INFO on PASS PICKUP (ID INFO)!!!(READ)

[phoenixphire24]

is a post card gonna be sent this time? for pre-registered ones?

No, they stopped doing that after 2005. Too costly.

[Pimpstress Rei]

I didn't know getting a government-issued ID was so hard o.O

I recently traveled abroad and happened to lose my CA state ID, so I went to the DMV to get a new one. I brought in my passport and social security card (but you can bring in a birth certificate instead with your school ID) to the DMV about two weeks ago to get an ID. They looked at my passport, looked at me, told me to sign a bunch of forms and then I took my picture. I got my ID a week later. Oh, and it's rather costly. I think it was between $21-23 to get it done. But hey, at least you have a surefire ID for the next 5-6 years!

[FanFicGuru]

I didn't know getting a government-issued ID was so hard o.O

I recently traveled abroad and happened to lose my CA state ID, so I went to the DMV to get a new one. I brought in my passport and social security card (but you can bring in a birth certificate instead with your school ID) to the DMV about two weeks ago to get an ID. They looked at my passport, looked at me, told me to sign a bunch of forms and then I took my picture. I got my ID a week later. Oh, and it's rather costly. I think it was between $21-23 to get it done. But hey, at least you have a surefire ID for the next 5-6 years!

I don't think that it's so much 'hard' as it is 'inconvenient'. I mean, for the most part you don't really NEED a state issued ID until you're like, 16-17 when you start working. Even then people get by with birth certificates and such. That's the main reason I find it kind of silly to REQUIRE State ID at an event where (maybe I"m wrong?) a decent number of the attendees are at or below said age.

[Tenba]

I find it kind of silly to REQUIRE State ID at an event where (maybe I"m wrong?) a decent number of the attendees are at or below said age.

I completely agree with you.  Furthermore, I find it likely that even the upper management at FanimeCon would agree with you too.  However, I think it might be a government requirement rather than a FanimeCon requirement...?

The basic problem is that money is involved.  Worse, it's non-immediate online money.  FanimeCon doesn't give you the badge right when you pay.  You pay, and then months later, someone picks up the badge.  Fanime needs to somehow verify that it's OK for that person to pick up the badge, and Fanime can't tell if that person is you or not.  Someone can look through the names of likely Fanime attendees in the forum member list, and pick names of people who (a) posted saying they're pre-registered and (b) used their real names in the forum member list.  Then the identity thief can photoshop a school ID (any school ID -- Fanime doesn't know what school you go to) with their own picture and the forum member's name.  If they get in line really early, they can beat the real person to the registration line, and Fanime wouldn't be able to tell that the photoshop school ID isn't real because school IDs are just not standard.  Some schools might have laminated badges with bar codes.  Other school IDs might be just cheap pieces of paper.  If Fanime gives someone else your badge, there's money involved, and people might sue.  Government IDs are a lot more standard and a lot harder to fake.  It's a lot easier to make up a random private school than it is to make up a whole state.

In any case, the basic problem is that, at the registration booth, the Reg staff person doesn't know that you're the same person who paid the money for the badge all those months ago, and because money is involved, very bad things can happen if they gave a badge to the wrong person.  If Fanime required government IDs, then they can sue the thief for violating government laws.  It's much harder to do that if the thief only forged a school ID.

One way to solve this problem in the future might be to tag each registration with a long computer-generated, unique string.  So, when you register, you get a confirmation code like "AJSB893KB92JG0ABO2AAJSKDLF" that you would can bring in and use to verify that you're you.  So, if you don't have a government issued-ID, that ID string should uniquely identify you as the person who paid for the registration.  If Fanime can find enough money to get very fancy, they can have you print out a bar code and then use a scanner to scan it into the computer to pull up your record and verify you're you.  That'd be way cool.

Another way to solve the ID problem is to just not let people without government IDs pre-register.  If you register at the con, the reg staff person can know for sure that they're giving the badge to the person who's paying the money.  

Anyways, I think that's why school IDs can never be accepted.  The postcard got around the issue because, theoretically, people can only receive the postcard for the account they paid for.  Lacking that, I think a confirmation string might work for replacing the postcard.  Note that the confirmation string needs to only be three letters long to uniquely identify every Fanime registrant, so the string doesn't have to be long at all.

