Auto-refresh software

[parsonjack]

2 hours ago, Peter_Quaife said:

In the resale, 2 of our group definitely did not get a session when entering all the reg details and postcodes. Got bombed out going to the next page with an error 'no such event' and this was a good while before the resale sold out. Absolutely heartbreaking at the time. Would have been nice to have been locked in to a 10 min session at that juncture.  Roll on Oct !

Fingers crossed See are aware of the issues last year and have taken steps to rectify ?

[Peter_Quaife]

On 8/2/2019 at 5:12 PM, parsonjack said:

Fingers crossed See are aware of the issues last year and have taken steps to rectify ?

Hope so ParsonJack. Ticket day will be on us before we know it!

[parsonjack]

Just been reviewing the Tickets page on the Glastonbury Festival site and noticed there is now no mention of any 10 minute or 6 minute session timings at all.  2017 Ticket FAQ's had the following but I can't find nay trace of the same detail now....

5. If the page ‘hangs’ and you can’t get any further, try pressing back once and then continue your booking from that point. If that doesn’t help, close your browser and start again. Please don’t continue to refresh the page more than 10 minutes after entering your details as your access to the page will have expired. You will need to close the browser and start again to gain fresh access to the booking page.

6. If an attempt to book is already held against your registration number, or your 6 minutes on the booking page elapses, your registration number will be locked for up to 10 minutes whilst the transaction is attempted, but will be released if the transaction fails, to give you the chance to try again, if there are still tickets available.

 

So....this potentially means that any 10 minute session allocation previously in place may not now be the case...and that the only point at which you get any timing is once on the payment page as folks who got that far last year reported.

if that is the case then F5-ing when you have a Registration window up would likely throw you back into the bun-fight for a new page.

This change (if it is one...) could also be related to attempts to render any Auto-Refresh software useless as any Registration page that was loaded will be lost unless you hit the Stop button on your Auto-Refresh software before the next refresh fires.

 

[Kim Wrong-Un]

If using auto refresh and multiple browsers e.g. Chrone, Firefox and Edge, does anyone know for sure if the maximum 60 refreshes per minute would be per browser or in total?

[parsonjack]

On 9/13/2019 at 9:05 PM, Kim Wrong-Un said:

If using auto refresh and multiple browsers e.g. Chrone, Firefox and Edge, does anyone know for sure if the maximum 60 refreshes per minute would be per browser or in total?

Been a while since I tested this but pretty sure if was in total eg. the hits are per IP so having say 3 browsers on same device refreshing every 3 seconds would generate 60 hits in a minute and would prob be the limit you could work with.

Yoh can test it out now....the 'busy' page is live on glastonbury.seetickets.com permanently.  Let us know how you get on.

[FlyingCircus]

On 7/16/2019 at 4:32 PM, Hugh Jass said:

Yeah that's my question, what stops it from refreshing past the page?

In the settings page of Auto Refresh Plus, in the Page Monitor section, there's an option to stop refreshing once it loses a target text that you set. Put "maximum possible number" or something that only appears on the cursed grey screen. Set it so it sets off an alarm because presumably if you're doing this then it's because you have multiple devices going and want to get on it immediately.

[clarkete]

19 hours ago, parsonjack said:

Been a while since I tested this but pretty sure if was in total eg. the hits are per IP so having say 3 browsers on same device refreshing every 3 seconds would generate 60 hits in a minute and would prob be the limit you could work with.

Yoh can test it out now....the 'busy' page is live on glastonbury.seetickets.com permanently.  Let us know how you get on.

What's your method @parsonjack ?

If I recall correctly you've done some interesting write ups in the past.

[parsonjack]

56 minutes ago, clarkete said:

What's your method @parsonjack ?

If I recall correctly you've done some interesting write ups in the past.

Previous years I've stuck with 1 x browser, 1 x tab, 1x finger....F5 immediately the holding page loads and keep doing that until you get a booking page or it sells out.  No FB, Twitter or other social media chat...total concentration throughout.

Plan is same for this year but I'm also planning on having 2 extra laptops connected via 4G hotspot using Chrome Auto Refresh set to 3 seconds each to allow time to hit the stop button if a page comes up. 

 

[clarkete]

1 hour ago, parsonjack said:

Previous years I've stuck with 1 x browser, 1 x tab, 1x finger....F5 immediately the holding page loads and keep doing that until you get a booking page or it sells out.  No FB, Twitter or other social media chat...total concentration throughout.

Plan is same for this year but I'm also planning on having 2 extra laptops connected via 4G hotspot using Chrome Auto Refresh set to 3 seconds each to allow time to hit the stop button if a page comes up. 

