Everyone knew they weren't legit, and it's pretty easy to tell if they are from the same user based on how unique a browser can be (even with cleared cookies and a fresh IP). Arstechnica (IIRC) even did an article on identifying unique users based on their browser string.

I don't know if anyone thought Avilo necessarily rigged it, but most people had the idea from a very early stage that the votes for him were rigged. Unfortunate, maybe, but that's the way it goes. Possibly it should have been dealt with sooner, but there's little doubt that the company got it wrong since these things are easy to identify unless you put in a lot of effort.

Saechiis

Netherlands4989 Posts

March 22 2011 18:32 GMT

#24

I doubt anyone thought Avilo was just that popular, I don't get why you have to make a thread clearing this up when anyone with half a brain realizes the poll was messed with.

Athene loses.

QuothTheRaven

United States5524 Posts

March 22 2011 18:33 GMT

#25

Have you updated your system to fix the loopholes that made it possible to post fraudulent votes in the first place?

Candide

456 Posts

March 22 2011 18:33 GMT

#26

43 actual votes....

heh.

Wolf

Korea (South)3290 Posts

March 22 2011 18:33 GMT

#27

On March 23 2011 03:28 Kennigit wrote:
Does this even matter though? I was under the impression that the votes will be a very small part of the selection process. And by very small i mean 0. But yes, ezpz decision.

Yeah, this is exactly what I was wondering. So why are we worried?

RyanRushia

United States2748 Posts

March 22 2011 18:34 GMT

#28

On March 23 2011 03:33 Wolf wrote:

Show nested quote +

Yeah, this is exactly what I was wondering. So why are we worried?

i think it was moreso to satiate avilo and prevent him from the constant PMs and emails that Xeris said they were recieving from him about his place in the voting system

Kennigit

Canada19447 Posts

March 22 2011 18:35 GMT

#29

On March 23 2011 03:31 Xeris wrote:

Show nested quote +

It doesn't really matter, but Avilo has been sending me emails and pm's constantly so I decided to just post everything here because we are incredibly busy here and don't have time to continue arguing with him. This is our final decision, everyone knows about it now, and that's that.

ok cool thx

whatthefat

United States918 Posts

March 22 2011 18:35 GMT

#30

To be fair to Avilo, your wording is clearly accusatory in the PMs. You said You used the same account but changed IP's every time, which was pretty funny. Even in the email, you strongly insinuate that he is the culprit. I'm glad the illegitimate votes have been removed and that the matter is now clarified, but reading this, Avilo has a right to be upset.

avilo

United States4100 Posts

March 22 2011 18:36 GMT

#31

I highly doubt I only had 43 votes, as I know easily i've had 500+ supporters from various advertising, email lists, and lots of other "getting myself out there."

It's obvious that the votes were trolled heavily, not "just" my listing on the site either, but other players as well.

I can post the other emails that you have sent to me as well, where you claim I hacked the system, cheated it, and other sorts of stupid non-sense where you mockingly make an analogy of stealing a 1 dollar candy bar and basically act like assholes.

Such as the first instance where it was obvious my listing had been trolled/hacked, and you guys removed my name from the site. I PM'd asking for reasoning expecting you guys to be up front and reasonable about it, that you would re-add me to the site and that the votes were possibly trolled.

Instead Xeris, you responded telling me you originally deleted my entry from NASL "on accident" because you happened to "misclick on my username with the 'delete button'" out of all of the usernames to "misclick" on.

I have no problem with not getting into your elitist NASL club because I don't know the right people and have no former BW grandiose background, even though I've shown more results in SC2 than some people have that probably did make it in. What I have a problem with is you guys accusing me of being a hacker/cheater, and being complete a-holes towards me multiple times, when all I wanted is to apply for NASL, possibly get in, and be involved in this.

I certainly had more votes than "43," but you guys are absolutely ridiculous in your lack of professionalism. Like I said, ideally I would have wanted to be in the first batch of 50 "ordained by the gods" progamers to get in the NASL, but I have no problem not being in it, but I do have a problem when you guys accuse me of hacking/cheating when I have no history of cheating anything in my past 10+ years of gaming.

Basically, you guys are being elitist as hell (obviously the entire thing is) but you didn't have to be a-holes on top of that.

Nokarot

United States1410 Posts

March 22 2011 18:36 GMT

#32

If he only has 43 real votes, he only has 43 real votes. All this pointing fingers he said/she said doesn't really seem necessary. The simple fact of the matter is that the large majority of his votes were falsified and his legitimate votes weren't high enough to be on the standby list, which is simply a matter of fact, not something really up for debate.