[FanFicGuru]

I find it kind of silly to REQUIRE State ID at an event where (maybe I"m wrong?) a decent number of the attendees are at or below said age.

I completely agree with you.  Furthermore, I find it likely that even the upper management at FanimeCon would agree with you too.  However, I think it might be a government requirement rather than a FanimeCon requirement...?

The basic problem is that money is involved.  Worse, it's non-immediate online money.  FanimeCon doesn't give you the badge right when you pay.  You pay, and then months later, someone picks up the badge.  Fanime needs to somehow verify that it's OK for that person to pick up the badge, and Fanime can't tell if that person is you or not.  Someone can look through the names of likely Fanime attendees in the forum member list, and pick names of people who (a) posted saying they're pre-registered and (b) used their real names in the forum member list.  Then the identity thief can photoshop a school ID (any school ID -- Fanime doesn't know what school you go to) with their own picture and the forum member's name.  If they get in line really early, they can beat the real person to the registration line, and Fanime wouldn't be able to tell that the photoshop school ID isn't real because school IDs are just not standard.  Some schools might have laminated badges with bar codes.  Other school IDs might be just cheap pieces of paper.  If Fanime gives someone else your badge, there's money involved, and people might sue.  Government IDs are a lot more standard and a lot harder to fake.  It's a lot easier to make up a random private school than it is to make up a whole state.

In any case, the basic problem is that, at the registration booth, the Reg staff person doesn't know that you're the same person who paid the money for the badge all those months ago, and because money is involved, very bad things can happen if they gave a badge to the wrong person.  If Fanime required government IDs, then they can sue the thief for violating government laws.  It's much harder to do that if the thief only forged a school ID.

One way to solve this problem in the future might be to tag each registration with a long computer-generated, unique string.  So, when you register, you get a confirmation code like "AJSB893KB92JG0ABO2AAJSKDLF" that you would can bring in and use to verify that you're you.  So, if you don't have a government issued-ID, that ID string should uniquely identify you as the person who paid for the registration.  If Fanime can find enough money to get very fancy, they can have you print out a bar code and then use a scanner to scan it into the computer to pull up your record and verify you're you.  That'd be way cool.

Another way to solve the ID problem is to just not let people without government IDs pre-register.  If you register at the con, the reg staff person can know for sure that they're giving the badge to the person who's paying the money.  

Anyways, I think that's why school IDs can never be accepted.  The postcard got around the issue because, theoretically, people can only receive the postcard for the account they paid for.  Lacking that, I think a confirmation string might work for replacing the postcard.  Note that the confirmation string needs to only be three letters long to uniquely identify every Fanime registrant, so the string doesn't have to be long at all.

I agree with ALMOST everything you said here except for the idea of requiring a state ID to pre register.

The thing is, if I understand it correctly, is that Fanime uses Pre-registration money (that is non-refundable for a reason) to reserve the convention hall, set up guests and dealers and basically RUN the whole thing.

What would happen if everyone without a State ID could no longer pre-register? lol...Fanime would have a MUCH smaller amount of money to actually set up the convention and would have to speculate a LOT more on the expected turnout.

That, and the lines would be even more horrific than they are now.

The unique ID code is a great idea, and it's do-able with emails and stuff, which makes me wonder why they don't do something like that. Like "Present this code at pickup" and they can use a number generator or code generator and make a note of it in the registrations.

Someone brings their pass, turns in their code, it brings up a name and account and then a lower-level photo ID such as school ID would be more acceptable.

Anyways, I'm kinda miffed with registration staff right now for another reason...but I won't go into detail.

I'll just say that I don't like systems where you have a company that receives money from the consumer ahead of time with no refund policy, and then the consumers are basically at the mercy of the company with no power whatsoever because they already have your money locked away. Even if you said "Fine, forget you guys!" they still have your 55 dollars.

To me, that helps set up a customer-service situation that robs the consumers of power.

I'm done.

[Tenba]

I agree with ALMOST everything you said here except for the idea of requiring a state ID to pre register.

^_^;  Sorry about that.  I said it was a solution to the ID problem, but I didn't mean to say it was a good solution overall.  I was partly using it as an example to point out why the school ID thing might not have been a problem before online reg and pre-reg.

