I am trying to help a local non profit organization set up a pay to vote system on their website and I need some help and/or suggestions. The organization is holding a competition similar to "Dancing with the Stars" or "So you think you can dance". The premise is that a person will go to the website and pay $10 to vote one time for the person of their choice. They may or may not want to have a higher donation count for more votes. For example, $50 = 5 votes, $100 = 10 votes, etc.

Does PayPal do something like this? I tried to ask on their forums but I didn't want to become a member to get an answer.

Is the method of payment by credit card ? I can see some people being hesitant about using their information to vote on an unproven site. Whatever method do you have in mind?

Tick

Since this is unethical I'm keep my technical skills to myself on this one.

I don't understand how this is unethical. The money is going to a local United Way to buy educational resources for local school children. It is our hope that the voting will be competitive and will lead to more money being raised.

@tickle -- The voters can use the website or in person at the local office. The website will not take votes three hours before the announcement is made so we can tally in person and online votes.

If this is really unethical I do not want to take part in it and will immediately withdraw my volunteer hours.

I just came from the meeting and they mentioned PayPal, as they knew other United Ways that had done this. PayPal is what they used so I guess they figured it was a proven method to follow. I don't know of any other methods to use. Any ideas?

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Originally Posted by omega_red_08

If this is really unethical I do not want to take part in it and will immediately withdraw my volunteer hours.

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At first I read it wrong, I thought it was to vote multiples times for contestants on the actual TV show - I apologize for that.

Now that I understand how the system works it would seem that a wealthy parent could enter their kid and make them win simply by having the most money. I see what you're trying to do but it's rife for abuse. You'll get your money but the winner won't be the best at their craft, it'll be whoever has the richest family.

I appreciate the replies. I understand that the best dancer may not necessarily win but the wealthiest will. I just think you missed the part about all the money going to buy educational resources for kids. So if the worse dancer wins and raises 1000 dollars, the kids get 1000 dollars. All the competition wins gets is a trophy and the satisfaction of helping needy kids.

It makes complete sense to me. It's a win-win situation as the money is all to a benefit for children. Unfortunately though, I cannot answer the Paypal question for you but I wanted to chime in that I think this is a nice idea and I hope it works out for you.

You would be much better off asking for a single donation and allowing them to vote as many times as the dance program allows. So if there is 8 rounds to final elimination then one price would cover all the voting till the end.

Otherwise what your really doing is exploiting the children for the charity. That's not ethical at all.

Ok. So after the posts about this being unethical I have just decided to not do the project. I told them it was unethical and I would not be a part of it. Once I explained why I felt it was improper they cancelled the program. Thanks for helping me avoid a huge mistake. I definitely do not want my name attached to something like this.

Can an admin or someone just delete this post? It really doesn't need to be displayed anymore.

Here at AMHD we don't delete posts unless they are harmful. In a case like this someone else looking it up will see the logic behind the answers and it will provide them with answers of their own. That is how this site works.