Flamingos FTW

[Jovankat]

Flamingos For The Win is a brand new camp for Burning Man 2014. We’ve got some exciting art, interaction and community ideas and we’re keen to take on new members. We’ll have varying levels of commitment available to suit everyone from virgins coming to the playa for the first time from far away lands who need lots of logistic support through to old hands who are just looking for some new friends to camp with and an address in Black Rock City to call their home.

Our main art project will be building a lagoon populated by a giant flock of mutant flamingos, yes the plastic lawn decorations, that will take pride of place by the roadside out the front of our camp. During the week campmates and passersby will be encouraged to select a flamingo and decorate or customise it with art supplies we will provide. Our hope is that by the end of the week what began as a homogenous flock of identical lawn decorations will be transformed into a collection of individual works of art. Everyone who camps with us will be asked to customise at least one flamingo and recruit at least one non camp member throughout the week. The art supplies will be available at any time but we’ll also host a couple of crafternoons, advertised in the Event Guide, where we will be gifting participants our camp cocktail the “Featherless Flamingo” and candy.

Alongside the flamingo lagoon we will be creating a croquet court which will of course be played with flamingo mallets with players expected to take all their shots while balancing on one leg. This will be a little more interesting than your average game of croquet though. We’ll be using all sorts of weird and wonderful found and upcycled objects to create obstacles and challenges along the way. This interactive game will be available for anyone walking past to stop by and challenge their friends and we’ll be hosting an advertised and scheduled extreme croquet tournament on Friday afternoon.

We will also be providing a public shade dome for people to chill out in after a vigorous game of croquet. It will be fitted out with comfy sitting and reclining furniture, mellow lighting and snacks for the weary burner. This dome will also be where we’ll host our crafternoons and we’ll be encouraging our camp members to host talks, workshops or events in the dome throughout the week.

If you're interested in camping with us or just want to know more please send me a PM

[lucky420]

Sounds fun! Let us know if you get placement, k? Or come by Dye with Dignity (within barbie death village) and let us know, we'll come by and play with you.

[Jovankat]

Well I woke up to our camp having been completely dissected on Reddit. Including my website design skills which just seems mean. I honestly thought we were being helpful for people who are coming from far away and can't do everything for themselves but apparently we're ruining burning man.

[Just_Joe]

Well I woke up to our camp having been completely dissected on Reddit. Including my website design skills which just seems mean. I honestly thought we were being helpful for people who are coming from far away and can't do everything for themselves but apparently we're ruining burning man.

Don't let them get to you. It was ruined before you got here.

[Jovankat]

Thanks. It's just really hard to wake up to the internet telling you you're a terrible person because something you've worked really hard on is the worst thing ever.

[Ratty]

I've started reading the Redit and I have to agree with some stuff there......

"I like your ideas for interaction with the public. Flamingos, croquet, sounds pretty fun.
I have to be honest though, I don't really understand why you would be willing to not only bring supplies but actually build hexayurts for people AT COST. That just seems like a waste of your time/energy/early arrival passes. I get having big camp shades available that people can put tents under, but building 6 foot yurts for people? Also, having all meals and even snacks available seems like a bit much.
I think you're venturing verrrrrry close to plug n play with this plan, a lot of camps offer meals, but all meals, all snacks, and a pre-built hexayurt? You will want to screen people carefully or you may end up with lots of plug n play type campers."

I think it's all the monetary options that turn people against your plan. Sure, we all budget. Money IS an issue. Nobody wants to see it spelled out. We would rather pretend that the tooth fairy brought our ticket and we will arrive on a magic carpet. Just ignore the Redit posts. Why are you looking there? Go forward with your plan and have a great burn. It sounds like you'll be contributing to a lot of peoples 'great burn'.

My husband and I travel a bit. I can't imagine the 24 hour plane, bus, car trip and NOT having some help on the other end. (Transportation, accommodations etc...). Keep to your plan. See you in the dust.

[FIGJAM]

It's your burn!!!

That being said, have you thought about the people you will attract?

They won't be grateful and will come to YOU with ALL their petty drama.

It's your burn!!!

Don't fuck yourself.

[Jovankat]

r ideas for interaction with the public. Flamingos, croquet, sounds pretty fun.
I have to be honest though, I don't really understand why you would be willing to not only bring supplies but actually build hexayurts for people AT COST. That just seems like a waste of your time/energy/early arrival passes. I get having big camp shades available that people can put tents under, but building 6 foot yurts for people? Also, having all meals and even snacks available seems like a bit much.
I think you're venturing verrrrrry close to plug n play with this plan, a lot of camps offer meals, but all meals, all snacks, and a pre-built hexayurt? You will want to screen people carefully or you may end up with lots of plug n play type campers

This was my reply to that guy-
"We have people in the camp who are building their own yurts in the days before the burn in Reno and they've offered to make them for other people too, it's their gift. And the wording on the website is probably a bit off. I guess what it should say is they'll prep yurts for people. I'm pretty sure they're not planning on assembling them on playa without help from the new owner."

