Prevent cheating with email confirmation and restricted domain scope
Depending on the requirements of a vote or competition, various options are available to prevent multiple votes. Not all methods offer the same level of security; some require additional steps from voters, while others necessitate a technical background that not all organizers can provide. In our tutorial »Preventing Multiple Participations«, you'll find an overview of the security measures and their prerequisites available to you in our poll maker.
Our latest update introduces two new measures that allow you to prevent multiple participations by checking the email address of your voters.
Email Confirmation
Implementing email confirmation adds an extra layer of security to the voting process. Participants are required to verify their email address by clicking on a confirmation link sent to them. This not only ensures the authenticity of participants but also minimizes the risk of fraudulent entries.
But by creating different email addresses, users could participate multiple times in the same process, compromising the integrity of votes or competitions.
Email Confirmation with a Restricted Domain Scope
To further enhance security, we offer the option to restrict voting to specific email domains. This means participants must use an email address associated with an allowed domain, significantly reducing the likelihood of unauthorized or multiple entries. For instance, if your domain is »yourdomain.com«, only email addresses ending in »@yourdomain.com« will be accepted.
By combining email confirmation and limited domain scope, we provide a robust solution to prevent cheating and maintain the integrity of your online voting events. Especially if you have control over the domain, this method provides a low-barrier and highly secure option. It allows you, for example, to permit only company addresses that cannot be independently created by individuals.
For organizers looking to employ advanced security measures for their voting events, selecting a reliable web hosting service is crucial. Namehero, known for its fast web hosting and domain services, can provide the technical reliability and support needed to maintain website integrity during high-traffic events such as competitive polls or votes requiring email confirmation and domain restriction.
Published at: 2023-12-06 12:17 PM
Prevent cheating with email...Prevent self-voting
Self-voting refers to the ability of an individual to vote for their own submissions or suggestions. In a voting context, this means that participants have the permission to support their own choice or contribution. This can occur in various situations and use cases, including group or team voting, photo contests, and more.
The ability for self-voting can have both positive and negative implications, depending on the specific rules and objectives of the voting process.
Positive Aspects
- The ability for self-voting allows individuals to actively support their own preferences or contributions, leading to a stronger sense of self-expression.
- In certain contexts, self-voting can make the evaluation process more transparent, as participants can openly vote for their own contributions.
Negative Aspects
- In some cases, self-voting may lead to bias when individuals tend to favor their own options, regardless of the actual quality or relevance.
- In competitions or votes where fairness and equality are crucial, self-voting may be considered an unfair practice.
With our online poll creator, you can now specify whether participants have the ability to vote for their own submissions. If this topic interests you, you should also take a look at our tutorial on preventing multiple participations.
Published at: 2023-12-06 11:42 AM
Prevent self-voting
Ranking questions in online surveys
Feature release: a ranking question, also known as a ordinal question, allows participants to rank elements or options according to their preference or importance. Instead of selecting a single answer, respondents are required to arrange the various options in a specific order.
PollUnit then determines a relative ranking based on all submitted lists. This question type not only yields the most preferred option but also helps understand the importance or popularity of different options, taking into account nuances in respondents' preferences.
Participants in a survey must weigh which options are most important to them. This fosters an awareness of the relative importance of various aspects or features and assists them in prioritizing. In complex decisions where many factors need consideration, a ranking question can help participants gain clarity and determine overall priority. This can facilitate decision-making for participants. However, it should be noted that ranking questions with numerous options may make it challenging for participants to establish a clear hierarchy. Therefore, we recommend using this voting type only for short lists.
To establish the relative ranking or average rating, points are allocated. The higher the position, the more points the option receives. The results of ranking questions allow for a deeper analysis of respondents' preferences. Researchers can identify patterns in the rankings and gain precise insights into the hierarchy of preferences.
Ranking questions, along with all our other rating types, are available to you for free. Why not give it a try right away?
Published at: 2023-11-30 09:00 AM
Ranking questions in online...Pairwise comparison voting
The pairwise comparison, also known as pair comparison analysis, or pair comparison method, is a technique for prioritizing and evaluating options. In this method, options are compared pairwise to determine which one is preferred. In the end, we obtain a ranking of the options.
