Postby fastsnail » Wed Feb 01, 2012 5:19 pm
Damage control - What BM should do for 2012
1) notify by email people who got tickets from the lottery that,yes, for 2012, they will have to upload a photo and provide a name before february 12 to all the tickets
awarded. The date is near so scalpers will not have a lot of time to virtually sell non-physical tickets awarded.
2) setup now a "Upload your photo" page where people who were awarded tickets can go and edit the infos on their 1 or 2 awarded tickets before feb 12. After that, sorry no changes. blank entries will be automatically refunded. notify people that "no photo upload/no name provided" = ticket refunded
3) setup an admin web page for screening poor quality photos with a button near each photo that send an email to someone who uploaded a bad quality photo
telling them to reupload a good quality photo.
4) contact the tickets printer and tell them to redo tickets with a 2"X2" blank on one side of the ticket, so a photo and a name can be printed on it. (And a unique ticket ID to easy refunds by snail mail). And put the refund address on the ticket also. And put the message near the pic "If you are not the owner of this ticket, you will be refused at the gate".
5) setup a system that can print web-uploaded pics to tickets (the hard part but hey we are Silicon Valley dude, easy! )...ask the printer to do the initial batch of 60,000 tickets an be ready for monthly reprints...
6) tell the people who work at the gate: "everything is going to be fine. At first, DONT't ask for IDs. Just check if the pic on the ticket fits with the human face you have in front of you. In doubt (which should be rare...),
ask for ID to verify the name, and don't be picky with small typos in name,though). Everything's gonna be as fast as 2011, don't worry!"
7) On feb 12, massively refund all people who did not provide a name and a photo for the tickets they were awarded in the lottery. ( cat scalpers > /dev/null ).
8 ) On feb 13, Notify all people who registered on the lottery that the refunded tickets will be available soon
9) On feb 22, re-put on sale all the tickets refunded, asking for a name and uploaded pic along with the cc number. Provide a snail mail adress to refund tickets (Add a notice "BM will not do name-changing, just refunds blabla")
10) Once per week until august 27, BM will put on sale the tickets received by snail mail. (Yes procrastinators will have a chance to get a ticket even if they procrastinate until aug.27, so cool). After aug 13, no more shipping by snail mail.
11) profit.
12) drink a lot of water.
===
Now regarding the BM FAQ:
Answers to the FAQ:
Q1) "Tickets are purchased for giving away"
A1) No problem, there are chance that tickets will be available all the way through aug 27, so you will have a chance to buy some to give away. If you know now the recipient of your gift, upload their pic
and their name now. If you want to give a ticket to someone later, wait later, there are chance that refunded tickets will be available all the way through aug 27
Q2) "ensuring a project has coverage"
A2) see above
Q3) "Selling later to a friend in need"
A3) Tell your friend to upload his pic and pay
Q4) "The administrative cost of changing the name on every ticket exceeds our capacity"
A4) Hire on more person whose only job is to open the 30-40 envelopes containing refund demands per day, locate the unique ids of the tickets, and refund by clicking on an admin interface that also flag to resell on the web page.
Q5) "many of our fellow BRC citizens are uncomfortable with the notion of showing ID..."
A5) no need to show IDs, there are your photo on the ticket
Q6) "longer times at the Gate"
A6) tell the people who work at the gate: "everything is going to be fine. At first, don't ask for ID. Just check if the pic on the ticket fits with the human face you have in front of you. In doubt (which should be rare),
ask for ID to verify the name, and don't be picky with small typos in name,though). Everything's gonna be as fast as 2011, don't worry and drink a lot of water!"