Botcon 2015 - Chicago June 18-21

[griffin]

The link is up for registration, but isn't working for me yet.

[griffin]

Other people seem to be experiencing a really huge lag on the system... I'm still waiting for the second screen to appear.

[jop]

Facebook post states: "We are turning the system off to address the issue and we will restart."

[griffin]

yeah... false alarm people.

After just half an hour and most people stuck on the second screen (I couldn't get past the registration screen), the system just seemed to fail under the weight of all the Americans trying to register... including non-attendees.

So if it comes back online today or soon, be aware that non-attendees might be able to order boxsets as well. (they might remove that option until later though, as a way of lightening the load on the system... but I don't think too many non-attendees would have been on there because they've always had a delay in the past)

[griffin]

Their facebook post that Jop quoted.

And now their twitter post... and they never ended up tweeting that it was online.

From their email as well, which gives a little more detail on how bad it was...

We have temporarily turned off the 2015 BotCon Registration due to the load issue.
We are working with the service company to correct this problem.

Everyone is in the same situation, only a couple went through,
so it will basically it will be a re-start when turned back on.

Sounds like only two people managed to complete their registrations... so maybe the server is only able to process one person at a time.

[reillyd]

Very frustrating having it time out.... I'm going to wait for a few hours in case it comes up

[griffin]

Soooo tired.... and still another two hours before FunPub closes for the day, so it could be anytime until then for an announcement either way.

[griffin]

Hehehe... this is so sad because people were joking about it actually happening.

When you reload the eventman link it has the official closure notice that FunPub must have set up for the actual closure of Registrations on June 5th... but the notice is now ominous, yet humorous.

Registration is now closed.

Late registration is available on-site at the Pheasant Run Resort.

Please come by the registration booth Friday, June 19, 9:30 am.

Available packages and booths will be sold on a first-come, first-served, basis.

With only two getting through, I think there should be a few spare boxsets available at the Convention...

[griffin]

Apparently they restarted it about 10 minutes ago, but had to shut it down again due to someone else this time...

The credit card company (Authorize.net) is experiencing an outage system wide which is causing a delay in the restart of BotCon registration. This is their issue and unrelated to our registration system.

Either they are really unlucky, or they are getting what they paid for if they went the cheap route.

[griffin]

It's now 4pm in Texas, and the credit card processor is still suffering a "major outage".

Email from FunPub...

We are watching AN's (credit card processor) status feed to see when they resolve their system wide outage. If they are not back online by 4:30 central time today. We will wait until tomorrow to start registration.

I'll advise when we have a status change.

That's in half an hour... if AuthorizeNet isn't back online by then, it's back to it tomorrow. And if that happens, hopefully it means first thing in the morning for them (which is midnight for us, and an "early" night).

No word on them splitting registration, so anyone wanting a non-attendee set, you'd better hop on as well when it starts.