We've had theft, littering, and shit on the ground before.

It was different though. There were more people, who came earlier.

You want to help PDF handle this number of people? VOLUNTEER!

This is true. I told one of my virgins while we were doing rope in the Pavilion that I'd never seen more MOOP at PDF in my life. What did he do? He went and got a garbage bag, and we commenced to clean it up. This shows me that many of the virgins picked up the spirit of Playa, so don't lose hope yet. It's the people who are there for the party and not for the *burn* that cause problems. Encourage them to volunteer. Educate them about the BM tenets. I still have faith that PDF won't become a huge keg party.

Spring PDF seems to always be louder, dirtier and more out of control. Alas, there's always some douchebag stealing or cretin being creepy or mooper being moopy.
And
people doing xtra volunteer shifts, people who bust their ass bringin on the wow, and friendship and fellowship

Thanks for giving a damn, helping yer Newb clean the moop, de-tamponing the shower (and avoiding the poop)

I chime in with the folks who say VOLUNTEER, nobody gets paid for this, check the boards on the official site to see any of the many places you can start helping. playadelfuego.org/bbs/index.php

My 2 cents.

There are a lot of people who come to PDF because a friend of theirs mentioned how much fun it is. I propose that anyone who tells another person about PDF, and who encourages them to go, assume personal responsibility for becoming their mentor. If you invite someone to join our community, then you should become an active participant in their education. Would you invite a random friend to your family holiday and not warn them if they're expected to bring a dish to pass? Or explain to them that your family doesn't allow smoking in the house? Well I'd like to see our PDF family treated with the same respect.

My challenge to all... next time you tell a friend about PDF, take an extra 10 minutes and give them a solid education on the 10 principles. And if you don't know the principles yourself? Well then, you might be part of the problem.

Then, if you find out they are actually going to attend, become their mentor. Talk to them prior to PDF and ask questions to help make sure they are prepared. Ask them to please not come to the gate without a ticket. Tell them about all the great stuff, yes, but also tell them about some of the bad behavior we see at PDF and ask them to please not contribute to the negative behavior.

I don't know about anyone else, but I'm selective in who I tell about PDF. Granted, it's open to everyone, and I'd like it to stay that way. At the same time, when someone I've invited comes into this community and behaves in a way that's damaging to it, I take it personally. Maybe it would help if we all took it a bit more personally.

yeah there was a different vibe about his PDF,

and we even had moop issues at our camp (word to the wise: if your camp is mostly an open chill out space, make sure your trashcans are easy to find)

theft will and always be a minor issue, so be safe, lock up your shit when you don't need it

but lets focus on the positive shit here,

this year the stage actually had a kickin system, and between the stage and pex, there were solid grooves to get down to all weekend long.

this years burning art was incredible, some of the best i've ever seen

there was an abundance of virgins, and from what i've seen in the short time i've been a burner, it only takes one event for people to be brought in or filtered out, so fall should be amazing.

and not to tout bangarang and barrel of fun's horns but the battle of BANG-A-ZANG and the subsequent raid of the towers of power and quadesh was not only my favorite PDF moment, but the most fun i've ever had, ever.

so no worries my friends, there is plenty to look forward too

I invited a couple of friends to PDF in Fall and they were great in Fall. They talked to other people and didn't moop. well they mooped the first day and I got all mad and made them pick it up. They were even safeties for the conclave. They invited a friend and her boyfriend this Spring and expected me to take care of everyone because I was so helpful in the Fall. They all refused to volunteer, refused to safety the conclave when one of my camp rules was anyone that camps with me must be a safety. I even promised to booze them up after the burn for staying sober enough to safety. They were terrible at this burn. They even yelled at me for spending too much time at the theme camps and accused me of ditching them to hang out with strangers. I told them that these people are my family and are not strangers. It was good that I spent all my time at everyone else's camps because that is the reason I actually had a good time. I think my camp (that I was never at) is the camp being complained about for the bad vibes. They had a keg they were sitting around and weren't sharing, but were taking my stuff without asking and offering my stuff to other people but not sharing their own. I was pissed when they offered out my sunblock. I was running out and anyone that has ever seen me knows that I need my sunblock for survival. I have no problem sharing what I have but it is different when someone is taking advantage. I am sorry if they ruined the event for anyone else. They left Sunday night, which was probably why it was my best night. Monday morning I picked up all their moop before leaving. Tuesday when they called to yell at me for being such a poor host and bad friend for not hanging around the keg with them, I told them that I was there to have a good time and experience PDF and not to babysit them while they got drunk. I didn't drink much because I was there for the fire and was spinning fire every night and I can't drink and spin fire. I can get drunk at home. This was my last chance to spin with my friends before leaving to TX. So I broke up with my "friends" and told them that they belong at the local bars they can walk to and not PDF. I would be shocked to see them at another PDF. Again, I am sorry if these few people caused you any problems or mooched off of anyone. I let them ruin my Friday night but not the rest of my weekend. PDF was still awesome and I am kind of glad that I am not wasting anymore time on those moochers. I have also learned to watch who I allow to camp with me. Next time I am camping with a group of burn veterans that I know will not try to become dependent on me. Helping each other is different than having people treat you like their, "Erin can you... and Erin what is.. and Erin I need a ... Literally those were the only sentences I heard from these people.

