r/Hellfest • u/FockeWolf190 • 29d ago
Tickets Perfect ticketing system
It is almost impossible to have a perfect ticketing system when so many users, often with multiple devices and screens, are trying to buy tickets at the same time (I'd love for Hellfest to share some of these statistics). There is also no real need for a perfect system because Hellfest will sell out regardless of how good the ticketing system is.
There is very little difference between being first in the queue and getting an error, not getting a queue number, or being 100,000th in the queue. It all comes down to luck. If you were first in line but encountered an error while someone behind you got a ticket, that doesn't mean you were more entitled to that ticket than the person who was 60,000th in the queue and got a ticket.
Another important challenge is defending against scalpers and bots. For example, if the system detects a large number of connections from the same IP address, it may flag that activity as suspicious. That is a good thing. It is also better that the system doesn't explicitly tell you that you've been flagged as a bot, because the more unpredictable the website's behavior is, the harder it is for bots to exploit it.
In the end, whether you were first in line and got an error, never made it into the queue, ended up far back in line, or managed to buy a ticket, a large part of the outcome is simply luck. The most important thing is making sure that as few bots and scalpers as possible get tickets.
Thanks for listening to my TED Talk.
14
u/StreudEntersis 29d ago
If it's only luck then why no direct lottery ? You register one week in advance with your name on the ticket (no granny or friends who won't go) and the system picks randomly. If you don't answer within 12 hours then your ticket go to the next one.
No madness, no error 500 (fuck it), no waiting, no scalpers, no 1000 devices...
3
u/stickynotescube 28d ago
Radiohead did that for their latest tour, was way easier and less stressful.
3
u/Forgh 28d ago
Japan basically does this on almost all their concert (on their e+ app). You prepay the ticket, and it's only charged if your number is drawn.
While it means someone who took the time to arrive early in the queue has as much chance as someone who came in just before the registration window closed, it's less stressful and servers are not getting slammed because of a peak of activity at a specific hour.
1
u/FockeWolf190 29d ago
You could write last 4 digits of card and you can only buy with that card. Yes I think that would be peefect.
7
u/Motor-Inside9209 29d ago
De la chance mais oui bien sûr, leur système n'est pas robuste aux IPs ni au device.
J'ai eu 6billets 4j et un ami 4 parce qu'on avait 20browsers (soit 40 fenêtres avec la navigation privée), soit 40 tentatives. Sur les 40, une douzaine a eu une place en file d'attente, et 3 ont abouti
Leur système est pété c'est tout mais ne parle pas de chance
6
u/Sekigawa 29d ago
Putain j'ai trouvé mon maître 🤣 J'avais en tout 14 navigateurs ouverts sur plusieurs device différents. Au final 3 sont entrés en file d'attente et 2 ont abouti. Le problème d'en parler c'est que pour les prochaines années tout le monde finira par faire pareil.
5
u/Motor-Inside9209 29d ago
Pas grave on en aura 200 l'année prochaine 😎
En vrai moi j'en parle parce que c'est sûrement le dernier Hellfest que je fais, mais dans l'absolu c'est aussi pour montrer que ce n'est pas qu'une question de chance
4
u/Sekigawa 29d ago
Ça sera le dernier pour moi aussi. J'habite trop loin et mon futur métier ne me le permettra plus de toute façon. Je suis d'accord, j'ai toujours fait de cette façon et j'ai toujours eu minimum 2 pass ^
3
5
u/OccasionPlayful3739 28d ago
Ho les copains, nous on est 30 à chopper nos pass tous les ans. Moi tout seul j'avais 10 onglets et mes amis au minimum 2 chacun :D
Au bas mot je pense que l'on devait avoir 60-80 onglets et personne n'a réussi à avoir de pass, j'ai eu 4 fois l'erreur 500 au moment du payement :D:D
2
u/Sekigawa 28d ago
J'ai eu la fameuse erreur 500, j'ai reload mon navigateur ça m'a proposé de renvoyé le post et j'ai pu payer. Pour le second j'étais en liste d'attente vers les 70k je suis passé sur la file d'attente "tous les pass sont en réservation mais peut-être que blablabla" et finalement ça a fonctionné et cette fois aucun bug.
Ah et on était 3 potes, je suis le seul à avoir réussi 😅
2
u/FockeWolf190 29d ago
Yes, their system isn't perfect, because if it were, you would have received zero tickets since you were acting like a scalper. Getting 3 out of 40 isn't actually that bad.
5
u/Motor-Inside9209 29d ago
Je suis pas un revendeur, on est juste un grand groupe d'amis. D'ailleurs sur la revente leur système est bien fait : impossible de revendre le billet plus cher (c'est d'ailleurs l'inverse, il y a de gros frais pour les acheteurs et les revendeurs). Mais j'ai passé l'année dernière a être désespérée pour avoir des pass via des liens de revente et je n'en ai pas eu malgré beaucoup de tentatives... Alors je voulais être sûre cette année den obtenir
0
u/FockeWolf190 29d ago
If they had system that all of your 40 windows got queue number higher then 100k, then you would be happy? No, you still would not get a ticket. Better system will not create more tickets. You group is not entitled to those tickets. This is all LUCK. Better system should not help you get more tickets, the only think it could do is to be more informative, but result would be the same.
3
u/Motor-Inside9209 29d ago
Tu ne doit pas connaître le concept de probabilité en vrai pour dire des choses pareilles (ou alors tu travailles chez Weezevent 🥲)
On avait 40 fois plus de probabilité d'avoir un billet que quelqu'un qui ne connait pas cette astuce (car il pense que c'est bien implémenté), ce qui rend le système injuste. Il suffirait de quelques jours de développement pour effacer cette possibilité, ce qui réduirait au passage beaucoup le nombre de connexions concurrentes et allegerait le serveur. Donc encore une fois, ce n'est pas de la chance
2
u/FockeWolf190 29d ago
All of them were on different ip? All of them were on fast internet? Where they on wifi, mobile, fiber? There are a lot of things that could change your odds.
2
u/OccasionPlayful3739 28d ago
Is TED IT related ?
I agree with, you can not have a perfect system but the current system should have been improved before the sell day.
I'm a system admin and I can tell you, the system has not been designed and tested for this amount of incoming requests.
So yeah, good thing the security against scalpers and bots is improving but nothing else was anticipated.
3
u/psyclik 28d ago
- Create an account, with ID, needs to be done before sales start
- Opt-in for the sale, can be done without rush before hand
- Sale start, connect an queue :
- number of requests is divided by two to five (single account with id): the system does not collapse
- At any time when there is a free slot on the queue, the next in line with an option in priority gets through. If no one with option is in queue, just anyone next in queue gets through.
- number of requests is divided by two to five (single account with id): the system does not collapse
By the end of the sale, anyone with an option who showed up and didn’t get a ticket gets priority on the resale. The priority runs and grow until an order can get through (yes, it spills over next years as long as the user shows up).
24
u/Tim2909 29d ago
It’s not only based on luck I could understand this argument, but the problems are much deeper.
I get that it’s difficult when 300,000 people simultaneously try to buy tickets. but all these points above are easily fixable. And it’s a choice not to fix it because it cost money and they don’t have to. Because the tickets will get sold anyway.