I'm sure I'm not alone is saying that I have interest in both sides.
My wife is available to go stand in lines and she was quite happy with a single overnight stay. Once it escalated to two and three days, the enthusiam is no longer there, but you end up having to do it if you want any chance at the pins. In this scenario, waiting multiple days is not desired but it's what you have to do to get the pins.
It's really expensive to do this multiple line wait and she is getting sick of the time, stress, and worry, involved to get these pins. She's not in favor of a lottery, because she never wins anything. She's also not in favor of having to wait this long for pins that she likes or picks up for trade. She is beginning to threaten quitting DSF pins and switch to something else.
So, I have some hope that the unofficial line strategy works because she has already put in a ton of undesirable wait time for these pins and in my view, whether or not my wife was waiting in line or not, I still am of the opinion that if you waited that long for pins, you should be able to get them.
I have to work, but I also pick up pins for trade and for folks who are out of state and have zero chance of getting these pins. Maybe I'm completely crazy, but I sell to my out of state peeps at cost +tax +a couple of bucks per pin for shipping. I end up eating all the costs for time, gas, and parking. So these multiple day waits pretty much doom me to getting nothing, because I have to work and don't have the free time to go stand in line for multiple days. As a result, fair traders and at cost selling set is taken off the market. I too am getting tired of the whole DSF scene for multiple night waits. Don't get me wrong. I still think it's fun to hang out with friends for a reasonable amount of wait time. This has gone beyond what is worth it for me and probably my wife.
I know that I have stated, in the past, that I don't like the lottery. I'm not a very lucky kind of guy and have found that hard work garners me better results than pure luck. But I'm starting to get onboard with the whole lottery idea just for the simple fact that it should eliminate all this crazy wait time requirements and give me a better chance of picking up either a set for mysef and/or for my out of state peeps.
Unfortunately, I'm thinking that all the points for and against all the various ideas are pretty spot on. DSF isn't equiped to handle the volume and they lack the personnel to implement anything that would help to alleviate this mess. They will continue with the status quo, which will essentially make the work to reward ratio undesirable for both myself and my wife. We may end up going back to a simpler trading life and drop DSF out of the itinerary. I get the feeling that a lot of other people are starting to think along these lines too.
Good luck to those who are sticking this mess out. I'm going to try and keep my personal wait times down to a minimum and show up at the times I usually do, because that is as long as I am willing and able to wait. If I get pins so be it. If I don't, that's ok too. I'm just hoping that no one values these pins more than their health and safety and starts something that torpedoes the whole thing and no one gets anything ever again.
Stay safe, people, and good luck!