January 5, 2007

  • Arcade Fire Tickets

    Tickets to all five (yes five) Arcade Fire shows sold out in like 5 minutes this morning!  I’ll withhold any commentary on how overrated and overhyped Arcade Fire are because, frankly, I was one of the chumps trying to buy tickets.  Instead, I thought I’d write a few observations on the queueing system used by Tickets.com. 

    In the minutes leading up to a ticket sale, a ticket vendor will be hammered with requests.  To alleviate this, Tickets.com put in a queue system that has you wait 30 seconds before making your next ticket request.  The code uses javascript to countdown 30 seconds, and then just reloads the page. 

    Even with the countdown, users have to be prevented from just hitting refresh over and over again.  To combat this, Tickets.com put in a few alerts whenever the page is refreshed, the ctrl-N is clicked, or the mouse button is clicked.

    Thats all pretty clever, and yet at the core of the code, the page merely refreshes itself; its not to hard to get around this.  For example, just reload the page, ignoring whatever javascript alerts come up.  All that countdown stuff is just smoke & mirrors.

    As far as I can tell, Tickets.com doesn’t do any server side tracking
    of requests (there’s no cookie set, there’s no session ID in the url). 
    There was a “roomid” in the querystring (maybe pointing to different
    queues?), but changing it didn’t do anything for me.

    Now here’s where it gets ugly.  I did get occasionally get through to the ticket purchase process, multiple times in fact.  But do I have tickets?  No!  That’s because Tickets.com puts valid ticket requests through the same queue as new requests.  So even after choosing my tickets, and after hitting the captcha page, I was still kicked back into the queue!  This was very annoying!  Valid ticket requests should have been streamlined through the proccess; it would have saved a lot of frustration for many people (I think Ticketmaster does this).

    If anyone’s interested in seeing the actual javascript, you can check it out here (I made a few formatting changes but the gist of it is there).  In the meantime, there’s some amusing discussion about the whole fiasco going on at BrooklynVegan.

    So, did anyone get tickets?

Comments (16)

  • I didn’t. But then again, I’d never heard of this band until I read this :) Found their album on eMusic, going to give it a shot :)

  • Arcade Fire is totally overrated. They’re more overhyped, though.When I read stories like this, I think it’s reasonable to spring for a ticket broker now and again.

  • i have seen them 3 times since “funeral” was released and i can tell you that they are a terrific, amazing band live – all three times the entire crowd was moving in unison to the beat of the music – i’ve never seen anything quite like it and i have been going to concerts for well over 30 years…
    i believe they are well-desrving of the accolades given them – they already have had an effect on many other bands (listen to just about every band on the montreal scene) and i eagerly await their next release – and no i don’t get a dime from them!

  • LV has an excellent reputation among female consumers for its durable quality and exquisite craft. With these good merits,louis vuitton ukare really the first choice as a special Christmas gift for yourself and your friends.These is the first time your visit our louis vuitlouis vuitton online shop,welcome.buylouis vuitton onlineCommercial tour (Syria) to sell and buy from syria.

  • This coach outlet store are compatible with people today. And you will undoubtedly pick out thecoach outlet store onlineyou desire from all kinds of colors and styles.Appearance fashion, confidence and a perfect coach handbags, you must spend some time and effort to find a division has total choose what you like to for export various kinds ofcoach outlet store.I heard ofcoach outlet onlinethrough the advertisement when I was shopping. And now I often brow the webpage and buy Coach bags online.

  • anylouis vuitton outletNew backpack features usa a function grownup overall look. Varied piece allows that it is captivated me within the approve and also further than your body.Itslouis vuitton bags outletstore, there a louis vuitton outlet overall look doesn’t endure simply for precisely the little brown eyes that appear in internet, but in addition remain it really is quality that will possibly chafes may be kept and reduce for ages involving made use of.Ergo, if you want to be the best continually louis vuitton outlet online after that have the very best case on hand often. Choose having a type style of fashion as well as leaving the visible difference it can surely make.Along with the ideal workmanship as well as exact diagram marks,louis vuitton handbags outlet.

