Thinking about you guys.  Having retired from IT, I totally understand!  Don’t worry too much!  It will be ok.

posted by Naomi
May 26, 2009

You guys are doing great!  It’ll all be fine.  You guys put so much work into this for everyone - thanks from all of us happy sock knitters!

posted by Ellen
May 26, 2009

You did tell them this could happen.  But did they listen?  Really listen?

It will be fine - if we can’t get into classes, there will be more money left to spend with the vendors.....

posted by Carol
May 26, 2009

inhale pink, exhale blue.

posted by denny
May 26, 2009

when the server comes back up, where will it be posted?  Am trying to sign up from work.  without having any classes won’t be able to justify the trip to Portland.  Sometimes I just hate computers and I have an iMAC which is one of the better ones

posted by Ginni
May 26, 2009

Thanks for working so hard on this!  I know it must be very stressfull and frustrating.  Hang in there!

posted by Marisol
May 26, 2009

Oh my gosh!  I’m so sad for you!!!  After all this work you did.  I hope they fix it soon… especially before my daughter gets back from the orthodontist, where I sent her with her grandmother so that I could stay home and log on right at 1:00!

posted by Elizabeth
May 26, 2009

I was able to register - hopefully it won’t be dropped.

posted by Lee
May 26, 2009

Figures.  The techies never figure it out, all those hits at one time.  Happened to the Alaska Volcano Observatory when Redoubt started erupting.  The University tried to throw the Observatory out at that point.  So many knitters, all at once!  Pretty neat, really.

posted by Gail
May 26, 2009

I got on finally after it came back up. About 10:25.  All the classes I wanted were already sold out. I tried adding others to my cart. By the time the page “refreshed” with the order, the class was full.  Then when I finally had about 4 classes, the whole thing timed out and crashed. Maybe I’m not going to Portland in August after all.  And I was soooo looking forward to this.

posted by Cathy Johnston aka BalletMommy
May 26, 2009

Well, you warned the techies.  They just didn’t have the vision.  It’s working out.  And I’m am really looking forward to this.  Thank you for making this happen!

posted by Christina
May 26, 2009

I’m not sure what to do.  I don’t know if the payment went through or not.  I got through to payment when it stalled out.  The other thing that happened was when I put Mosaic knitting in the cart for Thursday am, it stalled out.  I went back and put it in my cart again and when I checked out there were two in my cart.  Rather than try to figure out how to get one out, I went to pay because with all the stalling out my time was running out.  That is when the server dropped me after I had entered my credit card information.  It eventually returned me to my cart and the cart was now empty with 4:12 on my clock.  Did my payment all go through?

Wasn’t sure the best way to contact you guys.  I appreciate all you are doing!!!  If I didn’t get into my classes it is ok.  I’m still here to volunteer and be your sockateer slave! 

posted by Naomi
May 26, 2009

My experience as well..finally got in, all sold out for EVERYTHING I wanted. Looks like it will be a success...sorry I won’t be there (can’t justify the cost of travel and hotel if I can’t get even one class that interested me....)

posted by Nancy
May 26, 2009

The server kicked me out when I entered the credit info.  Sorry to miss out.  Had it not required a refresh every time you signed up might have worked better.  Hope you get better help next time.  BTW the clock doing the timing was also incorrect and your 15 minutes are far faster than on the East Coast.  There maust be many disappointed folks.  Perhaps next time a better way can be found.

posted by Ginni
May 26, 2009

Interesting.  I couldn’t get the page until 10:55, and not for lack of trying.  All sold out.  I guess I’ll pay my $100 to the airline to cancel my trip.  I was really psyched.

posted by Gail
May 26, 2009

OMG!  What a rush!  I got on and couldn’t believe how fast everything sold out!  I had gotten booted off, got back on with only 4 mins remaining; by the time my cc said ‘approved’, it announced my session had expired and so far, not reg confirmation!  Phooey!  This is real-life Sock-Knitter Drama!

