alt Hacker NewsYou're half right, half not.
This is evidence, but it would be a mistake to think that high profile online contests would have the same dynamics as low profile online polling. 4chan is characterized by an insane level of effort on the specific jokes that they care about. But they don't care about a random poll nearly as much as they care about big stunts like this.
Of course, but a low profile poll also needs less effort to manipulate, so it scales down for both ends.