Apparently a newsletter was sent out this morning advising of two new pre-sales that are happening right now. Well, I haven't received any such newsletter, so there's obviously a glitch in the system again. Didn't this happen a little while ago, too? I don't understand how members who've been receiving BR.com newsletters for years without any problems are all of a sudden not getting them? This sucks.

Also, I'm just wondering why you would send out an e-mail telling people a pre-sale is happening after it's already started? If at all possible, could we get a bit of forewarning so that people who are working can make arrangements?

Thanks.  

Am I wrong, or are pre-sales no longer being announced?  It seems that suddenly shows are selling tickets with no forewarning now.  If you miss one day of checking the Events Calendar, you miss out!   I am hoping that any new show listings will appear before the ticket sale dates!  (Finger's crossed for even more Ontario dates as spring and summer go on!)

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I carry with me the memory of a field I once knew, of a night so full of stars that I was left humbled by it's endless beauty. I know that whatever the cost, life is worth living. So bring it on...I can take it.

Although this pre-sale wasn't one I would have participated in I find it so offensive that an email went out saying the pre-sales were currently happening. 

I am on a lot of other band's email lists and I have never run across a situation like this one.  There is always at least a day's notice.  If the point of the pre-sale is to have the fans be able to take advantage of the sale the email should be sent out a few days before and also posted on the board.  We used to get plenty of warning and now it seems that nobody cares if or when we find out about the pre-sales. 

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Greg Keelor met Jim Cuddy and then I met you people. Serendipity is a marvellous thing.


"I guess I don't know if I believe in God but
I know a song can make you feel good once
in a while." ~Greg Keelor~

This is not a GOOD thing that has happened.  I still believe that the active members should be given even an hour before the rest of the presale begins, so that WE can be in the front TOGETHER,  not AFTER the presale has started

For anyone who has missed this presale, I truly feel for you 

Well, while I agree the presale notice should have gone out well in advance, I don't think that active members should have first crack at them.  Who's to say what qualifies as an active member and how does that make them any more of a br fan then the next person?  Just because someone doesn't actively post each day doesn't mean they are not just entitled to a fair shot at front row.

That said, being in the front row at the Empire isn't necessarily the best seat; the stage is quite high...I was in row F last time and my seats were excellent.

I see the seat sale is going on next Wednesday at the Empire; I bet there wasn't much time to plan the email notification.It was only sheer chance that I was reading my email the other day as the notice came in about 30 minutes after the presale had started.There were even more glitches trying to get through the ticket purchase!

Okay, I'm puzzled about the distinction between active and less active members.

The newsletter goes out to members who have signed up for it. I post, but I didn't get the newsletter until I specifically signed up for it. The amount of advance notice via the newsletter isn't tied to posting level or even the amount of time one spends lurking here. 

Pre-sales are limited to members, therefore all members, posting or lurking, have a shot at the best seats, if they know about the sale.

People here are just complaining about the short notice.

However, I agree, the pre-sale glitches that seem to be so common here are a pain in the butt. 

 

Twinkles:

Well, while I agree the presale notice should have gone out well in advance, I don't think that active members should have first crack at them.  Who's to say what qualifies as an active member and how does that make them any more of a br fan then the next person?  Just because someone doesn't actively post each day doesn't mean they are not just entitled to a fair shot at front row.

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borderline useless from hanging around

I think everyone who's on the mailing list should get a fair shot at the pre-sales. I'd just like it to go back to the way it was in the past when we got a bit of advance notice and I'd also like to have the tech team check into why some of us aren't getting the newsletters at all. It has nothing to do with our "junk mail" settings. Why would we receive some e-mails and not others? Doesn't make sense.

Bluegirl:

I'd also like to have the tech team check into why some of us aren't getting the newsletters at all. It has nothing to do with our "junk mail" settings. Why would we receive some e-mails and not others? Doesn't make sense.

There's a ton of reasons one person may receive an e-mail and others may not - and much of it is out of the control of Blue Rodeo's tech team. It has to do with all the various mail providers out there as well as the constant measures to combat spam.

For example, recently I tried to sign up to Paypal's developer program.  I was supposed to get a confirmation e-mail, but never did.  I had to try with FIVE different e-mails from five different places before it finally worked.  And that's Paypal - a huge company very on top of web changes.

Any automated mail will have to get past spam protection as well.  And this is constantly changing.  One thing you can do on your side, is add the Newsletter address to your contacts, or mark it as always safe  in whatever e-mail service you have.

