Boycott the Burning Man Census This Year!

Teo del Fuego · Post by **Teo del Fuego** » Thu Jun 28, 2007 1:34 pm

Don't fill it out! The Census is not distributed by Burning Man, it's distributed and collected by the U.S. Government Department of Homeland Security! This information is being used by the Bush junta in connection with "population flow" studies to entrap us in a large concentration camp in 2008! Has anyone seen the 2005 or 2006 Census results, ever? Any announcement from BMORG about what has happened to all that data? I thought so.

I know this is true because I read something about it on the Internets!

whew.... okay, seriously, what happened to the Census for 2005 and 2006. Obviously, it aint no big deal, but it does seems weird if, this year, they go to the trouble to print the forms up, distribute them, collect them, and go a third year without tabulating the results. Just curious.

MikeVDS · Post by **MikeVDS** » Thu Jun 28, 2007 1:49 pm

Scantron

Archantael · Post by **Archantael** » Thu Jun 28, 2007 2:08 pm

The survey is being used to turn everyone that rolls through the gates into a "profit center" and"marketing opportunity" so boycotting it makes a heck of a lot of sense.

I will NOT be filling out another one, that's for sure.

Token · Post by **Token** » Thu Jun 28, 2007 2:15 pm

I would like to be a value proposition!

I want my tolerance for B.S. to be negative point-five!

I want to be the buying power behind the brand!

MikeVDS · Post by **MikeVDS** » Thu Jun 28, 2007 2:38 pm

If you don't like it, you're better off representing yourself as the smallest minority in BRC. If everyone did that, any so called marketing data would be way off.

blyslv · Post by **blyslv** » Thu Jun 28, 2007 2:51 pm

I filled out one.

But I refuse to vouch for accuracy.

spectabillis · Post by **spectabillis** » Thu Jun 28, 2007 9:08 pm

i read that one blyslv, gee.. thanks for telling people al qaeda are at burningman.

Post by **actiongrl** » Thu Jun 28, 2007 9:52 pm

The info from 2005 and '06, having been compiled by volunteers, is still being calculated by volunteers and web-ified by volunteers, and...you get the picture.

The whole project is driven by volunteerism and I know they'd love help from anyone who wants to help with on playa data entry this year to make this happen faster in the future.

Zulegoona · Post by **Zulegoona** » Thu Jun 28, 2007 10:01 pm

I guess this raises the question of how important is the census if the volunteer infrastructure that is diligently laboring with the task is already 2 years behind and the universe hasnâ€™t come to an end yet. I do find it interesting to see the figures, but frankly tax allocations, reprehensive districts, even marketing isnâ€™t based on it , really why bother, if the task is so daunting.?

Fat SAM · Post by **Fat SAM** » Thu Jun 28, 2007 10:02 pm

Inasmuch as the census is part of what has helped turn corporate America on to Maid Marion's "dream for anyone looking at demographics," I think a census boycott or outright sabotage is a great idea.

Box Burner · Post by **Box Burner** » Fri Jun 29, 2007 6:20 am

Ain't nothing new. According to Christian Lore the reason that Joseph and Mary were in Bethlehem was so they cold fill out a census in order to pay taxes.

Archantael · Post by **Archantael** » Fri Jun 29, 2007 8:34 am

Since it's been made quite clear that all 40,000 burners are really nothing more than marketing guinea pigs (sorry to be harsh but that Business 2.0 article sure does a nice job of influencing my perspective), I'm suspicious of the ORG and going forward I'll have to ask myself if almost anything they're doing has an ulterior motive behind it.

In short...the already fragile trust I had in them has been severely damaged....and I'm not going to fill out a survey sheet and make it easier to convert my presence and participation into a marketable commodity. Now that it's clear this is a business...and individual contributors don't mean squat...there's always someone out there willing to buy your ticket and take your place, it means the spirit / soul of this event is officially dead. It's been replaced by little green pictures of Ben Franklin which as they will learn doesn't buy happiness nor will it offer long term sustenance. I hope when members of the senior staff look back in 5 years time and wonder what brought about the downfall of the event that they remember this decision...because I honestly believe this is the start of the end for Burning Man. It's death has been advertised by years by it's participants and outsiders. But in this case it's being killed off from within which means it increases the odds of success.

Lassen Forge · Post by **Lassen Forge** » Fri Jun 29, 2007 9:14 am

I feel like I just took the Red Pill.

Fuck. Oh FUCK!!! I get it. Better... I *salute* it. Why didn't I see this before???

Take the whole event and burn it. Make the event itself temporary art by going from a counterculture celebration of temporary art and change it into a product showcase like a county fair. The loyal say fuck it and stop coming because it becomes syrupy disgusting who wants to go? The event folds up its towel because no one wants to go - too expensive, too fakey, too anti everything it stood for.

