Would a ballot be a fairer system?

[BluePaul]

The downside of a ballot for me is how it would cope with family groups - what happens if one partner gets a ticket but the other doesn't? Or if the kids get tickets but the parents don't?

Another vote from me for the current process, but with a longer sale period to reward the persistent.

[Slugworth]

1 hour ago, danbailey80 said:

No. But i wouldn't release lineup until after today then you just get the absolute Glastonbury fans. 

 

THIS!!!

[Lucy92]

Ballot definitely wouldn't work. The system has its flaws but it does work how it is (and that's as someone who has failed before) 

[Deaf Nobby Burton]

29 minutes ago, blackred said:

I mean, i'm not in favour of a ballot system but what would be the means of gaming the system that wasn't available to all?

Well I'd assume having multiple registrations with different details would technically not be allowed and forbidden in the ts and cs somewhere. Of course the option to cheat and break the rules is available to all, but a lot of people wouldn't want to cheat and would be disadvantaged against those who do. The current system doesn't really have an opportunities to break the rules or cheat.

[somecoolusername]

Sorry, but these suggestions are rubbish.

I want to know the line-up before I get there. I discover loads of artists this way that otherwise would completely pass me by. The line-up doesn't dictate whether or not I go (last year for the most part was not to my taste), but it is important. 

A slower sale wouldn't reward persistence. It just means in practice that the system would work for some and not for others. 

Ballot could be gamed in a number of ways, as others have already said.

The system really is as good as it can be. Glastonbury has for the most part managed to eliminate touting; something that the music industry at large has been trying and failing to tackle for years. 

[MetaKate]

I don't understand why the current system is being termed unfair? Compared to other music fests/concerts I've tried for and failed because a massive ticket site is buying up the tickets and selling them for 2x-10x the price.

At least with glasto you know generally every person there is there because they genuinely tried. It sucks for the people who don't get tickets...it truly does, but unfortunately there's a higher demand than availability and no matter which system is in place someone is going to miss out. 

[Havors]

I can confirm with a 200mb connection I never even got onto the holding screen in October. My brother managed to get through on what can only be described as a connection one step up from dial up 56k 

It's just random on how many connections per port and all that jazz. There are tricks a guy I know uses to get them every year but he is a network engineer and won't tell me haha I'm gonna get him to buy mine in 2019 

[sheffieldlady]

No.

The system is as fair as its going to get. 

[Havors]

1 hour ago, BluePaul said:

The downside of a ballot for me is how it would cope with family groups - what happens if one partner gets a ticket but the other doesn't? Or if the kids get tickets but the parents don't?

Another vote from me for the current process, but with a longer sale period to reward the persistent.

Well obviously one ballot winner would be a me to buy 6 tickets same as now. But that doesn't make ballot a good idea. I would enter the ballot with every single person I know... 100's of entries.... 

Current system is a c**t but the lesser of two evils 

[Alex DeLarge]

A ballot wouldn't change those with more family and friends buying tickets, I'm going with my girlfriend again this year and we've been the only two trying for tickets, last year I got them on my shitty Uni Wifi on my laptop and this year I got them again on my slightly better Wifi in the house but still on my laptop which will often crash. Anecdotal I know, but in 2015 we missed out on tickets, so I do feel like the system is pretty fair right now.

[Mr.Tease]

6 hours ago, thesaint78 said:

After failing for tickets for 3 years running I am beginning to think a fairer system would be to apply for tickets either as a group or on your own and then just to be a random draw.

 

The current system seems to benefit people with faster broadband and people in rural areas have a disadvantage.

 

This honestly isn't me being bitter cause I didn't get tickets but id be interested to see what people think ?

No. I remember at primary school they had over-sold places to a day trip to manchester airport by 1 place, and decided they'd determine who would get left behind by drawing names out of a hat, with the last person drawn out of the hat being the one who had to stay behind. That last person out of 30 names drawn out of a hat was me. I have no luck when it comes to random draws- in fact I have the worst luck, as that tale demonstrates! 

[Mr.Tease]

6 hours ago, thesaint78 said:

Fair enough , I wrongly assumed broadband speed played a part . You've all convinced me it would be a bad idea for a ballot.

 

Maybe they shouldnt sell them out so quickly so only the really dedicated end up going. I remember in 2004 taking about 4 hours to get through where as the less dedicated would have probably given up after an hour. 

2004- was that the one that went to absolute shit and some of us were trying for 12hrs? You want a return to that?!  That year I got through in a couple of mins and thought myself lucky, but then had to go back in for a friends ticket (I think the limit was 2 tickets per transaction that year) and was there for hours and hours and hours, until someone on efestivals bestowed us with the freya link (I think BlackBud? or some such band tipped off Neil who shared it. Or was that some other year?)

[Deaf Nobby Burton]

With these sort of threads it always ends up going round in circles. Suggestions about not releasing the lineup before all the sales, one it wouldn't work, but the fundamental issue is that why would the festival want to make it harder to get tickets, especially for first timers.

