Wdfw drawing fiasco explanation

[idahohuntr]

If I knew the draw would happen again exactly as it did this year, I would invite my buddies over, setup a few big screen tvs with all our active license tabs open and have us take turns hitting refresh while we all drank, smoked cigars, and told hunting stories...as the occasional permit popped up, we would all take a shot.  Or, if nothing was showing...we would just drink the pain away! 

[elkrack]

The refrerence to “Man-children” is spot on

Who ever ran the draw in 2012 deserves a drink! Posted June 8 th

[Stein]

E-mail the results and then I won't have to check it 1,000 times.  There is a reason they put the powerball numbers out for all to see instead of having all hundred million people logging in and checking their ticket.

They could batch e-mails with results so they go out over a 12 hour period and spread it all out.  Then, we would be all refreshing our e-mail servers and having the same fun.

Or, they could have someone who knows what they are doing running the show.  Realistically, they know how many people will be checking and have several years of data on who checks when.  There really shouldn't be any big surprises here.

[Karl Blanchard]

That is a sad excuse, and lack of taking ownership for a failure. Instead of all the excuses and a deferral an apology would probably be the correct course of action.

what was the failure?  Draw was completed and results posted on the day they said they would be 

Not sending out emails after specifically stating that's how we will know when it's done, that's a failure.

Other than that, it all worked out in the end.

those emails were notification that that specific species was complete.  The failure was all of our inability to follow instructions. I do agree that an email every time a category is uploaded is a little ridiculous I was also very aware that I was not following instructions when I would log on to look. I put that blame souley back upon myself.

[bobcat]

It's definitely on me that I spent my whole day yesterday staring at my phone and/or computer. After a couple of hours I should have given up. 

In the end I can't complain since I ended up with a great late season buck permit and my daughter got an unexpected youth antlerless elk permit.   

[Karl Blanchard]

It's definitely on me that I spent my whole day yesterday staring at my phone and/or computer. After a couple of hours I should have given up. 

In the end I can't complain since I ended up with a great late season buck permit and my daughter got an unexpected youth antlerless elk permit.   

productivity was not great yesterday 

[Ironhead]

I

Out of the 8 states I put in for every year Washington has the most problems with the draw by far. I don’t put in for CA, or  OR.

what problems occurred?  I've still yet to see an answer to that question.  Draw was completed and results posted the day they said it would be and within a month!  I apply for 10 western states and WY is the only one that does it faster but they also break it into 3 separate draws so technically it takes them 5 months 

Looks like your 10 states has me beat. Are you saying you haven’t seen problems with the Washington draws?

[Blacktail Sniper]

It is clearly Al Gore's fault!!  If he had not invented the internet, this would not be a problem!! 

It just seems funny that "we" have all gotten used to instant results and therefore expect it from everything and everyone.  I cannot imagine the pain and angst it would cause today if they went back to the pre-internet days.

Imagine the horror of having to put your application card in the mail and trust the post office to deliver it.  Then have to trust that your card didn't get lost or put in the wrong box while waiting to do the draw.

Then hope and pray that it doesn't get lost or destroyed in a car wreck while being transported to the various regions where they were dumped into a rolling drum and pulled out one at a time by hand...ohhh the agony!!!

Could things be done differently, yup sure could, would it be better...who knows!

Oh, I almost forgot, the part about waiting for them to mail you your permit and hoping all the things you worried about when you sent the application in not happening before it gets back to your mailbox... 

When I first went to work for the old Dept. of Game back in the early 70's, I was involved for several years with the traveling barrel and individual card submittals that were dumped into the barrel.  Worked well although it took several days just in Region 2 where I was....Okanogan, E. Wenatchee, etc.  People showed up and witnessed the unit draw they put in for.  Funny at the end some wanted to look through and see if theirs were actually there.  In those limited cases, they were.  Funny what we used to see.  Heavy tape around edges of cards, sticky stuff occasionally, wrinkled, crumbled cards....whatever to make them feel different when we reached in to draw.

It was a labor intensive effort although it was great PR.  We got to meet and visit with sportsman in different towns and get to know them over a period of a couple years.  They too could put faces on Department names.  That was always a win for the agency.  Things were simpler then, seasons were more open and offered unbelievable opportunities to sportsman.  I miss those days.  Today's system as Bobcat pointed out is absolutely stupid.  Too many categories, too many choices.  It just makes it much harder for any of us to draw our favorite hunts.  WDFW has trained the younger ones of us to think the system is state of the art and fair while paying more and accepting less.  It's all about $$$$$.

I believe that right there speaks volumes!! 

Yes, it cost more to do and took longer, but it certainly didn't helped the public's view by putting a face on the process vs today where there is more mistrust, frustration or just outright hatred in some cases of anything the department does!!

