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There has to be a better way to allocate tickets


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19 minutes ago, eFestivals said:

this is technically inaccurate.

If the server is dead when you request the page, the page at your device will not refresh from the cache. It's a different response, so the browser will (try to) serve the right thing for that different response.

Just to add that what @hfuhruhurr describes is not my experience either. I got the holding page a couple of times on the Sunday sale and then lost it when refreshing and got a server timed out message instead. I wasn't refreshing quickly as it was always painfully slow to register any refreshes. On the Thursday sale I was able to refresh a holding page as described above.

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8 hours ago, Suprefan said:

Pretty much. Depeche Mode started this a few months before Taylor did and I knew somebody would take it to another level. It was dependant on social media presence and obviously was a promotional tool above anything else. taylors ran for 3 months, Depeche Mode had it up for 2 weeks which seemed reasonable time. I was surprised that whole thing carried over to this tour for taylor, so you pretty much got a free pass on the queue for all the money and time you spent 2 years ago doing her bidding,

I totally understand that this wouldnt fly with glasto purchases, but I think some elements could be used to make it easier to buy tickets. In 2017 they actually spaced out the sale over a period of a couple days. ( I know, not happening with glasto ) but since you had a predetermined place in the queue it made purchasing much smoother because you were notified when it was your turn and you followed the link provided and such and went to buy. Web traffic was managed really well and you could pick your tickets at leisure, no crashes and such. Also knowing your exact spot in the queue did give you some relief as to having a chance to buy tickets or not. This conversation will never end, but my philosophy is that no stone should be unturned in regards to trying to find a way to hopefully one day make it more reasonable, fair and stress free as possible for everyone trying to get a ticket.

I mean 20 years ago when you could still buy tickets in person at a record shop there were certain  policies' in place in a lot of cities to make buying as fair as possible. If there was more than a certain amount of people queued up they essentially did  a ballot of numbers. Everyone got a number and they drew one, then whoever was that number was first and then you followed in sequence of that order. Of course there was always a time when the last person to get a number ended up first in line, but thats life.

There was also a similar system in place for the big radio station gigs over the holidays years ago before online buying just became the only way. You were able to go to the venue box office and everyone got a numbered wristband. They kept drawing numbers and it would be in batches of 10  from that number that would go up to  buy. Took a few hours to sell out the gig, but it was pretty fair. There were lots of repeated numbers, but you knew there was no other way it would sell out while you were there and had a wristband, and they called numbers until it sold out.

That record shop queue ballot sounds horrendous. I'm just old enough to have queued up for tickets in person (Blur with my dad and Bowie literally overnight with a sleeping bag) and would have been fuming if people turning up behind me got a place and I didn't. Surely first come first served is the only thing that makes sense in a physical queue?

Edited by Zoo Music Girl
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45 minutes ago, eFestivals said:

this is technically inaccurate.

If the server is dead when you request the page, the page at your device will not refresh from the cache. It's a different response, so the browser will (try to) serve the right thing for that different response.

So how do you explain the millisecond refreshes? It's certainly not coming from the server.

Unless I'm helping others in the re-sale, I might run in full debug mode and have a trace on exactly what's happening.

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1 hour ago, eFestivals said:

what do you mean by 'millisecond refreshes'?

If you're calling a page from a server, your browser gives the response from that server.

true, and thinking about it my post is wrong.

But there's some magic going on that enables you to refresh instantly - like blink of an eye in the midst of all that traffic - and do that consistently for many F5's. And yet on an exact same set up you're refreshing slowly and timing out more often than not.

But you're right - the server must be alive.

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Ok here's an idea. 

So the registration process closing early already separates those that have done their research and those that hear about ticket day  the day before they go on sale.

So, how about an initial registration deadline, as we already have, but move that back to say August, and then another (or even two or three more) dates where you have to log in and confirm your interest before ticket day? This would take those that aren't 'committed enough' to remember them out of the equation.

Then again, who is anyone to decide that only the most determined should be the ones that get tickets? 

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15 minutes ago, hfuhruhurr said:

But there's some magic going on that enables you to refresh instantly - like blink of an eye in the midst of all that traffic - and do that consistently for many F5's.

It’s a very simple holding page though, and they will have an array of load balancers to handle the traffic and let through a set number to the real booking system. It may seem like a lot of traffic but it’s nothing compared with what someone like google is handling all day, every day.

There are many ways they can set their systems up and we’ll never know for sure how it works unless they decided to tell us. I can’t see why they would though as it may open up a backdoor to someone with enough knowledge, at the expense of the lay person.

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17 minutes ago, hfuhruhurr said:

But there's some magic going on that enables you to refresh instantly - like blink of an eye in the midst of all that traffic - and do that consistently for many F5's. And yet on an exact same set up you're refreshing slowly and timing out more often than not.

