The Energon Pub

News Credits: 9 · by **Editor** » Sat May 01, 2010 12:33 am

UltraPrimal wrote:Ryan, why don't you just make FunPub an entirely new site for them?

No Ryan please don't.

At least not until all the sites in the network are done. (and you've given people access to the back-end for HMW)

PAX, went to website the day registration for 2010 went live. 15 minutes later, I had given all the information they needed, paid by Visa, & I had confirmation that me and the fiancee were registered with the convention with over 5 months to go. That's how it's suppose to work.

News Credits: 273 · by **Delicon** » Sat May 01, 2010 1:31 am

One of my issues here is that some of the "small" conventions we give coverage to here at Seibertron.com have figured out online registration with seemingly relative ease so when Fun Pub can't they look more than a little silly.

News Credits: 8 · by **Forgotten** » Sat May 01, 2010 6:49 am

So glad i'm not going to even attempt Botcon this year. Doc says much more stress will kill me and it looks like my favorite hobby would be finishing me off.

Hosting a site on Windoze is a friggin nightmare in my opinion. I've never tried a mac hosting system, so I can't comment on that. Linux is the way to go, if nothing else, EOA is great, cross-platform compatability is the best & if you're just running a little jockey show you can set up with a linux cpanel and the simplicity for anybody to do basic script updates is great. TUX FTW!

Oh, Savage if you're having problems with your comp, get up with me and we'll either fix it or see if I have enough scrap parts to build another one. Will build computers for Go-Bots

seriously, give me a call & we'll get together. Just not today i've got about 4 hours of tattoo work on my back scheduled. :PEACE:

News Credits: 1 · by **vulgar_wraith** » Sat May 01, 2010 10:07 am

I'm waiting like a dog for registaration.I got my hotel booked and plane tickets ready to go.Its been a while since I have posted but hope to see some of you from the past conventions I attended.Always good times.

News Credits: 26 · by **Wheeljack35** » Sat May 01, 2010 11:02 am

I thank god I live only 2 hours away from Disney World

News Credits: 767 · by **Dead Metal** » Sat May 01, 2010 11:17 am

Wheeljack35 wrote:I thank god I live only 2 hours away from Disney World

You lucky SOB

News Credits: 16 · by **It Is Him** » Sat May 01, 2010 11:44 am

Dead Metal wrote:
Wheeljack35 wrote:I thank god I live only 2 hours away from Disney World

You lucky SOB

Yep. Florida is a pretty awesome state all around

http://www.youtube.com/user/Pepsimus · by **Black Bumblebee** » Sat May 01, 2010 1:09 pm

Sent an email about this to Botcon and got a reply:

My email:

Just thought I'd let you know that on the forums at Seibertron, a lot of people are saying that they are backing out of coming to your convention due to the lack of information / lack of registration. It's a front paged story right now. You might want to do some damage control... just saying...

Reply:

We have had full information.

Registration very soon I am in final testing while I am at the Joe Convention.

Brian

Please make note of my new email brian@funpubinc.com

So, according to the email, we already know all there is to know about Botcon this year--guests, exclusives, and all. (???)

Take from this what you will.

News Credits: 2 · by **TransBat** » Sat May 01, 2010 3:14 pm

Just got this e-mail regarding BotCon Online Registration System Update from the Transformers Collectors Club in my inbox at 4:56pm EST

Here is the latest update. Even though we are in the middle of GIJoeCon right now, we have continued to work on the registration system.

In order to do the final testing, we need your help. We have posted a test event at http://www.eventman.com/testevent. Please go to this site and walk through the registration system. Feel free to try variation you find. It is very complicated code but the interface is very simple. If you get a cold fusion error and the Accufind screen comes up, you don't need to send in an email as that will generate an automatic email to the programer. If you have comments or suggestions please use the email link at the bottom of the page.

You can put anything in the credit card and note that it will throw a warning that your order is not finished. This is normal as it is not processing credit cards, so don't use a real one as the secure socket is not turned on.

Please note that IN NO WAY are you registering for BotCon with this test event.

It would also help if as many people as possible could try to register at the same time so, if you can, please try at 2pm Central Time on Sunday, we would appreciate it!

Next week we will make the final corrections and put the live site up IF there are no major issues. We will not be disclosing what time, date or the url until it is up. We will send out an email and a Tweet.

One thing we do know about the classes is currently this version will allow you to pick the class both days, which we don't allow. The final version should have this corrected.

Thanks for your patience!