The only thing I would say is that I'm curious as to why avilo is the center of investigations. I'm not saying that I suspect foulplay from any other contestants, but this is the internet, after all. Have you guys given equal investigation to anyone else? I doubt every single fraud vote was in avilos name.

Edit: I say this only having read the OP, not avilos side of the story etc etc. Obviously there is much more behind all this, so what I've just said is not necessarily true/etc.

Antimage

Canada1293 Posts

March 22 2011 18:36 GMT

#33

avilo likes attention and was probably going to make a thread about it anyway, so why not.

jalstar

United States8198 Posts

March 22 2011 18:36 GMT

#34

On March 23 2011 03:21 Xeris wrote:
To clarify. Avilo was on a standby list (not one of the 50 players), in case some people didn't get their deposits on time or dropped out for whatever reason. The entire reason for him being on that list was his position in the poll. Since all his votes were illegal, we removed him from our standby list. This has less to do with the fact that his votes were illegal than it does the fact that he only has a small number of legitimate votes, so the entire reason for him being on our standby list is now null and void.

Treadmill

Canada2833 Posts

March 22 2011 18:36 GMT

#35

Well, this is good to know, I suppose. It is good to clarify this, and the transparency is nice too. And this:

To clarify. Avilo was on a standby list (not one of the 50 players), in case some people didn't get their deposits on time or dropped out for whatever reason.

makes it sound like the players have already been chosen.

Offhand

United States1869 Posts

March 22 2011 18:36 GMT

#36

Does anyone actually WANT to see Avilo in NASL?

Oh:

On March 23 2011 03:33 Candide wrote:
43 actual votes....

heh.

I guess a few do.

Shinobi1982

1605 Posts

March 22 2011 18:37 GMT

#37

*Public Announcement of Players Begins
*March 22nd, 5 players announced per day.

I was hoping for other official words/decisions

avilo

United States4100 Posts

March 22 2011 18:37 GMT

#38

On March 23 2011 03:35 whatthefat wrote:
To be fair to Avilo, your wording is clearly accusatory in the PMs. You said You used the same account but changed IP's every time, which was pretty funny. Even in the email, you strongly insinuate that he is the culprit. I'm glad the illegitimate votes have been removed and that the matter is now clarified, but reading this, Avilo has a right to be upset.

Thank you for having common sense of why I am upset. These awesome NASL people, apparently from what Xeris has emailed me and told me, I have been deemed a hacker/cheater by the NASL and was completely removed from consideration due to fucking trolls on the internet that are out of my control.

And when I am PMing/Emailing with no responses, no contact with the owners, you can see why I have a right to get upset.

cha0

Canada514 Posts

March 22 2011 18:38 GMT

#39

I think that the decision was fair and the method of finding these illegitimate votes was proper, but:

On March 23 2011 03:21 Xeris wrote:
Next, because Avilo is insistent on claiming that we are accusing him of cheating, here are the emails I sent to him and the PM's I sent. Nowhere did I say that I accused him of cheating. In the FIRST PM I said "you", but I clarified it later.

PMs:
"Ah, you were removed from the poll by uservoice. We investigated fraudulent voting and your votes were illegitimate. You used the same account but changed IP's every time, which was pretty funny. "

"What I said was that you used the same account for your votes, whether it was you specifically or someone doing it for you, I don't know, I guess there's really no way to tell if it was you or someone trolling you. Either way, almost all of the votes to your name weren't legitimate.

So, whether it was you, or someone randomly deciding to rig the poll to give you 23,000 votes or however many you had -- we can't tell. All we know is that the votes you received were fraudulent. So we can't in good conscience keep you on a list to be considered knowing that you possibly rigged the voting; does that make sense?"

I still think you should at least apologize to Avilo because you do accuse him of cheating in your very first PM, and even though you clarify your usage of 'you' later on you still said it was outright him at the start and theres no proof that it was him(probably wasn't even him doing the fake votes). Sounds like Avilo deserves and apology imo.

I_Love_Bacon

United States5765 Posts

March 22 2011 18:38 GMT

#40

On March 23 2011 03:36 avilo wrote:
I have no problem with not getting into your elitist NASL club because I don't know the right people and have no former BW grandiose background, even though I've shown more results in SC2 than some people have that probably did make it in.

Ho-lee shit.

Just stop, dude. Stop.