I'm always on an Invision Power Board v2.0.4 every day that holds
(Post-Count Contests.) An example would be; The 250th post on this
thread wins a New 120g harddrive. Anyways, it seems really easy to
script a program that would index the Power Board, Keep refreshing it
until the total post count is within 5 posts from the "set post
count", and when the program reads it's within 5, it then automaticly
posts a "set amount of posts" as quick as possible. I'd love to have
the source code or program. If you have any answers... I'd love to
know if you could do this programming. Sounds like a simple perl
script to me.

Ermm..  wouldn't that be considered cheating?

I wouldn't say it's cheating, as the forum I frequent doesn't state in
the rules about any automated posting programs. While traditionally it
may appear unethical and wrong, it's simply taking advantage of
today's technology. So until it's posted on the rules of my forums,
It's not cheating. :)

Hi there,

I didn't want to necessarily sound accusatory in my comment. I was
hoping that maybe a GA researcher would chime in with their point of
view, but since they haven't, I want to add one thing. I have a
sneaking suspicion that the apperance of being "unethical and wrong"
as you put it, might disuade most if not all of the  researchers from
answering your question. In any case, good luck on winning a prize
(hopefully the old-fashioned way!).