Letters to the Editor

How scalpers hoard "Hannah Montana" tickets A possibly crazy solution to the problem of online scalper mills. By Farhad Manjoo [2007-10-05]

• Crazy Indeed

  Dear Farhad Manjoo,

  I understand you are supposed to be some sort of "technology" writer. If I may, please let me introduce you to the ginormous flaw in your little scheme. It is a tiny upstart company, so it isn't surprising that you may not have heard of it. It is called Google.

  Weird name, no? It is called a "search engine" and people can use it to search for all kinds of information on the web, getting results quickly. Letting them do things like oh, I don't know, answer quiz questions about things they know nothing about. There's another site that might help answer these too, it is called Wikipedia.

  I know! Where are they coming up with these names? Strange as it may seem, this site thinks it is an encyclopedia and contains tons of information about things that'd never be in "real" encyclopedias. I'm sure this page: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hannah_Montana couldn't possibly contain the kind of information you're thinking of for your quiz though.

  Of course, if neither of those work, you've got your old-fashioned "spiders". These are tools people write that go out and scan web pages looking for keywords, kind of like search engines, but more specialized.

  I guess they could hire "experts" too, but that seems like a wast of $ when these other tools are available, no?

  There's one more flaw in your wacky scheme. Do you really only want to get to go to concerts where you've obsessively memorized strange facts about the act in question? What if a friend plays you a song by a band like The Epoxies and you decide you really like them and hey, look! They're coming to town. Aw, since you don't know who Roxy's 5th grade teacher dated in 1984 you don't get to go.

  Also, now you can't get concert tickets for a friend or relative as a present. How much study does a parent need to do to get tickets so their little girl can go see the Cheetah Girls? Assuming, of course that you manage to pick questions that can't be answered using web resources.

  And you're overlooking the biggest problem in the pack: Ticketmaster. Friends of mine and I want to go to see a local band here in Boston. I know almost nothing about them, except I've heard a couple songs. Tickets are $13 a piece. How much total if I get 3 through Ticketmaster? $55. That's right, there's a 41% surcharge per ticket and that's without involving scalpers. Sure, that's a far cry from a 400% increase, but it is hardly reasonable. Ticketmaster's only upset 'cause they can't charge those prices themselves.

  We're going to just buy tickets at the door.

  -- Lynx
  [Read Lynx's other letters]
  Permalink Flag Friday, October 5, 2007 04:49 PM
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