Not magic, just that your query is being directed to one of several different back end servers. One of which may have collapsed under the load, one of which may be working perfectly and responding (near enough) instantly, so it's natural that you'll get different behaviour.

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11 hours ago, D-Low said:

See, it really scares me they are even looking in to the system. The system is NOT broke. Yes its painfully frustrating. Yes missing out is heartbreaking (I've missed a fair good few years). Yes refreshing f5 for what feels like hours but is a mere 30 minutes is soul destroying. But it works. People buy tickets. People get through to the booking page. Just not everyone. It's the fairest it can be. If see tickets got more servers to avoid the crashing then the tickets would just sell out faster, nothing more and people would still be upset.

You can't possible please everyone. There isn't an infinite number of tickets. All this ballot talk terrifies me.

Glastonbury is over-subscribed so there is obviously no solution that's going to make everyone happy.  The argument is that the current system is the least-worst, because it offers a slight advantage to the most determined.

However, look at it again from the festival's point of view.  There are now large groups of regular attendees who are organised and determined. They will get a reasonable percentage of the tickets. People not so organised, or knowledgable will more likely miss out. 

Is this desirable in from the festival's perspective?  Perhaps they want to break up some of this monopoly.  It's great that determination is a factor, but is this preventing newcomers, young people, or other disadvantaged groups?

In addition, it's becoming clear now that people are getting more tech savy too; endless photos are shared of people with 16 screens in front of them, on computers, laptops, ipads etc.  This is despite the request from the festival to use one device one ip.  It's a surprise no-one's scripted something with a 1000 (or more) connections trying simulataneously and offering this as a paid service yet.

So I can understand, from the festival's perspective, why they might be thinking about what they could do to change things.

 

I obviously don't want any of this, because I'm one of those organised people in a large group with lots of experience. I haven't missed out yet.  A different system might change this.  I haven't heard of a better one yet, tbh, but I wouldn't be surprised if, for example, a ballot system for a few thousand tickets is trialled.

 

 

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2 minutes ago, uscore said:

People not so organised, or knowledgable will more likely miss out. 

1 minute ago, uscore said:

but is this preventing newcomers, young people, or other disadvantaged groups?

Maybe I'm being overly harsh, but surely these are independent? A simple google search "how to get Glastonbury tickets" will tell you most of what you need to know (group up, one tab per browser etc), favouring determination and organisation isn't that big of a problem? 

Maybe they could stop people in massive mega groups by, as has been mentioned in here before, requiring people to log in on ticket day with their reg number, only one session per reg is allowed (can still buy up to 6 tickets), and once a ticket has been bought for a particular number it's locked out from trying to access the booking page. Enforces that everyone can only try on one device, would just require a more thorough check for multiple registrations.

 

 

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21 minutes ago, thrillhouse188 said:

Maybe I'm being overly harsh, but surely these are independent? A simple google search "how to get Glastonbury tickets" will tell you most of what you need to know (group up, one tab per browser etc), favouring determination and organisation isn't that big of a problem? 

Maybe they could stop people in massive mega groups by, as has been mentioned in here before, requiring people to log in on ticket day with their reg number, only one session per reg is allowed (can still buy up to 6 tickets), and once a ticket has been bought for a particular number it's locked out from trying to access the booking page. Enforces that everyone can only try on one device, would just require a more thorough check for multiple registrations.

 

 

There you go then. That'd be a massive change to how it currently works.   I imagine they are considering that kind of thing along with the other suggestions.  

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33 minutes ago, uscore said:

However, look at it again from the festival's point of view.  There are now large groups of regular attendees who are organised and determined. They will get a reasonable percentage of the tickets. People not so organised, or knowledgable will more likely miss out. 

Is this desirable in from the festival's perspective?  Perhaps they want to break up some of this monopoly.  It's great that determination is a factor, but is this preventing newcomers, young people, or other disadvantaged groups?

It's not preventing this newcomer, or his group of young people, from getting tickets this year. ?

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Just now, David Gray (90+2) said:

It's not preventing this newcomer, or his group of young people, from getting tickets this year. ?

Aye mate, missus and I have wanted to go for a few years but never properly tried, only a quick check during the sale, hit the waiting page, then give up. Last year was our first proper organised attempt, and with the help of a bit of research we got them, managed to do it again this year as well. Yes there's always an element of luck, but any potential newbie can do the research and give themselves a decent chance!

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It's interesting when there's so much discussion about ticket allocation, popularity etc. after the ticket day when am I right in thinking that when they got rid of the 'hit-back-and-buy-again' trick was closed a couple of years back. I think that more than anything has prevented these mega groups all getting tickets and by extension removing a massive advantage for repeat festival goers.

