Votes: 633
Your Vote: Yes.
Ah, the unreturned voicemail...the guilty b*stard!
I'm banned now, aren't I?
The lights are on, somebody IS home, but they aren't answering...
Maybe JimRob should quickly change his voicemail greeting to my tag line...LOL
Ted Morris should understand that all this does is point out how meaningless these unscientific polls are. It's almost like he's offended that it's been made so obvious.
“The yes’s are going down a bit. Maybe the DUmmies are dummying the poll."
And thus, the term "DUmmie" enters the popular lexicon, lol.
FReeped and bumped. Hehehehehe
Recently I heard similarly interesting numbers regarding MSM's credibility, most didn't believe everything the media told them.
FReepo ergo sum.
bump
hahaha the editor got ZOTTED.
"Sorry, maybe you should have a little more sophisticated polling method."
Can't have conservatives catching on to all this "vote early and often" stuff ... it'll mess up ALL their polls, for sure.
Jim Rob's got lightning in a bottle.
Yoooo hooooo!!!!
They're talking about YOU here! :)
You've made The News!
hehe I saw :)
Actually, he patented the process.
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