What Does ePlaya Mean to You?

[theCryptofishist]

I spend a lot of time here. It's kind of like a family, if you like that metaphor. Some people I like, some people I'm ashamed of, some people I refuse to talk to... Many people I love.

And sometimes I just shake my head in amazement.

[danibel]

Eplaya is an extended Burning Man community to me. I come here to find answers, answer questions, and get the skinny on whats really going on. I am pretty grateful it's here.

[VultureChow]

Support group, brain trust, town council, high school locker room.

[robbidobbs]

Padded toilet seat of social media. It's where I come to relax, get my bearings, try out new stuff, and goof off. Kind of like the camps on playa that I go to to get hydrated, chill the fuck out, regroup, and head back out on my next mission. It's a safe place where I don't have to continuously talk about shit. Here people know that I'm more than a tp slinger. I'm terribly grateful for the comfort it gives me.

[TT120]

I come here to read and talk about Burning Man and related stuff because everybody in my default world is tired of hearing about it. The comedy here is sometimes golden and sometimes very weird but whatever.....

[tamarakay]

It's my connection. In real life ken and I are very reclusive. We go to work, we come home. We don't go out much. I think we just don't fit in here.

Eplaya is my connection to people who are like me and that love me. My tribe.

[Drawingablank]

It is simply my way of staying connected to the people I love year round.

Although I must say that the number of burners I've never met who recognize me from my avatar in Reno and at the burn was a bit unsettling at first, I admit it is a great ice breaker and I've tried to make all of them feel as welcome in person as I do on eplaya.

Plus I second what TK said.

[Elderberry]

All of the above.

[kiboy]

I'm pretty much brand new here but I've belonged to another forum for about 9 years now with almost 90,000 posts. For me it's a way to connect with like minded ideals, people, and to learn about others. I have all the same likes and dislikes you do with posters there but it's easier to be selective than in the default community I exist in. In my daily world there is very little connection and soul that matters to me and maybe these "real life" people are frightening to me because they seem not to care much for the things I care about and the way I behave. That's why jobs were often problematic for me also.

Just a few times in my life have I felt like I've sort of been in my tribe. One was an alternative college in the 70s that was like Burning Man six days a week but sadly was closed down. The other was my three times at Burning Man and the third I would say is with my dogs. The rest is a somewhat frightening wash for me. I feel like the man who fell to earth or a stranger in a strange land. I really don't fit and I don't want to much of the time but as a primate I need society of some sort. This place and my other forum provide that for me within my default existence in La la land. It may be mostly illusion but it works for me. I hope to expand that to being here at eplaya as I feel a deep connection to Burning Man as a symbol for my own search for meaning and enjoyment in being alive on this strange rock. I hope to find people who will be interested in my pov and I in theirs. I did a fair amount of lurking before posting here so I feel fairly confident in this. Also having posted in my other forum for so long I can handle snark and conflict fairly well most of the time. I can take it and I can dish it. So I'm thinking it's going to be fun to be here.

Plus I can find plans for my Monkey hut.

[ygmir]

it's my place to "be".

[DangerMouse]

This was my first connection to Burning man before I as able to attend the 2004 event.

The last few weeks have been my connection again as I prepare once more to embark upon another visit for 2015. I was hoping for a nice even 10 year "reunion" tour of Black Rock City but it's looking more like it'll be the baker's decade for me instead. So I'm back to rekindle old connections, make new ones, and see if I can't be a better participant this time around.

[AntiM]

I begin my day with eplaya, and one week a year, I see eplayans. One week each year I go on "real" vacation and leave eplaya alone. Much more contact and concern about eplayans than my own relatives.

Coffee and blood, I guess.

[Simon of the Playa]

it's gestalt.


and all of you are my therapist...

[H.G.Crosby]

"Gestalt psychology tries to understand the laws of our ability to acquire and maintain meaningful perceptions in an apparently chaotic world."





ok, sounds legit...

[geospyder]

Connection to the Playa during the 'rest of the year". Plus lots of good info.

[chuckularone]

I enjoy the abuse.

[Lonesomebri]

I can be an asshole, and that's okay.

