The Energon Pub

Delicon wrote:

UltraPrimal wrote:Sheesh, guys! It'll be up when it's up. Just be patient.

I think those of us who have planned to go to BotCon have been in fact just that. However, when you are making a large financial investment to attend a convention such as BotCon I think you deserve a little more attention/respect than what he have gotten recently. Don't get me wrong, BotCon is an enormous endeavor and FunPub overall has done a good job but this would seem to be a very vital thing they are dropping the ball on.

Correct me if I'm wrong, but we were promised that we would be able to register in late February/early March as I recall and right now we're about to run out of April in a matter of hours. Wanting a real explanation and/or some action is not being selfish on our part.

Seriously. My wife is going to a fan event in mid-May, and she was able to register in November, had all of her conformations in hand in Mid January, and had her entire itenerary before the end of January. We were able to save so much on airfare since we had so much time to play with, but I'm not planning on going to Botcon if I can't get the set, and have passed on several grat sets of non-refundable, no-changable airfare.

FACT: The registration wait as already cost me more than 150 bucks.

I consider that unacceptable customer service.

Seibertron wrote:

Razorclaw0000 wrote:I've repeatedly defended the club and I'm getting tired of waiting. As a software developer, I do not comprehend the excuses regarding the code for registration not being ready. Did they genuinely build something from the ground up? There are several event services that could easily handle registration for a few thousand people without even blinking.

It boggles the mind.

As a website developer with almost 10 years of experience developing ecommerce websites (several of which were event registration websites), I have to agree with you. It's ridiculous that we didn't have online registration back in 2005 and it's unfortunate that 5 years later we still don't. It doesn't take this long to build something, even from scratch, unless that person has no experience building ecommerce websites. Kind of makes me a little worried about the whole credit card bit and whether or not this will be PCI compliant.

http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&safe ... =&gs_rfai=

That's a serious concern for me.

Maybe, they should work on 2 locations at once, one for next year and one for the year after. That way they'll have everything done a year in advance and can focus on the following year, and have plenty of time, for them and us, to plan.

I have to agree with everybody. I don't understand how setting up a registration program can be so difficult. Why is this a problem every year? Are we re-inventing the wheel? There are literally millions of softwares out there that can do this. Simply put, this is ridiculous--if I was Brian Savage, I would be downright embarrassed. I can tell you that when registration finally does become available, there will be many unhappy people because the Botcon exclusives will be sold-out in a matter of hours.

All of the above is why I'm not going to BotCon. I had wanted to go and I had the Mrs. all set but, we wanted to plan for it in advance. They should take a lesson from the major comic cons.

Yeah, I really just can't understand why the TFCC has such a lousy web presence.

I mean, hell, there's plenty of free one-click install software that would improve their current web presence by a ridiculous degree, let alone if they have any money at all to throw at it.

And they might not even need money to go beyond the free software; there's got to be some TF fans out there with web development experience who would be more than happy to donate their services in exchange for free toys or memberships or something like that.

youngku wrote:I have to agree with everybody. I don't understand how setting up a registration program can be so difficult. Why is this a problem every year? Are we re-inventing the wheel? There are literally millions of softwares out there that can do this. Simply put, this is ridiculous--if I was Brian Savage, I would be downright embarrassed. I can tell you that when registration finally does become available, there will be many unhappy people because the Botcon exclusives will be sold-out in a matter of hours.

While it is fairly easy (assuming you know what you're doing) to develop an online event registration with credit card processing, it does take time to build an application that does this. If building it from scratch, it should take a few months to build something of this nature, though I'm sure there are "freeware" things that they could use instead but I'm not a fan of those (things like the nightmarish osCommerce, Zen-Cart, and Magento all come to mind) ... especially when integrating it with an existing website.

I'm sure the biggest factor here is $$$$. E-Commerce websites and event registration websites are expensive. I wouldn't freelance a project like this for less than $7,500, probably more like at least $12,000 to $20,000 when I start thinking about all of the special line items they would need. Between the cost of the convention itself, paying for the convention exclusives up front with the factory (or however that works), paying in advance for the Club exclusive, covering all of their salaries, website expenses, website redesigns, packaging designs, etc ... I imagine they don't have a lot of extra cash sitting around to be paying for someone to build a website professionally.

Keep all of this in mind when you're thinking about this.

What I don't understand is if they're having such problems or delays with the online registration, why we don't revert back to the traditional fax method so that we can all get on with our lives and then worry about online registrations after the convention season.

Their website looks really lousy it looks like what I did 4 years ago while learning basic html and that was n00bish and just like me they never bothered with improving.

