post what you didn't like about 2011 here

[Savannah]

Rock on, Gen ov eve. I'm glad you had a great first burn.

[moonrise]

My biggest gripe is, Despite ample 5 to 10 mph max speed limit sigange, a fuckton of people drove far too fast, 30 mph or faster throwing up massive dust clouds. Eventually several camps along my road put up SLOW DOWN PLEASE signs, to no avail. (to be fair, a few slowed down)

One guy freaked out (I'll spare the gritty details) in the men's pisser potty when I blew my nose, WTF? I used a tissue, duh! This was near the sound camps, maybe he was E 'ed out? That incident spooked me for a bit, his woman shuttled him away, phew! His freak out left me with a creepy feeling for a couple of hours, yikes.

I filled several trash bags with mountains of MOOP left at street corners, 8 bags last year for my camp. I took 6 extra bags for MOOPers alone this year, all useless gargabge left at street corners by lazy clueless assholes.

Also encountered some regional "burners" with extremely clueless and rude behaviour, ouch!! Made eplaya seem like heaven! No joke, they may have money and better outfits, but the rudeness was overt enough to taste and enough to not get them served at an infamous spot. I tried to clue them in, I had asked where they were from (L.A. area) and if they were a regional visiting, both were affirmative, oh well....they were so rushed my efforts to help were mostly hopeless. I think I did some good, even tough they left disgruntled.

Perhaps the ticket should require a written test for the 10 principals, survival guide etc. I'm not sure how that could be done but wow! Basics of the event are just that, BASIC!

I had soooo many great experiences and my long time burner pals' good mood over rode most of these issues, BRC is still a freindly city in our opinion, word is everyone needs to bring some up to speed faster...

[Ano]

I dunno. I met a lot more people who had been going for years and decided that all the virgins were fucking things up, and they stopped giving a fuck. Guy camped near me, had been going for 16 years (and i watched him ride right in to first camp and talk to Larry and some other folks), left a big mess, threw trash in neighbors garbage, baby-wipes in the porto-potties, among other things. Another group of vets who had been coming for awhile had horded a group of yellow bikes and were quite excited at their free bike pile. And more.

Come on. There's idiots on both sides. It's not just a bunch of "birgins" coming in and fucking things up. I know more birgins who practiced the 10 principals in the ways they could more than I saw older people doing it. More than anything, I just met vets bitching about everything and being proud about not giving a fuck.

[BBadger]

The Birgins I met were pretty cool, as were the vets. I just wish that the conditions were more harsh so that nature could take "its course" on certain individuals, and so they'd have a bad experience and never feel compelled to return again. Some heavy machinery crushing darktards (who would fall into the previously mentioned group) would've been awesome too. Maybe a giant self-contained woodchipper or something, so there wouldn't be MOOP...

[moonrise]

Sadly Ano, you're right about the awful veteran burner bad behaviour...but I didn't have the balls to say so...there are purist vets and purist birgins, thankfully! Typing about it here seems hopeless but I'm sure it'll make some difference.

Ditto BBadger

[jesscail]

I totally understand the need to vent (and frequently caught myself frustrated by the yahoos, darkwads, and aggro behavior this year). But that being said, I highly recommend watching this video by 14 year burner Halcyon. It changed my burn, and might change yours as well.

[youtube]http://youtu.be/XPbMs957BtA[/youtube]

Excerpt: "The negativity surrounding the first ever sell-out is so "un-burner". Yes there may be people there, tourists, tickets bought from scalpers, in plush RVs, but it's a city! Nobody ever said that BM is all rainbows and sunshine all the time. It's not a vacation, it's an adventure; and there's windstorms, and there's assholes. But its still a small enough city that YOU have control over the experience."

We can complain about how commercial/young/raver it's gotten, or we can rise to the challenge and try to educate these virgins. Think of the service to the community, the gift you would be giving to all burner-kind, if you could just reach ONE these people...

Jess

[Savannah]

I totally understand the need to vent (and frequently caught myself frustrated by the yahoos, darkwads, and aggro behavior this year). But that being said, I highly recommend watching this video by 14 year burner Halcyon. It changed my burn, and might change yours as well.

[youtube]http://youtu.be/XPbMs957BtA[/youtube]

Excerpt: "The negativity surrounding the first ever sell-out is so "un-burner". Yes there may be people there, tourists, tickets bought from scalpers, in plush RVs, but it's a city! Nobody ever said that BM is all rainbows and sunshine all the time. It's not a vacation, it's an adventure; and there's windstorms, and there's assholes. But its still a small enough city that YOU have control over the experience."