Edited by Garrett_Salas
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2 minutes ago, Garrett_Salas said:

It's interesting when there's so much discussion about ticket allocation, popularity etc. after the ticket day when am I right in thinking that when they got rid of the 'hit-back-and-buy-again' trick was closed a couple of years back. I think that more than anything has prevented these mega groups all getting tickets and by extension removing a massive advantage for repeat festival goers.

Even so, say someone gets through nice and early, gets group 1, they can continue refreshing for the remaining 30 mins or so of the sale and potentially buy up more? Also (totally anecdotal), on the coach sale this year I hit the booking page 3/4 times, maybe just coincidence, but seems odd that once I got through I could keep getting back in

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1 hour ago, Freddyflintstonree said:

Then again, who is anyone to decide that only the most determined should be the ones that get tickets? 

Yeah I guess this is the point, do GF really care about it not always being the most committed who get tickets? If it were to be the most committed who were rewarded, would we just have the same type of people going each year?

I for one was asleep for my first T-day, there was 3 of us in our group and 2 of us slept through the entire thing. Luckily that 1 friend got through in 2014 and I've been ever year since.

We all start somewhere.

Edited by ledwards
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1 hour ago, Garrett_Salas said:

It's interesting when there's so much discussion about ticket allocation, popularity etc. after the ticket day when am I right in thinking that when they got rid of the 'hit-back-and-buy-again' trick was closed a couple of years back. I think that more than anything has prevented these mega groups all getting tickets and by extension removing a massive advantage for repeat festival goers.

I definitely think this is a thing. The bitterness and entitlement from some quarters seems pretty pronounced in the last few years and it tends to come from those who always relied on being in mega groups. It's definitely a good thing to break that monopoly. This my third time failing and it's nice to not have to read those "we got through for all 46 in our group" posts. 

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6 minutes ago, Zoo Music Girl said:

I definitely think this is a thing. The bitterness and entitlement from some quarters seems pretty pronounced in the last few years and it tends to come from those who always relied on being in mega groups. It's definitely a good thing to break that monopoly. This my third time failing and it's nice to not have to read those "we got through for all 46 in our group" posts. 

I'd love to say the bitter / entitled thing baffles me, but you just come to expect it a bit now.  It's like things can't be either (a) your own fault or (b) just bad luck.  Everything must have someone or something that you can directly blame and hurl shite at. It's the mentality of toddlers.

All over the resale dude.  Assuming you've already put in for the ballot sale business?

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1 hour ago, thrillhouse188 said:

Even so, say someone gets through nice and early, gets group 1, they can continue refreshing for the remaining 30 mins or so of the sale and potentially buy up more? Also (totally anecdotal), on the coach sale this year I hit the booking page 3/4 times, maybe just coincidence, but seems odd that once I got through I could keep getting back in

My mate bought 2 groups worth of tickets  this year. Most of us got nowhere.

For 2019, I got through twice for all our tickets, no one else got anywhere.

For 2017s festival, someone got through about 6 times, for different groups. He was on Facebook asking anyone who was struggling to pass details on. It was a bit ridiculous. He'd bought ours straight away and didn't really stop getting to the page.

This kind of thing has happened most times we have been to be honest. It is as if the system likes your ip address or it doesn't.

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3 minutes ago, FuzzyDunlop said:

My mate bought 2 groups worth of tickets  this year. Most of us got nowhere.

For 2019, I got through twice for all our tickets, no one else got anywhere.

For 2017s festival, someone got through about 6 times, for different groups. He was on Facebook asking anyone who was struggling to pass details on. It was a bit ridiculous. He'd bought ours straight away and didn't really stop getting to the page.

This kind of thing has happened most times we have been to be honest. It is as if the system likes your ip address or it doesn't.

I'm not very tech savvy but can only assume it's once you're in your device latches on to the correct path to the booking page? 

Like people have said theres obviously a bit of luck involved but if you and your group are determined and know what you're doing you should get somewhere. 

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Every year I’ve gone I’ve known first timers to get tickets as well. This year I know somebody who was in holiday and her mums friend got them one. For 2017 somebody I work with got them on her phone as a passenger in a car.

The current system does not stop the inexperienced and first timers from going, just because you have organised old timers who have been going for years that doesn’t somehow automatically exclude everyone else, far from it.

You can’t nanny everyone through life, at some point people have to try and work things out for themselves. It doesn’t take much research to work out how to give yourself the best chance of getting tickets, it’s not rocket science it’s merely basic common sense. People talk about the internet and ‘devices’ like they’re some sort of witchcraft, they’ve been around for a long long time now.

As far as I’m concerned the people who are in twitter within 5 minutes of the sale starting bitching and moaning are the worst type of people and deserve to be nowhere near the festival. Changing the system just panders time them.
 

 

 

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