  • Are you still worrying about where to buy yourself a Coach? Thencoach bagsOnline offering top-quality goods and first-class service can be your way-out.Where there are women, there are bags. Where there are bags, there arecoach outlet store online. Coach products are the direction indicator of the latest fashion and trend.the shirt ofcoach outlet storehas the abbreviation’FHS’, which implies that the school at which he coached has a name that starts with an ‘F’.

  • This brown handbag called Flagship Signature Brown Handbag has been the best seller in thecoach factory outletfor almost three weeks.All people give the good comments for thecoach factory online, and now the Coach outlet store provides many discount goods online.There’s the recentcoach factory outlet onlineintended for 2011 of our own Louis vuitton outlet store shopping. Most of these bags possess the top quality & lowest cost!

  • People need a complete range of bags from thelouis vuitton saleto suit different occasions, formal or casual. Of course, we need at least one patent leather bag in decent color for formal occasion to match our profession.Looking for alouis vuitton outletand don’t know where they are? The easiest way is to enter here. That simple and you definitely will never be disappointed.I am so confused that I don,t even know where to buy thelouis vuittonHandbags. Because I can prefer to chose the fashionable design, favorable price, top service .

  • I got the information ofcoach outlet onlinefrom my close friends. They often buy bags, purses and other accessories from this outlet.Performed yourcoach outlet store, asked to choose solutions you want, encouraged explain in words it for your close friends.Attention!coach outletis offering new products at favorable prices for August. Brighter colors, finer looks and newer designs, all bring you a whole new summer.

  • If you want to buy quality Coach products at lower prices, visitingcoach outletonline can be your best decision.Yesterday, I saw an advertisement of lady’s handbags on Coach Outlets Online. I was obsessed by the unique decorative pattern and special appearance ofcoach outlet store online.We have large quantitycoach outlet onlineStore .Welcome to buy, free shipping with great discount promotion and best service for you now.

  • With the great diversity of styles, patterns and sizes available nowadays, finding the right pieces to highlight your personality is quite important. coach outlet offers exactly what you want.This coach outlet store are compatible with people today. And you will undoubtedly pick out the coach outlet store online you desire from all kinds of colors and styles.coach outlet online is surprisingly patient with Ellis’naive ways and defends him whenever Nick is negative or sarcastic toward him. Both are also native Georgians, which could contribute to their friendliness with each other.

  • Louis Vuitton is one of the world’s leading international fashion houses.The catching styles and upmarket qualities endeared louis vuitton uk to almost everyone.in fact, louis vuitton is one of the most famous fashion design master.he opened the fist suitcase shop called after his name.louis vuitton outlet is really so well-liked and also treasured during the human beings to be a number of high-end, they may realize that the bring up to date might impact their very own laurels signature in the fashion world as well as talk about in your predisposition in their enthusiasts.

  • The coach outlet online sales all kinds of Coach bags, purses, sunglasses, etc. Whatever you choose, this Coach store will not let you down.If you desire to go to coach factory outlet, but have no idea in which to go, you can research online. It is no doubt that there is drastically information and details about it for the reference.With the safe door to door shipping, the coach outlet will send the products to your hands, which are of top quality and at competitive factory prices.

  • Though handbags are basically an accessory item of girls, there are many modern handbags and wallets for males too as it has become the ultimate fashion accessory at coach factory outlet.If you want to have the latest Coach arrivals, coach factory online may be a good choice. It provides its members with actually beneficial?prices?and high quality services.coach factory outlet online is one of the four playable survivors in Left 4 Dead 2. He was a high school health teacher and coordinator for the freshman football team before the Infection hit his hometown of Savannah.

  • I am definitely coming back again for additional contents of yours.Free Samples

Post a Comment

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *