Gen-Fed registration was held earlier today, and, unfortunately, after two smooth years, we were hit with a yet-to-be-explained website failure at the most critical time of day. We could not make the link live at 1PM or otherwise communicate with people who signed up for email updates. We responded to emails that came in to info@gen-fed.org, posted on Facebook, and tweeted about what was happening.
The registration link went live when the website came back up around 1:28 PM. Those who remained at website link and refreshed their browsers at the right moment were able to register. The course sold out in about six minutes—about the same as last year—but, for good reason, there were some people who were frustrated. The technical failure exacerbated an already-challenging situation. And, for that, we are deeply sorry.
We will explore the possibility of creating a back-up communication system for next year so that everyone who is trying to register has access to updates.
Interest in Gen-Fed exceeds the number of slots. There will always be those who cannot get registered for that reason, but we will work hard to make sure that what happened today is not repeated in the future.
Malissa Ruffner and Debra A. Hoffman