[baker5150]

That is a sad excuse, and lack of taking ownership for a failure. Instead of all the excuses and a deferral an apology would probably be the correct course of action.

what was the failure?  Draw was completed and results posted on the day they said they would be 

Not sending out emails after specifically stating that's how we will know when it's done, that's a failure.

Other than that, it all worked out in the end.

those emails were notification that that specific species was complete.  The failure was all of our inability to follow instructions. I do agree that an email every time a category is uploaded is a little ridiculous I was also very aware that I was not following instructions when I would log on to look. I put that blame souley back upon myself.

They still failed to send me, and others, an email as stated, regardless of it's intent.   You asked where the failure was   
Pretty cut and dry.

[Jonathan_S]

I didn't get the antlerless email but I got the antlerless permit.  Of all the things to complain about I guess that makes the least sense to me 

[baker5150]

I didn't get the antlerless email but I got the antlerless permit.  Of all the things to complain about I guess that makes the least sense to me 

Not a complaint, just answering his question.

It didn't bother me at all, but it was certainly a failure of their system.
There could still be guys out there waiting for an email that the draw was done.  Probably matters to them more than us.

[Karl Blanchard]

I

Out of the 8 states I put in for every year Washington has the most problems with the draw by far. I don’t put in for CA, or  OR.

what problems occurred?  I've still yet to see an answer to that question.  Draw was completed and results posted the day they said it would be and within a month!  I apply for 10 western states and WY is the only one that does it faster but they also break it into 3 separate draws so technically it takes them 5 months 

Looks like your 10 states has me beat. Are you saying you haven’t seen problems with the Washington draws?

  I miscounted.  Took my shoe off and it's actually 11

Don't get me wrong, I have endless complaints about WDFW and the whole entire way they do business but as far as their implementation of the draws and getting them out in a timely fashion they are right at the top of with the best agencies out there.  I'll give credit where credit is due. 

[Karl Blanchard]

I didn't get the antlerless email but I got the antlerless permit.  Of all the things to complain about I guess that makes the least sense to me 

Not a complaint, just answering his question.

It didn't bother me at all, but it was certainly a failure of their system.
There could still be guys out there waiting for an email that the draw was done.  Probably matters to them more than us.

  I'll concede that the lack of emails going out is an oversight but to call it a failure of the draw system is a stretch.  THE DRAW was conducted without issue.  The emails going out or not going out had no ill effect on the DRAW SYSTEM.

I don't even ask to be notified but got 4 emails for categories I don't apply for.  Found another 2 in my spam folder.  The whole email thing is very strange to say the least.

[hunter399]

250,000 ×6.50=1,625,000
1.5 million dollars made on special draws and they can't figure it out.WOW!
1 email is enough ,never tell anybody the day of draw ,how do we know the overloaded server didn't effect the draw.
Anyway I'm happy with results which is loser lounge , but these mistakes suck on there part.

[dwils233]

I didn't get the antlerless email but I got the antlerless permit.  Of all the things to complain about I guess that makes the least sense to me 

Not a complaint, just answering his question.

It didn't bother me at all, but it was certainly a failure of their system.
There could still be guys out there waiting for an email that the draw was done.  Probably matters to them more than us.

THE DRAW was conducted without issue.  The emails going out or not going out had no ill effect on the DRAW SYSTEM.

The draw seemed to be expertly executed, on that most people agree. Everything after that though....was poorly planned and implemented and really shouldn't get a pass. That doesn't mean we should grab the pitchforks, but its totally fair to call it out and ask for better next year and offer suggestions to do better. I've only seen one or two people who were "mad" about it, everyone was more exasperated or frustrated about how it was handled. As consumers and taxpayers we have every right want better. the notification was a bad idea on the WILD page, the emails were a bad idea if they couldn't do it, and offering a timeframe and not delivering was a bad idea.

I'd compare it to ordering a pizza and knowing it was perfectly cooked. Then it shows up after the (unsolicited) thirty minute guarantee and somehow turned into a calzone. (still a pizza!) and pizza company gave (unsolicited) order tracking but said it was coming out of the oven ten minutes after its been delivered. and then blamed all of it on other customers who they gave the same unsolicited services....I mean come on. Its just poor business. Under promise and over deliver. I sure wouldn't want to run a business on that model, and would welcome the constructive criticism to avoid it in the future. WDFW should take some good natured licks and start planning on monday how to do it better next year (they should take the day off today, still think they earned it)

and really not that hard to fix- if you can't complete in the time window you give, don't give one. If your server can't handle the volume- go to a cloud server that can be ramped up for peak use (if you can't do that then just post it at 3 AM). If you can't handle the emails, use a mailchimp or listrak service to do it for you (or just don't do it). Take the backdoors completely down and build it on a test server then switch it live. I mean, I don't care for my sake.... its just kind of rookie moves from a business or IT standpoint I think