 

Crikey that is hardcore, but thanks very much that's very helpful.

TBH I have to keep it fairly minimal too, as I can easily make mistakes if I multitask too much!

[GoonerRob]

On 9/23/2019 at 1:57 PM, parsonjack said:

Previous years I've stuck with 1 x browser, 1 x tab, 1x finger....F5 immediately the holding page loads and keep doing that until you get a booking page or it sells out.  No FB, Twitter or other social media chat...total concentration throughout.

Plan is same for this year but I'm also planning on having 2 extra laptops connected via 4G hotspot using Chrome Auto Refresh set to 3 seconds each to allow time to hit the stop button if a page comes up. 

 

You dont need to hit the stop button.

[Pateen]

3 hours ago, GoonerRob said:

You dont need to hit the stop button.

Sounds great Gooner but are you sure?

Will it not refresh back to the starting position?

[ceetee]

On 9/22/2019 at 5:52 PM, parsonjack said:

Been a while since I tested this but pretty sure if was in total eg. the hits are per IP so having say 3 browsers on same device refreshing every 3 seconds would generate 60 hits in a minute and would prob be the limit you could work with.

Yoh can test it out now....the 'busy' page is live on glastonbury.seetickets.com permanently.  Let us know how you get on.

It's per session not per IP,  just tested it now. F5'ed until Chrome was showing the holding page then tried in IE and could get the normal pages.

Thinking about it, if it was IP - everyone behind a gateway with loads of internal clients (e.g a university network) wouldn't be able to get through.

[parsonjack]

2 minutes ago, ceetee said:

It's per session not per IP,  just tested it now. F5'ed until Chrome was showing the holding page then tried in IE and could get the normal pages.

Thinking about it, if it was IP - everyone behind a gateway with loads of internal clients (e.g a university network) wouldn't be able to get through.

Ah yes but....bear in mind that the 'block' will only last as long as you are over the 60/minute rate....and that once you reduce the rate the 'block' is released.  In your testing you need to be certain that the time you have spent moving from Chrome with the 'block' to IE hasn't simply allowed the rate to drop within limit, therefore giving the impression that it is per browser session and not per IP.  In theory if you can move from the 'blocked' browser to a new one in a few seconds, and then F5-ing the new browser fires the holding page within a few clicks it would suggest it's per IP and a total across all browsers.  If it takes a full 60 clicks to 'block' the new browser then it suggests it is per browser session.

Your second point is quite correct though....although deeper packet inspection at See's end and in routing would be used to determine different devices on same IP (otherwise how would traffic be routed back to the correct source...) and to prevent blocking them all.

 

[ceetee]

15 minutes ago, parsonjack said:

Ah yes but....bear in mind that the 'block' will only last as long as you are over the 60/minute rate....and that once you reduce the rate the 'block' is released.  In your testing you need to be certain that the time you have spent moving from Chrome with the 'block' to IE hasn't simply allowed the rate to drop within limit, therefore giving the impression that it is per browser session and not per IP.  In theory if you can move from the 'blocked' browser to a new one in a few seconds, and then F5-ing the new browser fires the holding page within a few clicks it would suggest it's per IP and a total across all browsers.  If it takes a full 60 clicks to 'block' the new browser then it suggests it is per browser session.

Your second point is quite correct though....although deeper packet inspection at See's end and in routing would be used to determine different devices on same IP (otherwise how would traffic be routed back to the correct source...) and to prevent blocking them all.

 

You're right, I managed to get the holding page on the second browser if it refreshed fast enough on the first. Will try two devices on the same network later.

[Pateen]

The auto refresh test seems to work well.

I just have one question though. If you set your refresh rate for every 2 seconds and while Seetickets is processing your access, chrome/IE will refresh again.

Does this mean that you actually havent allowed your browser to determine if you had gained access or not if it just continually tries to refresh? Hope my question makes sense.

[parsonjack]

19 hours ago, Pateen said:

The auto refresh test seems to work well.

I just have one question though. If you set your refresh rate for every 2 seconds and while Seetickets is processing your access, chrome/IE will refresh again.

Does this mean that you actually havent allowed your browser to determine if you had gained access or not if it just continually tries to refresh? Hope my question makes sense.

If you are using simple Chrome Auto-Refresh then it will continue to refresh until you stop it manually....which is why you need to be sure you set it slow enough to allow a page to load and to hit the stop button if a booking page comes up....so yes....if you set it to 2 seconds and you don't stop it quickly enough when a page appears it will refresh again and you will be back to square one.

