FIRST Choice Sunday redux

[marccenter]

I like the lottery system idea (groups of 100 teams).

Let the rookies all get first crack at it. One hour per group of 100 teams.
Server should not crash and burn this way.

So, it takes a couple of days to get all 5000 teams...

Thoughts?

[DonRotolo]

Originally Posted by marccenter

I like the lottery system idea (groups of 100 teams).

Let the rookies all get first crack at it. One hour per group of 100 teams.
Server should not crash and burn this way.

So, it takes a couple of days to get all 5000 teams...

Thoughts?

No, any lottery needs to be open to all, and some kind of algorithm determines what you get

[Cory]

Originally Posted by marccenter

I like the lottery system idea (groups of 100 teams).

Let the rookies all get first crack at it. One hour per group of 100 teams.
Server should not crash and burn this way.

So, it takes a couple of days to get all 5000 teams...

Thoughts?

Or just put the website on a server that can handle 3000 people all trying to place orders at once.

How many people do you think are purchasing something right now from any major company's website? Over 3000, for sure. They don't have any issues.

This really shouldn't be very hard, but FIRST's history is littered with cases of not being able to handle the volume of web traffic that can be predicted fairly easily.

[cgmv123]

Originally Posted by Cory

Or just put the website on a server that can handle 3000 people all trying to place orders at once.

How many people do you think are purchasing something right now from any major company's website? Over 3000, for sure. They don't have any issues.

This really shouldn't be very hard, but FIRST's history is littered with cases of not being able to handle the volume of web traffic that can be predicted fairly easily.

It's not worth it for FIRST/AndyMark to invest in a web server that can handle 2000+ connections for 30 minutes when it only needs to handle at most* 10 connections for the rest of the season.

A 2 week lottery window would spread out the connections.

*Except maybe kickoff.

[Cory]

Originally Posted by cgmv123

It's not worth it for FIRST/AndyMark to invest in a web server that can handle 2000+ connections for 30 minutes when it only needs to handle at most* 10 connections for the rest of the year.

A 2 week lottery window would spread out the connections.

*Except maybe kickoff.

I'm no expert in webhosting, but I'm pretty sure you can pay someone who does this for a living to host your website for a short duration.

[magnets]

Originally Posted by Cory

I'm no expert in webhosting, but I'm pretty sure you can pay someone who does this for a living to host your website for a short duration.

That's what chief delphi does (or at least used to do). When build season starts, the number of users gets close to 1,000 on at a time, so the server is improved/more servers are added to keep the site running well.

I have a hard time believing that FIRST and AndyMark aren't able to predict the number of people who will be using the website, and that the site crashes because of the sheer number of people on it. I think it's some type of software issue where the web server has a memory leak or becomes unresponsive if a certain series of actions are performed.

That being said, the site has been in development for a while now, and I think the goal of making it work before kickoff may be a little bit unrealistic, so I'm curious to see how FIRST will respond with a new solution to get the parts out.

[Ed Sparks]

I'm of an age and FIRST experience level (18 years now) that I can remember what it was like before AndyMark helped us with convenient offerings of needed parts. I'm gratefull for all they do for us and I'll cut these guys some slack ......

If you think this is frustrating, just wait until you get the game rules

[mman1506]

I know vex's product release stream had 3000+ viewers and just as many or more probably went to vex's site. Vex had no problem handling the traffic without any slowdowns even while continually updating the site.

While it can't be easy to handle that traffic I can't imagine it would be that difficult to handle a known number of visitors.

[coalhot]

Originally Posted by mman1506

I know vex's product release stream had 3000+ viewers and just as many or more probably went to vex's site. Vex had no problem handling the traffic without any slowdowns even while continually updating the site.

VEX did use youtube for their stream, they didn't use any sort of private hosting/custom site.

I am wondering why Andymark didn't purchase 3 months of hosting from a place like Amazon. They charge by usage, and there wouldn't be that much of an issue (I'm sure at any given moment, there are more than 3,000 users on Amazon).

Kudos to Andy and crew for trying to get it right though. It's better for them to cancel and reschedule then for a select few people getting in. I'm looking forward to using the system when rescheduled.

[mman1506]

Originally Posted by coalhot

VEX did use youtube for their stream, they didn't use any sort of private hosting/custom site.

.

Oh, I know that. I was just using the youtube stream viewer count to estimate the traffic on their site.

[Andy Baker]

Folks,

We are putting together a report for FIRST tonight, and we have a meeting with them tomorrow. As soon as a decision for a re-release is made, I am sure that FIRST and our staff here at AndyMark will work hard to communicate this new info through our respective channels.

I personally appreciate your support and patience, but I also know that your time and passion about FIRST are very important. You are right in saying that this delay and waste of time is unacceptable. For that, I am sorry. Also, I do appreciate the time our staff has made to get this process working and I do promise that we will have a sound FIRST Choice service soon.