FIGJAM thanks for the encouagement, the people we wan to attract are people like me. I came last year from Australia with a couple of other Aussies. We had some friends in The Bay Area who organised food and shade etc and we paid for booze as our way of contributing because didn't have enough time in the country to do much else.

[Eric]

Jovankat, there is always going to be someone (or a group of someones) who take exception to anyone who "does" Burning Man differently than themselves - just look at the endless anti-RV diatribes. They were old when I started going a decade ago, and a lot of the people complaining about them now have been attending for a shorter period of time than a lot of the people actually in the RVs. Fuck 'em. Only you can decide how you want to Burn. Honestly, I wouldn't even care if you wanted to host a full Plug 'n Play camp - you're a regular on here, you're passionate about the event, I dare say you'd do a damn site better than someone who's only in it for the money. You'd actually teach people how to participate.

[zorro sings]

First off let me express my admiration(good on ya) for the core mission of your camp,the plight of the intercontinental BRC citizen.Each year our camp is 80-90% O/S.They appreciate the help with the logistical headaches and usually provide no drama in return.

My take is that this is a very ambitious undertaking for a second year Burner.What you are planning,organically at least,would take years of Burning Man Time.Not to mention that unless you organized and built a camp last year,this is your first rodeo.A lot of moving parts here for an inexperienced point man.You do want it to be an enjoyable experience all the way around and I see stress in your future making sure this scheme(in the Aussie sense of the word) works as presently planned.

I will fall back on ,what I believe to be,The Cryptofishists greatest insight."What would Burning Man be if people did not bite off more than they could chew."Good luck man,I hope the camp works out just the way you want it and I'll see you on the playa.

[AntiM]

I do love the flamingo concept, and while the paying for food and shelter concept is definitely not my thing, I get it. Now and then we host one or two overseas burners. We provide shade, a tent, bedding if needed, a small cooler, sometimes even a hydration pack and a bike... for nothing. They're simply expected to bring their own food and booze (although we'd never let anyone starve), help keep the camp tidy, do the MOOP thing, and have a blast. Your camp is doing much the same, just on a larger scale, and with a "dreaded" price list. We could not assist more than a couple newbs without asking for money to fund it, so we do not. Your camp has made the choice to do so. That's okay!

Yeah, Reddit. Love the way they claim to be oh so nice and that eplaya is the devil's playground, and yet they have few qualms about being hyper-critical. I find the supposed "no snark" on reddit to be a touch hypocritical. I do not do very well over there. I like a little Satan in my coffee.

I love playa flamingos!

[Jovankat]

I've taken our website down and we're taking stock of where we're going to go from here, after the hate we coped we've got a lot of thinking to do.

[trilobyte]

No offense, but that's what you fucking get. If you're an active member and participant in the Reddit community, then you should have known that any camp advert thread was going to be placed under the electron microscope, and not everyone will like what they see. If you aren't, then you're basically the outsider who dropped in to place a camp advert - and that's going to be met with even harsher criticism.

It's Burning Man - your idea of a solution will always be something someone else thinks is the worst idea ever, even moreso if it involves dues or providing amenities. Don't take the criticism personally, but don't just dismiss everything said ("haters gonna hate"), some of it might be worth considering (full disclosure: I haven't either checked out your thread on Reddit or looked at what had been posted on your camp's site).

[Jovankat]

I've been active over there for a couple of months, but the hate came as a shock yeah. It's pretty hard not to take being called a fucking moron personally, there was constructive criticism that we took on board but there were also personal attacks that were completely unnecessary and just straight up mean.

And I've just finished saying how rough this has been, was it really necessary to swear at me?

[trilobyte]

Yes it was. That's exactly the sort of things that happens on Reddit. Not just to you, but to thousands (if not tens of thousands) of people. There are articles on mainstream news sites about threads that have gone wrong and the terrible replies people have posted in response to stuff.

[tamarakay]

This sounds like fun. I have a croquet set I was considering bringing, but your version sounds much better.

I too avoid reddit. Chock full of nonsense. Put your site back up.

[Jovankat]

That's funny because the amount of hate I got inspired another redditor to make a post about the bigger issue and how dismayed he was that they were harsher than the members here. They think you're the bad guys. The thread included these gems;

"I also just have to say that i think it's pretty fucking silly that a /r/burningman[1] post was way snarkier and ruder than the ePlaya counterpart. Has that ever happened before?"

"Part of why I love this subreddit is that it's NOT so mean and vindictive like eplaya."

"On behalf of all of us, we are sorry, we will try VERY hard not to become eplaya in the future."

So I actually think maybe it's just a burning man thing. Or a people thing. Either way today has left a seriously bad taste in my mouth.

[tamarakay]

I sent this as a private message, but I think it bears a public post.

No one knows your intentions better than you. You know what you are doing in your camp is fabulous. Trust yourself and carry on.

