Slog - Comments on How Much Money Where Your Virtual Mouths Are? An Informed Guess Says Maybe $300,000+ http://slog.thestranger.com/2008/10/how_much_money_where_your_virtual_mouths Having spent a couple of days over the last week collecting information on how much money you Sloggers have given to Obama for the general election, I am ready to make an informed guess at Obama's total haul from Slog-land. Here's the data I'm working with: Now, of course, the usual huge caveat. All this information was anonymously self-reported via an internet poll—which, you know, makes this information about as reliable as any anonymous internet acquaintance you might have. But let's go way out on a limb and assume good faith, good intentions, and high integrity and reliability among all... Copyright 2008 Tue, 07 Oct 2008 12:15:13 -0800 Tue, 07 Oct 2008 16:36:53 -0800 http://www.movabletype.org/?v=3.34 http://blogs.law.harvard.edu/tech/rss Comment by Ziggity Bailo for president!

]]> Ziggity http://slog.thestranger.com/2008/10/how_much_money_where_your_virtual_mouths#c1167362 http://slog.thestranger.com/2008/10/how_much_money_where_your_virtual_mouths#c1167362 2008 Tue, 07 Oct 2008 12:12:16 -0800 Comment by Julie in Chicago I have been spending way too much time on this site looking up who friends, family, and neighbors donated to. Very entertaining... People with my last name have given almost four times as much to the Democrats over the Republicans.

]]> Julie in Chicago http://slog.thestranger.com/2008/10/how_much_money_where_your_virtual_mouths#c1167364 http://slog.thestranger.com/2008/10/how_much_money_where_your_virtual_mouths#c1167364 2008 Tue, 07 Oct 2008 12:15:26 -0800 Comment by sockpuppet I lied about giving $2001 -$2300.

]]> sockpuppet http://slog.thestranger.com/2008/10/how_much_money_where_your_virtual_mouths#c1167389 http://slog.thestranger.com/2008/10/how_much_money_where_your_virtual_mouths#c1167389 2008 Tue, 07 Oct 2008 12:27:45 -0800 Comment by gnossos I love that site also...but based purely on a sample of seven (myself, brother, parents and three friends) its accuracy is zero.

All of us have made donations to Obama (and one to Clinton before she dropped out) and none of show up.

Also doing a zip code search yields very few results.

I used to have a link to another site that was at least in personal terms more accurate.

]]> gnossos http://slog.thestranger.com/2008/10/how_much_money_where_your_virtual_mouths#c1167397 http://slog.thestranger.com/2008/10/how_much_money_where_your_virtual_mouths#c1167397 2008 Tue, 07 Oct 2008 12:34:12 -0800 Comment by T @2 Thanks a lot. Now I'm not getting anything done for the rest of the day!

]]> T http://slog.thestranger.com/2008/10/how_much_money_where_your_virtual_mouths#c1167402 http://slog.thestranger.com/2008/10/how_much_money_where_your_virtual_mouths#c1167402 2008 Tue, 07 Oct 2008 12:39:10 -0800 Comment by john cocktosin Get ready to keep on givin' for the next few years as well, albeit to the IRS.

]]> john cocktosin http://slog.thestranger.com/2008/10/how_much_money_where_your_virtual_mouths#c1167412 http://slog.thestranger.com/2008/10/how_much_money_where_your_virtual_mouths#c1167412 2008 Tue, 07 Oct 2008 12:45:14 -0800 Comment by Sir Learnsalot My last name shows about 12 times more Democratic donations than Republican donations. And those Republican donations are for Ron Paul which isn't sooooooo bad I guess.

]]> Sir Learnsalot http://slog.thestranger.com/2008/10/how_much_money_where_your_virtual_mouths#c1167430 http://slog.thestranger.com/2008/10/how_much_money_where_your_virtual_mouths#c1167430 2008 Tue, 07 Oct 2008 12:54:35 -0800 Comment by Julie in Chicago @4 - I don't know what the time lag is on that site. My donation from 3 weeks ago doesn't register yet. But, I also founds a few donations that I know people made that don't show up.

Also, I should credit Andy Niable with sharing that link in the last donation pool post.