Why do fansites that are made in people's free time look better than the website of an official organisation?

And I don't think Ryan's excuse with it costing a lot of money to make an entirely new registration program from scratch is a good enough excuse.

They run 2 conventions, the registration system can be used for both, plus if they make the investment in something like that they can reach more people as they will no longer be put off by how unprofessional they look.

Fecking ridicules.

What really pisses me off is that they do not have a set date anymore. The conventions use to always be in September/The Fall, so you could plan accordingly. Nowadays they have them whenever they feel like it. Sometimes giving people less than 5 months advance notice and that is not fair! Everyone works, has school, a wife/husband, kids and numerous other responsibilities. Having a floating convention date is not acceptable. If it were always in the same month at least, then people would be prepared as they would always have a year. Only the location would be a last minute addition. Supposedly the-powers-that-be behind Botcon think Botcon should be people's main or summer vacation each year, but that is just absurd! When people go on true vacation they go far away or exotic places like Europe, Mexico, or some Trpoical Island resort, not some random city in the US. For aside from the Botcons held in California, New York and Florida, none of the other locations are actual tourist or vacation destinations to begin with. So Botcon shouldn't consider their convention anyone's true summer vacation or family holiday.

Now personally I don't care too much about the guests not being announced. I don't go to Botcon for the guests. I go for my friends and the toys/exclusives. The conventions haven't ever really had anyone special aside from some of the G1 voice actor anyway. and it's not like they are going to get Megan Fox or Shia Labeouf to show up in person and sign autographs.

I think Botcon needs to pick a "set month" to always hold the convention and not deviate from this plan, or at least they need to pick a set date when they will always have "ALL" convention material available and resgistration up and running. Then people can always plan accordingly.

UltraPrimal wrote:Sheesh, guys! It'll be up when it's up. Just be patient.

Well I need to know when to arrive because I'm trying to get into the custom class. I'm trying to save $$!! I'm trying for the Thursday class, which means I must book a Wed flight and pay for Wed-Sunday hotel cost. If I can't get Thurs, I'll try Wed's class, and book a Tues flight, and stay Tues-Sun. But I'm NOT going to book a flight until I know when I need to be there. And if I don't get the class, I'm showing up Thursday staying till Sunday. So it makes a BIG difference in what I will be spending. And this is just for someone that is single. I know -B- has a family so it make an even BIGGER difference for him. So this waiting game is costing some of us.

Forgot to mention something that really sucks for me. Each summer for the past 20 years I have been going to Europe for my vacation. I usually leave at the end of June and stay for 2 or 3 months. This is the 2nd time that I will have to fly straight from the convention to Europe, and lug all of my convention stuff to Europe and then back to Los Angeles. It adds up to a lot of hassle and extra baggage fees! Plus I can't even stay for the whole convention as I have to be in Denmark for the Roskilde Music Festival Saturday June 26th before 6pm. So I am only at Botcon to pick up my badge, toys and take the Thursday Customization class and leave around noon on Friday. That's it! I don't get to see any guests, attend the Saturday dinner, or even buy anything from the dealers room because it's not open yet. Which brings up another point. The dealers room should open early Friday morning! There is no reason for it not to be open Friday morning. Eeveryone usually arrives on Wednesday or Thursday anyway and aside from the lame over priced tours, there is only the customization classes being offered. So having the dealers room open early would be a plus!

As head of an Anime Convention with an attendee base around 5000, I can honestly say that getting our registration online is a very fustrating thing that (as a process) has taken a very long time to work out and get the kinks dealt with.

That said, Fun Pub has access to a lot more resources, and for the profile of their events, the issues they are having are just sad, especially when compared to an event like PAX, who has had about the same amount of time as FP has been presenting Botcon, is also hosting a second event now (PAXEast/Joecon) and registering for their event was a snap.

They also should have a Twtitter page or something so we can all be Tweeted the minute online registration goes up. You would think they would have thought of something like this already. Twitter has been around for ages!

I hate to sound harsh, but I wonder if we ought to express our concerns over this to the folks from Hasbro at BotCon. Hasbro does have a corporate image to maintain, and surely they see how FunPub's unprofessional and inefficient practices concerning BotCon reflects negatively on the franchise at large and on Hasbro itself. Personally, if it was up to me, Hasbro would buy out FunPub and create a Hasbro Conventions Department to handle BotCon, JoeCon, and the Collectors' Clubs.

And here's why:

FunPub has given us very little in the way of a reason WHY we should attend their convention. The only reasons they have given us thus far are three figures from the 5-piece set.