It’s hard for me to clarify what eplaya means to me. I know I would not have attended the past several Burns without the fine folks here. Sometimes when I saw nothing, they saw something. Without eplaya, the Burns would then be absent from my life. The Burn helps me feel like a real human. In the past couple years, the Burn is really all I had to look fondly forward to. I was validated by eplaya, received tickets from eplaya, was scolded by eplaya, encouraged to attend and be me by eplaya, made friends on eplaya, made enemies on eplaya, was fed and coddled by eplaya Meet and Greet, my chariot was fixed by eplayans, was just a member of a nice camp with great people thanks to eplaya, I've come in contact with some odd-ball geniuses, and had so so so many laughs.

The nature of eplaya means that if someone sticks around they are 1. Literate; conveying ideas and thoughts and feelings via the written language. 2. Intellectual; they are here opening themselves to scrutiny and abuse, willing to enter the fray with whatever it is backing up their written words, and words are important to them. 3. Opinionated; why say anything if it ain’t something you believe in. 4. Oddly introverted; they are sitting at a computer, more likely than not alone, wrestling with ideas. 5. Of course extroverts, they’re Burners! Reaching out and interacting with others beyond on and off the playa. 6. And for a few of us, I think that combination makes us nuts, not eplaya, this is a nice safe place for our nuttiness to go.

So, yeah, other than at times giving me a reason to live, I’m not sure that eplaya means anything to me.

[Token]

It's Fun!

[Eric]

It's like a great playa bar, sans drinks (usually).

[lucky420]

damnnnnnn some of these answers brought tears to my eyes.

Eplaya is where I lurked for a long time before ever posting. Eplaya taught me to be a good and prepared burner. Eplaya lets me use my snark and appreciate others snark.

i have made lifelong friends here (just try and get rid of me) who are like family. I may only see you once a year but wouldn't miss it for the world. Maybe if we all lived closer to each other we wouldn't see each other as much as we do once a year. I love you all (well most) and if it weren't for eplaya I could become loner stoner. Whatever happened to him? Eplaya and Burning man has encouraged me to get out and volunteer and take part at home and at BRC.

I'm rambling now...

ramble

Thank you all for being who you are

[RedHeaven]

I have had great luck with message boards since I first started interneting in 2001, met lots of great people and this one is no exception. I am more off and on when it comes to Burning Man so I am not always present but I appreciate everyone here, some of my favorite burners in the world.

[Aurelia]

this is home with my homies to talk with

xoA.

[theCryptofishist]

Thank you

[kittyrodriguez]

For me personally... ePlaya is like watching 80s daytime soaps. Mixed with public access and instructional videos. I come here for the information and stay for the snark. Both of which ePlaya abounds. I minimize all drama in my own life, so I like to watch it unfold here. Plus all of you guys rock in your own "snowflake" kind of way.

Seriously, though. The information available here is astounding. Thanks to everyone who so selflessly shares their knowledge.

[msj2u]

For me ePlaya means new friends (some of whom I had the pleasure of meeting this year)!

But most of all, when I read about family or friends passing, I see this group rally around the person involved...I'm deeply touched by this as I don't have that in the default world.

I understand not all get along, there is snark, etc...but when the world tips upside down....this playa family is one of the best....I hope to get to know more people in the coming year....

huggs to those who need them, want them, or miss the playa as much as I do tonight.

MSJ

[southern crone]

I see ePlaya as a glimpse into the makeup of Burning Man, an event that attracts 70,000 plus people around the world ( for a reason). It's a place to see the personal structure; sharing, knowledge, creativity, experience, and feelings of Burners. It has given me, a shy introvert loner, the knowledge, confidence and comfort needed to break out of my small world and experience an event I have longed to partake in for years. I will get it right next year!!! Thank you ePlayans. Listening to Joe Cocker, what can I say.

[tatonka]

i always felt like a misfit , here it fits

[Simon of the Playa]

King Moon Raiser Approved.

[media]

[tattoogoddess]

A place to get my daily lashings in as self punishment. Cause let's face it, most of. You would beat me ya if you could.

[kiboy]

I see ePlaya as a glimpse into the makeup of Burning Man, an event that attracts 70,000 plus people around the world ( for a reason). It's a place to see the personal structure; sharing, knowledge, creativity, experience, and feelings of Burners. It has given me, a shy introvert loner, the knowledge, confidence and comfort needed to break out of my small world and experience an event I have longed to partake in for years. I will get it right next year!!! Thank you ePlayans. Listening to Joe Cocker, what can I say.

Cool cool cool, There are more than a few of us introverts loners and misanthropes who break out once a year to find a home among the Burning Man family. In the default world I avoid people like the plague most of the time and crowds are usually a complete no go for me but that all changes at Burning Man. I can't get enough then.