6 ms·

They REALLY need recaptcha on park reservations, or some sort of other automation. I'm 90% sure that botting is the only realistic way to get campsites in some

They REALLY need recaptcha on park reservations, or some sort of other automation. I'm 90% sure that botting is the only realistic way to get campsites in some high demand areas (such as lower and upper pines of Yosemite). I'm convinced the only reason there's not MORE scripts around to do it is because their API/web framework is impossibly ugly and not intuitive.

par 7y ago
I had to write a script to be able to find an opening for Yosemite *Pines campgrounds. It was really the only way to find anything without booking months in advance (which all get snapped up immediately anyway.)
electriclove 7y ago
Any good bots or services you would recommend?
chrisseaton 7y ago
Why don't they run a lottery rather than first-come-first-served on a website?
- fingerlocks 7y ago
  They do for some areas, such as The Enchantments in WA state. But they have limit on how many lottery tickets can be purchased for each sub-area.
- mceachen 7y ago
  Because that would be fair and reasonable.
  - dx034 7y ago
    Probably because it would increase cost (programming the system, administering it) and they're severely underfunded?
    - Spooky23 7y ago
      They are not underfunded. This is a $200M Booz Allen contract.
- baddox 7y ago
  That doesn’t really obviate the need for a captcha, since the number of bots can be scaled arbitrarily high fairly easily.
  - rtpg 7y ago
    Phone number deduplication is an easy way to increase cost on the spammers
- deleted 7y ago
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- deleted 7y ago
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habosa 7y ago
Seriously. I hate that visiting a national park now involves the same sort of online shenanigans as getting a popular concert ticket. That's not the vibe that should be associated with our parks system. Anyone botting the site should feel ashamed.
- baddox 7y ago
  What shenanigans? The popular spots really are popular, which is why nearly everything will be booked to most interested visitors. Are you just suggesting that there shouldn’t be online reservations at all?
  - kpennell 7y ago
    I think people are using bots to grab the spots as soon as they become available
    - baddox 7y ago
      Yes, and that’s definitely shady. But what are the shenanigans one must go through to reserve a campsite?
      - CrazyStat 7y ago
        Using a bot to reserve it before all the other bots snap it up.
        baddox 7y ago
        Okay, I guess I was confused about how people buy tickets to concerts online. I've always just...gone to the official ticket website and purchased the ticket. I've certainly never created a bot.
        CrazyStat 7y ago
        Have you ever tried to get a ticket to something that sells out in seconds?
driverdan 7y ago
Recaptcha is terrible and shouldn't be used for anything. They should still make efforts to block bots, just not recaptcha.
cdubzzz 7y ago
As someone else suggested, some sort of lottery system may make sense for high demand areas, but I wonder what percentage of available sites that really matters for. I use recreation.gov and the WA state equivalent regularly and am able to get decent reservations pretty easily. During the really high use times in WA we just go to camp sites (Forest Service sites are particularly good for this out here) and see if they have walk up spots available -- all campsites we have visited keep at least some spots available for this. Granted, we have only done this maybe four of five times so far, but we have got a spot every time.

par 7y ago

I had to write a script to be able to find an opening for Yosemite *Pines campgrounds. It was really the only way to find anything without booking months in advance (which all get snapped up immediately anyway.)

electriclove 7y ago

Any good bots or services you would recommend?

chrisseaton 7y ago

Why don't they run a lottery rather than first-come-first-served on a website?

fingerlocks 7y ago
They do for some areas, such as The Enchantments in WA state. But they have limit on how many lottery tickets can be purchased for each sub-area.
mceachen 7y ago
Because that would be fair and reasonable.
- dx034 7y ago
  Probably because it would increase cost (programming the system, administering it) and they're severely underfunded?
  - Spooky23 7y ago
    They are not underfunded. This is a $200M Booz Allen contract.
baddox 7y ago
That doesn’t really obviate the need for a captcha, since the number of bots can be scaled arbitrarily high fairly easily.
- rtpg 7y ago
  Phone number deduplication is an easy way to increase cost on the spammers
deleted 7y ago
[deleted]
deleted 7y ago
[deleted]

habosa 7y ago

Seriously. I hate that visiting a national park now involves the same sort of online shenanigans as getting a popular concert ticket. That's not the vibe that should be associated with our parks system. Anyone botting the site should feel ashamed.

baddox 7y ago
What shenanigans? The popular spots really are popular, which is why nearly everything will be booked to most interested visitors. Are you just suggesting that there shouldn’t be online reservations at all?
- kpennell 7y ago
  I think people are using bots to grab the spots as soon as they become available
  - baddox 7y ago
    Yes, and that’s definitely shady. But what are the shenanigans one must go through to reserve a campsite?
    - CrazyStat 7y ago
      Using a bot to reserve it before all the other bots snap it up.
      - baddox 7y ago
        Okay, I guess I was confused about how people buy tickets to concerts online. I've always just...gone to the official ticket website and purchased the ticket. I've certainly never created a bot.
        CrazyStat 7y ago
        Have you ever tried to get a ticket to something that sells out in seconds?

driverdan 7y ago

Recaptcha is terrible and shouldn't be used for anything. They should still make efforts to block bots, just not recaptcha.

cdubzzz 7y ago

As someone else suggested, some sort of lottery system may make sense for high demand areas, but I wonder what percentage of available sites that really matters for. I use recreation.gov and the WA state equivalent regularly and am able to get decent reservations pretty easily. During the really high use times in WA we just go to camp sites (Forest Service sites are particularly good for this out here) and see if they have walk up spots available -- all campsites we have visited keep at least some spots available for this. Granted, we have only done this maybe four of five times so far, but we have got a spot every time.