A guest list would really help calm the impatient masses. For a lot of folks, the autographs and interview panels with voice actors, comic writers, and artists are a deciding factor in whether or not to attend the convention.

I'm no web-developer, but I have a pretty strong background in basic HTML and an Associates Degree in Local Area Networking. An online registration system for BotCon should be easily complete in a matter of weeks by a team of 1-3 trained professionals. Yet, it's taken FunPub months, and, if the rest of their websites are any example, it is going to be amateur at best.

So, we have to endure all of this, and what happens when we arrive? Well, if previous years are any example, you can expect to be verbally-abused by an elderly woman as she checks you in at Registration/Package Pickup. Don't bother asking her any questions, she doesn't know. Her only job is to take your information, give you your Package, and stamp her foot impatiently while you check to make sure she actually gave you everything you were supposed to get. Which, by the way, you should ABSOLUTELY check, BEFORE you walk away from the counter, or else you risk being unable to exchange your items. Unfortunately, whoever packages the figures has a difficult time telling right missiles from left missiles, and many figures in the past (most notably the BotCon conehead Seekers) have come packaged with two left-sided missile launchers. Now, granted, this isn't FunPub's fault, as I doubt they assembled the figures themselves. However, shouldn't there be some form of Quality Check? Or at least the ability to exchange them? Shouldn't the Package-Pickup people be knowledgeable about the products that they are handing out? Shouldn't they, at the very least, have a positive attitude?

Before anybody says, "Oh, you just had a bad experience," I have been to three BotCons, and I have encountered these problems at every single one, both in my own personal experiences and in the experiences of numerous other attendees.

That said, I will be in attendance at BotCon this June. I will be there to enjoy the company of my fellows fans, and out of a sense of loyalty to the franchise. The only way to improve something is to work from within, finding its shortcomings and addressing them intellectually. BotCon will no doubt be an incredible event, with good times had by all, but I would like to see it improved in the future to run smoother.

That's just my little rant.

Just wondering for those who attend Bot/Joecon.

A regular feature than many animecons and a few others I've been to usually run a gripe panel after closing ceremonies on the last day. A chance for attendees to tell the people running the show what worked, what didn't and such.

Has FP run a panel of this nature? and if so does Hasbro's rep show up for it as well. If they haven't, requesting something of a similar nature where FP and Hasbro officials can directly hear the concerns of attendees, rather than just at regular events where cheers will most likely drowned out any other reactions.

Nope, they have never done a gripe panel. Unless you count the Q&A sessions with Hasbro reps, but those mostly consist of questions like "will we ever see a figure for X".

By the way, has anyone else noticed that it went from "Registration Soon" to "Registration Not Yet Available" sometime this week?

Fail. Pure, unadulterated, ridiculous FAIL. Anime Iowa instead for me.

Savage wrote:I hate to sound harsh, but I wonder if we ought to express our concerns over this to the folks from Hasbro at BotCon. Hasbro does have a corporate image to maintain, and surely they see how FunPub's unprofessional and inefficient practices concerning BotCon reflects negatively on the franchise at large and on Hasbro itself. Personally, if it was up to me, Hasbro would buy out FunPub and create a Hasbro Conventions Department to handle BotCon, JoeCon, and the Collectors' Clubs.

I think you might be being a little too harsh. Botcon is a night-and-day difference under FunPub's control than it was in the days prior to them. Picking up the exclusives at every convention has always been a bitch. I'm sure those of you who attended BotCon '94 through BotCon/OTFCC 2004 can attest to this. FunPub has done a fairly good job, there's just room for improvement.

Savage wrote:FunPub has given us very little in the way of a reason WHY we should attend their convention. The only reasons they have given us thus far are three figures from the 5-piece set.

A guest list would really help calm the impatient masses. For a lot of folks, the autographs and interview panels with voice actors, comic writers, and artists are a deciding factor in whether or not to attend the convention.

The convention sets have been a knock out every year since FunPub took over, whether you personally like the sets or not. I haven't liked all the sets (Shattered Glass comes to mind) but I respect what they did and understand that a lot of fans really do like even that set. So they must be doing something right with the convention exclusives. It sure has heck beats some of the convention exclusive figures from previous years.

Savage wrote:I'm no web-developer, but I have a pretty strong background in basic HTML and an Associates Degree in Local Area Networking. An online registration system for BotCon should be easily complete in a matter of weeks by a team of 1-3 trained professionals. Yet, it's taken FunPub months, and, if the rest of their websites are any example, it is going to be amateur at best.