Additionally, there are just glitches sometimes.

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Daneane2:

Bluegirl:

I'd also like to have the tech team check into why some of us aren't getting the newsletters at all. It has nothing to do with our "junk mail" settings. Why would we receive some e-mails and not others? Doesn't make sense.

There's a ton of reasons one person may receive an e-mail and others may not - and much of it is out of the control of Blue Rodeo's tech team. It has to do with all the various mail providers out there as well as the constant measures to combat spam.

For example, recently I tried to sign up to Paypal's developer program.  I was supposed to get a confirmation e-mail, but never did.  I had to try with FIVE different e-mails from five different places before it finally worked.  And that's Paypal - a huge company very on top of web changes.

Any automated mail will have to get past spam protection as well.  And this is constantly changing.  One thing you can do on your side, is add the Newsletter address to your contacts, or mark it as always safe  in whatever e-mail service you have.

Additionally, there are just glitches sometimes.

I do have BR.com on my safe list and they're also on my contact list so that's not the problem. I understand that there are "just glitches sometimes", but come on. It's been one glitch after another with this site for the longest time - from huge things like the system crashing during pre-sales to little things like the birthday list not functioning and people not being able to send private messages. I know that you know what you're talking about, Daneane and I appreciate your advice, but please try to understand how frustrating this is for those of us who don't have the technical "know-how" that you have. I just keep thinking "Why can't they just fix these problems once and for all?!?"

Bluegirl:

but please try to understand how frustrating this is for those of us who don't have the technical "know-how" that you have. I just keep thinking "Why can't they just fix these problems once and for all?!?"

I don't know the specifics of what BR.com is doing, and I'm hardly free from the inconveniences of technical glitches.  For instance, as I type this message, I kept getting interrupted by some javascript error message that makes me have to stop typing and hit an "okay" button about once every 30 seconds.  I imagine that is because this board is built on and by Microsoft technologies, so as a Mac user I'm regularly forced to change from my preferred browser, Safari, to Firefox which does a bit better with non-browser compliant programming.

But anyway, as to why it can't just be fixed and done is because it's really really hard.  And because what works once, may not work later as things change, and things change really fast and not uniformly.

Ticket sales are super hard because there's like a massive floodgate of people wanting the same thing at the same second, and so many things that have to come together for everything to work right.  It's like holiday season at retails stores when the lines wrap all around the store.  But online, people don't form a line, it's more of a mob and everyone is pushing (refreshing).

And it's also hard to account for weird input.  Like the way sometimes pages on forums look all weird because someone decided they needed to upload some huge image, or write a big long word with no spaces, and other things that creep after getting something set up.

It's frustrating yeah, but for both sides.  Good feedback is always helpful though.  It's impossible to develop a perfect program out of the gate - it always takes usage and user feedback to continually polish it.

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Well I really appreciate you taking the time to explain all of that to us. It at least gives me a bit of insight and understanding as to how things work. I don't feel as ticked off anymore. LOL!

Thanks!!!!  

I guess that's part of the reason I miss the good old days.  My recollection is that the emails would go out but Lisa would also post it on the home page and/or the board.  All of that happened at least two or three days before the sale.  At least that way people have a fighting chance at taking advantage of the pre-sale. 

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Greg Keelor met Jim Cuddy and then I met you people. Serendipity is a marvellous thing.


"I guess I don't know if I believe in God but
I know a song can make you feel good once
in a while." ~Greg Keelor~

LOVING your new signature line Bluegirl.

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Greg Keelor met Jim Cuddy and then I met you people. Serendipity is a marvellous thing.


"I guess I don't know if I believe in God but
I know a song can make you feel good once
in a while." ~Greg Keelor~

Hey Bluegirl, please send me a PM with the email address you're registered to the mailing list under and I'll take a look at the mailing report to see if I can figure out what the problem was.

To answer the concern about lack of notice on presales, let me say that we'd love to give you all a heads up, but we're often given virtually no time to get our presale together before a show goes on sale to the general public. In the case of the two shows last week, the lack of notice meant that we could either start the sale at the same time as we announced or just skip it altogether. Neither is ideal, of course, but we do the best we can under the circumstances were are given.

Aaron
 

Just wanted to let you know that I got the newsletter that was sent out yesterday, so what happened last week must have been some sort of glitch!