The unique ID code is a great idea

Thanks!  (I got it from the airlines.  ;) )

I'll just say that I don't like systems where you have a company that receives money from the consumer ahead of time with no refund policy

On the other hand, assuming everything you say about Fanime needing money early is correct, then it would suck for them to try to refund money they've already spent.

[Eri]

The unique ID code is a great idea, and it's do-able with emails and stuff, which makes me wonder why they don't do something like that. Like "Present this code at pickup" and they can use a number generator or code generator and make a note of it in the registrations.

Someone brings their pass, turns in their code, it brings up a name and account and then a lower-level photo ID such as school ID would be more acceptable.

Isn't that what the printable post cards are for? It was my understanding that there is something that gets released around now to print out and take with you to pick up your badge...

Anyways, awhile back, skuld and mple posted answers to the ID issue. It boils down to legal issues... And, skuld specifically stated that there are other ways to verify that you are indeed.. you.

Anyways, I'm kinda miffed with registration staff right now for another reason...but I won't go into detail.

That's too bad... Reg staff are really nice people :(

[LordKefka]

The unique ID code is a great idea, and it's do-able with emails and stuff, which makes me wonder why they don't do something like that. Like "Present this code at pickup" and they can use a number generator or code generator and make a note of it in the registrations.

Someone brings their pass, turns in their code, it brings up a name and account and then a lower-level photo ID such as school ID would be more acceptable.

Isn't that what the printable post cards are for? It was my understanding that there is something that gets released around now to print out and take with you to pick up your badge...

Anyways, awhile back, skuld and mple posted answers to the ID issue. It boils down to legal issues... And, skuld specifically stated that there are other ways to verify that you are indeed.. you.

Anyways, I'm kinda miffed with registration staff right now for another reason...but I won't go into detail.

That's too bad... Reg staff are really nice people :(

hated on already before the convention even starts...*sniff*....

[Tenba]

Isn't that what the printable post cards are for?

Oh!  I didn't realize those existed.  ^_^;  Sorry!

[FanFicGuru]

The unique ID code is a great idea, and it's do-able with emails and stuff, which makes me wonder why they don't do something like that. Like "Present this code at pickup" and they can use a number generator or code generator and make a note of it in the registrations.

Someone brings their pass, turns in their code, it brings up a name and account and then a lower-level photo ID such as school ID would be more acceptable.

Isn't that what the printable post cards are for? It was my understanding that there is something that gets released around now to print out and take with you to pick up your badge...

Anyways, awhile back, skuld and mple posted answers to the ID issue. It boils down to legal issues... And, skuld specifically stated that there are other ways to verify that you are indeed.. you.

Anyways, I'm kinda miffed with registration staff right now for another reason...but I won't go into detail.

That's too bad... Reg staff are really nice people :(

Printable post cards? I would like some more information on this because I haven't heard anything about that...hrmmm

As far as the registration issue goes...i don't hate them. The issue has been resolved as best as it could be. I just get worried when my money is pretty much secured in the bank this early on. I mean, when you typically run a business-like operation, you cater to your customers because they can take their business elsewhere and/or return already bought items, and you want to protect your money. In this case (for reasons I explained earlier, so I understand) the money is non-refundable and sometimes (emphasis here...SOMETIMES) that makes me uncomfortable because I feel like at that point they see no need to handle my (or anyone else's) problem in the way that's most efficient for their customer since they already have their money.

Again, I don't hate the staff...I don't even particularly hate the system because I understand that they need it to host the convention.

It just makes me wonder sometimes, in a customer satisfaction situation, how much pull fans have since the money is gone.

That's all I'm saying.

[phoenixphire24]

Isn't that what the printable post cards are for?

Oh!  I didn't realize those existed.  ^_^;  Sorry!

Yeah, I read something about this on another thread a long time ago. Are they still going to do this?

[Sen]

We implemented the "printable postcard" about a year ago to save costs. It will be available through your accounts soon so yes we are still doing this. I cannot give you a definite date yet. You print out the "postcard" and bring it with you and a valid government issued ID to the con and you'll get your badge. It makes things A LOT easier and faster if you have both of those.

[~~Loktera~~]

Would the printed receipt from your registration suffice?

[Sen]

Would the printed receipt from your registration suffice?

By the printed receipt I assume you mean the one you get when you register? or pay?
The printable postcard that I am talking about is different from those two and the postcard is the one we want to see. I hope that clears things up a bit.  :shock: