Refreshinator

[Glasto peaches]

Has anyone downloaded this app?  I am tempted but worried in case it's not allowed 

[fernandomassuy]

Probably gonna download it on a tablet this weekend. It does look like it works on the videos... 

 

[Glasto peaches]

Yeah I'm sure it works but will it invalidate your registration if used?

[parsonjack]

3 minutes ago, Glasto peaches said:

Yeah I'm sure it works but will it invalidate your registration if used?

maybe...who knows...is it worth the risk?

[arcade fireman]

I can't see how they can possibly know you've used it. 

I'm not convinced it's that good but I've got an old iPhone I'm going to load it on. 

Edited September 30, 2016 by arcade fireman

[musky]

4 minutes ago, arcade fireman said:

I can't see how they can possibly know you've used it. 

I'm not convinced it's that good but I've got an old iPhone I'm going to load it on. 

It depends exactly what is in the headers. It aims to spoof Safari, but I wouldn't know how successful they've been with that.

There are plenty of other apps that do the same thing and won't cost a bean, but they all run a risk of being identified as multi hit software. Refreshinator is likely to come in for special attention, as the developers have identified and marketed to a lot of desperate Glasto punters. Ker-ching!

[parsonjack]

10 minutes ago, arcade fireman said:

I can't see how they can possibly know you've used it. 

I'm not convinced it's that good but I've got an old iPhone I'm going to load it on. 

The regular refresh rate, however slow, could be picked up as an automated tool and blocked.

Refreshing faster than a person could is likely to be detected as a denial of service attempt and blocked.

Refreshing before the server responds could miss a slow to load booking page...which might be the only one you get.

All of these can be avoided by using a finger on the F5 key.

I'm out.

[Deaf Nobby Burton]

So its just an auto refresh app then?

[arcade fireman]

37 minutes ago, parsonjack said:

The regular refresh rate, however slow, could be picked up as an automated tool and blocked.

Refreshing faster than a person could is likely to be detected as a denial of service attempt and blocked.

Refreshing before the server responds could miss a slow to load booking page...which might be the only one you get.

All of these can be avoided by using a finger on the F5 key.

I'm out.

Yeah I know - so I'm definitely not using it as my primary tool. The question was about it invalidating your registration. That's different to these scenarios. 

Most people have a spare device which they don't have enough hands to use. I think it's worth a shot for that. 

 

[Glasto peaches]

My main worry is you get through using it.  You then will have to add your details in whilst inside the app.  And this is where it could be detected because as you click proceed it may get blocked. I'm not sure it's worth the risk.  I downloaded it thinking it was a unique thingy and then heard all the stuff about it being banned etc.

[musky]

13 minutes ago, Deaf Nobby Burton said:

So its just an auto refresh app then?

Yes.

 

4 minutes ago, arcade fireman said:

Yeah I know - so I'm definitely not using it as my primary tool. The question was about it invalidating your registration. That's different to these scenarios. 

Most people have a spare device which they don't have enough hands to use. I think it's worth a shot for that. 

 

The T&Cs warn that anyone using "multi hit" software may have their tickets cancelled, but it's not entirely clear what they mean by multi hit software. Many of these apps have the capability of absolutely hammering the site, activity they can pick up very easily indeed. So the question is, what level of hits do they consider acceptable?

What would worry me specifically about Refreshinator is that it's been marketed to a Glasto audience, and given the amount of publicity it's received it's inconceivable that the festival are unaware of it. That would warrant extra attention to identify the app's use beyond an examination of the traffic from a particular IP. If I wanted to use an auto refresh app I think I'd be using another one, and saving £1.49 to boot.

I've got to admit I've been quite surprised that so many people have been (and remain)  in the dark over the existence of these apps. I think it's quite likely the higher profile of their existence will be exercising some minds at both the festival and seetickets, if not for this sale then for future ones.

[arcade fireman]

14 minutes ago, musky said:

Yes.

 

The T&Cs warn that anyone using "multi hit" software may have their tickets cancelled, but it's not entirely clear what they mean by multi hit software. Many of these apps have the capability of absolutely hammering the site, activity they can pick up very easily indeed. So the question is, what level of hits do they consider acceptable?

What would worry me specifically about Refreshinator is that it's been marketed to a Glasto audience, and given the amount of publicity it's received it's inconceivable that the festival are unaware of it. That would warrant extra attention to identify the app's use beyond an examination of the traffic from a particular IP. If I wanted to use an auto refresh app I think I'd be using another one, and saving £1.49 to boot.

I've got to admit I've been quite surprised that so many people have been (and remain)  in the dark over the existence of these apps. I think it's quite likely the higher profile of their existence will be exercising some minds at both the festival and seetickets, if not for this sale then for future ones.

The question is can they identify if one specific ticket has been bought using these techniques? Especially beyond reasonable doubt?

I think they could put in measures to help stop these apps from connecting to the ticket page. But working out beyond doubt which tickets were bought with these apps I would say is nigh on impossible. 

