The movies that we watch at movie night are ultimately decided by our guests. I (Doug) will select around 5-6 movies to choose from, but from there it is up to the people attending to choose which one of those will be shown. The system is setup so the most people will be happy with the result.
To do this, guests are asked to vote Yes, No, or Don't Care for each of the available movie choices. Yes and No votes each carry the same but opposite weight, so a Yes vote can be canceled by a No vote, and vice versa... mostly. Early votes take slight precedence over later votes, so in the case of a tie, the win goes to the first vote received. A "Don't Care" vote is treated as a "slightly yes" vote.
To vote you'll need a voter ID code. But anyone with a cell phone can get one. Just enter your cell phone number on the front page of the site (or text the word CODE to the Movie Night Server) and your voter ID code will be texted to you. Requesting a code does NOT sign you up to receive other text messages. For text message notifications related to movie nights, text the word SUB to the same number.
Once you have your voter ID code, enter it on the front page of this site. You should only have to enter the code once per year per web browser. You can use the same voter ID code on as many devices as you wish, but your votes only count once per voter ID code.
After you've entered your voter ID code, you'll have access to the voting page. You are encouraged to place a vote for each movie listed. You can choose between Yes, No, or Don't Care for each movie. After you've voted for each movie, click the VOTE button to record your vote. You can change your vote up until the time the movie is scheduled to start.
Votes are tallied automatically, but the results are not available until the scheduled movie time. That way nobody can manipulate the vote. Nobody other than the site admin can see the results until voting has closed. Earlier votes are weighted a little bit higher than later votes, so it pays to vote early. For example, if two people vote Yes for a movie, and two others vote No, whichever of those votes was received first will take precedence over the others.
I wanted to make voting as simple as possible, but that lead to electoral fraud. So now a voter ID code is required to cast a vote to prevent our guests from voting multiple times, as only one voter code per person is allowed.
If you don't yet have your voter ID, enter your cell phone number on the front page of the site and it will be texted to you. Alternately, you can text the word CODE to the movie night server.
I create a text message feature that sends out alerts about upcoming movie nights. It also can answer some basic questions about who is attending, where Movie Night is held, as well as funny responses to some common questions. The server's phone number is 816-521-6856. You can sign up for text message alerts on the front page of this site, or by texting the word SUB to the server. You will be asked to confirm your subscription by replying with a short response code.
You can unsubscribe at any time by texting the word UNSUB.