Normally, we wouldn’t respond to the glaring discrepancies
of a contest like this. But we’ve been inundated by phone calls, text messages,
and emails asking what happened.
The deadlines and voting procedures were confusing to everyone. Voting was
originally supposed to last one day from 9am-3pm, only to change to a week long. Walking Corpse Syndrome
initially rose to an early and
tight lead thanks to a great response from our fan base. But by the end of that
first day, our lead vanished as the Victory Smokes rose from about 5% of the
vote to 29% within a space of 3-4 hours.
It might seem easy at this point to cast blame on the Victory Smokes, but we would urge you to suspend judgment.....
The next morning, we received a mass email sent out to all bands stating in
part,“Signing up with the same user name and email address multiple times
IS cheating and will not be tolerated.
Of course we know you can't control what your crazy fans do.....”....
Most people understood this
to mean that a valid email address equals a valid vote. As we watched the
Victory Smokes continue to gain a exponential number of votes, some of our fans
and a band member took the Blaze’s statement to heart and began setting up valid
but disposable emails and voting multiple times. I heard recently that at
one point, up to 5 people voted at much at 500 times. Even so, by that
end of that first night, Walking Corpse Syndrome barely tied the Victory
Smokes.
The next morning all bands received an
email accusing our band member and his wife of cheating, who stopped at that
point and wrote a letter of apology to the station. We wrote an email
that said in part, “we appreciate knowing that fake votes will not be counted,
but would appreciate some more clarification as to how this will be fairly
implemented to all the bands. We're getting confusing messages from the
Blaze. Yesterday, I received an email notifying us that the only means of
cheating was attempting to vote with the same user name or email and that we
"can't control what your crazy fans do....." Does this imply that if
crazy fans set up multiple emails, that it's ok? Or that there will be a
limit to the number of votes per IP address? “
The Blaze responded with “When I said 'you can't control what your fans do' I
was referencing an email I had gotten from a band earlier warning us that one
of their fans may have signed up more than once. I can see how that could
confuse you as you weren't involved in that conversation. Voting is based
on unique email address, not IP Address. We're currently working to
eliminate the votes cast by members with an invalid email address.”
After that, the Blaze announced that voting would be suspended until Monday
while they eliminated invalid votes. Some of our fans received an email
notifying them of the voting suspension, many did not. We assume that the
email was sent as a means to determine which emails were bogus and requested
our fans to make sure to vote on Monday to ensure their vote.....
.. ..
Monday came without open polls.
Some of our fans called in and were told that the votes were still
being tested and that voting would resume Tuesday
and continue an extra day. On Tuesday, at 1pm, the Blaze announced the Victory
Smokes as the winner. Walking Corpse Syndrome was not even a contender.....
Our fans called the radio station and told us what was happening. Most were
treated rudely, such as being disconnected or being told that Walking Corpse
Syndrome ruined the voting. But the mother of our drummers talked to the station manager who informed her
that the contest was to be held in an "American Idol" fashion
in that you were able to vote as many times as you wanted during the contest period". Since
the contests are run by the DJs, it's the DJs prerogative to change the rules
whenever and however they see fit. The managing DJ for this contest
decided to pull the polls down after the contest started, deeming the original
rules to be unfair. Unfortunately the rules were never outlined clearly
when the contest started or when the rules were changed after day three.
According to the station manager, all contestants were operating within the
guidelines of the original rules.
After finding this out, we decided not to go gently into that good night, but to stand up for ourselves, our integrity, and
our fans. We thought we were competing within the confines of a fair contest.
We ask our fellow ....Missoula....
bands to please judge us by our actions of the last two years and not by
the allegations of one contest.....
A huge thank you goes out to
all of our fans. Your support and passion completely floored us. Without you we
are nothing! Ultimately, this contest means little next to your support.....
.. ..