Hundreds of thousands of comic book fans across the globe look forward to New York Comic Con (NYCC) every year - the largest pop culture convention in America. For so many of us, NYCC the one weekend we can escape from our busy lives - something we can look forward to. As comic book culture and the "Con" become increasingly popular, ReedPop has struggled to keep up with demand. Year after year, NYCC fans must overcome new obstacles and challenges - including many fans who have been attending the show long before it went "mainstream." 

Despite the fact ReedPop has made attempts to tweak their process, they fail to communicate important information with fans, lack adequate customer service and continue to experience various technical issues - especially when it comes to their new lottery system for coveted panels, exclusive items and signings. While we can acknowledge the need for fan profiles, verification and lottery systems - all too often, ReedPop implements these changes prematurely and every year, they hit some sort of a snafu.

Enough is enough. We must demand better from ReedPop. NYCC generates hundreds of millions of dollars in revenue for ReedPop, but this remarkable profit is not being invested into making necessary improvements within their IT Department and their customer service. 

This year, ReedPop made headlines following a number of glitches with their pre-show lottery system.

1) Some longtime fans had trouble entering the pre-show lottery because of a glitch that did not recognize fan profiles as legacy profiles. (Myself included)

2) ReedPop failed to communicate that legacy fans who won just one item during the pre-show lottery would not be re-entered into the general lottery pool. Had they communicated this information effectively, legacy fans would have approached their selections in a different manner to increase their chances for the panels, signings and exclusive items they wanted most. 

3) A technical glitch allowed legacy fans to enter into lotteries for days they did not have badges for. As a result, legacy fans who won a lottery for a day they did not have a badge for were not re-entered into the general lottery and did not win anything. 

4) Several longtime fans have reported they did not win any lottery during pre-show and general selections, while first timers were reporting several wins via Twitter and Facebook.

5) Year after year, NYCC fails to update fans about lottery emails on their social channels and their website, leaving so many of us in the dark. Lottery emails are often sent hours apart without any updates, causing unnecessary stress.

6) Despite claiming all fans who have entered the lotteries would be notified whether they win or lose, many of us received no such email. 

7) All-in-all, legacy fans - many whom have been attending NYCC for 5+ years - were left with the short end of the stick on account of this new pre-show lottery system and ReedPop has to make things right. Loyal fans who have been attending NYCC for a number of years should be offered perks. And those of us who have been attending for at least 5-10 years should be guaranteed at least one lottery pick - especially considering first timers have reported several NYCC lottery wins.

To add insult to injury, New York Comic Con has notoriously horrible customer service. Earlier today - just two days before the big event kicks off at Javitz, I called NYCC's customer service number three times - waiting on-hold for at least 20 minutes each time - only to be told there is a technical issue with their phones and they "cannot hear me." As of 10:30 a.m. Tuesday, October 1, NYCC still has not fixed this phone issue and fans are not able to get a customer service representative on the phone.

Furthermore, NYCC's remaining customer service avenues (email and Twitter) are of no help to fans who need immediate assistance. It often takes several days to hear back via email and the majority of people of Twitter who "tweet" for assistance will never hear back from NYCC's social media team. 

Last, but certainly not least, we implore ReedPop invest in an intergovernmental team to communicate with City agencies - like the MTA - ahead of their event. Last year, the MTA shut down the 7 Train line for construction during NYCC. An intergovernmental team could have easily mitigated this massive inconvenience during the largest pop culture convention in North America.

If you're frustrated with NYCC, I am asking you to sign this petition and let your voices be heard. Let's make this petition go viral. And if I've missed any important concerns about ReedPop in this petition, drop a comment below. The more people we get to sign onto this petition, the more likely ReedPop will make these important changes to their stressful process.