Solving the Ten Club email problem

TQ8541

Hey folks,

Thanks to the board here, I was able to secure Chicago tickets. However, like many of you, I never did recieve an email about the Ten Club sale. Strange, since I did receive a message about the EV tour. It seems as if its been about 50/50 for me as far as receiving messages.

A couple of weeks ago there was a thread about adjusting your spam filters to allow certain addresses through. I thought this was a big help, and after I did so I received a re-sent version of the original Ten Club email. However, I was not sure of all the possible email addresses Ten Club uses for correspondence, so I emailed them and got the response:

<!-- e --><a href="mailto:info@tenclub.net">info@tenclub.net</a><!-- e -->
<!-- e --><a href="mailto:shipping@tenclub.net">shipping@tenclub.net</a><!-- e -->
<!-- e --><a href="mailto:tickets@tenclub.net">tickets@tenclub.net</a><!-- e -->
<!-- e --><a href="mailto:donotreply@lists.pearljam.com">donotreply@lists.pearljam.com</a><!-- e -->

I can definitely understand why so many people are agitated with the current email problem. But one thing I've realized as I've gotten older is that its easy to complain about a problem- a little harder to come up with a solution. So to be pro-active, what type of feasible solutions can we come up with? Maybe Ten Club could allow us to enter multiple email addresses to receive messages at? Other thoughts?

HeavyHands

It's important to point out that there are two sides to this issue. The end-user side and the administrator side.

End-User
With respect to the end-user side I think the spam filter thing is probably the biggest issue that people can address to make sure the issue is not on their end. People should keep in mind that their web-based e-mail hosts (Yahoo, Google, Hotmail, etc...) often have localized and temporary outages that may result in the e-mail being bounced back to the administrator. Also, web-based e-mail hosts often change their policies and try to integrate new features into their service. This may result in a subtle, but affecting policy change which the end-user may not be aware of. I would suggest that people check their account management settings once a month just to be sure that nothing has been changed or added without their knowledge.

Administrator
On the administrator side of it, whomever is in charge of server traffic should be tracking things statistically. By things I mean: returned e-mails, website traffic by time, website issues when viewing through different web browsers, the proper functioning of intended features of the website, etc... Setting an effective policy, unfortunately for us end-users, often means that as many people as possible receive the e-mails that are sent out rather than everyone. This is not always possible due to things like end-to-end packet loss. (If you're interested in reading about this phenomenon, 30 seconds of Google searching found me this paper: "Queen: Estimating Packet Loss Rate between Arbitrary Internet Hosts" at this address:
http://www.google.com/url?sa=t&source=web&ct=res&cd=8&url=http%3A%2F%2Fcis.poly.edu%2F~angelawang%2Fpapers%2Fpam09.pdf&ei=j4oBSsiFOIHOMonyxOgH&usg=AFQjCNGjsztuk3t5njgCwvz7eUPmqnatmQ)

By tracking traffic statistically the administrators could anticipate traffic trends for when events like ticket sales are planned, and scale-up server capacity temporarily to handle the spike in traffic. The administrator should also have a list of non or under-functioning features on the website which they are actively pursuing.

I think it's important to note that (unless I'm wrong) the actual website administration might not be done in house at the 10C. Just because the website has their name on it doesn't mean that they do not contract the hosting and maintenance services out to a 3rd party. If this is the case then this will add to the time it takes for an issue to get fixed. Not entirely sure if this is the case though because as of this writing the "credits" section at the bottom of the home page is under construction.

Technical Problems
As end-users we should have an organized way to clearly, reliably, and repeatedly report issues we are experiencing with the website (slow page loading, server time-outs, pages not rendering properly, cant view profiles, pm's not going through, etc...). I would suggest that the 10C create an area where end-users have the opportunity to enter detailed information about the technical problems they are having so that the 10C can accurately report the issues to the site administrators. It should include standard things like: operating system version, web browser and version, type of internet connection (T1, DSL, Bit Rate of Cable Modem, mobile device, etc...), time of day, what the user was trying to do when the problem occurred, etc... If they are tracking things statistically, the administrators will be able to handle a majority of technical problems because they will have clear indications of mass vs. isolated problems.

Informational Problems
Problems that end-users perceive with the flow of information from 10C are a completely separate matter. It should be apparent to most at this writing that the 10C does listen to what we are saying (example: http://forums.pearljam.com/viewtopic.php?f=4&t=97948) when we have complaints which are posted in an organized and clear manner (example: http://forums.pearljam.com/viewtopic.php?f=4&t=97880). Not including angry or derisive language and getting off topic should be a no-brainer but perhaps it needs to be said out loud. If anyone has a suggestion (not a complaint! *wink*) about how the 10C could improve their services (including the flow of information from them to us) I'm willing to bet that they would be happy to listen. I would suggest that when you post a suggestion, please take the time to organize your thoughts to get to the core of the issue, do a spell check, and read what you are typing out loud to hear how it sounds. Would any of us like to be on the receiving end of a constant parade of poorly worded run-on sentences? The word *delete* comes to mind for me.

HeavyHands

HeavyHands

Really? Not one other person on this board has a single viable suggestion?

Satans Red Mosquito

I didn't receive an email about the tour announcement, but here is the thing, i signed up to receive emails about pearl jam from their publicity company, and everytime, no joke less than 5 minutes after it is released on the website, I get an email from them about the tour.

JJ42005

here is a suggestion for a solution -

the 10C can announce something and then wait 2-3 Days to actually sell the tickets... that way... it gives the email time to get to people.

I got the email, but it was the NEXT day...

I am just sayin.. why are they always so secretive and have to announce things then sell 2 hours later?

DewieCox

I don't see what's so hard about visiting PJ's website a time or 2 a week when there starts to be a buzz, if you want tix that bad. I'm not trying to defend the 10c. I've just never missed a show that I was that interested in seein. That pretty well goes for any band I'm in to.

I do agree that some of the announcements could've been better, but how many people got shut out of tix?