We can complain about how commercial/young/raver it's gotten, or we can rise to the challenge and try to educate these virgins. Think of the service to the community, the gift you would be giving to all burner-kind, if you could just reach ONE these people...

Jess

That quote of his remain my favorite part of that entire video, Jess.

[Ogdenhousedj]

Twice I was ran into by somebody on a bike due to somebody from DPW calling out to them and them doing a quick u-turn into me so they could see who was calling for them. I mean damn I was lit up and using my horn and bell alot out there and both of these incidents happened in the day. I know I'll get alot of flack for this cause you DPW peeps work hard out there but damn dont call out to your friends riding by in a big ass group of people cause it hurts and fucks peoples bikes up

[Gen ov eve]

Excerpt: "The negativity surrounding the first ever sell-out is so "un-burner". Yes there may be people there, tourists, tickets bought from scalpers, in plush RVs, but it's a city! Nobody ever said that BM is all rainbows and sunshine all the time. It's not a vacation, it's an adventure; and there's windstorms, and there's assholes. But its still a small enough city that YOU have control over the experience."

We can complain about how commercial/young/raver it's gotten, or we can rise to the challenge and try to educate these virgins. Think of the service to the community, the gift you would be giving to all burner-kind, if you could just reach ONE these people...

Jess

Yes to that. I know it to be true because that is was exactly how mine worked out, so it seems. I don't like the complaining, I do like to see positive reenforcement in the city and community, as well as what Jess said, educate, not just the virgins, the veterans as well - because it seems a lot of veterans have lost hope in all newbies and in the enitre idea of what is happening with Burning Man... which is quite sad.

Edited to enable bbcode, having trouble

[atomosk]

It seems people forgot to ask permission before you take someone's photo... So many people just pointing and shooting without saying a word. I was attending a friend's wedding at the temple on Thursday, and out of nowhere at least a half a dozen people showed up out of the crowd with large, professional cameras. None of them spoke to any of us, just started taking photos of the bridal party and guests. Then, again without speaking to anyone, they disappeared into the crowd. On Sunday, I was riding around topless in the relentless heat, and a young man stood in front of his camp with a stupid smile on his face and held up a disposable camera pointed at me as I rode by. I yelled at him "NO, THANKYOU!" He didn't take my photo, just twisted the camera to take a shot of my friend riding behind me. That's just 2 specific examples I can remember, but I saw people getting snap-happy everywhere. Not just getting pics of people in the background, but full close-ups.

I was camping with 8 birgins, and when I brought this up they seemed to think there was nothing wrong with it, and that in coming to (quote) "a public event" like Burning Man, you should expect to get your photo taken and face the consequences of inappropriate (particularly naked/partially clothed) photos ending up on the internet. The careers that myself and my boyfriend are in, are of the kind that in the wrong hands all it could take was one photo to lose a job (think healthcare, teaching, working with children, that kind of stuff). We obviously take it seriously the idea of strangers taking our photos and us having no idea what happens to those images later. We're not going to invest many years and a lot of money in a career, just to be screwed by someone with a bad stereotype about Burning Man.

I do feel you about being worried your pictures will show up online and know many who would like someone to ask permission before taking their picture, but I don't think this is something to get too worked up with out there. I think this thread is for venting so please vent away anyway, but I want to point out a couple things about picture taking.

The back of the ticket explicitly states that you agree your image may be captured in pictures and videos without your consent and without compensation, and that burning man is appointed your representative to protect your privacy rights but it under no obligation to do anything. Furthermore the law about photographing or video taping people in public settings is clear that no one needs to ask anyone's permission to take their photo. It's just the polite to ask, but the more public or distant a person/event the less even that social convention is practiced. Personally I do dress and maintain myself in such a way that I wouldn't be embarrassed about my colleagues/clients seeing accidental pictures of me.

The organizers do go out of their way to ask persons not to take pictures of the critical tits parade, but they haven't really been able to do anything. I know many women who haven't done it in a long time because of picture taking, and I believe this was the last year it will be an official event.