posted by Leslie
May 26, 2009

Now I’m sooooooo upset.  I HAD classes - my 3rd and 4th choices but classes. Then they disappeared as I was entering my personal information at checkout! EVERYTHING disappeared!

posted by Cathy Johnston aka BalletMommy
May 26, 2009

After the server came back up, I was over the moon to get into ALL FOUR of my first-choice classes....I entered my contact information....I clicked the button....and THEN the server failed me again.  Three minutes (according to its clock) before my time-out.  I managed to get another browser window connected (thirty seconds later) with FOUR SECONDS showing on my time-out.  Naturally, it bumped me anyhow.  I was able to scrounge up two of my sixth-choice classes and two I hadn’t even considered, but I missed out on the Thursday reception.  I wouldn’t be so disappointed if I hadn’t scored my top choices THEN been completely denied any of them.

Sometimes I hate technology.  I’ll have to read the class descriptions again (like I said, some were ones I’d not even considered) to decide if it’s worth going.  I’ve never been to Portland, and I’m planning to combine my trip with friends’ wedding in Las Vegas the weekend before, but still, it’s a lot of vacation time if I’ll be bored. :-(

posted by Melissa
May 26, 2009

Your server kicked me out so many times I lost the classes I really wanted, even my alternates were sold out.  Very disappointed.  This is an expensive trip just to browse the marketplace.

posted by datknitter
May 26, 2009

Wow! I’d say your IT providers really had no idea what was going to hit them. 45 minutes of frantic page refreshes, and I was able to get one of the last 4 spots in the argyle sock class for Saturday. Whew! Good luck with all of this… you guys rock.

posted by MayEve
May 26, 2009

I got my classes, the server glitched and it lost them.  Sold out when I got back on, but I managed to get my second choices with 30 seconds to spare.  Of course when I went to paypal my session time said expired but the classes were still in my cart so I went ahead and paid.  The payment went through but I have NO idea if I’m registered for real or not, as I never got any kind of confirmation page except from paypal.

Even if a bunch of us don’t get our classes, a lot of people will and everyone will have a good time.  Thank you for putting this together!

posted by MaryAnne
May 26, 2009

I’m so upset...since 9:59am I’ve been refreshing the registration page, at 10am, the server crashed....kept refreshing until I got in at 10:55 only to find all classes sold out.

posted by Maribel
May 26, 2009

I can’t begin to tell you how disappointed I am in this process.  I have worked in the computer arena for many years and don’t discount the difficulty of setting up a web site and having it work correctly.  Having said that - I was online at the time I was supposed to be and prepared as you requested.  After having trouble getting in and then being dropped numerous times, I finally got to the registration site only to find that the classes I was interested in were already gone (all this by 10:45). 

I’ve been looking forward to this a lot and now will not attend.  I don’t know what could have been done to make it work better - just had to register my frustration and disappointment.

posted by l
May 26, 2009

ouch ouch ouch. disappointing with process but am not surprised given my background in technology. Had 4 classes in my cart which was tough to even get to because server kept timing out and I had to go into registration each time for each class which counted against me on time.  When I went to check out the 15 minute limit hit and everything expired just as I was entering my credit card number.  Lost it all.  Oh well, will hang out with best gal pals and have a grand time anyway.  I can learn all about socks from them.

posted by JMB
May 26, 2009

Will there be a waiting list for any of the classes?

posted by Virginia
May 26, 2009

Been trying since 10am, now all sold out, my wife is heart broken, can’t believe this counts as a registration system, seems to be fair you might want to go to a lottery system or something?

posted by Bill
May 26, 2009

So, knowing that the world would be at your doorstep this morning, i stayed away and didn’t even try to register for “Those who can’t come to SS and are utterly dissappointed”.

my advice to all is “chill and wait” no matter what happens with classes, you will still have a wonderful time at ss!  the Knitting Gods have a way to make things work out!

and Tina, when are your vendors EVER going to listen to you??? you are the customer and why should they care how much “extra” you need? 

