Burning Man 2012 Tickets FAQ

[trilobyte]

It'll start when it's time to start. The thread to watch is the awarded tickets thread. When the ticket team is ready to start, I'll unlock it.

[soupman]

HAHAHA I know right? The suspense is killing me!

I think it's time to go to the gym or something.... god it's like 60 degrees in Chicago right now and I'm huddled over this computer like my life depends on it.

[Nipple]

Hey T... the FAQ link in the first post of this thread is a 404 at the moment.

[trilobyte]

Thanks, it's been fixed. It was posting to the original FAQ page posted in November. Once the comprehensive FAQ got posted a while back I'd updated the announcements and the link in my signature line (when it still had ticket info in it), but missed that spot.

[brcprincess]

I don't know if it's too late to consider this, but I think the lottery should have been drawn in reverse (starting with the top tier) owing to the number of applicants far exceeding the tickets available. That way, people who can actually afford to pay top tier would not be taking tickets from people in lower tiers.

[pink]

Uhhhhh. Yeah. A little bit late. And it's already been suggested just a few times.

(snark intended)

[Rice]

I don't know if it's too late to consider this, but I think the lottery should have been drawn in reverse (starting with the top tier) owing to the number of applicants far exceeding the tickets available. That way, people who can actually afford to pay top tier would not be taking tickets from people in lower tiers.

I believe that the people who have registered for a particular tier will be drawn first, and if there are any tickets left over - the remaining tickets will be drawn for those that have registered for the next expensive tier.

[alt12]

Is it me or does it appear that the lottery was conducted in order from highest tier to lowest tier? It appears the $390 tickets have gone out first.... Maybe its just coincidental but it is interesting given that people swore to me up and down that the lottery would be conducted at the lowest tier then the 2nd tier and finally once all of those were awarded the 3rd tier.... Of course who knows? With such an opaque process who knows whats going on behind the scenes....

[A Jester]

I definitely heard more of the top tier ticket confirmations than others, but some other ones were mixed in (in my social circle). So, I don't know if the order the confirmations were given is the same as the order the tickets were drawn.

You basically hit the nail on the head, we don't know exactly how the drawing works, so... we don't know.

They might assign winners to all the tiers, and then start running cards for instance. In which case they have a database of everyone who won, but might not release the names until after the cards are charged.

OR, it might be that they put all the winning names on a table, and whomever their cat knocks off the table gets an email.

I mean, these are Burners, so just about anything is possible.

[gyre]

What kind of cat?

[theCryptofishist]

OR, it might be that they put all the winning names on a table, and whomever their cat knocks off the table gets an email.

I mean, these are Burners, so just about anything is possible.

I don't know which of these sentences delights me more.

Re-reading them, I think I'll go with the cat...

[The_brave_M]

Hi!
This is my first year. My boyfriend registered for 2 tickets at tier 2, and recieved them yesterday! YAY!
I registered for one and still no dice.

Maybe the system noticed you were 2 people trying for 3 tickets? Apparently, they had ways of knowing, and were dropping people's lottery entries because of it.

Hi drutter!

We used different cards... we did register the same address, however. Do you think that could still cancel out my order?

What about whole familes or, say, roomates who want to go? They use different cards but the same address? Would they not get their tickets today?


I know everyone has pretty much already said their peace, but I may say it again... This lotto system is bonkers.

[MedullaB]

Wonder if Trilobyte would comment on the draw order and confirm whether they drew tier 1 first etc?

[Minxy]

Wonder if Trilobyte would comment on the draw order and confirm whether they drew tier 1 first etc?

It sure would be nice for there to be some clarity around that issue. If you (the consumer) are "buying" a chance at 40,000 tickets, but they pulled tier 3 first so those people who "won" tier 3 off the bat didn't get a chance at the lower priced tix, is that even legal?

[MedullaB]

Another issue I am struggling with today is that I signed up for two tickets thinking each of those was one entry into the lottery. I need two tickets, but knowing now that it was all or none, I would have had my friend sign up for his own ticket - doubling our odds of getting at least one ticket.

I know a new system will never be perfect, but I think it equally important to properly acknowledge the flaws when they happen.

[packlet]

Wonder if Trilobyte would comment on the draw order and confirm whether they drew tier 1 first etc?

It sure would be nice for there to be some clarity around that issue. If you (the consumer) are "buying" a chance at 40,000 tickets, but they pulled tier 3 first so those people who "won" tier 3 off the bat didn't get a chance at the lower priced tix, is that even legal?

At first, I thought they would pick tier 1 ($240) tickets first, with everyone in the pool, but the more thought about it,
that seemed like it wouldn't work as well, since they might end up giving tier 1 tickets to enuf people willing to pay for tier 2/3 tickets
that they ended up with more tickets than requests at the higher levels, and not being able to give enuf $240-only people a ticket...

So it seems picking the X number of tier 3's first, and putting the 'losers' into the tier 2 pool (essentially giving them a second or even third shot
at a better price) makes more sense. If you're willing to pay more, you're more likely overall to get a ticket.

anyways, legal-schmeagle. they do what they want.
and they may never even tell us exactly how it was done...

[drutter]

Hi!
This is my first year. My boyfriend registered for 2 tickets at tier 2, and recieved them yesterday! YAY!
I registered for one and still no dice.

Maybe the system noticed you were 2 people trying for 3 tickets? Apparently, they had ways of knowing, and were dropping people's lottery entries because of it.

We used different cards... we did register the same address, however. Do you think that could still cancel out my order?

What about whole familes or, say, roomates who want to go? They use different cards but the same address?

As far as I'm aware, they haven't and won't tell the public how they "scrubbed" the entries for "people trying to stack the odds in their favour". I'm thinking pretty much the same thing happened to me. I only ordered the tickets I needed (ie: none to sell etc).
We'll never know if we're just unlucky, or if we got F'd by the "wonderful" new system.

