My thoughts aside, anyone is free to buy a dvc contract whether they have the devices to use the Internet or not. They are also free to get a device that will allow them to have the best chance possible to book, the same chance any owner is supposed to have.
That same person cannot do anything that will give them an edge or put them on the same level as a bot. They are not the same or similar situations. One is possible, one is literally impossible.
My main point is that the end result is NOT actually the same, it just may seem like it is because it was already hard to book. If it was a room that was usually always available but became popular and was suddenly almost impossible to book, it would be noticed more. Just because you can't easily see something doesn't mean it's not there.
For example, it took years before anyone believed that bacteria and viruses existed because they weren't noticable until we looked under a microscope, now millions of lives have been saved because of that. Now DVC is not life and death, and that is just a very extreme example how sometimes you have to look closer to notice something. Just because you feel like it doesn't matter now doesn't mean that it actually doesn't matter, or that it won't matter in the future if popular room types change, etc.
They wouldn't have to even make it harder for human bookers, just for bots or programs like I said earlier. If they will, who knows. But knowing enough about how scarce things can get when bots get involved, I hope they at least try something behind the scenes even something that doesn't make it harder to book anything but just tries to detect bots and send warnings etc
If someone not using a bot gets a room, including hard to book rooms, then either those using bots are not always winning, or they are not using them every day to snag hard to get rooms. And, as we know, plenty of non bot using owners are getting AKV value, CL, and BWV SV rooms daily.
Am I understanding that the reason you think its "fair" that those who own electronic devices get an hour advantage, is because all owners have the ability to purchase those things and its a choice not to?
If so, then can't owners go out and buy a bot software program or find a programmer to write them one to increase their chances? Might be a lot of money, and you might not want to do it, but if its available...which it has to be because you are saying they exist...then its "fair"...no different than the owner who doesn't pay for the internet and has to call.
Right now, 99% of the rooms are getting booked by everyday owners, whether bots are in play or not, and so far, I have never seen every room type gone, every day of the year, at 8 am, so no owner is getting shut out of their home resort.
Unfortunately, there is just no way for DVC to protect against every little nuiance that might give someone a miniscule advantage, and IMO, a bot program, while frustrating for those who feel they are being used to target specific rooms, is currently that.
Now, if there comes a day where someone has found a way to hack into the DVC system and force it to release rooms to them 30 minutes early, then yes, DVC needs to do something about it. But, if the system releases rooms at 8:00 am on the dot, and someone has a way to be the "first in line" then they win....its the nature of DVC.
Good discussion! We just don't see it the same way.
ETA: Remember, I am all for DVC doing something to prevent this, if they can, as long as it doesn't require authentication that can introduce more "human error" to the process...