It will be a smashing success!  It would have been worse if noone signed up!!!!!! lol

ps. my code is men88. tell me the bank people and it peeps and other naysayers aren’t all men? we could have fun with the steroetyping!

posted by marcy
May 26, 2009

Hi Tina--

Can you put me on a waiting list for the Barbara Walker Lecture on Saturday, or move it to the Memorial Coliseum?  Could you please put me on a waiting list for the Judith McKenzie Spinning Class on Thursday? 

Thanks,

Lisa Carney-Fenton
HandWorks NW, LLC

I know you guys are doing your best-- very frustrated with the process-- Logged in at 10:00.09, not to get in until after 10:30 then $%@#ed by the computer into thinking I had all the classes I wanted, but instead was bumped out numerous times during checkout only to get back in and see the classes I wanted filled. Lottery next year?

posted by Lisa
May 26, 2009

Wife Sonya and my experience was essentially the same as Cathy Johnston’s:  Once the site worked at all, we experienced multiple restarts of the class-selection page.  Classes would apparently be selected, then we would be restarted with nothing.  This happened at least 4 times, at the end of which everything now appears to be sold out.

Looking at what has been written, the algorithm removes a seat from a class when it is selected.  But with the site crashing multiple times before people actually PAID for those classes, how many of those seats are sitting in limbo, unsold but unbuyable?  Does the webmistress even know?

Right now I have one very disappointed, unregistered sock-knitting wife.  Perhaps enough people actually did succeed in registering, and perhaps all unsold seats were indeed put back into stock and resold.  If so, congratulations to Sock Summit LLC.  But it is my bet that, when this morning’s smoke clears, a great disparity will be seen between credit-card sales and the website’s “SOLD OUT” count.  The only fair--and feasible--thing to do then would be to treat today as a dry run and reschedule registration in a few days.

I hope that a quick “interim status report” will be posted here.

posted by Lee Molho
May 26, 2009

All I can say is “WOW!” I have had the same scenario as many here have already listed. I won’t be attending as when all is said and done, I paid money but no confirmation email has arrived.

I knew there would be a rush, but wow, wasn’t anticipating the frustration of constantly being booted out even after being in. Was finally kicked out for good when awaiting the confirmation.

Really disappointing.

posted by Jennifer Walter
May 26, 2009

Have you actually sold out all classes within one hour? I already had my air and hotel, but have learned one huge leason. You may think this is a success. You are wrong.

posted by J
May 26, 2009

Thank you for fixing. It was a mess and I’m sure you were trying and have learned what to do if there is a next time. I’ll be there after all.

posted by Cathy Johnston aka BalletMommy
May 26, 2009

I am so disappointed that I’m not quick enough, but,already, I am looking forward to the Second Sock Summit.  Thank you for all the hard work that you did to make this event a reality!

posted by Jean
May 26, 2009

so i’m worried, as i, too, signed up, and i have received no confirmation e-mail - we will get those later?

posted by autumn
May 26, 2009

Everybody crashing the server is a massive validation of your efforts and a sign of success. 

I didn’t try to sign up for any classes, because the bod is misbehaving and you never know and I don’t want to keep anyone else out and then possibly not show.  But I have a sister in Tacoma--I’m trying to figure out how to wangle a visit with her and drag her to Portland to teach her what true knitting obsession really is. To immerse her among my kind.

If I don’t get there, somebody give Barbara Walker a hug for me as a thank you again for her letting me use some of her lace stitches for my book. She’s a sweetheart.

posted by Alison Hyde
May 27, 2009

Pleas for patience are simply irritating. The term to use starts with “cluster”.  You chose to offer a product that you were unable to deliver.  Shame on you.

posted by Brooks Smutz
May 27, 2009