They're all gone. A resale of returned badges* will be held later this spring. I am intensely sorry for those of you who got shut out of the system.
The top failures:
- obvious server issues** and getting hung up.
- getting a message - this started almost immediately - that the waiting room was full and probably all badges were gone. This was not the case and probably dissuaded lots of people from trying.
- the fact that refreshing was the only thing that saved some people by liberating them from dead-end rooms, when CCI's instructions were not to refresh.
- people getting into the waiting room, then freezing and not progressing in line. This seems to be a widespread phenomena and it's galling that CCI knew about it in advance and let it happen.
- the help desk line either being busy or not working.
I've also heard a few reports now that people were somehow landing in the waiting room at lower numbers than their friends who'd gotten in earlier and had already been waiting for 20 minutes.
People are always accusing me of being "negative" on this blog but really, I'm trying to inject a sense of realism into the starry-eyed newbies who have no idea what they're getting into. If you lived through today, you may understand where I'm coming from. I know how devastating it is to get excited about Comic Con and then experience this kind of frustration.
* A word on the badge resale, because I think people are talking about 2 different things. Every year CCI sells off the badges that got turned in by people who can't go. That normally happens about May-June. However, last year, Registration Day was so miserable that CCI uncharacteristically held another, smaller "resale" at the end of March. I think people are hoping that will happen this year. I don't know if it will. CCI will notify Member ID people by email if it does.
** Commenter Steve Borsch posted a useful assessment of the system's technical deficiencies and proposed a few solutions. I've said it before: Comic Con attendees are an intelligent demographic. If CCI would just crowdsource some of their issues, we could improve or eliminate a lot of bugaboos. I know there will always be more people who want to attend than can be accommodated - but seriously, it doesn't have to be this bad.
This was worse then last year. They better do a resale.
ReplyDeleteI think the thing that upsets me most is that they clearly knew about some of the issues in advance (like the freezing thing) yet feel it's acceptable to go forward with those issues still in place. It's total amateur hour.
Deleteso true. They need a better system. Every year something happens. Anyone who clicked at 9 was screwed over. I hope I get lucky at the resale. Do you think if enough people complain on facebook that they will hold a new sale earlier then may?
DeleteThey might, but that doesn't mean they'll have more badges to work with. Even if they do hold an earlier resale to placate people, it could be a mostly empty gesture with few real badges on offer.
DeleteMost of the first batch of people never got a refresh when entering.
ReplyDeleteThen, later batches "moved up quickly" while refreshing because the javscript didn't work correctly for those early in line, so they were "giving up their spots."
That's why, when some people refreshed manually - they got in right away; they got in during the "you have so and so time to log in to the buy page" thing. If you got stuck on a page, and didn't refresh manually, you were just out of luck. There are hundreds, if not more, people with screenshots to prove this, and they're all in the first 15thousand-ish. Looks like the bug got fixed at 9:01, basically.
That's interesting. And appalling.
DeleteI love hard data. And given that CCI tells you NOT to refresh, that advice was pretty much the death of many people.
Most of the first batch of people never got a refresh when entering.
ReplyDeleteThen, later batches "moved up quickly" while refreshing because the javscript didn't work correctly for those early in line, so they were "giving up their spots."
That's why, when some people refreshed manually - they got in right away; they got in during the "you have so and so time to log in to the buy page" thing. If you got stuck on a page, and didn't refresh manually, you were just out of luck. There are hundreds, if not more, people with screenshots to prove this, and they're all in the first 15thousand-ish. Looks like the bug got fixed at 9:01, basically.
I refreshed so many times and finally got in at 9:05ish but my number refreshed and I got kicked out. Seemed to happen to many people.
DeleteI have a hard time recommending Con to people who've never been before because of the torturous nature of obtaining passes. I suppose the seeming impossibility of getting a badge only adds to the allure.
ReplyDeleteI hear you. People who don't know any better always think it's all fun, costumes and celebrities, and have no idea how horrible it is to go through registration, getting a hotel, picking up your badges, and so on.
DeleteIs volunteer option closed now?
ReplyDeleteIt's been closed for quite a while. Competition is fierce for that too, but you can try for 2014. Start watching the CCI site or here in the fall and you'll see the announcements.
DeleteHow hard is it to acquire a resale badge? I am mainly shooting for a thursday badge.
ReplyDeleteIt all depends on how many get turned in, which is impossible to predict. Last year they announced that 5,000 single day badges would go up for sale - a healthy number, but then you have to remember how many people will be competing for them.
Delete