Because spamming tech professionals as an AC has historically always created such goodwill for companies and urge for readers to donate to your cause.

That's because most of the rich people in Bergen County, New Jersey, actually work in New York City. Thus, their jobs are not subject to these restrictions. It's just their suburban home that doesn't have business open Sundays.

Ok, I read the wrong link from up above. This article does say as you claimed, and my above post is nonsense. :)

I've read your link and can't find any statement that indicates malicious persons had knowledge of this exploit before the announcement.

The underlying assumption here is that burning man first time attendees will all be reasonable people. As I've said, I've seen first-years disregard the guide and get injured, dehydrated etc. The drinking water thing really needs to be drilled in because most people have little experience in desert climates -- loosing water without perceiving that you're sweating, etc. Then again, one man's modus pollens is another man's modus tollens.

There are seriously crazy people who show up to Burning Man. Some dude in 2003 stabbed a dude to death in a van on the way there and then tried to join DPW looking for work.

You're right about this, but statistics are not available on road injuries and accidents etc. Anecdotally, I've never heard a story about any of these type of problems happening to anyone. However, the general incidence of these problems is far lower than the proportion of people who get medical treatment at Burning Man. At Burning Man 2012, there were 5,758 people who needed medical attention out of approximately 60k attendees, that's about 10%.

There are no statistics for (a), so who knows -- but anecdotally I've never heard about such incidents -- and (b) is rather imaginary. I have heard of zero accidents on the playa due to a bike breaking. You usually just come to a stop if the thing breaks. It's far more likely the operator of a bike involved in an accident was highly intoxicated and crashed into someone else highly intoxicated, that will occur regardless of rental or not bike usage.

Again, your inexperience is really showing here with this wildly inaccurate declaration. This is a major issue that's been raised even on the official Burning Man blog and was the main story in the BRC Weekly newspaper in 2011 . There are many camps like this that cater to "plug and play" campers. When I first started burning, this was largely restricted to the super-wealthy (we're talking $5M+ net worth), but catering has gone downmarket. There are people who will get you an RV, load it with costumes, supplies, and have professional staff members getting paid to help you in camp.

Not going to happen. They'll discuss it, but the dirty secret is they love the influx of wealthy people because they might donate to Black Rock Arts, etc, and often give them tours around First Camp etc. Look how Google donated those bikes.

Also on the cultural side -- in 2011 I saw a teenager (no older than 19) bike to the temple on a green bike that he put his own lock on (wearing no costume and just a hoodie), get out with a can of spraypaint, and paint his graffiti tag on top of someone's memorial to a dead person. Is that the kind of thing you want to see more or less of at Burning Man? Do you think that kid spent time contributing with a camp or just read about it on the internet and came? This is what I'm talking about with the culture.

Typically, people gain experience by going to regional burns or other events first. Rarely is Burning Man someone's first festival. Many first-years I've met already have an installation or some type of project planned out as a result, or are working on serious projects in collaboration with others, and that's great. But also you have to understand much of Burning Man doesn't even come with a camp -- these are the real tourists -- they just park in the back in a clustermess of anarchy.

Welcome to Burning Man! Radical inclusion doesn't mean radical niceness/acceptance/etc. You can do whatever you want in terms of starting your own camp, project, doing your thing etc. That's what makes it great. But if you want to change the way things are run for everyone else, you're not going to get very far unless you're one of those insiders or create a massive scandal. Just like, human society, most governments, most corporations, etc.

Of course you didn't. What you're doing is the equivalent of trying to write a letter to your congressman and expecting actual action as a result instead of a pre-canned "Thank you for your letter" response. Losers expand the scope of conflict, as you're doing here by blowing it up on slashdot, to bring in more actors and hopefully increase their power. Instead, the reaction has been from myself and many others "this idea sucks, it doesn't do very much to help due to the bottleneck two lane highway, and you don't know very much about Burning Man."

Case in point: you tried to contact BMORG telling them to change the way they do things and thought you'd get a response. That's like writing a letter to Mark Zuckerberg to complain about possible Facebook privacy enhancements - think he's going to listen? What happens when you do this? Well, if you ever try to place a camp, they're going to be sure to put you in the back....etc.

Burning Man is very cliquey, and the BMORG is the #1 clique and definitely caters to elitism. Read about "First Camp." It is not this free-love, open hippie festival..it's in many ways a battle of egos and one-upsmanship that makes it what it is. BMORG is used to herding cats and dealing with big egos (usually by nodding, saying "that's cool," and then disregarding), and you're not going to get in edgewise by posting stuff like this. If anything, that will make them resent you and do more squash your goals. Not saying this is a good thing, but it's how it is, it's their festival, you're just a participant. And it's never been very open to participant ideas on changing institutions, it is not a democracy, it is an oligarchy.

I agree it is mostly accurate, however it is widely and dangerously incomplete. It's beyond getting tourists to the playa -- it's preventing cloggnig up emergency services with helicopter medi-vacs for these people, which happens more than you think. There's also the general ignorance of culture through omission of any IRL Burning Man events/information. Carrying around a water bottle to spray people occasionally should not be considered how you "participate" in Burning Man. If that's all most people did, BM would not exist and not have the things that people come to enjoy there -- simply put, it would not be sustainable.

