In the late 1990s, the gamma-ray burst (GRB) community ignited the current excitement over transient astronomical events. Gamma-Ray Bursts (GRBs) were a real enigma until ultra-fast event dissemination allowed optical identification of afterglows, leading to rich data and rich science. The events back then were both valuable and infrequent: every new GRB could make a career for a young astronomer, and they were only detected every few days. However, in the next few years, surveys carried out by telescopes such as Gaia, LOFAR, Pan-STARRS, LSST and SKA will produce a flood of hundreds of events every 24 hours, with the scientific jewels surrounded by dross,.
