The Otago University Students' Association said in a Facebook post the first batch of tickets sold out in less than a minute, causing the crash,
"Hi folks, there was an EPIC number of people trying to buy tickets this morning - it has crashed our servers and that is going to take a while to fix. We are going to re-start the process at 12.30 today, and will keep you updated via this page. Thanks," the OUSA said.
When the tickets went back on sale at 12.30pm, the server crashed again, although a backup Google Form allowed them to be sold, the OUSA said in another post, making comment that the demand was "beyond the demand in previous years".
Many students were left disappointed, using the party's official Facebook event page to express their frustration. Some users posted screenshots of the screen showing that tickets had sold out, while others posted about the server crash and having to miss lectures to obtain their tickets.
The rest of the tickets will be released for sale at 6pm today.
The party is well-known for its themes and elaborate costumes, which prompted the OUSA to post on the page to give suggestions about appropriate dress.
kudos to the people trying to give hyde st keg people a heads up about not wearing offensive costumers to the party
— stevie (@steviejnz) March 14, 2016
The guidelines advised party-goers to not dress offensively and were given a list of things to avoid. These included "blackface darkening", racial or cultural stereotypes, mocking culturally sensitive events, mocking disabled people, mocking LBGT people and glorifying sexual violence.
The post received a large response and was deleted and reposted due to what the OUSA said was "a level of abuse that was totally unacceptable in the comments thread".
