2 Ticket Perspectives

Tags: Burning man http://alyssaroyse.wordpress.com/2012/02/07/burning-the-man-burning-mans-ticket-pr-fiasco/ & http://www.eridusociety.org/trilotix/ & The first explains what she feels Burning Man did wrong and how they should fess up. (If they were a company doing PR.) The second explains why the existing system, while flawed, was not "stupid." And that the "obvious" answers are not so black and white. To me, demanding an apology from Burning Man seems like a misunderstanding of the whole structure. We are not customers of the BMORG.

Time: 2012-02-08 10:33:45 -0800
Author: halcyon
If you were in change of ice for you camp and you ran out because the temperatures were hotter than you forecasted, would your camp mates yell at you, "I TOLD YOU IT WOULD BE HOT THIS YEAR!" & demand an apology?

Time: 2012-02-08 11:03:15 -0800
Author: patina
I would hope that our campmates would say: 'What do we need to make more ice?'

Time: 2012-02-08 11:21:06 -0800
Author: dhammaseeker
@halcyon The ice analogy is spot on! However, for purposes of gaining entry into Black Rock City, we ARE customers. Scarcity was announced beginning last year, but it only really sunk in with the community last week. I do think that the PR advice that Alyssa Royse gives is helpful and isn't easily reduced to "demanding an apology". If a community perceives there's a problem, there's a problem; even if in reality there's no problem. Navigating through this for the BMORG staff is no doubt tough, but it would go a long way if they followed some of the tips suggested in that blog post. Trilobyte's post is excellent, and I linked it to my camp mates this morning as well. I characterized it as "about the closest thing to commentary from "inside the bubble" that I've seen yet."

Time: 2012-02-08 15:38:11 -0800
Author: leo1973
Larry Harvey, a man who out of his own personal pain and frustration with the world created Burning Man in a beach with 25 friends in 1986 does not owe me an apology. He and the BMorg have spent 25 years of their lives building this. They started this without MBAs, marketing teams or PR firms. They are humans (possibly misfits) doing the best they can, who started with nothing and built it to what it is today. They invited us along, to participate in this adventure. I've been going to the playa for ONLY 6 years, and I realize that I have no idea what it takes to pull off something at this scale. So if I trusted them with everything this far, I am willing to give them a little room to do things I don't like or understand. (And no, I did not get a ticket). This is not a PR problem, this is a playa magic disaster. A huge sandstorm came out of "nowhere" and tore all of our store bought tents right out of the ground and sent them flying down the playa. Do we sit here and yell at each other for not having purchased better rebar, or do we eat some bacon and get to realize that maybe it is time to build new and stronger geodesic domes, hexayurts and delta shades? Personally I do not need an apology, I need to figure out any small way I can to thank the people that "screwed up" , that I am eternally grateful to them for giving me the opportunity to do something I would have never done on my own. From my first time on the playa, to the many playa adventures, and this current "crisis/opportunity" I have nothing but gratitude in my heart. Thank you Larry and BMorg for creating a playground for me to grow in. Thank you Larry and BMorg for creating a place where a drum kit could be found in the dark when we really needed to play some Phil Collins. Thank you Larry and BMorg for messing up this ticket system with your intentions of being egalitarian and failing. Thank you Larry and BMorg sitting there confused and hurt and letting people insult you without responding, for you are showing us the true meaning of non-violence. Thank you Larry and BMorg for reaching out with an olive branch and acknowledging that you did not mean to hurt anyone with your decisions, I gracefully accept your apologies when you said that you did not mean this. Larry/The BMorg want us to trust them and give them some time? They still got it from me, because you have given me so much. The dust storm is still ragging, this is like one of those 2008 6 hour witheouts. I have full faith that when the storm stops we will fix what needs fixing. Notice I said "WE", not them, no one is going to fix things for us, only we can. Only YOU can. It may be fixed in 2013 for all I know. How are we going to do this? I have no clue, things have changed, we have to move forward like it or not. Participate in the forums with your constructive 2 cents, reach out to those who share your values/views and figure out what you can do to move forward, think beyond the playa... Also, Bacon.

Time: 2012-02-08 16:17:25 -0800
Author: halcyon
F-YEAH, @Leoleo1973 !!!!!

Time: 2012-02-08 16:38:07 -0800
Author: leo1973
Thank you @halcyon , it feels good to get it off my chest, so I can have more room in my heart for awesomeness.

Time: 2012-02-08 16:43:16 -0800
Author: halcyon
"get it off my chest, so I can have more room in my heart for awesomeness." You are on a roll! Don't put down the pen... keep writing! :)

Time: 2012-02-09 09:30:50 -0800
Author: leo1973
This is what Kelly Anders (http://www.burningman.com/whatisburningman/people/office_bio.html#kelly) had to say about my long post (she made my year with this): "Leonardo, I want to let you know how much I appreciate what you posted on the Burning Man facebook page yesterday in response to a re-posting of that PR blog. Thank you. Thank you, thank you, thank you. In these weeks spent clicking through page upon page of 'borg'-focused bitterness and rage, all while slogging through hours and hours of some of the most intense meetings ever, sometimes one random person's words can make a world of difference. yours did for me. thank you."