Poof - Temporary art? Fuck that - temporary counterculture art festival!

I dig this. Man - and played off slick and smooth as a greasy condom. What an AWESOME plan. I wish I had thought of this a fuck of a long time ago. (Being Apokiliptikan, I'm embarassed it didn't hit me sooner)...

Fucking BRAVO!!! I am impressed!!! Seriously. You guys deserve a free round of PBR for this!

Cacaphony. Damn. Fucking ultomato!! It all makes sense...

It *will* be an awesome weekend...
bb

Teo del Fuego · Post by **Teo del Fuego** » Fri Jun 29, 2007 12:21 pm

I'm so definitely Skewing the Census(tm) this year. This will really make a difference in 2010 when they get around to tabulating it.

Wow, just read the Business 2.0 article. I expressed my reservations about the Green Man Theme(tm) and the Big Green Tarp(tm) as soon as they were announced last year. (See ignored topic Coolingman v. Burningman. ) My eyes are opened now, the bloom is off, and I see that power does corrupt--the Aloof Ones have sold out BM.

Is it worthwhile to bitch? Well, Chicken John's bitching coupled with a modicum (or more) of action allegedly made a difference in the quantity and quality of art in 2005 and 2006. Who will be the Chicken John on this issue? Who will be the table-tumping Jesus under the Big Green Corporate Tent? Should we start a new tradition of a mid-week Pavillion Burn? (That was a rhetorical question, not a direct call to action, boyz.)

BigCock · Post by **BigCock** » Fri Jun 29, 2007 1:11 pm

While you're out there avoiding the census, be sure to keep your head low. The sky IS falling.

The good news is that you just need to duck down lower than your buddy.

capjbadger · Post by **capjbadger** » Fri Jun 29, 2007 4:20 pm

Screw boycotting the cenus...

BOYCOTT FREE LABOR

You heard me.
They want to be a business? Let see how they do as a real one rather than some neo-roman empire trading in "slave" labor.
Oh they'll raise the ticket prices to try to cover the difference, but they won't be able to. Prices will go sky high as they try, and attendence will drop like a rock, furthering the sprial.

The org will be forced to listen or die.

If the org doesn't do what you feel is right, DON'T GIVE THEM FREE LABOR.

Badger

Teo del Fuego · Post by **Teo del Fuego** » Fri Jun 29, 2007 4:38 pm

Damn right the sky is falling! But I'll seek shelter under The Toyota/Synergy Drive Prius(tm) Pavillion where Toyota reps will be on hand to answer my questions about alternative energy sources and increased fuel economy. I'll probably take a test drive in a Toyota "Art Car" (a Prius with the Green Man poster painted on the hood by Kenny Sharff.)

After that, if the sky is still falling, I may duck under the Greening the Hood Dome sponsored by Chemlawn(tm). I'll spend the hours in rapt attention as Chemlawn technicians show me how I can be "green" without watering as frequently.

Later on, I'll catch Sting's concert on the Amazon Basin Stage and help him distribute pamphlets (printed on recycled paper) explaining how one burn barrel exhales the carbon equivalent of burning two shade trees.

Finally, I'll gather around the Man on Saturday to see it go up in "flames" which are actually orange and red streamers (made from recycled job site materials) fanned upwards by large solar powered fans.

Its gonna be awesome.

Lassen Forge · Post by **Lassen Forge** » Fri Jun 29, 2007 5:07 pm

Woah! No more free labor??? Ouch!

It may be the end of Burning Man. Well - it was fun for a while.

Ya know tho... Reno Art town is pretty fun, too - and ya don't have to drive to the middle of nowhere to get there.

Oops - serious faux-pas. Forget I said this.

(Gawd, Teo, that made my stomach lurch! Orange and red streamers. Ug.)

Oooh - thread idea - gotta boogie!

bb

Box Burner · Post by **Box Burner** » Fri Jun 29, 2007 6:46 pm

A census that you are required to fill out and that also requires some identifying information is suspect. The BM Census is voluntary and does not require any personal information, not even camp afiliation. So there is no real reason to avoid it.

Fat SAM · Post by **Fat SAM** » Fri Jun 29, 2007 6:58 pm

Who do you work for?!!!??

Nick Collide · Post by **Nick Collide** » Fri Jun 29, 2007 7:06 pm

Wow...

From bitchin' about a census to the end of Burning Man in a single leap. Amazing.

"No single snowflake ever feels responsible for the avalanche"

Zulegoona · Post by **Zulegoona** » Fri Jun 29, 2007 7:35 pm

It seems like in a lot of ways there are two different burning man events taking place simultaneously on the same piece of dust. The BMorg takes care of permits infrastructure some organization and so on., The Even is made up of people putting on an event for each other kind of irregardless of what ever aspirations of the organizers might have.