Strawman. I said:

Some camps may accept resumes from people online, but most of the time, they get information from a friend of a friend or forwarded via some email/social network etc..there's usually connections there. People don't go around "applying" for camp membership with resumes usually, it's very rare. But if you search the internet and get your information only from the internet, the bias is there.

By contrast, the Survival Guide is wrong insofar as it tells you that it's highly recommended to bring your own bike, instead of mentioning the bike rental option, which is much more convenient for people who are flying and taking the Burner Express.

That's because its such a new option with limited carrying capacity. Burner Express was started in response to numerous private companies doing bus rides of their own and profiteering off of Burning Man. Additionally, Playa Bike rental's 300 or so bikes is not enough of a capacity for the demand, and were they to advertise this in the official guides, they would be overwhelmed with orders. This would create a whole bike market at burning man..people get upset about the fact BMORG sells coffee, this would lead to them having to take over bike rental and sell bikes/rentals themselves. Also, the bike rental price is about the cost of the bike, if not more, so it's not a very good deal. It used to be you'd buy a bike, and if you didn't want it, drop it off in Gerlach to be donated. Now someone else just takes the money and re-rents. So really, this is an experiment that in a way runs contrary to decommodification and BMORG is taking baby steps on this, and I think rightfully so, to protect the ten principles and culture that makes BM what it is.

No, you're being arrogant and self-important. You're giving people useful information mostly if they come to BM as a tourist and don't contribute, which is destructive to BM culture and the event. You are also omitting important information on safety etc -- you say bring ice and a spray bottle with you if you're sensitive to heat, but not, keep a camelbak on, drink constantly, use excessive sunscreen, etc etc. If someone reads your guide and thinks they're cool with a tiny spray bottle, walking around the desert -- will you come help them in the medical tent?

If you think I'm wrong, then again: Do you know of any written preparation guide for first-timers that is accurate and reasonably complete? (At minimum it should mention the Burner Express and the on-playa bike rental option.)

I think you are wrong in the normative sense about making this information available being a good thing. Keep Burning Man sustainable. Forward people to the official survival guide and fill in additional information on a personal basis. There's a good reason this information isn't included in the official survival guide -- first, because there's limited capacity and second because of cultural issues, the fact it's an experiment with decommodification and BMORG has a vested interest in limiting the number of "tourists."

The cognitive bias on your end seems to be two fold: you're a know-it-all who has had his ego bruised by veteran burners. So, you attack preceived inaccuracies in what they told you based on a single (and exceptional) year's experience, to puff up your own ego again and obtain vindication from how you felt talked down to or inexperienced; which is obviously rare for you. You then post this material online to establish some ethos with Burning Man and put yourself in a position of authority -- which based on the largely negative reaction to your articles, seems to be backfiring. I'm trying to explain to you why it's backfiring but you continue to stick to your guns. Additionally you post things sure to upset these "veterans," and attempt to assist an influx of newbs in to stem the influence of these veterans. While this might be good for your ego and sense of self-confidence, at the least it's not good for those who take you to heart and come unprepared/not contributing, and at the most it could be generally negative for Burning Man.

I highly suggest you join the Black Rock Rangers, do some shifts and learn about what happens when people come unprepared and need help. Then, write your own survival guide. You'll know what's up then.

I think that might be because you talked to a wealthier crew of veterans..not sure what your social circles are like, but definitely looks like an older and more moneyed crowd if they say that. The tent w/ rebar is the most common method of housing at BM -- I do recommend, if people can afford it, to get canvas tents, or at least tents without mesh etc..but I've never heard of anyone saying you have to build a hexayurt etc. Typically, hexayurt building is for when you want to put in an air conditioner etc.

Also, last year was the BEST weather on the playa I've ever seen -- most years, tents get far more playa'd out and subject to much heavier winds etc. So, don't base your tent recommendations on last year....four years ago, there were walls of dust blowing across the playa with incredible force, that's what you have to plan for.

I think the official BM survival guide is just fine if read through. It doesn't provide this false information that you cite -- and covers tents very well. Here's the quote:

Please don't take it upon yourself to write a BM survival guide or produce any material to this end yet. Last year's experience was extremely atypical with night temperatures the highest I've ever seen. I know you want to contribute somehow to BM the way you're used to working -- from your armchair by writing on the internet -- but seriously dude, you need more experience before you're an expert of some kind and people will listen to you. All of your comments, including this original article, are very reminiscient of "virgins talking about sex.." ..your'e writing a lot about the subject, but you have yet to have beyond a cursory understanding of Burning Man. I think you should endeavour to contribute to Burning Man in different ways than writing this stuff.

By the way, I saw your original article (about your summer at BM) and definitely did a double-faceplam at the time. The way you talk about camp dues and recruitment..making a "Burner Resume"...that's not how most camps form, that's how you get a job in IT. Obviously, your own armchair-Burner biases are shining thorugh here. Typically people are connected through local Burning Man communities that exist IRL. Recruitment happens at regional burns, fundraiser parties, etc, which happen all over the world. Very few camps do a significant amount of recruiting online. Also, camp dues can go as high as $1000 for art-car camps etc, but those are typically very exclusive.

