I have put a lot of work into trying to solve several shortcomings with the popular User Prediction feature. The problems have been the following:
- Lack of the ability to predict individual Congressional Districts in Nebraska and (especially) Maine.
- User annoyance for Members of managing multiple logins and passwords
- The presence of some degree of spamming by some users
- Due to ip limitations to control spamming, the inability of some legitimate users to create predictions
I have attempted to address all of these issues with today’s upgrade. The User Prediction section now has the ability to call and change results for individual congressional districts in those states that choose electors by congressional district (Maine and Nebraska). The compiled median results also support these individual electoral votes.
Members no longer have to choose username and password (essentially the ability to skip step 1). Once members have logged into the site, the software automatically recognizes their prediction. For those many site visitors and predictors, I have created a new Free version of site membership. This “User” level of membership allows for creating and updating user predictions, posting comments to polls, and participating in the soon-to-be-launched mock election. The one hassle, however (and I apologize in advance), is the need to register. This process also includes a email-verification step in an attempt to limit spamming.
Current predictions can be completely upgraded to the new format (all versions) – individual congressional districts are called for the same candidate as the currently-chosen statewide winner. The process is:
1. If you have not signed up, please do so here.
2. Then, upgrade your user prediction here
Please submit a bug if there are any problems.