Voting System

[unemployment]

I'm trying to create a voting system where the public will be able to vote, but how should I cut down on Vote spamming?  Should I only accept one vote per IP address?  I imagine i'd have to store the IP address, right?

[djlee]

if there not having to sign up to your system to vote, then yes the IP is probably the best option. You need a way of uniquely identifying someone. while ip's aren't really unique and can be spoofed/changed easily, its your best option unless you require registrations.

 

You could also include other things like setting a cookie or session with a long timeout on it. While its easy enough to delete the cookie, it just adds an additional layer to the system to be circumvented. Apply a few more other layers that you can come up with and then settle with what you have. A good idea may be to have a captcha code for voting, either for everyone or placed randomly. If you did it for all votes, then people would get bored of spamming quite quickly, however it could deter legitimate users.

 

Really its up to you to decide thos elayers based on your system and its intended audience

[teynon]

The way to cut down on spam is the same for any activity.

 

1) Make them register and confirm their email before they can do X action.

2) Make them solve a CAPTCHA before they can register or do X action.

3) Log their IP Address.

4) Use sessions / cookies to try to prevent IP change spam.

5) Log and Report inconsistencies or suspicious activity.

 

It should be notable, that all these are still beatable, but makes it remarkably harder for them to spam you. If you really want to cut down on spam, then you can get into the photo ID verification or phone verifications. (Both of which, yes, are still beatable.)

[unemployment]

Hmm well the goal is to create both a public voting and private voting system for my app.  I'll use your recommendations but it's too bad that they are all beatable.