So who else is pissed off at Christmas Ball?

[Bizarre Atheist]

it just seems like a very fancy, overpriced bop to me.

There have been many events in my meagre time at St Andrews which could be described as fancy, overpriced bops.

The Christmas Ball certainly never has, and dear God I hope never will be, one of them.

[Haunted]

Implicit difficulty? Arts students have early lectures too you know. I myself have 10am and 11am lecture most days.

Hello? I was responding to this

by abc123 on Wed Dec 03, 2008 7:00 pm

The thing that pissed me off was the fact that unless you have no classes or dont care about classes you can't get a ticket since you can't afford to queue for several hours on weekdays! It would have been much fairer to have at least one "selling day" at the weekend! I'd be interested to know the Arts: Science student ratio attending the ball this year!

If your careful you can spot the implication that more art students were able to queue (and thus presumably get tickets) since they don't have as much morning lectures (if indeed they have them at all) as scientists. Your personal anecdote does not change this.

[RobFett]

Do an online raffle
Publicise it well
Give people a week to register and put up their money
They can only submit one application for up to 4 tickets (use st andrews email addresses to do this)
Draw the names out of an electronic hat
The people who get picked get their tickets, the people who don't get their money refunded.

No long cold queues, everyone has an equal chance. Happy Christmas to everyone.

[Guest]

Do an online raffle
Publicise it well
Give people a week to register and put up their money
They can only submit one application for up to 4 tickets (use st andrews email addresses to do this)
Draw the names out of an electronic hat
The people who get picked get their tickets, the people who don't get their money refunded.

No long cold queues, everyone has an equal chance. Happy Christmas to everyone.

Worst idea ever. Wow let's make the Christmas Ball a competition! I can see why you aren't on the committee and never will be.

[munchingfoo]

I'm pretty sure the word you are looking for is "lottery"; a "competition" tends to imply that the parties involved have some way of modifying the outcome of the event.

I like Rob's idea, and it is one that I have heard outwith the internet from a number of different people as a possible solution to the ball's ticketing issues. It would be like getting an early christmas present if you won!

[Craig]

Deathmatch.

Two go in, one comes out and gets to have tickets.

[Bizarre Atheist]

Tickets should be hereditary, passed down through academic families. That would be awesome.

The first tickets will have to be allocated by a jousting tournament, obviously.

[Barry The Banana]

Tickets should be hereditary, passed down through academic families. That would be awesome.

The first tickets will have to be allocated by a jousting tournament, obviously.

Best idea yet. I go with that one.

[Freaker]

Treasure hunt! Options for tickets are placed where people would not expect to find them. Some hints may be given. People can then redeem their "vouchers" and pay for tickets at collection. Putting some of those vouchers in obscure library books for those that study too hard to have time to queue, stapling some to the back of a St Andrews tie at BESS, underneath plates at Beatons, printed on golf balls left about the place, one or the other on the scanners in the computer rooms that nobody ever uses, and for special dares, anchor some in a boat just off the beaches - that'll get the AU involved! Of course, tickets for any undiscovered/not redeemed vouchers would go on sale normally afterwards, with particularly long queues, encouraging people to go to new lengths to find vouchers the following year. Voila, a tradition is born!

[irish200]

Implicit difficulty? Arts students have early lectures too you know. I myself have 10am and 11am lecture most days.

Hello? I was responding to this

by abc123 on Wed Dec 03, 2008 7:00 pm

The thing that pissed me off was the fact that unless you have no classes or dont care about classes you can't get a ticket since you can't afford to queue for several hours on weekdays! It would have been much fairer to have at least one "selling day" at the weekend! I'd be interested to know the Arts: Science student ratio attending the ball this year!

If your careful you can spot the implication that more art students were able to queue (and thus presumably get tickets) since they don't have as much morning lectures (if indeed they have them at all) as scientists. Your personal anecdote does not change this.

Maybe so, but you simply sound like a bitter little scientist. Boo hoo. Oh and not Your, try You're and much should be many, to correct your post.

[munchingfoo]

And you, Sir, sound like a cock, but let us not get personal.

