March BeanBay - Friday 23rd Feb 14:00 AEDT

[lucinda]

Re: March BeanBay - Friday 23rd Feb 14:00 AEDT

I must say for myself that I am grateful for the opportunity to access fantastic beans at such a great price, so I am not going to complainif I miss out. I just look at it as an opportunity to try something different.

[Thundergod]

Re: March BeanBay - Friday 23rd Feb 14:00 AEDT

Good on those that offered and you Andy for graciously accepting.

[andy]

Re: March BeanBay - Friday 23rd Feb 14:00 AEDT

perhaps a poll is in order before the bean bay to get an idea of how much people want before the bean bay is set up

Bean there done that. Pre-poll does not work as its really easy to say "I would buy 5kg" and then change your mind later and buy none.

Some of the beans in this months BeanBay are VERY exclusive and we have the entire Australian stock of them (and that is often the case with CoffeeSnobs bean offers). Sadly, ordering more is not an option for most of the beans.

While a (sometimes noisy?) minority of people do missout on what they wanted the (mostly silent) majority do get exactly what they were after.

We aim to "stock" BeanBay with enough beans to allow people to grab something over a two or three day period and the last few BeanBays (this one included) has met that goal.

The server problems are a pain to all and we thought the (rather expensive) hardware upgrade in January would have fixed it... sadly it didnt and now we will have another look at the underlying software code to find some improvements. We have also had a few generous offers of help from coders out in CS-land and might get some help before the next BeanBay.

Rest assured that we will get better at this

Enjoy your coffee!

Andy.

[steve]

Re: March BeanBay - Friday 23rd Feb 14:00 AEDT

Andy, Im a database / .Net developer by profession.

I hope Beanbay is a SQL database on a Unix based server :-/

Dont want any of that Microsoft SQL server stuff :-X (said as an ex Microsoft partner).

I think it used to/is using an Access database? If so that would explain the database locks. I think even SQL server could handle beanbay. We use it at work for thousands of users no problem. Might depend on how bean bay is written of course.

[niallpedlow]

Re: March BeanBay - Friday 23rd Feb 14:00 AEDT

Im pretty sure the errors Ive seen on bean bay have been asp.net errors ...

Doesnt matter particularly which database though, Ive done plenty of work on a few of them.  MS SQL Server is my weapon of choice though.  We can go over to database-snobs and have the oracle vs sql svr version of the 6910 vs silvia debate though. ;D What about SQL Server vs the world ???

[JavaB]

Re: March BeanBay - Friday 23rd Feb 14:00 AEDT

Andy, Im a database / .Net developer by profession.

I hope Beanbay is a SQL database on a Unix based server :-/

Dont want any of that Microsoft SQL server stuff :-X (said as an ex Microsoft partner).

[niallpedlow]

Re: March BeanBay - Friday 23rd Feb 14:00 AEDT

I can understand a little bit of peoples disappointment at not getting the beans they really want, but theres still 200kg of regular arabica, plus 100kg of robusta/decaf.

This is the first beanbay in a few months where I havent bought beans, but Ive never failed to get what I want early on - usually through persistence.

The beans that are left are still TOP NOTCH beans. Every batch I have had from bean bay, have been of better quality than most of the stuff I have bought in retail stores, or through other internet suppliers. Andys doing a great job at providing bean bay, and such awesome beans at an amazingly low price, and as far as I am aware wears the risk, and probably most of the work getting the beans out to us.

Andy, Im a database / .Net developer by profession. If you need/want a hand with any of the beanbay software stuff, please let me know as Id be more than willing to offer some time if it was needed to problem solve/design / help.

[Grey]

Re: March BeanBay - Friday 23rd Feb 14:00 AEDT

I just got some earlier today Javaphile on a second dip.
I saw that it was the special of the month on another Aussie site and they recommended it highly so decided to give it a go. 8-)

[Javaphile]

Re: March BeanBay - Friday 23rd Feb 14:00 AEDT

Im rather surprised at so much of the Rwandan being left. While I havent had this precise bean I can highly recommend the Rwandans in general. Theyre one of my favorite varietals.


Java "Brewing up 5 gallons of Rwandan CP as we speak." phile

[robusto]

Re: March BeanBay - Friday 23rd Feb 14:00 AEDT

I was out of town, away from any computers, so missed out badly. In any case, there would have been many of us at work without computer access at 1400 on any given week day.