Again, my overarching point is that you write all this stuff, but you just don't know what you're talking about it yet. Until you have more experience, your writing product will be obviously sophomoric, or the writings of a wise fool. I know your whole thing seems to be trying to seem smart and get people to respect you, but you're not going to get that writing stuff like this. It's going to be the opposite.

The bike rental on playa option is VERY new. You used to have to bring your own bike, and rentals took place off-playa in Reno etc. They don't consistently update the web site as well -- it's not really well designed and if they update one area they often fail not to check for cross references. All the more reason these first-years need camps of veteran burners to take them under their wing rather than reading on the internet, booking plane tickets and bus rides and thinking they got it figured out. This isn't programming -- you can't just google stuff and think you'll be good. Burning Man censors eplaya as well significantly -- notice no talk about drugs? :)

You probably have never had to deal with the BMORG, but virtually all veteran burners (fourth+ years) are frustrated with them in some way or the other. Usually first to second years think they're doing a good job, until they get into the politics/camp organization etc and realize these people are really difficult to work with and of questionable moral scruples.

The green bikes suck and are often broken, also people steal them and decorate them and put their own locks on them etc. I personally think the program should be abolished, but Google donated them and has a lot of clout in BM politics.

I did not mean "official cleanup" either....few camps are done cleaning up by Monday, at least registered theme camps. I can't recall a single registered theme camp I've seen without a skeleton crew of cleaner-uppers around Tuesday/Wednesday.

[Citation Needed]

Obviously, you've never played music on a real system like a Funktion One. At large-scale, the difference between WAV and 320kb mp3 is very noticeable. On a pair of cheap iPod headphones, it is not.

No, if you've been working on cleanup, you probably don't leave on Monday and don't have to worry about the exodus line. You leave Tues-Wednesday.

Bennett, your heart is in the right place but you're really missing the mark on Burning Man culture. It used to be that before people went to Burning Man, they were often connected to Burner communities in their home area, perhaps gone to regional burns/festivals, or numerous BM-related parties in their area. Now, people with few ties to Burning Man are just jumping right in..and I think because you're that type of Burner, that's the source of your misprognostications. I'll explain...

Bit of a straw man here..I said offshoot camp/project etc, meaning they work on a contribution either of their own or done with a small group of people on the same page. This is in contrast to the typical first to second year experience, where they get invited to join a camp and decide they're gung-ho about that and do what the camp tells them to do, like work shifts. Big camps have "pods" within them that may work on individual art installations or do their own thing..many do that. Additionally, people who remain with larger camps tend to be more of the type of the person that does the recruiting/camp organizing at that point..in such a case, they've made the camp their own thing and usually cause changes to happen in what the camp does.

While this is theoretically possible, it's not at all plausible. Typically major contributors or co-organizers come via early arrival. Early arrival usually involves bringing massive amounts of stuff for the project. There are few playa projects that do not require transportation of large items. Typically, it's the core contributors/organizers that come with the truck and do the unpacking and camp setup. That's becuase they've organized the transportation of the ride and it makes the most sense for them to come along with it.
The Burner Express also only does EA starting on Friday..very limited early arrival service, and many organizers come before Friday. By Friday EA, the black rock city roller disco is in full swing and already partying.

Of course this is bad!! If Burning Man was easy to get to, and attending was as simple as using money to purchase things rather than organizing/creating things on your own/contributing, it would become Coachella. The fact that Burning Man is so difficult to get to, has a harsh desert climate, requires you to bring your own water etc helps ensure that more committed/invested people attend rather than tourists. Making it easier for people to get to the playa cheaply and without connections to Burning Man culture would increase the number of tourists on the playa, and change the festival drastically. It would also surely increase the amount of people in the medical tents and put a strain on emergency services, since they are unlikely to read the guides/adequately prepare.
I've met first-years who merely skimmed through the guide and thought it was "exaggerated" and came with no warm clothes and summarily froze every night. They later ended up in the medical tent for dehydration and a broken ankle. How could you think going to a web site and easily booking a flight and then bus ride to Burning Man would not increase the number of clueless tourists, who are potentially a safety hazard to themselves/others?

Secondly, a "public" marketplace for camps won't work. Typically camps want some assurance that x and x person is "cool" and somehow connected through a friend-of-a-friend etc. They're still somewhat randoms, but there's some assurance they won't go berzerk/start drama/etc etc. While some camps do recruit openly online, it is not a common thing in Burner culture -- not because it's not possible, but because it's not desired.

I definitely agree with you from a normative perspective -- Puff Daddy at Robot Heart is not cool or good for Burning Man. Elon Musk's massive plug-and-play RV camp in the back is hardly a contribution. But since these people are well known as being successful and accomplished, the goal here is to show that not everyone above their early 20s on the playa is an "idiot."

Yes, except they spank you if you're a virgin. And make you ring a bell.