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A scalper who used bots to buy millions of tickets, now wants to stop them

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Re: A scalper who used bots to buy millions of tickets, now wants to stop them

#301

Post by criddell »

Paul-ish wrote: post #245
criddell wrote: post #147

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Let the market handle it? You mean sell to those willing to pay the most? If you are a performer, sometimes you want to sell to the biggest fans. What's the market mechanism for that?

> If you are a performer, sometimes you want to sell to the biggest fans. What's the market mechanism for that? This is what I don't get about some of the arguments here. In the freest markets, doesn't that mean I have the right refuse service to anyone? Doesn't that mean I have every right to do everything in my power to avoid selling to scalpers? If that artists wanted to do an auction type system, the arguments be…

I just read another story here about the letter Bill and Melinda Gates wrote to Warren Buffet to tell him what they are doing with his money. Market mechanisms are part of it (like giving vaccine makers purchasing guarantees so they will work at getting the cost of vaccines down) but there aren't good market mechanisms for a lot of the foundation's philanthropic work. They aren't maximizing for profit, their goal is to maximize other goals.

Re: A scalper who used bots to buy millions of tickets, now wants to stop them

#302

Post by phlowbieuq »

Pigo wrote: post #290
phlowbieuq wrote: post #162

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> drinking Rhinegeist. fistbump for a fellow Cincinnatian. I feel the exact same way about football (especially the Bengals). I can buy 10 cases of beer for what it would cost me to freeze my ass off at the stadium, and they are going to bungle it anyway. =D

Awesome, I was genuinely curious if anyone would recognize the beer. I've been seeing it further and further away from Cincy.

Ya their growth in reach has been amazing. Rhinegeist's biggest innovation that allowed them to explosively scale was actually around distribution. I've heard that it pissed a lot of other distributors off, who then lobbied the state org in KY and closed the loophole that they discovered.

Are you on the Cincinnati Tech slack channel? [0] Based on your comment history, I'm curious if I've run into you at a tech meetup at some point.

[0] http://cincytech.herokuapp.com/

Re: A scalper who used bots to buy millions of tickets, now wants to stop them

#303

Post by mikeash »

Chris2048 wrote: post #300
mikeash wrote: post #299

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If you compare the ratio between the 90th percentile and 10th percentile of "wealth," when it comes to time then that ratio is around 1.5-1.7 for Americans (the 10th percentile male lives about 55 years, female 62 years; the 90th percentile is 93/96). If you look at income, the ratio between 90th and 10th percentile is over 10. If you look at net worth, the ratio is actually negative, because the 10th percentile has…

> when it comes to time then that ratio is around 1.5-1.7 If I employ someone, their time was mine; If it wasn't, they could use it to stand in line for tickets. This is a different thing from 'mortality', although I assume the wealthy have both better medical care, and quality of life beyond average male/female lifespans.

Even if you restrict it to free time, the disparity isn't that great. If time were distributed like money, then the average person would have only a few seconds of free time per day.

Re: A scalper who used bots to buy millions of tickets, now wants to stop them

#304

Post by metaphorm »

bogomipz wrote: post #288
metaphorm wrote: post #286

Earlier quoted context omitted.

it's really hard for me to understand why you're talking to me like this, as if I personally did something wrong. forgive me for being relatively unconcerned that sometimes concert tickets cost a lot. my judgment absolutely does take into account the pragmatic concerns regarding harm. some bad things are less bad than other bad things. just like some good things are more good than other good things. do I need to expl…

>"it's really hard for me to understand why you're talking to me like this, as if I personally did something wrong." You want to pass judgement on people and then act all sensitive when someone responds to you? There is nothing disrespectful in anything I wrote. It's called a discussion. >"not every injustice in the world is really worth reacting to with such passion." Again, here is another judgement by you that mus…

this isn't a fruitful discussion. have a nice day :)

Re: A scalper who used bots to buy millions of tickets, now wants to stop them

#305

Post by knodi123 »

ikeboy wrote: post #190
knodi123 wrote: post #187

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Why can't they meet the demand by renting a larger venue? For a variety of reasons. If Sting reunites with The Police and goes on tour- sure, rent a football stadium. Some bands prefer smaller, more intimate venues. Some may have a hard time competing for the limited spaces at larger venues. Some may choose to avoid that level of fame. Who knows? It's none of my business. Bands are always free to chase as much fame…

>require showing an ID with a name that matches the name on the ticket Then scalpers would just pre-sell tickets and buy it in the given name. There's an arms race and it's not easy to fight the market.

