Comments on: ADFC to present E-Ticketing to Senate http://www.oregoncommentator.com/2008/05/20/adfc-to-present-e-ticketing-to-senate/ Free Minds, Free Markets, Free Booze Thu, 08 Jan 2009 14:39:49 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.6.5 By: Vincent http://www.oregoncommentator.com/2008/05/20/adfc-to-present-e-ticketing-to-senate/#comment-99877 Vincent Tue, 20 May 2008 22:11:16 +0000 http://www.oregoncommentator.com/2008/05/20/adfc-to-present-e-ticketing-to-senate/#comment-99877 <i>As Vincent pointed out, Duckweb likely handles far more traffic than this on the first day of class registration and, at least when I was there, it was never an issue.</i> Actually, in my experience, Duckweb is generally a mess for the first day of classes. Read: it's up, but it's very, very slow. As Vincent pointed out, Duckweb likely handles far more traffic than this on the first day of class registration and, at least when I was there, it was never an issue.

Actually, in my experience, Duckweb is generally a mess for the first day of classes. Read: it’s up, but it’s very, very slow.

]]> By: Alex McCafferty http://www.oregoncommentator.com/2008/05/20/adfc-to-present-e-ticketing-to-senate/#comment-99874 Alex McCafferty Tue, 20 May 2008 21:27:58 +0000 http://www.oregoncommentator.com/2008/05/20/adfc-to-present-e-ticketing-to-senate/#comment-99874 The ticket distribution percentages are based on how many students are in a particular class ranking. For instance, Freshman (students with 0-44 credits) make up 13.5% of the total population of the UO. Therefore they have the ability to grab 13.5% of the general ticket pool. The same goes for all other class rankings. Any student who for some reason is not able to get their ticket in their class rank's allotted time period will have a second chance to try for one in the general ticketing time. It is fair process to all class standings. The Athletic Department gets updated class rankings from the Registrar every week. There will be no paper tickets. To get a ticket, a student must login on www.goducks.com and type in their student ID. Once they get a ticket, that ticket will be placed on their student account along with a confirmation email. To get inside the stadium, all the student needs is their Student ID Card. Their card will be scanned and then they will be let into the game. The Athletic Department is using its servers for the ticket purchases. Their servers have been tested many times and will also be backed by the UO Computing services. Since students will have separate time windows depending on their class rank, it will vastly reduce any chance of reaching the servers limit. The ticket distribution percentages are based on how many students are in a particular class ranking. For instance, Freshman (students with 0-44 credits) make up 13.5% of the total population of the UO. Therefore they have the ability to grab 13.5% of the general ticket pool. The same goes for all other class rankings. Any student who for some reason is not able to get their ticket in their class rank’s allotted time period will have a second chance to try for one in the general ticketing time. It is fair process to all class standings. The Athletic Department gets updated class rankings from the Registrar every week.

There will be no paper tickets. To get a ticket, a student must login on http://www.goducks.com and type in their student ID. Once they get a ticket, that ticket will be placed on their student account along with a confirmation email. To get inside the stadium, all the student needs is their Student ID Card. Their card will be scanned and then they will be let into the game.

The Athletic Department is using its servers for the ticket purchases. Their servers have been tested many times and will also be backed by the UO Computing services. Since students will have separate time windows depending on their class rank, it will vastly reduce any chance of reaching the servers limit.

]]> By: Chris Holman http://www.oregoncommentator.com/2008/05/20/adfc-to-present-e-ticketing-to-senate/#comment-99871 Chris Holman Tue, 20 May 2008 21:11:40 +0000 http://www.oregoncommentator.com/2008/05/20/adfc-to-present-e-ticketing-to-senate/#comment-99871 Ian is right. With FERPA laws in place, student ID's are off-limits and private. GODUCKS wouldn't be able to get a hold of them. That being said, convincing people who work on this sort of thing internally to take it on and prepare for the deluge will be a task in and of itself. Ian is right. With FERPA laws in place, student ID’s are off-limits and private. GODUCKS wouldn’t be able to get a hold of them. That being said, convincing people who work on this sort of thing internally to take it on and prepare for the deluge will be a task in and of itself.

]]> By: Ian http://www.oregoncommentator.com/2008/05/20/adfc-to-present-e-ticketing-to-senate/#comment-99868 Ian Tue, 20 May 2008 20:51:03 +0000 http://www.oregoncommentator.com/2008/05/20/adfc-to-present-e-ticketing-to-senate/#comment-99868 Also, 2,000 visitors within an hour period really isn't very much if your web application is appropriately designed. As Vincent pointed out, Duckweb likely handles far more traffic than this on the first day of class registration and, at least when I was there, it was never an issue. And Duckweb is a far more resource-intense application than anything they would need to build here. Also, 2,000 visitors within an hour period really isn’t very much if your web application is appropriately designed. As Vincent pointed out, Duckweb likely handles far more traffic than this on the first day of class registration and, at least when I was there, it was never an issue. And Duckweb is a far more resource-intense application than anything they would need to build here.