[trilobyte]

I think you may be hyper-sensitive right now. No part of my post contained insults, it basically said you should have known better but don't let it get you down. Of course they think we're terrible, that's been an ongoing thing in that community for many years. It's not without merit, either, ePlaya had a few wilderness years in its history and that kind of reputation takes years to get past. And even though Reddit has a well-documented and colorful history of threads going terribly wrong, the place still has a large number of awesome users. It's not an us vs. them thing, there's no "who's meaner" or "who's nicer" - they're just two different communities.

@tamarakay - VERY well said.

[Jovankat]

There's no "may be" about it, I'm definitely hypersensitive right now

It's not an us vs. them thing, there's no "who's meaner" or "who's nicer" - they're just two different communities.

Actually what it really reminds me of is how I had to deal with my parents when they were getting divorced

[TT120]

Try not to worry about it too much Jovankat. For every hater there will be 100 people that love it. Bottom line is that if you think your camp will be awesome, then do it! If it turns out not to be so awesome, then don't do it next year. I personally think it looks like fun but I also think it will turn out to be a lot more work than you think. TTITD is a giant testbed for all kinds of things. Some things work out well and some things don't. As another ePlayer once said, "It's not all boobies and ice cream"

Don't listen to the haters, go out there and do your own thing, have fun and make friends.

[Joeln]

Piece of advice I read here applies too;
"if you don't like who you're talking to on Playa, turn around and walk 50 yards, you'll probably find someone cool by then"

in other words fuck em if they can't take a joke.

[Lonesomebri]

Ha, just do what you're gonna do. 90% of the world will hate you no matter what, no matter what, and 10% will love you for what you are. Just bring it, make the day better. You might want to consider that some of that unforeseen online drama when you involved strangers might go live out on the playa. Mo Peeps, mo probs. Anyway, as long as you are not bringing RVs, generators, feathers, electronic music, lasers, mo-peds and you're all wearing pants, you sound golden by me!

[Ruleryak]

Well I woke up to our camp having been completely dissected on Reddit. Including my website design skills which just seems mean. I honestly thought we were being helpful for people who are coming from far away and can't do everything for themselves but apparently we're ruining burning man.

Hey now, to be fair there was constructive response to your post too, just that a few comment's devolved into some rather uncalled for insults and name calling against you and your camp mates on topics that you were actively answering elsewhere in the overall thread. Just making it clear that what you're doing is for international burners will go a very very long way in eliminating negative reactions. You should turn your site back on, throw a handful of mentions in the main text, food/shade pages, etc saying the goal is to aid international burners, and ignore flak for a bit. When you've gotten some responses/interest in joining your camp you can discuss needs and whatnot as a group. The legwork you've already done on pricing things out, putting together meal plans, etc will still be useful in the long run.

The long and the short of it though is that no one can or will stop you from bringing your camp to the playa. Here's hoping you get to shake off some of the stress of being thrown under the bus over the weekend

[Lascivious]

Upon startng my camp 5 years ago, I had never seen a theme camp and never been to BURNING MAN. It was a vision,,, my vision that began with 5 individuals willing to participate.

It is a daunting task and the scale of what you propose is directly proportional to the number of committed members with your camp. Dream big and be willing to go the distance. But give yourself space too enjoy the burn.

My first burn was a ton of work. The reward of putting smiles on faces is awesome! But there was an entire city out there I totally missed experiencing! People will help you. Share the vision, delegate responsibility, hope for the best and plan for the worst. And for fuck sake,,, if somebody tells you "you're doing it wrong", hand them a hammer and put them to work!

[Jovankat]

My take is that this is a very ambitious undertaking for a second year Burner.What you are planning,organically at least,would take years of Burning Man Time.Not to mention that unless you organized and built a camp last year,this is your first rodeo.A lot of moving parts here for an inexperienced point man.You do want it to be an enjoyable experience all the way around and I see stress in your future making sure this scheme(in the Aussie sense of the word) works as presently planned.

I will fall back on ,what I believe to be,The Cryptofishists greatest insight."What would Burning Man be if people did not bite off more than they could chew."Good luck man,I hope the camp works out just the way you want it and I'll see you on the playa.

Yeah Both American Boyfriend and I organised a first time theme camp last year with a bunch of other virgins and it went really well. We've also teamed up with another more established camp to share resources and infrastructure so a lot of stuff is covered with that. And I actually really like the idea of having somethign to look after on the playa, having a purpose. Plus I just generally love logisitics

Anyway, as long as you are not bringing RVs, generators, feathers, electronic music, lasers, mo-peds and you're all wearing pants, you sound golden by me!

Our flamingos are definitely all featherless. In fact our camp cocktail is called the "Featherless Flamingo" I will make no promises about pants though


Thanks for all the kind words and encouragement guys.

The website has had some work and is back up and running and we're ready to accept new campmates again!

[Jovankat]

We're full folks!

[trilobyte]

Congrats and good luck with all your plans!