Hacker News Reader

Comment by dragonwriter | Hacker News Reader

The problem with polling is getting a representative sample of the target population, which this doesn't address any of the problems with, and there is no IP-based geolocation method that is accurate enough to reliably place a user in a particular congressional district even if they aren't doing something like using a VPN. There’s a couple major markets where it will probably be unreliable as to state, as well as Congressional district.

> Internet-based polling. Can we make this a routine thing?

Internet-based polling is already routine.

> Internet-based voting. About time or never gonna happen?

What problem is this envisioned as solving?

View on HN

I agree it has some problems. For now, it is mostly a UX proof-of-concept and probably not how an official poll should be conducted.

> What problem is this envisioned as solving?

Its core mission is to legitimize all candidates on the ballot. This is something caucuses and ranked-choice voting can do, but since our general elections don't work this way, I wonder if the voting experience could be augmented from the private sector. (Of course, efforts to change how our actual elections work is still worthwhile and can be pursued in parallel).

Basically, if enough people (millions) were to use an app like this to meta-vote before committing to a single actual vote, we could simulate alternative voting processes without government involvement.

OP works for Fastly, they're pushing a lot of "demos" like this in the hopes that one of them goes viral because nobody is using their serverless platform. Don't waste your time adding engagement to it, all they want is a few threads mentioning Fastly that don't mention the June 8th incident from 2021.

It's a proof-of-concept for a potential startup idea, not endorsed by my employer. I simply picked tech in arms reach.

Maybe in 2028 this could be a real thing, regardless of where it is running. An edge cloud does seem ideal for national live events though.

> An edge cloud does seem ideal for national live events though

OK, you almost had me believing you but "edge cloud" is 100% Fastly marketing speech. Any time I see somebody mention using Fastly, they turn out to be a Fastly employee. You've posted this demo three times already, give it a rest.

Reply on news.ycombinator.com