In its simplicity, this seems to be a demand/supply porblem: demand far exceeds supply.

Is it possible to increase the supply? Order in more beans from suppliers. Or is that an import/licensing problem for Andy?

Hate to see so many CSs disappointed each month when one of the primary reasons for this forum is access to green bans (and the subsequent discussions which arise).

--Robusto

[Thundergod]

Re: March BeanBay - Friday 23rd Feb 14:00 AEDT

I was lucky last time to get the two varieties I wanted to try.
Last month there wasnt the same problems experienced yesterday.
I even went out and came back an hour later before finally deciding to go ahead and there was still enough there for me to pick up 2.5kg of each.

Ive got plenty of greens to keep me going, probably about 8kg with the little bits remaining from my starter pack and small sample from my roaster.

If I was in the market for some more Id be happy enough to try any of the lesser known ones.
Its all a learning curve for me and at the moment my palates not too fussy.

So whatever Andy can come up with to prevent a server meltdown is OK by me.

Maybe he could pop up some beans unannounced and those curious enough to check the BB occasionally may be the lucky finders.
That may spread some of his workload out and appease a few buyers that then wont need to visit during the feeding frenzy.

[JavaB]

Re: March BeanBay - Friday 23rd Feb 14:00 AEDT

Its a bit like the Xmas sales where everybody heads over to the table that everyone else is scrambling around just because it looks like the best buy to be had! Andy is the poor bugger opening the door and running for his life.

He He... ;D

Just no one told him they had tied his shoe laces together so he cant run away ;D

[mbg963]

Re: March BeanBay - Friday 23rd Feb 14:00 AEDT

Whilst I agree theres a lot of "fun" in the mad scramble for beans..... and you might or might not get what you want...

From the point of view of the server, and the mad panic which Andy must go through- I just think theres got to be a better way....

The problem is, its going to get worse each BeanBay - sure Andy can throw more hardware at the problem.... and more software licences (both of which will cost $$$$$$$$) for what - just one day a month!!!

The database is just getting overloaded because of FAR too many simultaneous sessions requiring connection - hence the myriad of "database locked" error messages......

Maybe a ballot, controlled access based on IP address, separate login for BeanBay with a limited number of simultaneous users.... just a few possible answers.....

Might be a bit less "fun" for us...and you still might not get what you want..... but something is needed to prevent meltdown of the server - and Andy!!

We could just start talking down about home roasting and how youll never get home roasted beans to taste as good as those from the supermarket

Another option may be for Andy to post his tasting notes in the bean bay before the beanbay opens to allow potential bidders to consider trying other beans rather than just the old favourites. Some of the beans Ive never heard of so it takes some time to do the research thing to find out what they are like. If I havent heard of the others and have read heaps about Tiger Mountain and Yirig and see them decreasing in qty really quick the tendency is to panic and buy like the rest just in case I miss out.

Its a bit like the Xmas sales where everybody heads over to the table that everyone else is scrambling around just because it looks like the best buy to be had! Andy is the poor bugger opening the door and running for his life.

[JavaB]

Re: March BeanBay - Friday 23rd Feb 14:00 AEDT

Whilst I agree theres a lot of "fun" in the mad scramble for beans..... and you might or might not get what you want...

From the point of view of the server, and the mad panic which Andy must go through- I just think theres got to be a better way....

The problem is, its going to get worse each BeanBay - sure Andy can throw more hardware at the problem.... and more software licences (both of which will cost $$$$$$$$) for what - just one day a month!!!

The database is just getting overloaded because of FAR too many simultaneous sessions requiring connection - hence the myriad of "database locked" error messages......

Maybe a ballot, controlled access based on IP address, separate login for BeanBay with a limited number of simultaneous users.... just a few possible answers.....

Might be a bit less "fun" for us...and you still might not get what you want..... but something is needed to prevent meltdown of the server - and Andy!!

[lucinda]

Re: March BeanBay - Friday 23rd Feb 14:00 AEDT

Rayzurhead, there would still be the issue of not everybody getting what they want. Unfortunately, demand will outstrip supply.

I was lucky this time in that I got what I wanted, last bean bay I missed one that I wanted. Next beanbay I may miss out again. If that happens I still have a good supply at home, the kilos are adding up.