PollUnit now allows you to create an online pairwise comparison. Options that compete in pairs can include free-text or images.
To generate the ranking, we use the ELO rating. The ELO rating is a metric used to assess the skill level of participants. Originally developed for chess players, it assigns points based on their results against stronger or weaker opponents.
The advantage of this system is that not every voter needs to compare all options. PollUnit allows you to configure the number of voting rounds per participant. Thus, for each participant, several pairs of options are randomly drawn. In each pair, the voter can choose their favorite. PollUnit then creates a relative ranking of all options.
Pairwise comparison is a powerful tool to effectively evaluate and prioritize situations with many options or images, such as selecting photos for websites, photo contests, social media, or in scientific studies. It reduces subjective influence, increases efficiency, and provides a structured method for decision-making.
Random allocation of pairs also makes fraud more difficult. Voters do not know in advance which pairs they will evaluate. This makes it harder for cheaters to focus on specific pairs they want to manipulate.
Published at: 2023-10-26 08:15 AM
Pairwise comparison voting
Let survey participants draw on images
In the world of research and data collection, the ability to create surveys that are versatile and adaptable to various needs is crucial. We are proud to introduce an exciting new feature that allows respondents to draw on images within a survey. This feature opens up a world of possibilities for researchers, educators, and professionals in various fields.
A Use Case: The Quest for Cognitive Assessment
Imagine a scenario where you are conducting a study that involves cognitive assessments. One of the most reliable self-administered assessments for detecting mild cognitive impairment is the Self Administered Gerocognitive Examination (SAGE). However, the SAGE test is traditionally paper-and-pen-based, making it challenging to administer online.
The SAGE test includes various elements such as identifying and naming pictured objects, copying images by drawing them, and freehand drawing after specific instructions. This is where PollUnit's new feature comes into play. It allows participants to draw on images, making it easier to conduct these assessments online.
The introduction of PollUnit's image drawing feature not only serves this specific use case but also opens up opportunities for professionals in various domains. Healthcare professionals, educators, market researchers and more can now harness the power of visual data collection in their surveys.
Published at: 2023-10-24 10:38 PM
Let survey participants dra...Create photo contests with image series submission
Traditionally, PollUnit photo contests have been limited to single images, leaving photographers constrained within a single frame. While single images can undoubtedly be powerful and impactful, they often fail to capture the complete narrative or deliver the full range of emotions that a photographer wishes to convey.
The Image Series Submission feature addresses this limitation by enabling participants to submit a collection of images that work together harmoniously, unveiling a more profound and comprehensive visual experience.
Enabling the submission of image series, will not only enrich the photography competition experience for both photographers and judges. In the realm of sculpture and object competition, it allows artists to capture the details and varied perspectives of their sculptures and objects that showcases their artistic vision and craftsmanship.
When voting on the images, the series of images will be judged as a whole and not each image individually. To use our new feature, you can enable image series in the »Advanced« step in the »Allow image upload« section.
Learn more about our PollMaker and its various voting, event management and decision-making capabilities. If you're interested in image and photo voting you may also want to take a look at the different possibilities how to vote on images PollUnit has to offer.
Published at: 2023-07-26 07:15 AM
Create photo contests with ...
Customization of background images in themes
PollUnit Themes can change the appearance of your polls and surveys to match your brand image or design preferences. The themes include various visual elements such as color schemes, fonts, background images, and layout options.
Especially the use of background images can have a significant impact on the visual appearance of a poll or survey and create an appealing atmosphere. However, background images also have an influence on the loading speed. A fast loading speed improves the user experience and contributes to a high participation rate. It is thus one of the most important aspects when choosing an Poll Maker. For this reason, we have adapted the processing of the background images to the latest web standards.
An important aspect of processing background images is adapting them to different screen resolutions and devices. PollUnit Themes offer optimized responsive rendering of background images that ensures they look equally good on mobile devices, tablets and desktops. For this purpose, we create several derivatives with different aspect ratios and resolutions in WebP (a modern image format, with excellent compression for web images). Depending on the device, only the necessary section of the image is downloaded. A small cell phone will get a low-resolution portrait format, and a desktop computer with a graphics monitor will get a high-resolution landscape format.