[Crazyfool01]

I seem to be the only one out of a varying number of people in our group that seems to get the tickets !! do you know why ? its because I try and try and try , don't give up and go and make a cuppa after a few mins of trying ... I try in the main sales and get tickets ... I try in the resales and get tickets .... I try in the secret resales and get tickets ... I win tickets in competitions and the chance to buy them I'm competitions , I've not failed yet touch wood and have been 13 times , and this is because I'm desperate to get tickets so sod the ballot and stick with this system where the committed usually succeed .!! 

[Deaf Nobby Burton]

1 hour ago, scott44 said:

It's the fairest system you can get really and as a result of the whole registration / photo it means that the only people that are trying for tickets are people that actually plan to go. I was reading that when Bros tickets went on sale last year for their 02 London show it sold out in 7 seconds (google it). Imagine how annoying that would be.

Also maybe people should be more concerned with trying to get tickets than posting comments on this forum at 09:01 today telling everyone 'how quickly they are pressing F5 / how they have been chucked out' they might have had better luck.

I agree with your last paragraph, I posted on here once I had been successful (which was quite early on) I noticed later on I had a DM from somebody during the sale (sorry if it was you but...) saying it looks like I'd been lucky and can I try for them if I get through, giving me all their reg details.

I really don't know how you'd be able to pay full attention to the actual sale and try your best, while at the same time reading this forum and messaging people directly.

You've got to be bang on it from 8:55 paying full undivided attention to all your devices and refreshing them all as quickly as you can... anything else you're trying to do at the same time will seriously be diminishing your chances.

[guypjfreak]

3 hours ago, sheffieldlady said:

No.

The system is as fair as its going to get. 

Would be even fairer if the people that had got there shit sorted didnt then have to contend with the people that couldn't be bothered to get there shit together.. 

[DeanoL]

A ballot would absolutely be fairer, if your definition of "fair" is that everyone has an equal shot. Absolutely no-one here wants a fairer system as most of us have been most years, and in a fair system we'd only get to go once in every three or so. But yeah, I'm happy to admit it's unfair that I'm going for the 13th time because we have a network of people who all try for each other in every sale, while I have work colleagues just trying on their own that have failed to get tickets the past three years. Obviously that's not fair. But I don't want to change it. 

As to the question of if you could have a fair ballot system... I'd say yes.

8 hours ago, Deaf Nobby Burton said:

What's to stop you in a ballot system setting up loads of different registrations with different emails using friends and family's address?

Require payment upfront. Everyone enters the ballot in say, January, everyone is then emailed asking for payment over the course of a week in February and then at the end of the week you're informed if you got a ticket or not. If you didn't your money is refunded immediately and in full.

And yes, that means the rich could pay for multiple ballot entries. But they wouldn't because two entries wouldn't still guarantee you tickets and if you're willing to risk having to pay for 3-4 tickets you can already buy VIP/glamping tickets for around that price, so why would you?

7 hours ago, MetaKate said:

Fair point. The chances of people being able to go with their friends/ significant others would be greatly reduced. It would really kill the excitement if you got a ballot and your spouse didn't.  Nothing you could do about it either. 

I like that the system now you know if you're going so is your crew. 

Not at all. You enter the ballot in a group of whatever size you want (there wouldn't be a need for a cap either like there is now). Your group has a single ballot entry. Someone entering alone has a single ballot entry. Ballots are drawn one at a time, if your group ballot is drawn you get as many tickets as your group size, and then the next one is drawn. They keep going until they run out of tickets. Everyone has the exact* same chance of getting a ticket. 

(*as you drew ballots and allocated tickets, you might end up with just three tickets left at the end, at which point you'd obviously have to exclude groups of more than three from that final draw but it's statistically irrelevent).

[Deaf Nobby Burton]

14 minutes ago, DeanoL said:

A ballot would absolutely be fairer, if your definition of "fair" is that everyone has an equal shot. Absolutely no-one here wants a fairer system as most of us have been most years, and in a fair system we'd only get to go once in every three or so. But yeah, I'm happy to admit it's unfair that I'm going for the 13th time because we have a network of people who all try for each other in every sale, while I have work colleagues just trying on their own that have failed to get tickets the past three years. Obviously that's not fair. But I don't want to change it. 

As to the question of if you could have a fair ballot system... I'd say yes.

Require payment upfront. Everyone enters the ballot in say, January, everyone is then emailed asking for payment over the course of a week in February and then at the end of the week you're informed if you got a ticket or not. If you didn't your money is refunded immediately and in full.

And yes, that means the rich could pay for multiple ballot entries. But they wouldn't because two entries wouldn't still guarantee you tickets and if you're willing to risk having to pay for 3-4 tickets you can already buy VIP/glamping tickets for around that price, so why would you?

Not at all. You enter the ballot in a group of whatever size you want (there wouldn't be a need for a cap either like there is now). Your group has a single ballot entry. Someone entering alone has a single ballot entry. Ballots are drawn one at a time, if your group ballot is drawn you get as many tickets as your group size, and then the next one is drawn. They keep going until they run out of tickets. Everyone has the exact* same chance of getting a ticket. 