Sincerely,
Andy Baker

[MooreteP]

Originally Posted by Andy Baker

Folks,

We are putting together a report for FIRST tonight, and we have a meeting with them tomorrow. As soon as a decision for a re-release is made, I am sure that FIRST and our staff here at AndyMark will work hard to communicate this new info through our respective channels.

I personally appreciate your support and patience, but I also know that your time and passion about FIRST are very important. You are right in saying that this delay and waste of time is unacceptable. For that, I am sorry. Also, I do appreciate the time our staff has made to get this process working and I do promise that we will have a sound FIRST Choice service soon.

Sincerely,
Andy Baker

Thanks Andy.

Just like our robots, if they worked well the first time we turned them on, we would be suspicious.

BTW, where are the waterproof cameras?

How about making the relaunch in the evening,(if it is during this week) when most of us (sorry, West Coast) are available?
The 3:00 time was better for Hawaii, of that I am sure.

I would be cool with next Saturday. Multi-tasking with wrapping gifts and cooking dinner and watching football worked for me yesterday and today.

[Foster]

"xyzTeam9876" Wow, I could do a much better job in doing a website. Just buy some cloud service, some HTML, really it isn't hard"

/sigh

There is more to e-commerce than just the 7 minutes you need to interact. Ton's of suppliers sent product. Need to get inventoried, put into pick sites, included into the inventory, priced by "points". Track all the teams and how many points they have. Web site. Credit card to pay for shipping. Order sheets. Pick orders. Pack. Ship. Track. Deal with problem orders (wrong order, wrong items, shipping issues). Customer service.

This is all a hard task.

And while AndyMark is making a 2000% markup on free parts (do the math), this isn't their core business. Amazing robot parts for a price that you can't get from a China distributor, Sunday shipping, tech and customer support that understand that you are on a 50 day deadline (that you've blown 45 days of) with two guys Mark and Andy that lay awake at night because they have been where you are now.

Free parts to you, a bonus.

But, I see people out there with their hands up going "Hey FIRST pick me for FIRST Choice. I want to be the site for that next year!". Go for it, I'm your first fan! You are a rock star!

The rest of you need to shut up. Sorry that that sounded harsh. You spent $6000 to be part of FIRST. Suppliers spent thousands in donations of parts. AM is trying their best to glue you together. FIRST isn't a business model, it's a donation model. Mark and Andy are smart guys, and I'm sure they did this with the best intentions (or has Mom says "The Road to Hell is Paved with the Best Intentions" )

It's not part of your $6000 birthright. It's free stuff as a bonus.

FIRST is partially duplicating an engineering lifecycle. Parts shortages, parts price changes, parts (insert verb) are part of the real world.

But, on a more personal level, I'm more disappointed in the mentors that have whined in this thread. Is the pressure that bad that 23 days before kickoff you are in a full meltdown? Really? Can I get a build site address so I can come Presidents Week in February to watch your team?

Mentors, we are leaders. Life is full of adversity. If this is the worst problem that you face in the next 10 weeks, I'll come kiss you on Einstein. Lead, don't teach people to whine. We have too many Lawyers that do that

[Jon K.]

Originally Posted by Andy Baker

Folks,

We are putting together a report for FIRST tonight, and we have a meeting with them tomorrow. As soon as a decision for a re-release is made, I am sure that FIRST and our staff here at AndyMark will work hard to communicate this new info through our respective channels.

I personally appreciate your support and patience, but I also know that your time and passion about FIRST are very important. You are right in saying that this delay and waste of time is unacceptable. For that, I am sorry. Also, I do appreciate the time our staff has made to get this process working and I do promise that we will have a sound FIRST Choice service soon.

Sincerely,
Andy Baker

I posted the following message to my Facebook earlier, but I feel would better serve people here on Delphi.

"Dear AndyMark, Inc.,
I know a lot of people are angry right now, but they clearly are the ones who don't get GP. Being a long time FIRSTer, I remember when the KoP was the KoP, and you were grateful to just get that. The fact that we have this awesome new service with FIRST Choice is fantastic. I was a beta tester for FIRST choice this year, and there were no major issues. The fact that you have been open about everything has been fantastic. While you may only hear a lot of the negative today, please remember that there are still a ton of us in the FIRST community that appreciate the service you are offering us. I for one would rather continue to have the opening be postponed then to have massive issues dealing with it later. You can't please everyone, but at least you try.

Thanks again for all the hard work you do for us in FIRST.

Jon"

Also, I would just like to remind everyone of a time, not too long ago, where FIRST itself couldn't handle registration. It was something that was dealt with, and was something they had to learn and grow from. I know many of the people who work at AndyMark personally, and know that they all take this very seriously. They are some of the most dedicated people in the FIRST community.

I would like to once again applaud Andy, and the entire AndyMark team for all their work on this!

[Gdeaver]

Wow, My wife rolled out 2 major cloud software projects in 2013. They just worked on roll out. Minor revisions in a month later update. With OB care and the nightmares allot of my friends are having with software roll outs and now the First Choice melt down, I'm going to walk upstairs and bow before HER MAGNIFICENCE.