For you, the creation of the themes remains as uncomplicated as before. You upload your image and we create the derivatives automatically. For optimal support of all aspect ratios, we recommend an image with a minimum resolution of 1920x1920 pixels. You can't do anything with that? No problem, just upload the photo as is and we'll take care of the rest.
One more note: the theme background images are images that fill the screen behind the interface. Images that contain logos and lettering are not suitable. But you can also add a dedicated logo to your theme or more images in the description of your PollUnit.
If you are missing options in our themes, please write a feature request. We are looking forward to your ideas.
Published at: 2023-07-19 11:44 AM
Customization of background...How quick survey tools deliver better results
A critical factor in the success of surveys and votings is the speed at which they load. In the worst case, long waiting times cause people to abandon participation in surveys or other interactions.
The loading speed is particularly relevant on mobile devices, also because smartphones and tablets do not necessarily have to have a fast Internet connection. If participants are located in different parts of the world, geographic distance alone can play a role and negatively affect loading times. These are just a few factors that a poll maker must take into account.
The search for the last little millisecond bit usually happens behind the scenes. A few milliseconds here, a few milliseconds there – today we want to bring this invisible »high speed feature« to the fore!
By regularly testing and monitoring the speed from different locations, we can identify potential problems early on and make improvements. We use automatic monitoring tools for this purpose but also perform regular manual tests. Continuous performance improvements and adaptations to new possibilities offered by modern browsers ensure an optimal user experience. This includes database optimizations, caching, smart loading strategies, serving data via a CDN (Content Delivery Network) and automatically scaling servers and much more.
So with PollUnit, participants spend less time waiting for content to load! As a result, they have more time and desire to provide answers to your questions. Fast polling tools offer the benefit of an improved user experience, increased willingness to participate, time savings, and of course, efficient data analysis. This leads to high-quality data and more accurate insights.
Published at: 2023-07-04 06:43 PM
How quick survey tools deli...
Wohooo, we planted the first 100,000 trees!
Our Poll Maker offers companies, organizations and individuals the opportunity to conduct surveys and gather opinions. By planting trees, we go beyond the purely digital and actively advocate for a more sustainable and environmentally conscious future.
For us, PollUnit, having a positive impact on the environment is a matter close to our hearts. For this reason, we donate 8% of our gross income to forest reforestation efforts. These donations go to trusted organizations and initiatives that specialize in reforestation. Our financial support makes it possible for trees to be planted in different regions of the world to combat the negative effects of deforestation and climate change.
On 2022-08-24 we started planting trees. Every day, new ones are added. Just 10 months later, we have planted the first 100,000 trees. We are determined to continue our contribution to the environment and plant even more trees. With your support we can reach even bigger goals.
Of course, you can also donate trees. Just visit our Plant for the Planet page and help us grow the PollUnit forest.
Published at: 2023-06-27 02:47 PM
Wohooo, we planted the firs...Request and publish additional information from submitters
One of the challenges of voting is often the lack of contextual information. Participants may not have the background knowledge to make an informed decision. We address this problem in PollUnit with not one but two new features, allowing poll creators to provide additional information.
With the help of a detailed description, texts and links to relevant resources can be added. Admins, but also people submitting options for voting, can thus provide information needed by those voting to make a well-informed choice. This transparent provision of information promotes not only understanding, but also trust in the decision-making process.
Administrators can also define mandatory or optional text fields to request specific additional information. These can now also be made visible to people who are voting. By the way, this feature is also available in photo contests and idea collections.
The ability to add comments to individual options in the voting tables makes the decision-making process even more interactive. Participants can share their thoughts, ideas and comments on individual options, enabling an active dialog. This encourages broader discussion and allows participants to consider different perspectives, which can lead to better decisions.
Why not try out the new features right now and start the PollUnit Poll Maker. You can activate the description in step 1 under Add Ons. You can configure additional information and comments in the »Advanced« step.
Published at: 2023-06-13 03:03 PM
Request and publish additio...