Time: 2012-02-09 11:58:07 -0800
Author: dhammaseeker
@leo1973 You are one righteous dude! Thanks for the bacon!

Time: 2012-02-09 14:24:29 -0800
Author: montgomeryphoto
I'm no mathematician and I don't have empirical data to back this up but I've been reading a ton of different posts and here's a half-assed analysis based on what I've been reading this week. So I'm already expecting this post to get flamed...I'm sure there are plenty of different ways to look at the ticket shortage but here goes... I personally encouraged two people to "check out Burning Man" this year. They each registered for tickets. One for 1 and the other for 2. If half of the people who went last year went home and did this then that's roughly 26,000 new people who registered for tickets this year. Just for fun let's say they registered for 1.5 tickets each...that's 39,000 new registrants. Add that to the roughly 54,000 that attended last year. That's 93,000 registered for tickets in 2012. All vying for 40,000 slots. That's only accounting for people who encouraged two people to register for tickets. This doesn't include anyone who registered for multiple opportunities by signing up grandma and three other family members to "game" the lottery... Then add to that the 1.3 million people who watched the "Oh the Places You'll Go" video on YouTube. If only 5 percent of the people who watched this video then registered for tickets then you add another 130,000...(FWIW I'm also a huge fan of the "Home" video....) By this (admittedly speculative) math you end up with 223,000 people trying to get 40,000 tickets. Roughly this comes out to right around 20 percent. Burners are reporting that anywhere from 5-40 percent of their friends/camp-mates got tickets...an average of this anecdotal data comes out to right around twenty percent. There have also been a couple of posts about the number of scalped tickets available at third party resellers. The totals I've seen come up at a little under 1 percent.... Is it possible that this is the way it worked out? Is it possible that the BMORG isn’t some malevolent entity trying to keep us away from our home? Can it simply be attributed to exponential growth? Is Burning Man simply a victim of its own success? Obviously there are thousands upon thousands who want to be a part of this event. Is it time to take some of the Burning Man profits and build a 4 lane highway through or around Gerlach? And if it's going to keep growing isn't it time to move to a bigger venue? The Salt Flats of Utah? Somewhere else in Navada? Montana? The Playa is huge but obviously it can't hold everyone who wants to go. Does the event move around the world each year? Are regionals going to be the annual option with a pilgrimage to BRC every few years? Imagine simultaneous burns all over the world. Or Burns happening every couple of months in different states or on different continents. As a resident of the Bay Area I'm very fortunate. I can get to a burn related event once a week or more if I want but I realize that's simply not an option everywhere. Maybe it should be... BRC is simply too small to hold the people that subscribe to its ideals. I venture to say that one week is not enough time to experiment with its culture. From the moment I returned from my first burn last year I was thinking about the return. I bought supplies for 2012 before I even got back to SF! But I also had changed. Not into a different person but into a familiar long lost simpler person. My crusty exterior had been worn down just a little bit. Enough that I promised myself that I was going to try to "participate" year round. Not just in the Nevada Desert, but at home. It feels really great to be out there. It’s an amazing experience. True. But my home-the one I spend the other 51 weeks of the year in-is here. If I simply hibernated and waited for next year when I got back I wouldn't have done a lot of things I have done in these short six months. Burning Man inspired me to do more Art, return to making music, and open up to others...It has made me be open to new experiences again. For that, I'm deeply grateful. And if I never return, I'll still take what I learned there and apply it to the rest of my life. That said, I'm also clamoring to get back. Burning Man is no longer an event. it's definitely not a "music and arts festival." It's no longer an organization. It's bigger than that. It's bigger than the desert. It's a philosophy. A philosophy that those who are lucky enough to attend developed based on 10 simple principles. They understand them as best they can and modify them to fit their own lives. With over 50,000 people attending each year and taking back their own version of this philosophy it is a mathematical inevitability that we outgrow the physical space allotted to us in the desert. I posit that we also outgrew the week...An idea cannot be contained. Not in space or time. When something becomes an idea, more than it is an event, then how can we expect a small organization to craft rules or methods to make it work for us? We all have an idea of how this thing should work. We all see it differently. Governing this amorphous thing that rises out of the desert has become impossible. It’s too big. We all want it to work our way or the way we think is best. That wouldn’t be “radically inclusive.” By expecting the BMORG to fix it for us we aren’t being “radically self-reliant.” Every year we burn it all to the ground. People stoop over the hot goals and gather up ash to take home with them. We wash the dust from our bodies and gear and it winds it's way down the drain. Every year it's built again. We get dirty all over again and breathe deep. We walk, run, and ride over an ever-expanding city. As it grows--so do we...Bigger and bigger.

Time: 2012-02-14 22:01:48 -0800
Author: buzu
Thank you Leo!!

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