Algorithm Glitch Voids Outcome of US Green Card Lottery 131
jayminer writes "Results for the United States Diversity Visa Lottery for 2012 were declared void due to a programming glitch in the random selection algorithm. At first, the results were published as promised on May, 1st. Then, on May, 6th, the results were withdrawn with the web site claiming to experience 'technical difficulties.' Today (May, 13th), it is declared that the results are invalid due to an algorithm glitch; the computer program has been fixed and the lottery will be re-run. The final results are expected to be published July 15th."
Re:It's real? (Score:5, Informative)
Is this where we point you to wikipedia?
1. Wikipedia
2. Sorta. More like not wanting to be a total dick. The opposite - selectively accepting visas - is already in place. If you're rich, a great sportsman/woman, a world-class academic, etc. you can pretty much get in anyway. The flipside of that would be to turn everybody else away. Although that sounds rather appealing to some, most people understand the unfairness of such a system. Hence a lottery (or other solutions), which is reasonably fair.
3. they're not - that's usually scam companies trying to make it look like their services will make it more likely for you to BE A WINNER!!!!. There are legit green card lottery companies that make sure you've got all the forms filled out right and such, for a fee, but those tend not to spam.
4. See 3.
5. Not sure what you're questioning there... I guess the answer is "See 1-4"?
Re:and if your girlfriend hadn't been selected... (Score:2, Informative)
I'm not screaming for heads to be cut off, i'm asking for a little bit of accountability. This is a very avoidable situation which was handled with incompetence and people should resign because of it.
Two wrongs don't make a right. Even if the initial drawing wasn't "fair or random" (and btw you could not a lot worse than favoring people who were first to apply), telling people they had won and then taking it back is just as unfair.
The website was taken down for almost a week. People saw this and were concerned, so they emailed the KCC which ensured applicants that everything was normal and to keep sending in their documents. These response emails were posted on immigration forums.