[RedCelt69]

Do an online raffle
Publicise it well
Give people a week to register and put up their money
They can only submit one application for up to 4 tickets (use st andrews email addresses to do this)
Draw the names out of an electronic hat
The people who get picked get their tickets, the people who don't get their money refunded.

No long cold queues, everyone has an equal chance. Happy Christmas to everyone.

Worst idea ever. Wow let's make the Christmas Ball a competition! I can see why you aren't on the committee and never will be.

No. The worst idea ever would be to have people queuing up on a bitterly cold November morning, allowing queue-jumping and making the allocation process a competition of who can endure the conditions the longest and/or be the most brazen wrt the aforementioned queue-jumping.

Frankly I was amazed to learn that in the 21st Century this kind of allocation system is still in place. My own suggestion would be very similar to that proposed above... with the exception that cards would only be processed for those allocated tickets, thus negating the need for refunds.

As for publicity, it could be argued that an event so heavily over-subscribed doesn't need publicity. Personally, however, I managed to miss the event being announced in the first place. First I even knew of such an event was when I read this thread.

[RedCelt69]

Implicit difficulty? Arts students have early lectures too you know. I myself have 10am and 11am lecture most days.

Which should, of course, have read:-

Implicit difficulty? Arts students have early lectures too, you know? I, myself, have 10am and 11am lectures most days.

Now all I need is for someone to explain why we're employing spelling and grammar pedantry.

Or why this was deemed even remotely necessary:-

And you, Sir, sound like a cock, but let us not get personal.

[Thalia]

Just out of curiosity, what was the problem with banking on a Saturday? Is the union with a bank that doesn't open on Saturdays? I know they close earlier than normal that day but on a day where people definitely don't have classes the tickets could just have been sold from an earlier time, surely? (and yes, i know that means people queue earlier too but that's their choice )

I like the online idea - saves an awful lot of hassle even if there is a risk of too much demand causing some problems.

[Guest]

The union can only have a certain amount of money in the safe (for insurance reasons or something I presume), for an event like the christmas ball where all the money is collected at the same time the takings exceed the amount allowed in the safe and it has to be banked at several periods over the day. On a Saturday the money can't be banked,it can't stay in the safe and it's irresponsible for the committee to keep such a large amount of money in their houses.

[Thalia]

Yes, I understood that. What i was asking was why it couldn't be banked on a Saturday when banks are open on Saturdays. Not that i'm that bothered, I was just curious.

[Unreg]

Implicit difficulty? Arts students have early lectures too you know. I myself have 10am and 11am lecture most days.

Hello? I was responding to this

by abc123 on Wed Dec 03, 2008 7:00 pm

The thing that pissed me off was the fact that unless you have no classes or dont care about classes you can't get a ticket since you can't afford to queue for several hours on weekdays! It would have been much fairer to have at least one "selling day" at the weekend! I'd be interested to know the Arts: Science student ratio attending the ball this year!

If your careful you can spot the implication that more art students were able to queue (and thus presumably get tickets) since they don't have as much morning lectures (if indeed they have them at all) as scientists. Your personal anecdote does not change this.

Maybe so, but you simply sound like a bitter little scientist. Boo hoo. Oh and not Your, try You're and much should be many, to correct your post.

If you want to be that petty then I feel the need to point out that he was right with the word "your".

HAHA, IN YOUR FACE!!!!

Mod Note: This is just too funny not to let through. Your, You're.

[Haunted]

Maybe so, but you simply sound like a bitter little scientist. Boo hoo. Oh and not Your, try You're and much should be many, to correct your post.

Good Sir, I humbly bow to your sheer superiority over me. I am in awe at your deductive reasoning, and when this is coupled with your grammatical corrections to my hastily typed words, it serves to make you even more awesome than my first sentence implied. You are the pinnacle, the apex, the apogee of our fair race of talking apes.

I shall petition the world governments immediately to have your excellence acknowledged.

[megan]

As a new(ish) student to this forum, I'd just like to question whether the members are always this hostile to each other? Off topic I know...

[Bizarre Atheist]

As a new(ish) student to this forum, I'd just like to question whether the members are always this hostile to each other? Off topic I know...

Pedantry is standard fare, particularly if there's grammar Nazism to be had, however this level of sniping and name-calling is more unusual and unattractive.

Stop it, kids! You're scaring the newbies!