]]> By: Ian http://www.oregoncommentator.com/2008/05/20/adfc-to-present-e-ticketing-to-senate/#comment-99867 Ian Tue, 20 May 2008 20:45:58 +0000 http://www.oregoncommentator.com/2008/05/20/adfc-to-present-e-ticketing-to-senate/#comment-99867 It makes sense to host it internally since such a system would tie into BANNER and possibly DuckWeb. Those are not services that should be opened up to an external system managed by a third party. If it is hosted internally, the UO has an exceedingly competent server administration team and reliability should <i>not</i> be an issue. Also, I'd like to know what the formula was for determining the percentages. Why is the percentage for Freshmen so low (lower than grad. students!) and Seniors so high? More of my friends went to games during my freshman year (almost everyone in the dorms went to most games, it seemed) than they did in the senior year. Oh, and perhaps they should have a "Commentator Editor" rule so that if you're in your fifth, sixth, or seventh year you automatically get a ticket. It makes sense to host it internally since such a system would tie into BANNER and possibly DuckWeb. Those are not services that should be opened up to an external system managed by a third party. If it is hosted internally, the UO has an exceedingly competent server administration team and reliability should not be an issue.

Also, I’d like to know what the formula was for determining the percentages. Why is the percentage for Freshmen so low (lower than grad. students!) and Seniors so high? More of my friends went to games during my freshman year (almost everyone in the dorms went to most games, it seemed) than they did in the senior year.

Oh, and perhaps they should have a “Commentator Editor” rule so that if you’re in your fifth, sixth, or seventh year you automatically get a ticket.

]]> By: Chris Holman http://www.oregoncommentator.com/2008/05/20/adfc-to-present-e-ticketing-to-senate/#comment-99863 Chris Holman Tue, 20 May 2008 20:27:17 +0000 http://www.oregoncommentator.com/2008/05/20/adfc-to-present-e-ticketing-to-senate/#comment-99863 Well, the other problem with this discussion is that no one has brought up the fact that the Computing Center isn't stupid. They're obviously going to be running a mirrored system that would take over in the event that the main server went down. Also, I know that they have upgraded servers over time to carry more traffic...otherwise nothing would work. : ) You're also neglecting the traffic that Staff and Administration cause with the use of BANNER. Not to mention individual websites for departments, faculty, graduate students, et al. A better way to do it all would be for students who WANT tickets to be put into a lottery. After the first round of tickets are given out, you can track who goes and who doesn't and punish them accordingly. More importantly though, you knock off the people who got tickets for the 1st game and then only include the remaining students in the next pool. So, what needs to happen is this: 1) Students sign up for the lottery. This avoids the mess of having people who hate football winning tickets. 2) Lottery picks for game 1 include everyone in the pool. 3) Monitor game 1 ticket usage and punish people who don't go by removing them from the pool the next time they are allowed in. 4) The next game's pool includes only those students who did NOT receive tickets in the first game's pool. 5) Then, the pool is rotated according to who is left and who won tickets the first time. That is, if by game 4 there are only 400 people left in the pool, you bring 1100 of the game 1 winners and bring them into the pool. 6) You could have a massive lottery draw for the OSU game. Well, the other problem with this discussion is that no one has brought up the fact that the Computing Center isn’t stupid. They’re obviously going to be running a mirrored system that would take over in the event that the main server went down. Also, I know that they have upgraded servers over time to carry more traffic…otherwise nothing would work. : )

You’re also neglecting the traffic that Staff and Administration cause with the use of BANNER. Not to mention individual websites for departments, faculty, graduate students, et al.

A better way to do it all would be for students who WANT tickets to be put into a lottery. After the first round of tickets are given out, you can track who goes and who doesn’t and punish them accordingly. More importantly though, you knock off the people who got tickets for the 1st game and then only include the remaining students in the next pool. So, what needs to happen is this:

1) Students sign up for the lottery. This avoids the mess of having people who hate football winning tickets.

2) Lottery picks for game 1 include everyone in the pool.

3) Monitor game 1 ticket usage and punish people who don’t go by removing them from the pool the next time they are allowed in.

4) The next game’s pool includes only those students who did NOT receive tickets in the first game’s pool.

5) Then, the pool is rotated according to who is left and who won tickets the first time. That is, if by game 4 there are only 400 people left in the pool, you bring 1100 of the game 1 winners and bring them into the pool.

6) You could have a massive lottery draw for the OSU game.

]]> By: Vincent http://www.oregoncommentator.com/2008/05/20/adfc-to-present-e-ticketing-to-senate/#comment-99860 Vincent Tue, 20 May 2008 19:38:31 +0000 http://www.oregoncommentator.com/2008/05/20/adfc-to-present-e-ticketing-to-senate/#comment-99860 <i>Are the computer systems going to be able to handle the potentially thousands of students trying to access the ticket system at the same time during the beginning of a particular 2 hour window? Has the Ticket Office conducted a test to determine their capabilities? <b>Currently, the UO servers host blackboard, webmail, duckweb, and many other web applications that thousands of students access every single day</b></i> The problem with that analogy is that Alphamail, DuckWeb, Blackboard, etc. are under a relatively low, but steady, loads throughout the day. A better comparison would be Duckweb @ 10:00am on the first day of Fall Term. "Gulley Sucks" is right, also, that goducks.com seems to be hosted off-campus, so whomever their hosting service is would need to be prepared for what would amount to a small denial-of-service attack every time tickets went on sale. Are the computer systems going to be able to handle the potentially thousands of students trying to access the ticket system at the same time during the beginning of a particular 2 hour window? Has the Ticket Office conducted a test to determine their capabilities?

