2024 Ticket Buying Tips

[BBC7BBCHEAVEN]

1 minute ago, DeanoL said:

I think it's as justifiable as the large groups/syndicates. Both are at odds with the intent of how Glastonbury wanted the sale to go. The only difference is the server issues/IP stuff is easier to fix than the large groups issue.

Network engineering versus social engineering.

Would not be as simple as having to pre-register your group of six, then require a login for the ticket sale?

You can only buy for the group you're registered in

[DeanoL]

1 minute ago, BBC7BBCHEAVEN said:

Would not be as simple as having to pre-register your group of six, then require a login for the ticket sale?

You can only buy for the group you're registered in

But I could login as someone else's group once I got my tickets, just share passwords. You'd have to have some weird thing where you logged in before the sale on a specific device and could only use that device. It's not impossible, but it's not trivial.

[NotAnInsider]

7 minutes ago, BBC7BBCHEAVEN said:

This is the inevitable end. Personally I don't try for people I don't know

I see no difference from you setting up 100 bot connections to online groups of that size, and clearly people setting up those groups have no qualms with it so it'll just be exponential 

Which comes back to the 'where does it end' argument. It feels that, until recently, you have had a good chance of success with commonly available things - mostly a laptop and a bit of knowledge. I get the argument that anyone so inclined can gain that knowledge and have a good chance.  I think we are past that now; having a lot of sessions, internet connections and people trying for you is a requirement to even get a look and - and it is only going to get worse now that people are charging for access.  

The current system has had a good innings, but it's heading towards the end of its life. We're due a shake up, even if it just shifts the advantage to a different group.

[Crazyfool01]

5 minutes ago, BBC7BBCHEAVEN said:

Would not be as simple as having to pre-register your group of six, then require a login for the ticket sale?

You can only buy for the group you're registered in

Issue with that is the 2 different sales and groups changing dependant on what happens in the first one 

[SpencerF]

Had 20+ devices across multiple different people trying yesterday and we didn't even get a sniff of the booking page - 90mins of the 'will refresh after 20 seconds' page and then instantly to the 'sold out' page, first year I haven't even had a look in, so that's disappointing. Sad to hear of the host hack thing, but it's to be expected nowadays so no grudges and it's bound to be a small proportion of the general sale. Will look to go again for the resale, though getting 6 tickets in that seems a TASK. 

On the bright side, I might be due a year off. Got insanely good Taylor seats for her show in Lisbon next year, so the inevitable £1000+ spent at Glastonbury can go towards spending that on the Mrs instead and being able to see Macca, Elton, Kendrick and more over the past 2 festivals has been great

[gigpusher]

9 minutes ago, Nick_ said:

I see that asserted, but I think I disagree.  

Well, of course, it depends on the aim of the method of selling tickets.  

One of my friends (who is fit and capable of running a marathon) has been trying to get into the London Marathon for 15 years in a row and keeps failing.

My husbands cousin saw him run a marathon and decided from zero fitness she wanted to try. She got in first time, did the couch to 5 k, realised there was no way she'd be able to run a marathon and wasted a place completely.

This is the kind of thing that could happen with a ballot in place because there is literally no effort whatsoever required on your part to enter a ballot.

I hope any backdoor methods are stopped but everyone has the ability to mash f5, be organised and ask friends to help them.

[DeanoL]

1 minute ago, Crazyfool01 said:

Issue with that is the 2 different sales and groups changing dependant on what happens in the first one 

Honestly I think it would be a fix to only let people try for one or other. The "coach sale first" thing was designed to encourage people to take public transport but reality is there's enough demand regardless and it'd be better to see coach tickets go to people who *want* to take the coach rather than those doing it begrudgingly because they're worried about not getting tickets on the Sunday.

[BBC7BBCHEAVEN]

1 minute ago, gigpusher said:

I hope any backdoor methods are stopped but everyone has the ability to mash f5, be organised and ask friends to help them.

A false equivalence and playing down of what's happening.

There's nothing in the current Glastonbury system that stops places from being wasted as per your marathon example (ignoring the fact that going to festivals a lot should give you no advantage over those that haven't).