[tahiti_treat]

This was my first year, and the things I didn't like were few and far between. I was surprised at all the people wearing feathers - I saw a few at the beginning of the week and then it seemed to totally explode once the weekend rolled around. They were so ubiquitous that I began to wonder if I'd misread the survival guide. I did have a good time chasing a turquoise feather down the Esplanade one afternoon while mooping though.

Our exodus SUCKED. We were given the advice by numerous friends to spend Sunday tearing down camp, watch the temple burn and then leave directly afterwards. We were in our cars and on the road within 10 minutes of the temple falling, and it was 5 hours of misery till we hit the pavement. My husband was trying desperately to stay awake, I was trying desperately to stay awake to keep him awake, the line wasn't pulsing so it was a bunch of stop-and-go idling, and I started to get resentful of our passengers who were snoozing in the backseat. Finally outside Fernley where we stopped for food, one of them offered to drive to Reno - and she was such a bad driver that I couldn't relax. I arrived in Reno shaky, exhausted, frightened and in the worst possible headspace. Next time, a good night's sleep first. I don't care if we have to wait twice as long the next day.

One set of our neighbours weren't super friendly and also put their generator in back of their RV directly in front of the door to our communal shade structure without a baffle box, and ran it 24/7. That was unfortunate. Our other neighbours were fantastic though.

[jodyNcolumbus]

The default world showed up to the embers of the temple burn. In the hours after the temple burn, naked people with amazing bodies (aka models) were posing in front of the fire with professional photographers taking their photos. It was like soft porn at one point, although the Adam and Eve looking couple were delicious, I don't know how that dude did such suggestive poses without "showing".

Not that I have problem with nudity, I even partake regularly. Just at the temple, it was kind of a buzz kill as I was there to work through some grief and here are these posers standing between me and the beautiful fire. I finally moved along when one photographer filming one sexy waif went over to another photographer filming another sexy waif and accused him of taking photos of his model without asking permission. He made the dude show him his camera and demanded he delete the photo. It was the defining moment for me, after 3 in a row, I am thinking I will take next year off from Burning Man.

Also, I know this is probably my own issue, but why don't West Coast people know where Ohio is? I am pretty sure everyone in Ohio knows where California is. (People - it is the fictitious location of GLEE!) I had one guy guessing my state - here are the hints: Below Michigan - it has 4 letters - First and last letters are the same - has HI in the middle. And he STILL did not get it! OMG - I will say it had to be the alcohol because it was stunning to me that he couldn't guess it!

That little interaction gave me my motto for the week, "Burning Man is where Smart people go to get Stupid"!

[Bob]

Seen the same soft-core porn camera dudes since '96. Difference in '96 was my camp had 4000 gallons of water and a two-inch hose attached to a trash pump, and I could give them a dose of *participation*. Unfortunately since then, they made cheap water illegal.

[jkisha]

Also, I know this is probably my own issue, but why don't West Coast people know where Ohio is? I am pretty sure everyone in Ohio knows where California is. (People - it is the fictitious location of GLEE!) I had one guy guessing my state - here are the hints: Below Michigan - it has 4 letters - First and last letters are the same - has HI in the middle. And he STILL did not get it! OMG - I will say it had to be the alcohol because it was stunning to me that he couldn't guess it!

That little interaction gave me my motto for the week, "Burning Man is where Smart people go to get Stupid"!

Obviously you've never watched Jay Walking. A more accurate motto would have been "Burning Man is where Stupid people go and are still stupid". I would never admit I was from Ohio. There's a reason GLEE is set there.

[RedHeaven]

Yuck I wouldnt want to see that at the temple. My antidote: Leave the scene. It always works wonders!

My Burning Man Motto is "Good Hell ~ Bad Heaven"

[graidawg]

.
* No stranger offered to hug me this year.

dammit i hugged everyone i talked to i would have hugged you.

[C.f.M.]

Locked yellow bikes. Duck taped yellow bikes. Yes, I found a yellow bike covered in black and white duck tape, and took it all off before riding it so that I wouldn't look guilty. Other than that, as a 26-year-young virgin, I had a MAGICAL time. Spent most of my time meeting people, wandering, helping to build things, and looking at the art. Even as a person into very particular styles of edm, I felt there was a bit much, BUT, you gather 50,000+ people, encourage every one of them to bring what THEY love to a harsh desert, everyone SHOULD be happy, if they are participating. I was warned by a friend anout people stealing, and that I'd see more law enforcement in uniform than I'd ever seen in my life - they were false on my part. Neither happened to me. It could have - but I landed with a magical camp of kind people, and surrounded myself with great people the entire time. Burning Man IS what YOU make it. I wasn't doing anything illegal, either, so maybe that is why I did not notice law enforcement? I'm getting active, and I will not let the torch fall.

http://blog.burningman.com/2011/09/tenp ... on-wheels/

[junglesmacks]

"Burning Man is where Smart people go to get Stupid"!

This reminds me of a (not so new to "gatherings") observation that I made through the week. Every day, it seems like I would overhear yet a stupider and stupider pseudo-intellectual "deep" conversation. I wanted facepalm and insist that persons involved be careful not to mentally hurt themselves too much with that one. By the end of the week, I too felt like I had gone down a few notches on the IQ belt just from osmosis.

..and then a magical thing happens upon decompression. Brain cells actually start functioning again!



I dunno.. I realize each time that I'm in "party" situations like BM that as much as I love to dip my toes in the chaos and play with it, I'm just as ready to get back out of it by the end. I'm a funny being I suppose that craves this balance of chaotic and yet civilized and in the box lifestyles and yet both sides scare the shit out of me. I run back and forth to either side at times in a semi-frantic manner attempting to find that perfect balance.

[theCryptofishist]

Meh. The burn is a very intense place and can easily overwhelm. Also, there are physical issues for almost all of us. I think a week is a good period of time. Ten days might work. Two weeks and we'd be melting down like 100,000 sparkleponies.

[atomicray]

...my god...it's full of...sparkle ponies...so many sparkle ponies...

[yizzah]

#1 LASER POINTERS - Jesus Christ. I don't really remember there being any last year. At least not enough that I noticed. This year it seemed like there were 50 of them spazzing out on the Horse, Man and Temple. I thought it was really irritating.

#2 General Disrespect or more likely people just not knowing how to behave at the Temple burn. We were in an art car amoungst 5 or 6 other art cars, back a bit from the crowds of people and their bikes, with a beautiful view of the temple. We were all pretty quiet and just waiting patiently. Then a huge BRAT art car roars up behind us with a generator blasting right at our head level. Maybe you can shut that off along with your crappy music when you come to the Temple Burn? Then another car rolls up with really drunk people singing Stolchinya drinking songs, really loudly. Then at one point I could hear a girl saying, "Hey watch this, let's get everyone to sing with us!" And then she starts singing that song by Journey, "Don't Stop Believing", thinking that the crowd would erupt into song with her. People were screaming at them well into the burn, telling them to shut up. And then there was the little art car that zipped up as the burn was starting. It wasn't large, but had a huge umbrella top on it. It zipped in through the bikes and in front of some people and parked, totally blocking all of our views. Definitely anyone in the 5 or 6 art cars around us, some of them pretty big with a lot of people, now had a big umbrella squarely in the middle of our view of the Temple. It looked more like an umbrella on fire than a Temple. It just seems like as an art car driver maybe you'd have a little more awareness than to just pull up in front of 6 art cars that have been there waiting patiently for 45 minutes.

#3 Drunken 20 year olds stumbling into our camp all the time saying "Heyyyyy, what do you guys have for trade!" And pulling out a bunch of dumb stickers that they picked up somewhere. Or, "Dudes!, do you have any beer?"

#4 Darkwads

#5 The creepy old guy who asked to take my wife's photo when she came out of the porta-potty. She said, sure. Then he said, "Ok, that was the before photo. Now, expose you skin!"

#6 And I guess one thing that seems to be getting a little lame is Theme Bars making you tell jokes or do something embarrassing for a drink. We had such an awesome time at "Revofuckinglution" last year. They had great beers and we got to know the bartenders and had great talks and were never asked to "perform". The we went this year and they weren't really talkative and just seemed more interested in having you spin their wheel to do a random task for a little beer. Then you go to a place like Ashram Galactica where it's the complete opposite experience.

[bradtem]

Agree on the laser pointers. "Look at me! I'm cool. Except you can't even see me."

As for the dicks at the temple burn, it's been happening long enough now that I get impressed the party animals manage to stay so quiet for the temple burn, and that only a few wankers think it has to be all about them and their sound system.

[Bob]

The Temple is dead to me.

Ohio? Best regional accent in the US.

[shykat]

by Bob » Wed Sep 14, 2011 8:57 pm

The Temple is dead to me.

hahaha

[Bitterman]

me. myself. I.
The Return of Spring Breakers.
Incessant rambling by "artists" about their f-n "art". - those leds inside the plastic bottles really don't need an explanation, and neither does your ego.
Entitlement Ponies.
99% of djs & fire spinners, hipster douchebag fashionistas w/tiny hats.
anyone who brought a non-service animal, which includes small unattended children.
100% of anyone who thinks that they: 1)"are bringing the sex back to bm" or 2)acts as though "They built this city" - ( a pseudo "Starship" reference, really?),
annually, all of the unfunny megaphone tards.
"who's the Burniest" ego circle jerking - see "Insular Camps" or "Anyone who tells you their net worth" or an unsolicited how many burns they've had.
party barges w/ garbage sound systems playing "in da club/classic rock" remixes, and anyone who thinks "ghostbusters" is somehow ironic.
treble invader sound systems playing anything - all knobs hard right doesn't equal quality sound
robot haters.
rapist hands.
porta taggers.
seeing everyone in better naked physical shape than me, since i'm a lazy bitter f**k.
seeing everyone in worse naked physical shape than me, since i'm a bitter lazy f**k.
gdm thieving rats - thanks for trying to steal my bike outside the portas, you self-professed-from-l.a.-saturday-arriving trust fund getting bro-sperm.
the continuation of the BS "10 Principles" - it's a For-Profit Festival / Big Parking Lot in the Desert. thanks for those, moses harvey, although the baseball hat was a nice change.
playa poopers - do less drugs, or plan at least a tiny bit - having to cleanup your dogsh*t in front of my house is bad enough, you selfish thoughtless tweeker.
inattentive walkers, bicyclists and mv drivers.
this post.

[atomicray]

#4 Darkwads

Forgive a noob birgin question...what is a darkwad?

Atomic Ray

[Savannah]

A darktard is a naive or narcissistic person who doesn't light his body at night, thereby forcing cyclists and art cars to swerve (or just hit 'em). Almost hitting someone is stressful, actually hitting them is painful . . . hence widespread hatred of darktards.

Headlamps work well (especially worn on the neck so as not to blind people). Something worn on your back--or backpack--is smart, too. I personally like to drape battery operated Christmas lights on myself. Bicycles should have front and back lights, or more. There's a thread about options in the Q&A Tips & Tricks forum.

Having options in your pack is wise in case you end up across playa when darkness falls. On the occasions when I've had only a flashlight, like a dummy, I've turned it on and aimed the beam on my feet (rather than in front of me). That way people knew where I was 'til I could hurry back to camp and do a better job of lighting myself.

[atomicray]

If you find someone crapping in the open playa like a dog can you treat them as such and rub their noses in it?

I would think smearing their own crap all over their faces would go a long way to curb the behavior.

Just saying...



Atomic Ray

[atomicray]

Darktards...well that makes sense.

For some reason I was thinking it might a hippie-goth sort of mutant...which sounds absolutely horrifying to me...like an anti Reese cup, two things that are worse together

Atomic Ray

[jkisha]

I agree with you especially on those two...
We usually go around to the back to stake out our place to watch the burn from a bit off in the distance. It's the only way to be sure no art car will pull up and park in front of you. I think they should ban art cars from parking in front of the crowd...hell, they have the height advantage and should be required to park way further back. It's worse than people standing up in front, yet nothing is done officially about it.

And regarding bars--or any camp that requires you to "perform" for whatever they are "gifting away"--is lame. It always surprised me when we invite people to our camp for a root beer float how often they ask "what do we have to do for it?". NOTHING, Just show up! That's what gifting is.

[ed]...

#2 General Disrespect or more likely people just not knowing how to behave at the Temple burn. We were in an art car amoungst 5 or 6 other art cars, back a bit from the crowds of people and their bikes, with a beautiful view of the temple. We were all pretty quiet and just waiting patiently. Then a huge BRAT art car roars up behind us with a generator blasting right at our head level. [ed]...

#6 And I guess one thing that seems to be getting a little lame is Theme Bars making you tell jokes or do something embarrassing for a drink. We had such an awesome time at "Revofuckinglution" last year. They had great beers and we got to know the bartenders and had great talks and were never asked to "perform". The we went this year and they weren't really talkative and just seemed more interested in having you spin their wheel to do a random task for a little beer. Then you go to a place like Ashram Galactica where it's the complete opposite experience.