In order to preserve the spirit of gifting, our community seeks to create social environments that are unmediated by commercial sponsorships, transactions, or advertising. We stand ready to protect our culture from such exploitation. We resist the substitution of consumption for participatory experience.
One of the things that makes Burning Man such a magical place is that with very few exceptions there is no money changing hands at the event, and ePlaya is seen as a virtual extension of the Burning Man playa. While plugging and promoting anything from club nights to new records to favorite stores and businesses may be acceptable and even encouraged on other parts of the internet, But ePlaya is different. Advertising, commerce, and bartering are not allowed here.
What Is Allowed?
Very little. There are some exceptions, which I'll cover below. When in doubt, ask one of the moderators (via private message) first.
- Ticket Listings - we allow the person-to-person sale of tickets to Burning Man, in the appropriate forums (Tickets Offered and Tickets Wanted). See this post for more info regarding ticket sales.
- Sanctioned Events - in addition to activities at Burning Man and official regional events, certain sanctioned events may also be listed on the Regionals & Events board.
- Fundraising - we do allow theme camps and artists to post about and link to their fundraising activities for on-playa projects and activities. More information on that can be found here. So far things have been going well, but please tread carefully and don't post detailed project financials on ePlaya (save that for your site).
- Camp Dues - we allow you to promote your camp and recruit for members on ePlaya whether or not your camp charges dues, though we ask you to not post dues amounts or financial breakdowns on our site. You can post that info on your camp's site, or have those conversations with interested parties via private message.
- Rideshares - we allow you to post offers/requests for rideshares on the boards. It's okay to ask someone to help cover costs, or to offer to chip in, but as with camp dues we ask you not to post amounts. Interested parties should discuss that via private message.
The playa analogy that was explained to me goes like this.. Deal and offer threads…. are like if you're sitting around in camp with a group of friends and someone walks into your camp and starts trying to sell you something or hands out sales flyers. Totally commerce, totally inappropriate. But relevant links/info in a thread… is like if you're sitting around in camp with that same group of friends and you're talking about working on some project, and in the course of conversation someone mentions where they got their whateveritis or how they solved the problem of getting somethingorother to work.
What If You See Something Inappropriate?
If you see something that you think might be inappropriate for the boards, please flag it for review. To flag a post, just click on the little triangle with the exclamation point in it in the top right corner of the post. That puts the message on the mod team's radar, and gives you the opportunity to add a confidential note about your concern. We appreciate any help you can give us - ePlaya is a big message board and things get busy all the time, as moderators it can be challenging for us to keep up with every single post.
What Happens To Spammers?
Blatant commercial advertising accounts will get an disabled immediately. Humans making mistakes is another thing entirely. If your message or thread gets pulled, we'll send you a private message explaining why. It's okay as long as it doesn't turn into a recurring problem - we know ePlaya's different from most other places on the internet, and takes some getting used to.
