By popular demand! We'll be updating the website occasionally with ticket sales numbers, going forward.
Why not a running counter? First there's the question whether we want a running counter. We're not entirely sure. But second, and definitely a big issue, is that we're nervous about the implementation. We're being *very* conservative about website and back-end changes at this point. And it turns out that a running counter is not so trivial to implement after all, either in the back-end OR displaying on the website. (For instance, there's the small matter that the *exact* correct number of tickets sold has a manual calculation step in it, due to the way we're handling cancellations, test tickets, and other categories.) Implementing a small text change, though, is much less risky. And we don't have to get the number perfect, as for all practical matters (including people who like to calculate odds), the exact number is a lot less important than a reasonably close number. It also means that we don't have to be quite as rigorous in making sure that the information is available to all potentially interested parties at the exact same moment.
The website is still catching up but I've already disclosed this information in an email to existing ticket holders (inviting them to the raffle drawing, RSVP ASAP, only 50 spots available). And since I've disclosed it there, I'm going to go ahead and disclose it on this thread and a few other threads besides:
"We have sold almost 1000 tickets."
Alan
P.S. Let the nit-picking begin!
"Alan, in your view, is almost, like, um, within 10?" "Alan, do you define 'almost' as having one or two digits in the variance?" "Alan, why not just publish the exact number as of a given second (be sure to timestamp it when you publish it), and then you can let people decide for themselves how many tickets might have been sold since the timestamp?"