Brian

I went ahead and did a test - a bit confusing, as the options seem to be spread out when using a large screen resolution (1920x1200 here), but it could be worse. The persistent countdown timer while registering is a bit unique. Being my first BotCon, I have no idea how this compares to the dreaded Fax Forms I've heard so much about. Hope this info helps out a bit, I know we're all anxious as hell about registering and getting all of the other info for this year's BotCon.

News Credits: 226 · by **Burn** » Sat May 01, 2010 3:27 pm

Delicon wrote:One of my issues here is that some of the "small" conventions we give coverage to here at Seibertron.com have figured out online registration with seemingly relative ease so when Fun Pub can't they look more than a little silly.

It took them over four years to sort out the problems with credit card payments for international members.

So is this really any suprise to me? No ...

News Credits: 10 · by **HighPrime** » Sat May 01, 2010 3:56 pm

Already tested for 'non-attendee.' No problems on my side. I love the 7 minute countdown idea. Before anyone becomes alarmed at the "$10.00" processing fee, I'm betting that's a substitution for a shipping charge. There had better not be a processing fee... :lol:

Anyway, I plan on testing tomorrow at 2pm, also.

by **Novascream** » Sat May 01, 2010 3:59 pm

I just took the BOTCON online registration (beta) test & they have raised the prices! If you will take a look at the brochure it says that the customization class is $85 dollars, but on the online form they have raised it to $100! They have also added a $10 service fee for online registration! I have set aside money for Botcon for what I was told the price of my items would be, which according to the brochure was to be only $490.00. Now with all their add-ons it is $515.00! I can't actually register til I get more money now as I am sort on my credit card! This really pisses me off. They pick some far out-of-the-way place for the hotel, in one of the most expensive chains ever, deny us the ability to register and now they want to raise the prices at the last minute. Since they printed the price in the brochure, they legally cannot raise it at the last minute like this. So make sure you have printed out the brochure like I did, as it will actually stand up in court!

News Credits: 3600 · by **Seibertron** » Sat May 01, 2010 4:07 pm

Novascream wrote:I just took the BOTCON online registration (beta) test & they have raised the prices! If you will take a look at the brochure it says that the customization class is $85 dollars, but on the online form they have raised it to $100! They have also added a $10 service fee for online registration! I have set aside money for Botcon for what I was told the price of my items would be, which according to the brochure was to be only $490.00. Now with all their add-ons it is $515.00! I can't actually register til I get more money now as I am sort on my credit card! This really pisses me off. They pick some far out-of-the-way place for the hotel, in one of the most expensive chains ever, deny us the ability to register and now they want to raise the prices at the last minute. Since they printed the price in the brochure, they legally cannot raise it at the last minute like this. So make sure you have printed out the brochure like I did, as it will actually stand up in court!

Seriously? Over $15 to $25? The BotCon folks have a right to raise a price if needed. I'm pretty sure that would stand up in court.

News Credits: 3600 · by **Seibertron** » Sat May 01, 2010 4:11 pm

Seibertron wrote:
Novascream wrote:I just took the BOTCON online registration (beta) test & they have raised the prices! If you will take a look at the brochure it says that the customization class is $85 dollars, but on the online form they have raised it to $100! They have also added a $10 service fee for online registration! I have set aside money for Botcon for what I was told the price of my items would be, which according to the brochure was to be only $490.00. Now with all their add-ons it is $515.00! I can't actually register til I get more money now as I am sort on my credit card! This really pisses me off. They pick some far out-of-the-way place for the hotel, in one of the most expensive chains ever, deny us the ability to register and now they want to raise the prices at the last minute. Since they printed the price in the brochure, they legally cannot raise it at the last minute like this. So make sure you have printed out the brochure like I did, as it will actually stand up in court!

Seriously? Over $15 to $25? The BotCon folks have a right to raise a price if needed. I'm pretty sure that would stand up in court.

It is also worth noting that this is a test system. It is possible that these prices are simply test prices. I wouldn't get worked up over this until it's finalized.

News Credits: 3600 · by **Seibertron** » Sat May 01, 2010 4:13 pm

RE: http://www.eventman.com/packageinfo.cfm

The "countdown" timer should reset itself every time you hit submit, refresh the page, or do something on the site. The session should only time out after X amount of inactivity.

Having a countdown timer that does not refresh is not friendly to the end consumer. Also, what happens if someone is running out of time, the timer strikes 0, and the user then clicks on the final submit button or payment button? This is why the timer should reset each time the user does something.

News Credits: 10 · by **HighPrime** » Sat May 01, 2010 4:17 pm

Seibertron wrote:The "countdown" timer should reset itself every time you hit submit, refresh the page, or do something on the site. The session should only time out after X amount of inactivity.

I think it's necessary if 'pre-allocating' inventory to a cart before purchase, otherwise, you'd have jokers refreshing pages constantly holding up inventory. Even though I like this idea, it's not practical. What's to stop the same person from opening up 20 browsers and finalizing those orders in the same amount of time? I'm probably thinking to hard about this, though. It may simply be a mechanism to prevent system resource exhaustion, or it's just part of the test

News Credits: 3600 · by **Seibertron** » Sat May 01, 2010 4:21 pm

HighPrime wrote:
Seibertron wrote:The "countdown" timer should reset itself every time you hit submit, refresh the page, or do something on the site. The session should only time out after X amount of inactivity.

I think it's necessary, otherwise, you'd have jokers refreshing pages constantly holding up inventory. Even though I like this idea, it's not practical. What's to stop the same person from opening up 20 browsers and finalizing those orders in the same amount of time? I'm probably thinking to hard about this, though. It may simply be a mechanism to prevent system resource exhaustion, or it's just part of the test

Wow ... lost my whole order after sending them an email and posting this message. Timer ended right after I finished typing "4111111111111111" for my credit card, page automatically refreshed and gave me this error message:

Your timer has expired. Please start your registration again.

News Credits: 10 · by **HighPrime** » Sat May 01, 2010 4:23 pm

Seibertron wrote:
HighPrime wrote:
Seibertron wrote:The "countdown" timer should reset itself every time you hit submit, refresh the page, or do something on the site. The session should only time out after X amount of inactivity.

I think it's necessary, otherwise, you'd have jokers refreshing pages constantly holding up inventory. Even though I like this idea, it's not practical. What's to stop the same person from opening up 20 browsers and finalizing those orders in the same amount of time? I'm probably thinking to hard about this, though. It may simply be a mechanism to prevent system resource exhaustion, or it's just part of the test

Wow ... lost my whole order after sending them an email and posting this message. Timer ended right after I finished typing "4111111111111111" for my credit card, page automatically refreshed and gave me this error message:

Your timer has expired. Please start your registration again.

Well, that'll teach you

I finished my order in under 3 minutes. Sorry I snagged your box set :lol:

Seriously, though, the timer could be extended.

News Credits: 8 · by **LiKwid** » Sat May 01, 2010 4:26 pm

Well if this test site is a taste of the actual registration system I like it..Quick and to the point.. I'm sure the prices had to be adjusted because of the beta. So far me likes..

News Credits: 23 · by **Energon** » Sat May 01, 2010 4:39 pm

I think that their server will not be able to handle the load and will be rendered off line in the first 20 minutes of going online. I hope they e-mail a copy of the registration to members so they can fax it in if the site goes off-line.

EDIT: Just saw they are not using their own web server for the registration. Still am skeptical.

A lack of information for a convention that is next month really doesn't bode well. Why do they hold back information? What reason would they have for not setting a registration date and time?

News Credits: 273 · by **Delicon** » Sat May 01, 2010 5:28 pm

I tried their test system and it seems like it is working pretty well at the moment, other than the credit card error which they said would happen.

Black Bumblebee wrote:Sent an email about this to Botcon and got a reply:

My email:

Just thought I'd let you know that on the forums at Seibertron, a lot of people are saying that they are backing out of coming to your convention due to the lack of information / lack of registration. It's a front paged story right now. You might want to do some damage control... just saying...

Reply:

We have had full information.

Registration very soon I am in final testing while I am at the Joe Convention.

Brian

Please make note of my new email brian@funpubinc.com

So, according to the email, we already know all there is to know about Botcon this year--guests, exclusives, and all. (???)

Take from this what you will.

"We have had full information" probably refers to the fact that they are well aware that we ran a front page story on their delay.

News Credits: 402 · by **Mkall** » Sat May 01, 2010 6:33 pm

Attempted to enter info as a non-member, entered it all correctly then got this error message:

ERROR: Sorry, the page that you are trying to access has resulted in an error.

All available information about this request / transaction has been sent to AccuFind Support, and we will make the necessary corrections as soon as possible.

If you feel it is necessary to contact us regarding this error, please call 1-888-932-3371.

Using Firefox 3.6.3