No, you show ID to buy the tickets too. This isn't brain surgery, folks- plenty of venues already do this. It's not perfect, but it's good enough to make scalping not worth the effort.

Re: A scalper who used bots to buy millions of tickets, now wants to stop them

#306

Post by Pigo »

phlowbieuq wrote: post #302
Pigo wrote: post #290

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Awesome, I was genuinely curious if anyone would recognize the beer. I've been seeing it further and further away from Cincy.

Ya their growth in reach has been amazing. Rhinegeist's biggest innovation that allowed them to explosively scale was actually around distribution. I've heard that it pissed a lot of other distributors off, who then lobbied the state org in KY and closed the loophole that they discovered. Are you on the Cincinnati Tech slack channel? [0] Based on your comment history, I'm curious if I've run into you at a tech meetup…

Wow, I guess I'm really out of the loop on what they were up to. I've just become a big fan of Cougar, and being able to find it everywhere. No, I haven't been, but I will be now. Thanks for the heads up.

Re: A scalper who used bots to buy millions of tickets, now wants to stop them

#307

Post by Chris2048 »

mikeash wrote: post #303
Chris2048 wrote: post #300

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> when it comes to time then that ratio is around 1.5-1.7 If I employ someone, their time was mine; If it wasn't, they could use it to stand in line for tickets. This is a different thing from 'mortality', although I assume the wealthy have both better medical care, and quality of life beyond average male/female lifespans.

Even if you restrict it to free time, the disparity isn't that great. If time were distributed like money, then the average person would have only a few seconds of free time per day.

Only because personal free time is capped. But if you include work-hours, there is a discrepancy.

What do you mean by "the average person"? The median wrt wage? Because the average wage will be the same regardless of distribution.

Re: A scalper who used bots to buy millions of tickets, now wants to stop them

#308

Post by mikeash »

Chris2048 wrote: post #307
mikeash wrote: post #303

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Even if you restrict it to free time, the disparity isn't that great. If time were distributed like money, then the average person would have only a few seconds of free time per day.

Only because personal free time is capped. But if you include work-hours, there is a discrepancy. What do you mean by "the average person"? The median wrt wage? Because the average wage will be the same regardless of distribution.

What do you mean, if you include work hours? I can't think of any way to analyze a person's time which results in the many-orders-of-magnitude inequalities we see with money.

For "the average person," pick any reasonable meaning you like. I think they'll all work about the same in this context. The person who makes the most money makes orders of magnitude more than the average. The person who has the most free time has, at most, 168 hours of free time per week. If the inequality there were similar, than the average person's free time would be measured in seconds.

Re: A scalper who used bots to buy millions of tickets, now wants to stop them

#309

Post by waterside81 »

durango wrote: post #269
waterside81 wrote: post #158

As others have pointed out here, a lottery system with ID can help beat this. Pearl Jam's fan club ticket sales require you to choose ahead of time which concerts you want to go to (max 2 tickets per show) and then on lottery day, you're informed if you won or not and your card is charged. Although a bit opaque, it does make it harder to game the system.

two ticket max is a bummer.. are there specific seats for PJ's concerts? Would suck if you and 4 other friends wanted to go, just curious

Yeah the fan club sections are always around the stage so if four of you go, although you're not guaranteed to be in the same row/section, you're close-ish.

Re: A scalper who used bots to buy millions of tickets, now wants to stop them

#310

Post by austenallred »

Chris2048 wrote: post #293
austenallred wrote: post #283

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Ok that actually works, but market value will change drastically over time, and fans would be in an uproar

> fans would be in an uproar fans who don't pay top-dollar. Why not focus on fans who do?

you're preaching to the choir
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