Clearly being organised (unless you mean joining super groups) and mashing F5 doesn't cut it anymore 

[BBC7BBCHEAVEN]

4 minutes ago, Crazyfool01 said:

Issue with that is the 2 different sales and groups changing dependant on what happens in the first one 

I don't see the issue, if you get through you buy your group of six?

If two want coach, book the coach, then the six can try again on general sale for the remaining four etc.

[Crazyfool01]

Just now, DeanoL said:

Honestly I think it would be a fix to only let people try for one or other. The "coach sale first" thing was designed to encourage people to take public transport but reality is there's enough demand regardless and it'd be better to see coach tickets go to people who *want* to take the coach rather than those doing it begrudgingly because they're worried about not getting tickets on the Sunday.

Then you get a multiple registration issue … it’ seems that whatever system there is people will find ways to game it 

[DeanoL]

3 minutes ago, gigpusher said:

One of my friends (who is fit and capable of running a marathon) has been trying to get into the London Marathon for 15 years in a row and keeps failing.

My husbands cousin saw him run a marathon and decided from zero fitness she wanted to try. She got in first time, did the couch to 5 k, realised there was no way she'd be able to run a marathon and wasted a place completely.

This is the kind of thing that could happen with a ballot in place because there is literally no effort whatsoever required on your part to enter a ballot.

The ticket would just go in the resale though, so wouldn't be wasted - for Glasto at least don't know about the marathon. 
 

Quote

 

I hope any backdoor methods are stopped but everyone has the ability to mash f5, be organised and ask friends to help them.

 

People have a different amount of friends. People have a different amount of tech knowledge. It's fine to leverage one, but not the other.

[t0paz]

Nobody seems overly bothered about the poor people who adhere to one tab, one device and let it refresh once every 20 seconds. It’s not an issue to have multiple devices with auto refresh and get 60,80,100 times the chances of someone doing as the festival asks.

This Host file entry method isn’t a million miles away from that. I wonder how many people complaining today would have happily used it yesterday if only they knew to?

[BBC7BBCHEAVEN]

4 minutes ago, Crazyfool01 said:

Then you get a multiple registration issue … it’ seems that whatever system there is people will find ways to game it 

Countered by requiring a deposit up front when registering. 

Most people aren't going to drop £500 to have a slightly increased chance 

[DeanoL]

1 minute ago, Crazyfool01 said:

Then you get a multiple registration issue … it’ seems that whatever system there is people will find ways to game it 

True. I 100% agree that whatever the system is, ways will be found to game it. But I'd also say we've had the same system for about ten festivals now (most of the 00s there were workarounds or the festival wasn't selling well anyway) and we've only just reached the point where people are really aggressively gaming it.

Any system will get gamed, but I'm now at the point I'd agree that a new system might get gamed "less". Like, the stuff being done this year and last was possible back in 2015 but wasn't happening then because... ? I don't know. So while there are always theoretical ways to game the system, if those happen in practice is a different question. And if they happen in practice and *at scale* is also a different question.

A reset of the system, requiring new methods for "gaming" might be useful in and of itself, as it will take a good few years for any such methods to start percolating out and becoming more widely used. Doesn't necessarily need to be more secure. Just being different may be sufficient.

[Nick_]

17 minutes ago, gigpusher said:

.

I hope any backdoor methods are stopped but everyone has the ability to mash f5, be organised and ask friends to help them.

Why does hitting F5 (and knowing that's what you need to do, when the website says nothing about that) make you more deserving of a ticket?  

Edited November 20, 2023 by Nick_

[stuie]

9 minutes ago, BBC7BBCHEAVEN said:

A false equivalence and playing down of what's happening.

There's nothing in the current Glastonbury system that stops places from being wasted as per your marathon example (ignoring the fact that going to festivals a lot should give you no advantage over those that haven't).

Clearly being organised (unless you mean joining super groups) and mashing F5 doesn't cut it anymore 

I think what you think is happening and what is actually happening is different. 

Glasto Chat is full of people who just got tickets in the normal way. On Thursday a friends dad got through on his old iPad. 150k tickets didn’t go to bots and geeks. 

[stuartasmith85]

3 minutes ago, BBC7BBCHEAVEN said:

Countered by requiring a deposit up front when registering. 

