Burner express tickets

[goathead]

(Trilo: This isn't a swipe at you. Nobody expects you to rewrite the search engine packaged with the board).

[GreyCoyote]

(Trilo: This isn't a swipe at you. Nobody expects you to rewrite the search engine packaged with the board).

What? The lad does a fook-ton of work, mostly unsung. Part of being a Good Human is not pissing off the 2% who are working hard so the rest of us can have a nice place to loaf. Without them there wouldn't be a functional platform for the snark. I suppose some would call my comment shameless arse-kissing, but since I don't give it, and Trilo doesn't respond to it, I'd tend to file this under "thankful pre-emptive avoidance of unnecessary conflict".

YMMV.

[Eric]

(Trilo: This isn't a swipe at you. Nobody expects you to rewrite the search engine packaged with the board).

It's getting kind of obvious that no-one has used the board search engine lately - typing in the words burner express with no quotes, no advance search, no parameters of any kind, I get 379 hits. The first page is all this thread, and then there's a ton of discussion from last year, and all the pages I looked at are actually about Burner Express.

[Kairielise]

Kairielise, You rock too!

Thank you Ratty!

[BBadger]

Justify and make all of the excuses you want to make. The fact still remains. Bullying is bullying and you are all being eplaya bullies.

Give me a break JK. Telling someone to get their shit together about Internet self-reliance and some image macro is not bullying. Bullying is a systematic attempt to demean and inflict harm on someone -- not just hurt feelings from an incident or two (in that case DEAL WITH IT). This is not bullying. I'm not following Kairielise around picking on her repeatedly in other threads -- or even in this one for that matter. In fact, that FeedTheNoob picture was really directed at the stupid-question-answering-feeders than the "noob". The OP simply got caught up in that one. Hell, I'd prefer that the word "noob" weren't even in that image macro, but that's the nicest looking on I could find on Google Images.

I think you're also setting the bar really low for adults on this forum. We don't need overprotective bleeding hearts leaping to the defense of every last person who doesn't get accommodated or maybe received some negative response. That's almost trollery in itself. People can handle themselves, and the OP and this thread has already proven so. So back off and let people fight their own battles.

And don't even make a ridiculous comparison to that child abuse story. It only serves to dilute your position in the matter and flippantly associate this thread's benign snark with child abuse.

Anyway, I don't think my reaction, or FFs, was unwarranted. Imagine a similar situation where someone asks some question explicitly answered in the guide like "how much water to bring?" WTF dude? It's in the FUCKING GUIDE. GET WITH IT. Show some self-reliance. would be the response. Oh dear, poor Johnny didn't get his question directly answered and even got a not-so-nice response in return. If this guy goes crying to his mom, maybe he just isn't the kind of person who should be attending the event in the first place.

Fortunately, this was not the case here; however, the response establishes, among other things, that someone should at least go through the effort of trying to find the answer before asking it -- and possibly even explain what the person did do up to that point. Framing of the question is important: a qualified question will go a long way to avoiding the "stupid" question assumption. It's like FF's analogy of helping out someone injured on the bike, vs. someone who can't be bothered to bring their own gear. It's not the request itself, but also the context of the request. In his example, he's also working on actual knowledge of the person's plight, and even if not: if someone were to ask him for a ride, just for a ride, he might be open to that.

For questions, however, there's nothing really to go on other than the question itself, and if it's a poorly frame and simple-fact-answer question, expect that your asking will be assumed to be out of laziness. We get a lot of those, and I think it's very valid to assume "the worst" about certain questions. The interesting thing was that Kairielise later followed up these LMFG and feed-the-noob posts with a paragraph of all the legwork she went through prior to asking the question. Had that that been established prior to the original question, it would not have evoked my one-liner JFGI, and later feed-the-noob picture.

So perhaps next time if the answer hasn't been found on Google already, the electricity this thread used will at least encourage better, qualified questions, e.g. "I went through X effort, but had no luck understanding/finding Y, please help me" rather than just "what is Y?"

In the end, I got all I wanted: Kairielise either went through the process of finding the solution or just explained in detail what she did (Mission Accomplished), a relatively cordial discussion took place on the matters, and Kairielise got exposed to ePlaya snark, survived, and slung some back!

[Kairielise]

I forgive you BBadger. And I will be sure show my work in the future.

P.s. I think it's fucking awesome this ridiculous thread made the top of the "Active threads" list for a while.

[Savannah]

I forgive you BBadger. And I will be sure show my work in the future.

Oh, man. Remember that on math tests? SHOW YOUR WORK! Indeed.

. . . Yeah, we do like that.

[FossaFerox]

Well put Badger. If I run into you in BRC I'll be sure to buy you... -shit. Beer is free. Buy you some ice?

[BBadger]

We'll sit back, chew some ice (actually pretty bad for the teeth), and check out your art project too!

[Elderberry]

Blah, blah blah. Still bullying I see. Why else spend so many words to justify your actiosn and then declare victory. Shouldn't be necessary for anyone to share their work nor feel a victory necessary when responding to someone asksing a question.

[FossaFerox]

JK, you realize you're alone in your views, right? You're mistakenly attributing malice where none existed and are making overly broad, demonstrably false accusations with a good amount of sensationalism mixed in. One of two things is happening here.

1) You are trolling. If this is the case, please stop?
2) You are earnest but seriously off-base. If this is the case you need to reexamine your perspective and think twice before you make these kinds of posts.