Again, HTML and actual programming (.NET, Java, PHP, Ruby on Rails ... pick your flavor) are two different things. While HTML is fairly simple, programming an application to accept registrations and process credit card payments is a whole other beast. Not to mention the administrative side that would need to be built as well as other backend tools that the client would need ... all things that none of us would ever see but require just as much work.

Seibertron wrote:

Savage wrote:I hate to sound harsh, but I wonder if we ought to express our concerns over this to the folks from Hasbro at BotCon. Hasbro does have a corporate image to maintain, and surely they see how FunPub's unprofessional and inefficient practices concerning BotCon reflects negatively on the franchise at large and on Hasbro itself. Personally, if it was up to me, Hasbro would buy out FunPub and create a Hasbro Conventions Department to handle BotCon, JoeCon, and the Collectors' Clubs.

I think you might be being a little too harsh. Botcon is a night-and-day difference under FunPub's control than it was in the days prior to them. Picking up the exclusives at every convention has always been a bitch. I'm sure those of you who attended BotCon '94 through BotCon/OTFCC 2004 can attest to this. FunPub has done a fairly good job, there's just room for improvement.

Yeah probably, but my computer froze and rebotted four times during the typing of that message, so my frustration factor just kept going up.

Seibertron wrote:

Savage wrote:FunPub has given us very little in the way of a reason WHY we should attend their convention. The only reasons they have given us thus far are three figures from the 5-piece set.

A guest list would really help calm the impatient masses. For a lot of folks, the autographs and interview panels with voice actors, comic writers, and artists are a deciding factor in whether or not to attend the convention.

The convention sets have been a knock out every year since FunPub took over, whether you personally like the sets or not. I haven't liked all the sets (Shattered Glass comes to mind) but I respect what they did and understand that a lot of fans really do like even that set. So they must be doing something right with the convention exclusives. It sure has heck beats some of the convention exclusive figures from previous years.

Personally, I loved G2, and I'm thrilled by this set. If there's a g2 Ramjet / black Sideswipe / blue Grimlock in the mix, it'll probably become my favorite Set to date. But three figures isn't a solid justification for the massive expense that is BotCon. A guest list AND the boxed set figures would be enough to make most people feel informed and more patient about the registration. At least they'd know what they'll be getting.

There are so many people online here who are skilled in computer graphics, software, programming and art such as myself. That I think they would have gladly set up Botcon's online registration for free or at least for a free convention set or whatnot. So there really is no excuse for these delays. A skilled individual could have set it up by themselves within a week, less if they used an already existing program, which are readily available. Anyway this wil be my last bitching session for awhile. I have a feeling registration will go online after Joecon this Monday or sometime before the 7th of May when Ironamn 2 comes out. May would mean that people have had less than 2 months to register for Botcon which is really, really sad if you ask me!

I think the question is, and I would ask this of employees working for me...

You've had a year to prepare for this.

This is a large task with potential complications.

Other people's money is being dealt with via this issue.

Why was this not handled earlier, as a higher priority, and why is a detail so important still outstanding in a public capacity?

While I will not be in attendance at Botcon this year, I am impatiently waiting. This is the first year I will be able to get a Toy package and I don't want to miss out. I really find the lack of information disturbing.

Being this is my first and probally only time because of the location, I wish they would hurry up. I reserved a hotel room and pretty soon gotta pay or loose the reservation. But what if I pay and the Primus Packages sell out while Im at work or sleeping ??? I cant stay glued to a computer 24-7. We all got lives. And the longer they take is just slowing me down from booking a cheap flight in advance...Please put it up already.

Counterpunch wrote:I think the question is, and I would ask this of employees working for me...

You've had a year to prepare for this.

This is a large task with potential complications.

Other people's money is being dealt with via this issue.

Why was this not handled earlier, as a higher priority, and why is a detail so important still outstanding in a public capacity?

I agree...

Or maybe we could toss this into the hasbro Q&A this time around? Maybe ask them if one of the biggest Transformer events this year is being handled by the right team?

Don't get me wrong This will be my first Botcon and I am still going, I just luck out by having gone to high school and graduated college their so even if the con is a wash I still have family and freinds to enjoy a week vacation with.. I haven't made flight or rental arrangements yet because I also want to get into the Customize class and prices are still somewhat reasonable but it does kind of hang heavy in my mind that something this "Major" is seemingly being done "Last minute" so to speak...

Anyways just thinking about the con just gets me excited so...Yeah..I'm on the fence here I guess