Currently, the UO servers host blackboard, webmail, duckweb, and many other web applications that thousands of students access every single day

The problem with that analogy is that Alphamail, DuckWeb, Blackboard, etc. are under a relatively low, but steady, loads throughout the day.

A better comparison would be Duckweb @ 10:00am on the first day of Fall Term. “Gulley Sucks” is right, also, that goducks.com seems to be hosted off-campus, so whomever their hosting service is would need to be prepared for what would amount to a small denial-of-service attack every time tickets went on sale.

]]> By: Chris Holman http://www.oregoncommentator.com/2008/05/20/adfc-to-present-e-ticketing-to-senate/#comment-99859 Chris Holman Tue, 20 May 2008 16:30:18 +0000 http://www.oregoncommentator.com/2008/05/20/adfc-to-present-e-ticketing-to-senate/#comment-99859 They should add the security section that has you type a word that is hard to see...you know what I'm talking about. This will keep people from loading logarithms to bombard the server with requests. Server capacity is a big deal, but maybe you have the request not be live but via an email function. Then, people working there sort the emails as first come first serve. That way students only send one e-mail (more than one would be punished with no ticket) and they're not hacking away at the server. They should add the security section that has you type a word that is hard to see…you know what I’m talking about. This will keep people from loading logarithms to bombard the server with requests.

Server capacity is a big deal, but maybe you have the request not be live but via an email function. Then, people working there sort the emails as first come first serve. That way students only send one e-mail (more than one would be punished with no ticket) and they’re not hacking away at the server.

]]> By: Gully Sucks http://www.oregoncommentator.com/2008/05/20/adfc-to-present-e-ticketing-to-senate/#comment-99858 Gully Sucks Tue, 20 May 2008 16:21:43 +0000 http://www.oregoncommentator.com/2008/05/20/adfc-to-present-e-ticketing-to-senate/#comment-99858 this isint on uo servers its on goducks.com this isint on uo servers its on goducks.com

]]> By: Betz http://www.oregoncommentator.com/2008/05/20/adfc-to-present-e-ticketing-to-senate/#comment-99857 Betz Tue, 20 May 2008 15:09:37 +0000 http://www.oregoncommentator.com/2008/05/20/adfc-to-present-e-ticketing-to-senate/#comment-99857 Defenitely whoever will be implementing this type of system will want to stress test their server for thousands of potential users accessing their E-tickets at the same time, but I don't think this will be a huge problem. Currently, the UO servers host blackboard, webmail, duckweb, and many other web applications that thousands of students access every single day, and I can say that after almost four years of attending school here, I don't remember a single "crash". I know that occasionally duckweb will go offline for scheduled maintanence every now and then, but this is to be expected. I for one am pleased to see that someone is actually considering this type of proposal after the idea has been kicked around for a long time! I'm just a little bit irked that I will be graduating this spring, and won't get to enjoy the benefits of such a program, but o well.... more power to the youngsters. Waiting in line, no matter how much school spirit or 'spirits' you have in your body, is easily the thing I hate most about the whole process of attending games and events. Also, I doubt tickets will be available in "hard" form. Selling physical tickets has always had the problem of them being scalped. While it's technically legal for a student to sell their ticket (as long as the sale does not occur on school grounds), I'll betcha that they want to reduce the amount of non-students that might be attending the game in the student section at future events, for liability concerns. Defenitely whoever will be implementing this type of system will want to stress test their server for thousands of potential users accessing their E-tickets at the same time, but I don’t think this will be a huge problem. Currently, the UO servers host blackboard, webmail, duckweb, and many other web applications that thousands of students access every single day, and I can say that after almost four years of attending school here, I don’t remember a single “crash”. I know that occasionally duckweb will go offline for scheduled maintanence every now and then, but this is to be expected.

I for one am pleased to see that someone is actually considering this type of proposal after the idea has been kicked around for a long time! I’m just a little bit irked that I will be graduating this spring, and won’t get to enjoy the benefits of such a program, but o well…. more power to the youngsters. Waiting in line, no matter how much school spirit or ’spirits’ you have in your body, is easily the thing I hate most about the whole process of attending games and events.

Also, I doubt tickets will be available in “hard” form. Selling physical tickets has always had the problem of them being scalped. While it’s technically legal for a student to sell their ticket (as long as the sale does not occur on school grounds), I’ll betcha that they want to reduce the amount of non-students that might be attending the game in the student section at future events, for liability concerns.

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