Online contest software ideas needed
I am preparing AUD's "Best Rank-and-File Website of 2005" contest (blogs, too) and want to add an online poll so that in addition to the judged contest, we can have a "people's choice" vote.
Looking for free, open source, secure, etc. and above all easy way to do this. It can be via an online service. Any suggestions?
Thanks in advance for your help,
Matt
(For background on the contest, see this article on the previous contest http://www.uniondemocracy.org/UDR/55-website%20contest%20results.htm. See also Art Shostak's kind comments http://www.communicateordie.com/node/94)
Check out SourceForge.net
Well, if your site was using Drupal, the software running this site, your problems would be solved. It has built-in poll functionality.
If not, my best advice is to check out sourceforge.net and do a seach on "poll". Here's what you'll see.
That's a listing of open source projects there that have something to do with polls. Not all of them will be about web-based polls but many of them will be. You are going to need someone with some technical expertise to help you set this up and decide which one is right for you based on your current server arrangment and requirements.
If that sounds a little overwhelming, try checking with your web host provider and see if they offer polling software as a service. You might luck out and save yourself some time and headache.
As always, if you have any questions, you can post it as a follow-up here.
Found it on my ISP
Thanks, Steve. Good advice.
It turns out my ISP provides a few polling tools: Advanced Poll, phpEsp, and php surveyor. Any insights or experience working with those tools?
I use Drupal
Sorry, I can't say that I have used any of those before. I use Drupal for polls.
I'd recommend setting up all three and figuring out which works best. The most important thing you'll be looking for is for software that makes it difficult for users to cheat by voting numerous times for their favorite. You'll never make it impossible to cheat on a web-based poll, but users should have to jump through some high hoops so you can limit the possibility.