Most people aren't going to drop £500 to have a slightly increased chance 

Incidentally, while I totally get that there are cost of living issues here, this is how some sporting events do it. Lords ticket ballot, you have to put your card details in, and it just gets instantly charged if you're successful - and if the money's not there, you don't get the ticket - not sure many people are putting in for that on a total whim.

[Nick_]

10 minutes ago, DeanoL said:

People have a different amount of friends. 

This ☝️

[Dave_c]

The system is fine as it is. The reality is the odds are massively against you, it is a lottery and down to luck. I would say less than 5% of tickets went to people gaming the system, the rest just went to regular punters going through the motions like the rest of us.

 

[DeanoL]

2 minutes ago, stuie said:

I think what you think is happening and what is actually happening is different. 

Glasto Chat is full of people who just got tickets in the normal way. On Thursday a friends dad got through on his old iPad. 150k tickets didn’t go to bots and geeks. 

Do you think a greater proportion of tickets went to such folk (and I'm including the "loads of friends in a spreadsheet" as geeks) though than say last year? And do you think that proportion will go up or down next year?

I don't expect them to change the whole thing right off next year, but I think this is heading in one direction and I suspect some ticketing changes to happen during the next fallow year.

[gigpusher]

9 minutes ago, BBC7BBCHEAVEN said:

A false equivalence and playing down of what's happening.

There's nothing in the current Glastonbury system that stops places from being wasted as per your marathon example (ignoring the fact that going to festivals a lot should give you no advantage over those that haven't).

Clearly being organised (unless you mean joining super groups) and mashing F5 doesn't cut it anymore 

I could see if zero effort people who are fans of just one artist who might be playing flooding ballots for example or even more extreme examples amongst rich people who have money to waste, entering but only going if the weather is good. I definitely see no circumstances in which the ballot is better even if it's just getting a couple of friends to help you absolutely everyone has the ability to tilt the current system slightly in their favour.

7 minutes ago, DeanoL said:

The ticket would just go in the resale though, so wouldn't be wasted - for Glasto at least don't know about the marathon. 
 

People have a different amount of friends. People have a different amount of tech knowledge. It's fine to leverage one, but not the other.

As I said above there is the chance people would waste tickets. I have very little technical knowledge but I have some reasonably technical friends and my husband is very, very technical. He has not managed to get his own ticket since 2017. Last year one of my friends who is absolutely not at all technical got our tickets. I think people assume there is some kind of technical cabal buying all the tickets but I genuinely do think that is a fantasy. In my group people with very little technical knowledge seem to be as likely to get through as those with more knowledge.

 

[Nick_]

1 minute ago, Dave_c said:

The system is fine as it is. The reality is the odds are massively against you, it is a lottery and down to luck. I would say less than 5% of tickets went to people gaming the system, the rest just went to regular punters going through the motions like the rest of us.

 

What's your source of that 5% figure, and how are you defining "gaming"?

From this thread, which may not be representative, it sounds like most people "game" it.

[DeanoL]

2 minutes ago, Dave_c said:

The system is fine as it is. The reality is the odds are massively against you, it is a lottery and down to luck. I would say less than 5% of tickets went to people gaming the system, the rest just went to regular punters going through the motions like the rest of us.

Depends if you include "gaming the system" being large groups/syndicates or not. And how large a group does it have to be to count as "gaming" it? 

[BBC7BBCHEAVEN]

6 minutes ago, stuie said:

I think what you think is happening and what is actually happening is different. 

Glasto Chat is full of people who just got tickets in the normal way. On Thursday a friends dad got through on his old iPad. 150k tickets didn’t go to bots and geeks. 

In my opinion this thread would suggest it is happening.

https://www.efestivals.co.uk/forums/topic/250401-glastonbury-2024-main-sale-success-poll/page/4/#comment-6685782

While I know you're just saying it to be dismissive of my point of view, the bots statement is what I see as an inevitable future, the problem now for me are large buying blocks.

[Nick_]

2 minutes ago, gigpusher said:

even if it's just getting a couple of friends to help you absolutely everyone has the ability to tilt the current system slightly in their favour.

 

Nope.  I know absolutely nobody who I could ask to do this.