Why not just have the email orders sent and pick with a random number generator ? In this manner- folks that are at work- appointments etc won't miss out to the ones that have the time to sit on the computer <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/thumbup.gif" alt="" />. Some are on vacation and they just purely miss out unless they have a proxy <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/frown.gif" alt="" />. It is their ball- so they can do whatever they want- but I agree that SOMETHING should be changed <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/thumbup.gif" alt="" />. Thanks
That's would certainly be a possibility and is an easy one to run and one I'd not be unhappy to see, but you still need a window of time you will accept orders in.
I suspect it is that window size (highly variable e.g. "sometime Fri night before 11") and the fact that it is not fixed that causes a lot of people who are not basically "off duty" to have problems.
The driving idea behind the reverse-a-ganza was to increase the window and make it fixed (as long as it is fixed you can make arrangements, take a break or whatever to enter) giving most people who are likely to be near PC on a given day a chance to enter, without making the thing drag on like a traditional order/pre-order window and depending on how the "start time" is chosen introduce an element of randomness or at least chance, while still retaining some of the existing format, so that it will not need a huge rethink at the backend.
To be sure the trad-o-ganza probably works well for the majority of likely participants ( 9-5 North Americans), which is why I'd suggest occasional variant-o-ganzas, instead of outright replacement, since the 9-5 Nth Americans are probably the vast majority of Bussekin customers. Also I think that variations are likely to be less showmanship-ee, less "exciting" as there will be less anticipation, less scope for treachery, which I suspect a lot of people, 'specially them old time hogs, might miss.
Perhaps part of the "problem" is that the community has grown over the past few years both in size and in "breadth" (more foreigners in different time zones like me, for example). I've no idea how much by, but I am pretty sure it has, even in the fews years I've been a Busskein fan and
maybe the 'Ganza "as is" is not as well suited to a community of the current size and composition as it was a few years a go. Or maybe I'm just talking out of my back hole.
As you say it is their ball, and they can, should and will do what they like.
Which is as it should be.
That said one of the really great things about the Bussekin folks is that they do listen to feedback and the bossmen keep their eye on things, so I am confident if they perceive a problem they will address it.