]]> Julie in Chicago http://slog.thestranger.com/2008/10/how_much_money_where_your_virtual_mouths#c1167437 http://slog.thestranger.com/2008/10/how_much_money_where_your_virtual_mouths#c1167437 2008 Tue, 07 Oct 2008 12:57:34 -0800 Comment by hohoho green giant It has been my experience that Slog readers are more concerned with complaining than with actually effecting change, unless said change has to do with bike lanes or booze.

]]> hohoho green giant http://slog.thestranger.com/2008/10/how_much_money_where_your_virtual_mouths#c1167469 http://slog.thestranger.com/2008/10/how_much_money_where_your_virtual_mouths#c1167469 2008 Tue, 07 Oct 2008 13:15:36 -0800 Comment by Fnarf I don't think the database shows anything under $250, so if you've been giving less in each bite, you won't be on it, even if your aggregate is way over. It's also extremely susceptible to lousy data entry, meaning your name might be misspelled, etc. I know one of my donations from '04 doesn't show up because they left off the zip code.

]]> Fnarf http://slog.thestranger.com/2008/10/how_much_money_where_your_virtual_mouths#c1167522 http://slog.thestranger.com/2008/10/how_much_money_where_your_virtual_mouths#c1167522 2008 Tue, 07 Oct 2008 13:44:40 -0800 Comment by Sara Why not poll asking how many people have donated to local or state candidates? Considering the much greater potential impact small amounts of money have on local and state races, it'd be something worth looking into.

]]> Sara http://slog.thestranger.com/2008/10/how_much_money_where_your_virtual_mouths#c1167532 http://slog.thestranger.com/2008/10/how_much_money_where_your_virtual_mouths#c1167532 2008 Tue, 07 Oct 2008 13:47:54 -0800 Comment by josh Here's a picture of how this looks outside of slogland:

http://sciencevsromance.net/post/50014651/lightly-modified-figure-labels-added-comparing

Here, you can see how lots of small donors do eventually pay off.

]]> josh http://slog.thestranger.com/2008/10/how_much_money_where_your_virtual_mouths#c1167561 http://slog.thestranger.com/2008/10/how_much_money_where_your_virtual_mouths#c1167561 2008 Tue, 07 Oct 2008 14:12:12 -0800 Comment by Christin I don't believe that site gives anything past the primaries.

]]> Christin http://slog.thestranger.com/2008/10/how_much_money_where_your_virtual_mouths#c1167582 http://slog.thestranger.com/2008/10/how_much_money_where_your_virtual_mouths#c1167582 2008 Tue, 07 Oct 2008 14:27:25 -0800 Comment by gnossos @10 ahh that would explain my not showing up for sure. I'm in for over a $250 aggregate, but $100 was the largest single drop.

But I remember one site that showed even $50 donations to an initiative campaign.

]]> gnossos http://slog.thestranger.com/2008/10/how_much_money_where_your_virtual_mouths#c1167600 http://slog.thestranger.com/2008/10/how_much_money_where_your_virtual_mouths#c1167600 2008 Tue, 07 Oct 2008 14:42:57 -0800 Comment by The CHZA $20-30 makes no difference to Obama, that's food in my face.

]]> The CHZA http://slog.thestranger.com/2008/10/how_much_money_where_your_virtual_mouths#c1167624 http://slog.thestranger.com/2008/10/how_much_money_where_your_virtual_mouths#c1167624 2008 Tue, 07 Oct 2008 15:02:44 -0800 Comment by elenchos Eli, I know you're the Stranger reporter who aspires to be professional, and someday in the mainstream. Listen to me. This data is pure shit. Please don't ever go on TV or on Time's blog and make any reference to what you supposedly know about campaign finance based on this shit data.

Every time you write your usual disclaimer, you display why you utterly fail to comprehend what is wrong with this type of polling. Your statement that "this information about as reliable as any anonymous internet acquaintance you might have" is false.

Anyway, I urge you to go and learn why it is false before you make an ass of yourself later on.

]]> elenchos http://slog.thestranger.com/2008/10/how_much_money_where_your_virtual_mouths#c1167819 http://slog.thestranger.com/2008/10/how_much_money_where_your_virtual_mouths#c1167819 2008 Tue, 07 Oct 2008 16:36:53 -0800