To spite what the presumed demographics might suggest there is still a lot of diversity amongst burners and in a lot of ways itâ€™s not a counterculture itâ€™s a contraryculture and I would guess most marketing techniques obviously targeting burners ( at ) burning man will do more to drive away potential consumers than attract them, time will tell . I guess I hope that people with good ideas and good stuff donâ€™t get burned by the poor choice to try to market at the event.

Teo del Fuego · Post by **Teo del Fuego** » Sat Jun 30, 2007 10:03 am

Box Burner wrote: The BM Census is voluntary and does not require any personal information, not even camp afiliation. So there is no real reason to avoid it.

The reason to avoid the Census in 2007 is the fact that 2005 and 2006 Census have not been tablulated and it would be a waste of time and paper.

I started this thread as a semi-humorous nudge couched in the style of an addled crackpot (one of my favorite disguises and one which may be closer to home than I'll admit.) Whether the Census is ever tabulated again is a real low priority. I wanted to juxtapose that trivial thing with the breathless urgency of my original post. My humor is drier than Playa dust, I know.

Subsequent to that, I read the Business 2.0 article.

How about some of the BMorg big shots, once in a while, poking his or her Stetson out of the ivory tower, checking the pulse of the population via ePlaya, and deigning to grant US an interview? Action Girl responds time to time, but has any of the upper eschelon typed a word on ePlaya? Seriously, after something as boneheaded as the Business 2.0 interviews, couldn't MM, LH, M2, HD say something? I guess thats the main reason Im pissed off. Larry and Marion spew shit in national print for a business magazine, but for the unwashed masses whose money and hard work actually IS the event they feed off, we get nada. That should change.

Box Burner · Post by **Box Burner** » Sat Jun 30, 2007 1:30 pm

Teo del Fuego wrote:
Box Burner wrote: The BM Census is voluntary and does not require any personal information, not even camp afiliation. So there is no real reason to avoid it.
The reason to avoid the Census in 2007 is the fact that 2005 and 2006 Census have not been tablulated and it would be a waste of time and paper.

I should have said Boycott instead of avoid. I am just not going to waste my time. Like you said.

Post by **actiongrl** » Sun Jul 01, 2007 8:33 am

Just so you know, as the Communications Manager, I'm the one whose job it is to read stuff like the ePlaya. I'm currently the only non-board member who attends all the board meetings, so if you want to look at it as an "echelon" I suppose I'm pretty far up there, and part of my job is reading and reporting on all the community forums like this one (over 100 regional discussion/announce lists, Tribe, ePlaya, Livejournals, comments on blogs everywhere, several camp or community discussion lists, etc. A lotta reading, in other words...)

I know that some of those 6 who are more "upper-echelon" than I actually read the ePlaya from time to time too, but no, we don't all sit participating in it, it's true. They seem to have entrusted me with that task.

Box Burner · Post by **Box Burner** » Sun Jul 01, 2007 11:47 am

Bob wrote:
http://afterburn.burningman.com/04/cens ... rtact.html

I had forgotten about it but I have seen the 2004 census.

Note that N=4676 is the number of responses. The poll was done on paper. Somebody had to read and decipher all the answers and enter them in a data base to tabulate them. I wonder how long that took? Considering the types of answers that might be entered by mischievious burners, (not to mention the ones who just want to skew the results)I don't think I wouldn't want my ticket money paying for it. Has anyone volunteered to tabulate the results? (OMG free labor!)

Maybe having the poll on a computer at center camp would help. That way all the multiple choice questions would be easily tabulated.

Teo del Fuego · Post by **Teo del Fuego** » Mon Jul 02, 2007 12:50 pm

actiongrl wrote: I know that some of those 6 who are more "upper-echelon" than I actually read the ePlaya from time to time too, but no, we don't all sit participating in it, it's true. They seem to have entrusted me with that task.

I've read your posts on Tribe, and it seems BMorg placed their trust in good hands. You made a lot of really good points in that discussion. I'll calm down and just wait and see how the Pavillion plays out. Its good to know that at least someone with the ear of the Crucial Six reads our rants.

BM can be a great engine for change in Defaultia and I suppose BMorg mismanagement is trying to steer the engine in a certain direction rather than letting it rev up in splendid isolation. But still, the Theme and the Pavillion intrude on my little once-a-year week of magic and give it the flavor of a corporate retreat where management gives a motivational pep talk so the workers can return to work all energized about something. In this case...reducing carbon emissions.

I hope 2008's theme is as weird and whimsical as can be and is not the least bit pedagogical.