I don't bear you any ill will, but your senseless white knighting is getting really tiresome. It has nothing to do with the OP and everything to do with you feeling the need to interject where it's unnecessary.

[Elderberry]

Deal with it.

[Aurelia]

Foss IS dealing
quite well in fact

[BBadger]

I think this sums it up: http://bit.ly/HpF3ov

[gaminwench]

I like FF ...

[Aurelia]

me too !!

[Dobonian]

As a first-time burner who's flying in, I was getting kind of nervous about Burner Express and the fact that their site still says details are coming in mid-March. So I made a pest of myself and emailed them to ask what was up.

I figured it might reduce other first-timers' anxiety, and possibly even the load on the Burner Express guys' email box, to let everyone here know that I got an immediate and very nice response reassuring me that there will DEFINITELY be buses for the 2014 burn, and details are definitely coming real soon now. Look for an announcement in the next week or so.

So this is me, sitting tight and waiting for the Jackrabbit to Speak.

[trilobyte]

I'm sorry that you missed places where info had been posted, but YES there will be a Burner Express bus service in 2014. Complete details are coming soon, and the site is expected to go live later this month. By comparison, last year the service was not announced until summer - there's definitely no need to be nervous at this point.

[Dobonian]

I'm sorry that you missed places where info had been posted, but YES there will be a Burner Express bus service in 2014. Complete details are coming soon, and the site is expected to go live later this month. By comparison, last year the service was not announced until summer - there's definitely no need to be nervous at this point.

Thanks for redirecting my post.

Part of my nervousness has to do with the fact that some of my OTHER planning depends on the details of the Burner Express. For example, their maximum luggage size will determine how long are the sections of conduit I can pack, which will determine the shape of my shade structure, which will determine the size and amount of shade cloth I need to acquire, and so on. Please take it as eagerness rather than anxiety--completion of my main costume is now in sight, and I want to be ready to move on to shelter! And food! And what to make for gifts!

[trilobyte]

If you're already planning for more than would typically be considered carry-on type stuff (such as camp infrastructure), you may want to plan on sorting out a rental vehicle and obtaining a vehicle pass. Your use of the word conduit jumps out at me as being an indicator that even a large luggage allowance wouldn't work for you. Conduit, even cut into small pieces, isn't really luggage - it's freight. And even if you're cutting it into 3 foot sections you'd be talking about a bunch of short poles plus you'd need a bunch of metal connectors in order to set your structure up. My advice would be to look at renting a cargo van (or similar), and then offering a rideshare (or multiple rideshares) for the other space. That will let you use conduit at the length you'll need (and reduce the amount you spend on connectors, too), as well as have capacity for the rest of your infrastructure, food, gifts, etc. Book the rental asap, you will be able to purchase a vehicle pass in the OMG sale (or in the after-market, more info on that soon). You should be able to get riders lined up for your empty space (if you're joining a camp, check with campmates first), which will help to offset the cost of the rental as well as to minimize the environmental impact.

Another option is to connect with people in your region to find out about freight options. There may be camps who will have haulage space to spare, or group-organized trucks and containers. If something like that is available it could prove to be the best route, since it would allow you to travel light(er) and have minimal needs for the bus or rideshare.

[Dobonian]

Thanks, Trilobyte. I've already joined my regional group, so as that wakes up and gets more active it will no doubt expand the possibilities.

The (tentative) plan for shelter involved shipping a package to myself in Reno. Depending on size allowances I may still be able to go that route, we'll see exactly how it shapes up. The options you mention would certainly allow for more infrastructure. On the other hand, there's a great deal of satisfaction to be had in minimalism, and with more space and weight allowance the temptation will be strong to get too involved in the stuff and not enough in the experience. Plus, Burner Express gets its own express lane! We'll see how it all works out.

(I want to throw in here that my own experience in life has been that the most creative work I've done has been in response to constraints on the scope of the work. Give me unlimited supplies and space to work in, and I won't get anything done.)

[trilobyte]

Believe me, even with what seems like a spacious cargo van, you'll be plenty constrained (especially if you're planning to share the ride). Aside from your personal gear and infrastructure, you'd be surprised at how fast space fills up once you start adding food and water. Next time you're at the supermarket, check out those 2.5 gallon containers of water. You'll need roughly 5-6 of those for every person that's riding in the vehicle (give or take, depending on time on playa, etc).

It may be worth noting that you'll probably need your own vehicle (or someone to drive you around) in order to get your package, and again upon your return to ship gear home. I still recommend booking a vehicle now (check the details on the site, when renting passenger vehicles/vans you can usually cancel in advance without any fees). First the rates go up, then the choices of vehicle start to disappear.

[ygmir]

JK, You Rock.

FF, If it's too daunting a task, go outside and work in the garden. We'll answer the rhetorical and silly questions for you. Once the new eplayans get their 'legs' you can knock em down.

Why do they need legs?

so they don't leave snail tracks on linoleum?

[theCryptofishist]

JK, You Rock.

FF, If it's too daunting a task, go outside and work in the garden. We'll answer the rhetorical and silly questions for you. Once the new eplayans get their 'legs' you can knock em down.

Why do they need legs?

so they don't leave snail tracks on linoleum?

I don't leave snail tracks on linoleum, (and don't you dare make an obscene joke, Yggy) and I don't think they need legs.

And I'm pretty much the board's expert.