[Deaf Nobby Burton]

4 minutes ago, arcade fireman said:

The question is can they identify if one specific ticket has been bought using these techniques? Especially beyond reasonable doubt?

I think they could put in measures to help stop these apps from connecting to the ticket page. But working out beyond doubt which tickets were bought with these apps I would say is nigh on impossible. 

Agreed, I would imagine they could in theory detect abnormal activity and send a cookie to block your ip so that you cant access the page, but if this doesn't happen and you do get through to the booking page, surely from that point on there is no way of retrospectively knowing how you got there and you could just carry on as normal.

Edited September 30, 2016 by Deaf Nobby Burton
spelling

[musky]

I'm not sure 'beyond reasonable doubt' comes into it. They have the absolute right to refuse admission.

As I posted above, beyond the usual suspicious activity from your IP they can also detect what software you are using to access their site (and a whole bunch of other stuff). The developers of Refreshinator have attempted to hide that, but it's anyone's guess how well they've done that. Given that it's now high profile in the Glasto world I don't doubt that it will be under some scrutiny by in house geeks.

[Deaf Nobby Burton]

In reality this could work in favour of anybody not using it, its not going to do a blind bit of good if you get the white screen of death like last year, the more people who download it and rely on the app alone the better by the sounds of it.

[arcade fireman]

 

8 minutes ago, musky said:

I'm not sure 'beyond reasonable doubt' comes into it. They have the absolute right to refuse admission.

As I posted above, beyond the usual suspicious activity from your IP they can also detect what software you are using to access their site (and a whole bunch of other stuff). The developers of Refreshinator have attempted to hide that, but it's anyone's guess how well they've done that. Given that it's now high profile in the Glasto world I don't doubt that it will be under some scrutiny by in house geeks.

I don't think Glasto cancelling the tickets of thousands of punters, falsely accusing them of using an automated program would be something in line with their overall image. Reasonable doubt absolutely comes into it. 

I don't think once you're in they have a way of linking the ticket you bought to that data. You've got the chance you won't get in full stop, but that's why its a decent back up option. 

[musky]

1 minute ago, arcade fireman said:

 

I don't think Glasto cancelling the tickets of thousands of punters, falsely accusing them of using an automated program would be something in line with their overall image. Reasonable doubt absolutely comes into it. 

They specifically state using multi hit software is prohibited and may result in the cancellation of a ticket, and have gone out of their way to make the sale as fair as is possible. While I don't think think enjoy cancelling a ticket, I don't think it's something they can afford to ignore either.

Quote

I don't think once you're in they have a way of linking the ticket you bought to that data. You've got the chance you won't get in full stop, but that's why its a decent back up option.

They most definitely can store that information. They have your IP, they have your activity on the site.

[Fingerbobs]

As already mentioned they'll know all about this and if the festival thinks it's about to get out of hand then I'm sure we'll hear about it in a pre-sale message. Maybe there'll be a reminder using multi hit tools is simply not cricket. And maybe not I'm which case I wouldn't worry. I shan't be buying it though just in case...

[MrZigster]

How do they possibly discriminate between this kind of app and me hitting F5 regularly?

[GlastoEls]

^ or plugins on any laptop browser like Check4Change?

[parsonjack]

11 hours ago, MrZigster said:

How do they possibly discriminate between this kind of app and me hitting F5 regularly?

Because you don't hit F5 exactly every second.....or five times a second.  

[Beerqueen]

Yeah I'm a bit puzzled.  I used an auto-refresh to help get tickets this year - it was a free one called Easy Auto Refresh. I had Firefox and Chrome open and F5'd one and autorefreshed the other.  It never occurred to me that it would be a problem.  Is refreshinator any different?  

[parsonjack]

9 minutes ago, Beerqueen said:

Yeah I'm a bit puzzled.  I used an auto-refresh to help get tickets this year - it was a free one called Easy Auto Refresh. I had Firefox and Chrome open and F5'd one and autorefreshed the other.  It never occurred to me that it would be a problem.  Is refreshinator any different?  

Which method got you a ticket?

[Deaf Nobby Burton]

10 minutes ago, Beerqueen said:

Yeah I'm a bit puzzled.  I used an auto-refresh to help get tickets this year - it was a free one called Easy Auto Refresh. I had Firefox and Chrome open and F5'd one and autorefreshed the other.  It never occurred to me that it would be a problem.  Is refreshinator any different?  

From what I can see refreshinator is no different other than the fact it's packaged into an app for iPhones and iPods rather than being a plugin or extension. The other thing seems to be that it appears to absolutely hammer the refreshes, the auto refresh things I've used in the past let you set the time frame for refreshing and I've generally gone for something like 5 seconds. From what people are saying the risk with refreshinator is that they will detect the the sheer amount of refresh attempts as abnormal, but at the same time that could still apply to traditional auto refresh extensions.

Edited October 1, 2016 by Deaf Nobby Burton

[Beerqueen]

3 minutes ago, parsonjack said:

Which method got you a ticket?

I can't remember!  I don't know which browser either.  I was just so bloody excited, I probably didn't even know at the time!