(*as you drew ballots and allocated tickets, you might end up with just three tickets left at the end, at which point you'd obviously have to exclude groups of more than three from that final draw but it's statistically irrelevent).

It all comes back to the same thing though, why on earth would the festival ever want to do this?

They're a business and they want to sell as many tickets as quickly as possible, and they also want to make sure the festival remains as popular as possible for as long as possible.

Imagine a situation where you have people that have gone possibly 5-10 times in a row being put through and ballot system that means they only go once every 3 or 4 years on average, it wouldn't take long before people didn't bother with the ballot and found other things to do with their lives.

 

[JacquelineS]

The balloting system would be a nightmare to sort through especially since tickets are intended for the registree only. I can not think of a fairer system then what is already in place..... Even if you have a group of people trying they can only register 6 people at a time and out 250,000 or whatever trying to get through that is an infinitesimal advantage. I was one person sitting up at 2:00 a.m.  with one computer and one browser across an ocean and just happened I was lucky enough to get through. I am glad I did as this is a bucket list event for me and I would most likely be unable to attend in 2020. Everyone that tries for tickets now with the current system are serious contenders and are unlikely to flake out (except for a very few).

[Huckleberry Finn]

No doubt the current system is the fairest out there. You need at least one of three things you assure yourself the best chance of getting a ticket:

1. Have very good and reliable friends.

2. An insatiable appetite to attend to an obsessive level.

3. A deluge of luck.

If you have all three you're golden. I would suggest to anyone who missed out this year (in as non-patronising a tone as possible) to review points one and two and consider what you could have done differently. Get those correct and the third should follow.

A member of your group who didn't get up to get tickets? Did you rule out a coach ticket from Lincoln because it's not down the end of your road? It's these factors like these that can separate the successful from the failures. 

[johnomatic]

This has recently been negated slightly by the introduction of weekday evening coach sales, but something I've often thought about this is the fact that the sale is first thing on a Sunday and you have to get up and organised and that's a good thing.

I've literally heard people say before they don't want to try for tickets because they either can't be bothered to get up for 9 on a Sunday, or more commonly because they can't be bothered to go through the whole ticket registration system and then organise a group to try for tickets at that specific time, 

Presumably under a ballot system it would be much 'easier' in that way to go for a ticket for those people, but personally I'd rather people who really wanted it (and were prepared to go through the whole registration system and get themselves organised at the specific time) got the tickets. 

But I'm slightly biased because I've tried five years now and been lucky enough to get a ticket in the main sale all five years. 

[DeanoL]

1 hour ago, JacquelineS said:

The balloting system would be a nightmare to sort through especially since tickets are intended for the registree only. I can not think of a fairer system then what is already in place..... Even if you have a group of people trying they can only register 6 people at a time and out 250,000 or whatever trying to get through that is an infinitesimal advantage.

A group of six where everyone is trying has literally three times the chances of a couple where both people are trying.

1 hour ago, Huckleberry Finn said:

No doubt the current system is the fairest out there. You need at least one of three things you assure yourself the best chance of getting a ticket:

1. Have very good and reliable friends.

2. An insatiable appetite to attend to an obsessive level.

3. A deluge of luck.

But that's just the thing, in a totally fair system, there would be no way to assure yourself the best chance of getting a ticket. Everyone would have an equal chance. Which is obviously why no-one here, including me, wants a fair system.

Of course, there's a difference between a "fair" system and "the best" system where you may want to bias it towards certain groups, such as those who have the greatest desire to attend.

[russycarps]

7 hours ago, Huckleberry Finn said:

No doubt the current system is the fairest out there. You need at least one of three things you assure yourself the best chance of getting a ticket:

1. Have very good and reliable friends.

2. An insatiable appetite to attend to an obsessive level.

3. A deluge of luck.

If you have all three you're golden. I would suggest to anyone who missed out this year (in as non-patronising a tone as possible) to review points one and two and consider what you could have done differently. Get those correct and the third should follow.

A member of your group who didn't get up to get tickets? Did you rule out a coach ticket from Lincoln because it's not down the end of your road? It's these factors like these that can separate the successful from the failures. 

How can it possibly be fair if it hugely favours people with big groups of friends?

[CaledonianGonzo]

Friends is maybe not the right word.  It rewards people who coordinate more, whether on here or elsewhere.  If you want more people trying for you you might need to pull your finger out and network more. I've bought tickets in the past for people that I've never even met.

[russycarps]

14 minutes ago, CaledonianGonzo said:

Friends is maybe not the right word.  It rewards people who coordinate more, whether on here or elsewhere.  If you want more people trying for you you might need to pull your finger out and network more. I've bought tickets in the past for people that I've never even met.

How would a first timer know all that is necessary?

A ballot would stop all those unfair advantages. I'm glad those advantages exist of course, but it's hardly fair.