[Timezone LaFontaine]

I'll tell you a story that I believe is appropriate in light of our speculations on the details of this whole system.

In the South, where I'm from, we have a Christmastime tradition which involves an empty pool, and a greased-up sow with a lit menthol cigarette in her mouth. The activity involves taking turns trying to catch the sow and wrassle the cigarette from her mouth -- then quickly smoke the remainder of it before she can catch you and do whatever is necessary to regain her cigarette. And let me tell you this -- a full-grown sow is not a beast to be trifled with. Getting scared and climbing out of the pool is -- how shall I say...? -- not considered to be in the Christmas spirit.

I bring this up because certain processes may seem to be opaque, inscrutable... yet within their workings is a certain elegant balance -- as elegant as can be expected, perhaps, in an imperfect world. I mean, can anything really live up to the roiling brew of expectations and sweet sentimental memories and severe wrassling-related injuries imbued in Christmastime? Now, apply the same difficult scenario to the management of Black Rock City. And before anyone asks, yes I have put in requests and no, they are not going to allow me to dig a pool into the playa surface. There are also issues around bringing a sow to BRC (which I believe I could get around, but I daren't say how publicly). The menthols shouldn't be a problem.

What were we talking about again?

[dgro]

I heard a rumour that something like 250 000 submissions were made to the lottery. Clearly this is B.S.. How could the system be improved? What if tickets were made to be non-transferable - i.e. one ticket for one flesh-and-blood human being - and if for some reason you can't go, tickets can only get funnelled back through Burning Man so they can't get scalped on the web.

Thoughts?

[theCryptofishist]

I heard a rumour that something like 250 000 submissions were made to the lottery. Clearly this is B.S.. How could the system be improved? What if tickets were made to be non-transferable - i.e. one ticket for one flesh-and-blood human being - and if for some reason you can't go, tickets can only get funnelled back through Burning Man so they can't get scalped on the web.

Thoughts?

This has been covered exaustively elsewhere in this sub-forum. The core of it is that it would slow down entry at the gate to such a degree that 447 would be backed way up perhaps causing blm to lower the population cap. This comes from the mouths of people who work gate, not just spit balling by people who have no knowledge of the multiple details that must be considered.

[fastsnail]

I heard a rumour that something like 250 000 submissions were made to the lottery. Clearly this is B.S.. How could the system be improved? What if tickets were made to be non-transferable - i.e. one ticket for one flesh-and-blood human being - and if for some reason you can't go, tickets can only get funnelled back through Burning Man so they can't get scalped on the web.

Thoughts?

This has been covered exaustively elsewhere in this sub-forum. The core of it is that it would slow down entry at the gate to such a degree that 447 would be backed way up perhaps causing blm to lower the population cap. This comes from the mouths of people who work gate, not just spit balling by people who have no knowledge of the multiple details that must be considered.

No need to ask for ID's if the ticket has a photo printed on it. You ask for ID only when in doubt (if the photo on ticket doesn't fit with the person in front of you). I don't see why it would be slower than last year procedure.

[fastsnail]

.... And since tickets can only be funneled back to BM for refund, it assure some tickets would be available to procrastinators maybe until august 27, which is great....

[elsuperdavid]

I heard a rumour that something like 250 000 submissions were made to the lottery. Clearly this is B.S.. How could the system be improved? What if tickets were made to be non-transferable - i.e. one ticket for one flesh-and-blood human being - and if for some reason you can't go, tickets can only get funnelled back through Burning Man so they can't get scalped on the web.

Thoughts?

This has been covered exaustively elsewhere in this sub-forum. The core of it is that it would slow down entry at the gate to such a degree that 447 would be backed way up perhaps causing blm to lower the population cap. This comes from the mouths of people who work gate, not just spit balling by people who have no knowledge of the multiple details that must be considered.

This is BS... there's tons of room for a longer line if you use the space right, make the line coil or snake around using up all the empty land outside bman and keep the cars off the highway.
Add more people and gates at the entrance, do whatever ya got to do to get it done. like the US mexico border at the Tijuana / San Diego port of entry. They check everyone's passport, the lines are long and take hours to cross the border, but they do it ALL DAY EVERY DAY. This would just be a huge rush the first couple days then ppl trickle in the remainder of the week... It's totally do-able.

[Rice]

if 1/2 the people who complained about the gate actually volunteered two things would happen. There would be more people working gate, they would understand what exactly is involved...

http://www2.burningman.com/people/ <-- That is the link to the volunteer page. I DARE YOU!!

(If you do decide to volunteer, please show up, be sober, prepared and rested. It sucks when people flake!)

http://www.burningman.com/participate/gate.html

When you volunteer for gate the first time, you will be trained before going into the lanes and then given lots of additional training once in the lanes.


Come on, you know you want to.

[Minxy]

Rice beat me to it.

[janicels]

i have not even got a email yet...to say if i got a ticket are not....

[Dr. Pyro]

Janice, you're a Barbiebarian. Things will work out. Trust your personal doctor on this one.

[bree&alison]

Hello burners,
So I had a computer glitch today that caused me to empty my junkmail before I could see if I had any new messages. I am anxiously awaiting to hear about tickets, and I'm thinking I definitely should have heard by now. My question is this, if I have a profile here would they have sent me a PM inbox message about tickets or did they only e-mail directly?
Sorry if this is a question repeat!
Thanks for help

[theCryptofishist]

It would have been an email.
Check your credit card/bank account. That's going to be the easiest thing. There's an email on the main site (burningman.com), too.

[bree&alison]

Thanks! Just a question, what do you mean there's an e-mail on the main page?