How quickly we seek to divert attention

I'm all for forums and allowing people to express themselves. Sadly though it's a form of communication that is all too easy to abuse.

I don't know who posted the first comment to mention Red61, but I've got a good idea who posted the second. You've got my number, feel free to call any time you want to chat.

So, in the interests of putting the record straight.

Yes Red61 did experience issues last year due to an unscheduled increase in the amount of work required to complete the project.

The projects operational requirements changed substantially 6 weeks before we went live which necessitated the integration of two new payment applications and the development of additional functionality. The majority of you reading this will understand the implications of that and the huge amount of additional work that was required as a result.

Unfortunately that had a knock on effect on our development schedule and significantly reduced our installation and testing time. We found ourselves 'developing on the move' and were under extreme pressure from May through to the end of August.

Although it was a very testing time, we discovered a level of resilience and dedication in the technical and development team that went far beyond the remit of their job description. I've thanked them personally, but I'd like to take this opportunity to thank them publicly for all the hard work they put in to get us through last year.

We also proved the resilience of our VIA ticketing system. I haven't looked at the article, the link to which was so helpfully provided in the previous commenter, but I seem to remember a prediction of the ending of the world and utter 'ticket chaos'. Well you should know by now that you shouldn't believe anything you read in the press, even the Sunday Herald. VIA successfully sold just under 400,000 tickets for Fringe07, processing £3m worth of business for a three and a half week festival. That's a level of business that's equivalent to what some large venues do in a year and in a much more complicated environment.

This year we expect to sell some 600,000 tickets which will be around one third of all the tickets sold for the Edinburgh Festival Fringe, the largest arts festival in the world.

I'm not sure what is implied by bringing up the fact that there is a financial link between some venues and Red61. It is a positive endorsement of our business that some of our clients have such a high level of confidence in us and wish to get involved and help to develop what they see as an attractive business opportunity. I don't see how that has a bearing on the problems the Fringe office are facing at the moment.

I wish the Fringe office luck in solving their current problems. We fully understand what they are going through at the moment.

I any one else would like to make comment on Red61, preferably on what's actually happening at the moment, rather than a pathetic attempt to drag up a minor and temporary problem that happened 2 and a half years ago (the ice rink jibe for those of you who are not in the know), please feel free to do so. But at least have the balls to put your name on it.

... And seen in context

Reading the article link posted, it appears to me that much of what they are talking about is simply down to the same shows being setup on two ticketing systems rather than issues with the other system

I would agree with the comment posted by "Ivan Toby Allen, Union City" - One system that works it better that two different systems

How quickly we forget...

This time last year it was Red61 having problems:

http://www.sundayherald.com/news/heraldnews/display.var.1580595.0.ticket_chaos_looms_for_fringe.php

I also remember something about their system failing to be able to sell simple tickets at an Ice Rink...

Clearly, Red61 have had a year to fix those problems.

Oh and let's not forget that there's a direct financial link between at least one of the venues and Red61.