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How to use random.org for raffles
13 years ago
Click here for 55 awesome artists, and links to their favorite artists! (and 30 more from 2013) (and 32 more from 2014)Back this giant monster Game, Kaiju Combat, and you can play Aram's sister-in-spirit, DragonLotus! I've seen a LOT of raffles attempt to use random.org to be fair.
But they aren't provably fair
Here's how it usually works:
"I put all 129 names into random.org, and the name that came to the top was RANDY! Congrats, Randy!"
You know what? You could have simply picked Randy, and none of us would be the wiser. Claiming random.org had a hand in it is meaningless.
Here's another example:
"I had 129 participants. I put them into random.org, and here's the order they came out in. See, look, entry #42 was first on the list, so they win!"
You know what? You could have just kept clicking 'randomize' 'til #42 was #1, and posted that list. Or you could have simply swapped #1 to #42, and whatever #42 was to wherever #1 came from. Or just made up the list. None of us will ever know for sure either way. We have only your word that you did it right, that you were fair, that you didn't accidentally leave anyone off the list.
Here's another example:
"I livestreamed the randomization that no one could record, and RANDY popped out!"
Okay, for the few people that were in your livestream, that's pretty legit. Except that it's probably hard to tell that you had all 129 names in that cut&paste, and that there weren't any mistakes, like duplicate or missing names.
HERE'S THE BEST WAY TO USE RANDOM.ORG
1) Close the raffle at some point, and post the list of participants, with a number for each person.
2) Go to 'advanced' on random.org's list generator
3) Cut&paste the list just as you have it posted in #1.
4) In random.org's "step 3" section, pick the pre-gen from the date you closed the raffle.
5) Click Randomize.
6) Post the above steps, including the date you used, and the results.
Instead of using the list generator, you could just generate a random number from 1-129 (say), but you still need step #4 -- that's the key to this whole process that makes it repeatable by others.
Anyone who wants to, including those who didn't see the livestream, those who didn't participate, and those who just feel like being Sheldon, can repeat your steps and get the same result. That proves no shenanigans. That completely exonerates you from any rumor of wrong-doing.
That results in a pure, legitimate, unbiased, drama-free result!
It's easy.
Do it.
Be right. Be good. Be transparent. Be fair.
Example:
1) My raffle list is this journal entry, ^A ^C of the entry field I'm typing in, not counting header/footer
2) The date I'm using is 9/14/2012
3) The winner is HERE'S THE RIGHT WAY TO USE RANDOM.ORG (pure coincidence, try it yourself!)
But they aren't provably fair
Here's how it usually works:
"I put all 129 names into random.org, and the name that came to the top was RANDY! Congrats, Randy!"
You know what? You could have simply picked Randy, and none of us would be the wiser. Claiming random.org had a hand in it is meaningless.
Here's another example:
"I had 129 participants. I put them into random.org, and here's the order they came out in. See, look, entry #42 was first on the list, so they win!"
You know what? You could have just kept clicking 'randomize' 'til #42 was #1, and posted that list. Or you could have simply swapped #1 to #42, and whatever #42 was to wherever #1 came from. Or just made up the list. None of us will ever know for sure either way. We have only your word that you did it right, that you were fair, that you didn't accidentally leave anyone off the list.
Here's another example:
"I livestreamed the randomization that no one could record, and RANDY popped out!"
Okay, for the few people that were in your livestream, that's pretty legit. Except that it's probably hard to tell that you had all 129 names in that cut&paste, and that there weren't any mistakes, like duplicate or missing names.
HERE'S THE BEST WAY TO USE RANDOM.ORG
1) Close the raffle at some point, and post the list of participants, with a number for each person.
2) Go to 'advanced' on random.org's list generator
3) Cut&paste the list just as you have it posted in #1.
4) In random.org's "step 3" section, pick the pre-gen from the date you closed the raffle.
5) Click Randomize.
6) Post the above steps, including the date you used, and the results.
Instead of using the list generator, you could just generate a random number from 1-129 (say), but you still need step #4 -- that's the key to this whole process that makes it repeatable by others.
Anyone who wants to, including those who didn't see the livestream, those who didn't participate, and those who just feel like being Sheldon, can repeat your steps and get the same result. That proves no shenanigans. That completely exonerates you from any rumor of wrong-doing.
That results in a pure, legitimate, unbiased, drama-free result!
It's easy.
Do it.
Be right. Be good. Be transparent. Be fair.
Example:
1) My raffle list is this journal entry, ^A ^C of the entry field I'm typing in, not counting header/footer
2) The date I'm using is 9/14/2012
3) The winner is HERE'S THE RIGHT WAY TO USE RANDOM.ORG (pure coincidence, try it yourself!)
FOREVER!
Or at least, as long as random.org makes 9/14/2012's data available.
I hate raffles because they always feel like they become unfair for this exact reason.
What I'm providing here is a guide for raffle HOSTS with good intentions to avoid the appearance of bias of their imperfect process and present the raffle in an unbiased way, so that participants won't have reason to feel that the raffle is unjust. This increases participation, which often increases viewership / +watches and whatnot (which is often the reason for hosting the raffle in the first place, yeah?).
Might be only a smidgen of people who give a hoot about transparency, but a smidgen more followers for a smidgen more thinking (not even a smidgen more effort, really) is a fair trade, no?
o.O; only time i've seen someone use it for a raffle, they just showed us as they were doing the whole thingy... and at other times they made people guess a number then showed us that the number was the one they got randomly when picked...
why would anyone pick someone instead of keeping it truly random?
Maybe that someone bribed them.
Maybe the raffle host likes that someone more than everyone else.
Maybe they're not picking a particular person, but un-picking people they don't like for some reason. Keep clicking that 'randomize' 'til they get someone they like.
It's not for us to question motives. Most raffle hosts I'm sure are honest.
The point here is not to make jerks use a fair and above-board system. If people want to be jerks, I can't change that.
The point here is to provide a system that honest people can use to PROVE they are being honest and above-board to those participants who are inherently prone to distrust and skepticism. Lots of people are like that. It's how drama starts. In many cases, the raffle host may already be using random.org, even, just not to its full potential.
there, all better 8D
it's made of lies and regret.
and chocolate! 8D