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Comment by JoshTriplett

6 days ago

> Those things that you mentioned you can do it on the website

No, unfortunately some things can't be. There are venues that provide tickets exclusively via mobile applications, for instance.

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JoshTriplett

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1vuio0pswjnm7  6 days ago

"There are venues that provide tickets exclusively via mobile applications, for instance."

Turns out Ticketmaster still has ticket printing machines at such venues

Was at a game at one of them, claimed I had a problem with the app and after some negotiation at the ticket window a millennial printed me a ticket

Why do they still have the printers

The "I'm having a problem with the app" strategy can work in other contexts too. The phone can be configured so that a young person trying to help gives up

"Modern" software is highly fallible and everyone knows it

  • 1vuio0pswjnm7  5 days ago

    When people have problems using apps, alternatives are often available

    Perhaps this is why, e.g., venues that "require" apps still have ticket printing machines and still print tickets when there are problems with using the apps

    The situation is not so "cut and dried" that no one ever attends an event at these venues using printed tickets instead of displaying the ticket on the phones they bring to the event

    There are alternatives to apps that are sometimes used, e.g., when customers have problems, even when businesses try to "require" apps

    As such, businesses do not always succeed in collecting the same amount of data from every customer

    This is not to say customers who try to avoid unnecessary data collection always succeed, either

    Generally, trying is a prequisite to succeeding

    If most customers do not try it does not mean no customer succeeds. There are some who do, at least some of the time

  • EvanAnderson  6 days ago

    Ticketmaster is it's own particular problem that needs to be dealt with, even if it is emblematic of a bigger issue with companies demanding users to run proprietary software.

    I have recent (October and November, 2025-- venues in Indianapolis, IN and Cincinnati, OH) personal experience with this. With one venue I was able to play the "confused old man" card (via phone) and get the box office to print my tickets and hold them at will call.

    At another venue I called prior to my show and tried the same tactic. They told me flat out "no phone, no admittance, tough luck for you" and cited the warnings and terms on the Ticketmaster website that I'd already agreed-to. I didn't want to chance losing out on $300 of tickets I bought so I knuckled under and loaded the Ticketmaster app on my wife's iPhone.

    I don't think it's as cut-and-dried as you say it is, and I don't have the stomach to risk being denied access to events I bought tickets for-- particularly at the pricing levels of today's shows.

colordrops  6 days ago

Well fuck those venues. It's a small percentage. I've never run into one and I live in LA, a city with hundreds if not thousands of venues.

So you only get 98% of the world instead of 100%. That 98% is far more than the the 100% of 10 years ago. Everyone wants perfection when they've already got abundance.

  • EvanAnderson  6 days ago

    It has been reported that Ticketmaster has exclusive agreements with 70-80% of US venues. It's great that you have all the choices you do. For me, in western Ohio, every major venue for hundreds of miles in every direction is an exclusive Ticketmaster venue. You can't gain admittance to any show in those venues without a phone that can run their proprietary app.

    Ticketmaster is bullshit, for sure, but they're just one example of the problem of being forced to use proprietary user-hostile software.