Since a great amount of misunderstanding has been promoted by a few about this humble effort, and since many
have been known to listen before looking, I thought it might be a good idea to spell out what this ring and some
of the sites on it are NOT about.
The "home office" for the ring, called simply "Travel to Burning Man",
is not intended as a substitute or competitor for ePlaya, as if I would ever
try to create such a thing. What it is, is the latest version of something that I threw together back when there was
much griping from some about the fact that some very busy people manning ePlaya hadn't put a new rideboard up, for
the upcoming year. "Let's gripe about it until we've bugged Technopatra into making something for us" didn't seem to
be in the spirit of Burning Man to me, so I decided to make my own rideboard, as a backup resource.
The hazards of not having a backup can be seen just by noting
the absence of the old ePlaya archives which, as late as today in February 2006, still haven't shown up. The story that
comes back to some of us is that somebody hacked the ePlaya archives and did enough damage that rebuilding them has become
the task that nobody wants to do. The problem, when you put all of your eggs in one basket like that, is that you make
that basket a lot more tempting to knock over for some people.
Could a hacker take out this little site? No doubt. This isn't exactly the NSA homepage. But what having more than one rideboard
up means is that if any one goes down, even the big
one being run by the Burning Man LLC, people will still be able to connect and plan their trips. And where's the glory
in taking down a free website? Hard to picture somebody telling a war story about that at Defcon. Multiply my modest
little effort by maybe about fifteen, and it's easy to picture somebody saying "we could take them all down, but why
bother"; the effort stops being a lot of malicious fun and just turns into repetitious tedium. God willing, the vandals
decide that they're bored and move on.
Why fifteen? Take a look at the numbers. Much of the time, we're looking at maybe 2,000 users who sort of use ePlaya, out
of a Burner population of over 30,000 - only 1/15th going to the "official" board. Obviously, that site isn't for
everybody, and nowhere near everybody is going to be passing through to use the official rideboard. More alternatives,
each with its own personality, means more burners can find a place online where they feel at home. I might say something
about how strange it was to see one of the moderators on a board for a supposedly anarchist event speaking up in support
of a hostile response to somebody taking a little personal initiative in this area, but you know what? Let's let it roll.
IF people want to give the board a chance, they'll find that there's more to do there than just post requests for rides
and riders. What this "home office" for the ring is about, is creating a place where people can discuss all aspects of the
experience of getting there, everything from talking about some of the people you met in that commune in Arkansas you
dropped by enroute from Atlanta, to reviews of places to stop along the way. Things that might be fun to talk about, but
which would be off-topic on most of ePlaya, and that makes sense. Getting there and being there are two different
experiences; what this little board is here to remind you of is that getting there is something to be savored, too,
of at least it can be.
Will anybody ever drop by? I don't know. Having a member of BMORG encouraging somebody to take offbase potshots at
this effort doesn't help, but then again, how much money did I spend on this free website? If it works out, cool, and
if it doesn't work out, then it isn't what people wanted, so that's cool, too. If you're thinking that you don't want
to keep checking back to see if anybody's posted to a quiet board, though, what I'd suggest is signing up for one or
both of the companion lists for this forum: The Green Tortoise
Fan Club or Green Tortoise Alternatives. (See if you
can guess who I'm putting a subtle plug in for). If the board picks up, there's an excellent chance that somebody will
be talking about it on one of the lists. Also, since tuning in on a list is a low effort task, just a matter of looking
through an inbox one usually looks through anyway, my thought is that at the beginning, when there are only a few
people involved, this is where activity is likeliest to begin. Kind of like lighting a campfire to get people to gather,
and seeing if they choose to hang around.
What am I looking for, when I decide whether or not to admit a site to this ring? I am serious about the requirement
that you be an active member in the home office ("Travel to Burning Man").
Aside from that, is the page you're submitting on-topic? Does it talk about the experiences you went through to get
to a burn? Not just road stories. Those are good, but so are stories about how you got your camp or project going -
what you do to start out at home is part of the trip. How did you get interested in burning in the first place? There's
another good topic. Everything to do with getting you there, both in body and spirit, both stories and helpful advice.
I'm going to want to se something that took at least a little thought and effort. The ring is a little forum heavy right
now, so I'd ask you to hold off on submitting your own forums until we have more content on this ring to balance everything
out. If I look, and I think you've made a real effort, odds are decent that I'll let you in. It will be interesting to see
who drops by.
That's all. You can go to the ring at Alt-Webring or Webring.
Alt-Webring
Webring:
