Someone "should be at your camp at all times"?

[halo_in_jeopardy]

The guidelines for applying to be a theme camp include the following:
"Some camp members should be at your camp at all times in order for your activities to be as accessible to others as possible."

So the question is ... what does that mean exactly?

-- Does it mean that there *must* be someone in camp literally 24/7?
-- Is a camp allowed to "post hours", so to speak ... "our wine tasting will be open 2 - 8 every day", and the camp need not be staffed outside of those hours?

It seems odd to require someone to be present 24/7 when there isn't anything interactive to do at the camp at that time ... (While we expect that someone would wind up being there almost all the time anyway - it's something different to require it/assign it/have a sign-up sheet, etc.)

Any suggestions, help, interpretations cheerfully appreciated!

[AntiM]

Doesn't happen at our camp. My project is primarily self serve once it is up and running. We are in a village, so that takes off some of the pressure. I think posting hours is allowed.

Unless this is a change. With only a minimum number of camp members, it would be near impossible for us to meet that criteria.

[unjonharley]

I see times posted in the WWW, When theme camps are active.

[trilobyte]

Should doesn't mean must, it means should.

Sure, you're allowed to post hours, but there will still be plenty of people who turn up at any random time of day or night. Make sure your sign is big, easy to read, and right at the entrance. And when figuring out your camp layout, make sure to clearly define your camp's public and private space - otherwise you could find that some drunk jerk stumbled into camp and dug through your kitchen and helped themselves because nobody was around and they figured it was serve yourself (or some other radical sense of entitlement excuse).

If you're a camp that's either in a high traffic area or planning to offer day and night activities, then it means what it says, you should have someone at your camp 24/7. Participants will be coming to your camp at all hours of day or night (even a primarily day or night camp will get 24/7 visitors in a high traffic location). I wouldn't say it's a must unless your camp's got something that needs to be staffed for safety purposes (24/7 fire, etc), but a should. You want to have people around during any time you're planning activities, even ones people can do themselves - to answer questions, help with any safety issues, and to just keep an eye on your camp. My experience in 2011-2013 being in just-off-Esplanade locations was that even though we were primarily a daytime camp, and just kept some lights on the art out front at night, we had a few occasions where people messed with stuff or wandered into our clearly defined private space. A few streets back, and things were okay.

If you know the hours you're planning to operate well in advance (for example wine tasting from 2-8), put that in your camp's description when you fill out the placement questionnaire. That way the info will be included in the published list and various guides that include theme camp descriptions. It's not a guarantee people won't show up at noon or midnight anyway, but it'll help. Good luck!

[Ano]

If you're in a high traffic area (On a spoke street, or A/B/C, or near another major camp like Spankys, Distrikt, Duck Pond, that aren't placed on the esplanade) I recommend keeping someone in your camp for at least the Man burn. There is an unfortunate number of people who take advantage of the fact that everyone is gone to go rummage through camps. Someone near me this year lost a very nice generator that was hidden away deep in their camp. My camp lost a bottle of alcohol... not a big deal, compared to a generator. We were way out on H street, which was troubling.

[unjonharley]

Burn night camp raiders has been going on for years.. It is a good practice to have some one in camp..

[Jovankat]

I had someone on reddit (also a poster here) straight up threaten to do this at my camp this year. It didn't happen luckily but I was kinda nervous about it. Being a camp of mostly virgins there was no way I was asking anyone to stay in camp for the man burn though.

[halo_in_jeopardy]

Thank you ... let me see if I can summarize all these good thoughts ...

-- "should" doesn't mean "must" and ...
-- During the time that your camp is providing services, then naturally, there are expected to be people in the camp ...
-- During the time that your camp is not providing services, then it's a good idea to have someone there primarily for security reasons (like to make sure that your stuff doesn't walk away!), but it's not mandatory ...

So ... from a BM organization point of view, a theme camp applicant doesn't have to agree in advance to "24/7 staffing" as a condition of applying to be a theme camp ...

Is that in the ball park??

[Elderberry]

I'd say right in the ball park. That's what our camp does. We serve fruit smoothies in a sit down cafe surfing the afternoon. We put the hours the cafe will be open in the application we send in. We also have a craft shop, which has its own hours, those too are submitted with the application. Along with any other activities we might be hosting and their times. We have a marque sign in front of the cafe with the hours of all the various activities. The camp is big enough that there usually is somebody there at any given time, but it's not a scheduled/planned thing.

[maladroit]

If you don't plan to be interactive a significant portion of the day, make sure Placement knows that so they can put you way back on A or B streets, where it's OK to have a dark and unoccupied camp.

accidentally spilled too much snark on this post

[Ratty]

Maladroit. You're kidding, right? Way back on A or B? I camp on G or H and we have visitors all day and night. A and B is prime cruising.

[maladroit]

It was just a snarky comment about all the dark and empty camps you do find on those streets, though in reality I don't care that much. I would care more if I had a great theme camp that kept getting rejected.

[^Rhino!]

As the camp producing the Black Rock Beacon, we ALWAYS have someone on hand to handle circulation, and stories coming in are handled by the 'City Desk'. We might give out shot glasses one day, and fill them the next. You never know what will happen until it does. AND, we have bacon..............Two years ago, we brought over 85 pounds of bacon. It didn't last the week.

[theCryptofishist]

One year, a camp near us had some sort of attraction ride thing. They left for the day/evening/whatever and closed that off with fencing and a sign, iirc, and someone came by wanted to ride, ignored the sign, and climbed on the thing. There was a fall. That camp did not come back the next year.

If you have something that could get you in possible legal trouble, then you want someone in your camp, too. As I understand it, the back of the ticket doesn't cover camps, just the organizers (of the event).

So, use your judgement. Remember, many people take the event as a golden opportunity to be stupid.

[maladroit]

So, use your judgement. Remember, many people take the event as a golden opportunity to be stupid.

Stupidity confirmed, all too personally...I'm still nursing a pair of cracked ribs due to some unsupervised/uncontrolled camp structure three years ago.

[^Rhino!]

One year, a camp near us had some sort of attraction ride thing. They left for the day/evening/whatever and closed that off with fencing and a sign, iirc, and someone came by wanted to ride, ignored the sign, and climbed on the thing. There was a fall. That camp did not come back the next year.

If you have something that could get you in possible legal trouble, then you want someone in your camp, too. As I understand it, the back of the ticket doesn't cover camps, just the organizers (of the event).

So, use your judgement. Remember, many people take the event as a golden opportunity to be stupid.

LEOs will confirm that. They get all these people who end up paying "The stupid tax" at one point or another for minor things like speeding on the playa, for possession of marijuana, or for something else just as stupid.

But that's OK. If someone out there wants to pay the tax, it takes attention away from the rest of us and we can live our burn in peace.

[theCryptofishist]

If someone were to seriously injure, or even kill, themselves on some sort of camp attraction that was provided by my camp, I'd feel awful. This apart from any issues of liability. This is way beyond the "stupid tax."

[^Rhino!]

If someone were to seriously injure, or even kill, themselves on some sort of camp attraction that was provided by my camp, I'd feel awful. This apart from any issues of liability. This is way beyond the "stupid tax."

You won't find me in disagreement at all.

[trilobyte]

I'm giving this a nudge over to Shelter & Camping, since that's a better fit for general camp planning questions.