There is mention above from @GoonerRob that you don't need to hit the stop button....but that hasn't been confirmed as yet.....certainly Chrome Auto-Refresh has no simple way of detecting a page change and stopping automatically.

[mpdow2]

Any consensus on auto-refresh? @GoonerRob    Concerned if i don't pause auto-refresh in time i am screwed 

[Beergander]

Sorry to add more confusion to this topic, would VPN protect your IP address from the see tickets servers so allow 60+ attempts per min?

[clarkete]

1 hour ago, Beergander said:

Sorry to add more confusion to this topic, would VPN protect your IP address from the see tickets servers so allow 60+ attempts per min?

VPN will give another IP address to whichever device it's on, which in turn will mean they aren't subject to any address or session related restriction.

You may find more useful information in this other thread with more discussion - 

 

[GoonerRob]

On 9/26/2019 at 5:50 PM, Pateen said:

Sounds great Gooner but are you sure?

Will it not refresh back to the starting position?

 

5 hours ago, mpdow2 said:

Any consensus on auto-refresh? @GoonerRob    Concerned if i don't pause auto-refresh in time i am screwed 

 

As someone else mentioned, it's done on session... so when you get through to the booking page, and the plugin continues to refresh, it wont kick you back to the holding screen... it will refresh the "enter your details" page.

When i notice a window has gone from holding to booking, ill take my time, stop the refresh and start copying and pasting. 

They may have changed it - thats out of our control, but i'll be doing this again.

[parsonjack]

4 hours ago, Beergander said:

Sorry to add more confusion to this topic, would VPN protect your IP address from the see tickets servers so allow 60+ attempts per min?

Nope.  They would just see it as another IP. 

[Pateen]

16 hours ago, GoonerRob said:

 

 

As someone else mentioned, it's done on session... so when you get through to the booking page, and the plugin continues to refresh, it wont kick you back to the holding screen... it will refresh the "enter your details" page.

When i notice a window has gone from holding to booking, ill take my time, stop the refresh and start copying and pasting. 

They may have changed it - thats out of our control, but i'll be doing this again.

Perfect Gooder, I'll give it a shot .... 

[Pateen]

On 9/28/2019 at 1:15 PM, parsonjack said:

If you are using simple Chrome Auto-Refresh then it will continue to refresh until you stop it manually....which is why you need to be sure you set it slow enough to allow a page to load and to hit the stop button if a booking page comes up....so yes....if you set it to 2 seconds and you don't stop it quickly enough when a page appears it will refresh again and you will be back to square one.

There is mention above from @GoonerRob that you don't need to hit the stop button....but that hasn't been confirmed as yet.....certainly Chrome Auto-Refresh has no simple way of detecting a page change and stopping automatically.

Thanks PJ,

 

Yeah maybe 5-10 second refresh maybe a good option. A few different options on about 5 different tabs including manual refresh and lets see what happens

[FLB]

On 10/2/2019 at 5:57 PM, GoonerRob said:

 

 

As someone else mentioned, it's done on session... so when you get through to the booking page, and the plugin continues to refresh, it wont kick you back to the holding screen... it will refresh the "enter your details" page.

When i notice a window has gone from holding to booking, ill take my time, stop the refresh and start copying and pasting. 

They may have changed it - thats out of our control, but i'll be doing this again.

Do we have any more updates on whether this is still the case? I only ask because I managed to get to the booking page yesterday but didn't hit stop in time, and when it refreshed it briefly put me back to the holding page before showing me the booking page again after a couple more refreshes. This was at the exact time when tickets sold out though, which might have been the reason I got kicked off the booking page in the first place (the new booking page said sold out).

 

Also fwiw I had 4 different browsers refreshing every 2 secs, and that didn't seem to be a problem. I also had the same thing going on another device with a VPN, and a 3rd without the VPN.

Edited October 4, 2019 by FLB

[Lycra]

1 hour ago, FLB said:

Do we have any more updates on whether this is still the case? I only ask because I managed to get to the booking page yesterday but didn't hit stop in time, and when it refreshed it briefly put me back to the holding page before showing me the booking page again after a couple more refreshes. This was at the exact time when tickets sold out though, which might have been the reason I got kicked off the booking page in the first place (the new booking page said sold out).

 

Also fwiw I had 4 different browsers refreshing every 2 secs, and that didn't seem to be a problem. I also had the same thing going on another device with a VPN, and a 3rd without the VPN.

If I'm reading this right I would suggest your devices only got on the booking page because tickets had been sold out ??