I agree with PDF this year feeling a little different, and having a couple of not so nice experiences (the big one begin trying to do my first theme camp, and having an unregistered camp totally block our camp off by camping in the middle of the road/path, even after some one from our camp talked to them about it). I do certainly agree that the art should be the focus, not the party. Although the party is really fun, there's a bigger theme to PDF that seems to get overlooked sometimes. I think I'll join my buds, Mungo, CupKate, and Maya, and get with the idea of creating more art for the Fall. After all, often times, the best way to influence others is by example!

Reposted from "Money Stealing D-Bag... You Don't Belong On The Playa!"

Le sigh...

A good portion of this thread makes me a sad panda.
While I didn't read the WHOLE thread, because it's incredibly long.. I did read a good portion of it.



This was my first burner event, and therefore, my first PDF. I camped with Pound On The Playa.

I loved it, and I will be back in the fall to celebrate life with my new found family of burners. People say "Welcome Home" quite frequently at the event, and really, I understand why they do.. because it has become a home for me as well.


To address some things said here though:

First of all I want to address the idea of the ticket prices being raised. I think you're wonderful Chelas, but that is a TERRIBLE idea. It will not discourage people from stealing, it will not discourage people from sneaking in, and it will not discourage people from bringing children. While PDF is an amazing atmosphere and while one would hope no one would purposefully steal from someone.. things like that DO happen, regardless of where you go, and thus you should be intelligent about your stuff. I don't bring money into the event, nor wallets, ID, etc. We also keep all of our clothing, intoxicants, food, fire toys, etc in our tents. But even without taking all those precautions my boyfriend and I had nothing stolen from us. We had to leave late saturday night after the big burn and therefore decided to pack up and put everything away ahead of time. Due to this we had our tent down and all of our belongings out in the open for most of the day(no one likes to get heat stroke so we took many breaks, plus we still wanted to enjoy the festivities throughout the day).. and not a single thing went missing. The vet who drives the tractor was even nice enough later that day, when he saw that we had to tear down early and that we were in the far back field, to offer to take us and all of our stuff directly to our vehicle so we wouldn't have to make multiple trips hauling it all to the car... and we took him up on that offer. The thing is though with stealing that one's wealth, or lack thereof, doesn't make one a thief.. both rich and poor people steal.. because of lack of moral fiber within themselves.
Also, people have to remember that things get mistakenly taken, to check lost and found, and to report it to a ranger... most individuals who go to this event are good people and if they know you're missing something, and happen to find it, chances are it'll make it's way back to you. I agree with those who say that a big part of it is probably random people sneaking in, and we need to figure out some way to stop that from happening. I have a feeling a lot of it may be happening from the back way in as the front one always has people on greeter shifts watching out for that. As far as raising tickets prices discouraging people from bringing children goes.. it probably wouldn't. They'd just end up spending more money than they already are. Besides that, it is my personal opinion that children shouldn't be excluded from this event. It is their parents choice whether or not to bring them, and thus their parents responsibility for what they do, and what they see. At the same time the parents need to respect individual's boundaries; meaning that if you think you wouldn't be comfortable doing something in front of your child(i.e. trampoline blowjobs, lol), don't bring that child to where others are doing things of such nature because chances are they won't be very comfortable with having a child watch them do said things either, whether or not it's their own.. and we don't want to make people uncomfortable about radical self expression. That would be a big no no. At the same time, we want to include everybody, and that means allowing children to come to the event and respecting that the parents will be intelligent and responsible.

Secondly, I agree with smelly mel and others who say that wearing a wristband at all times should be mandatory. This would definitely make it notice-able if someone had snuck in. Aside from that, the wristbands are pretty resilient.. they don't break easily at all.. and if, by some chance, yours happened to break, you should be able to save it and immediately go up to the the participation station(being centralized for the most part) and get another one in my opinion.. but if and only if you obviously have a broken one that you can turn in. The broken ones should be saved and the numbers should be recorded as well as the commitee tallying everyone who leaves the event on the last day so that they can tell exactly how many were sold, how many were given due to broken ones, and how many people left at the end.. so that they can get an estimate on how many people are sneaking in. Yes, it would make leaving more time consuming for everyone if there was a headcount of how many people leave last day, but it would be worth it in my opinion.

Thirdly, for anyone who dislikes the vets or their guest etc.. why? I personally find them amazing. Part of what makes PDF is themselves. They invite us all to so graciously stay on their land and they do this because they understand us and our lifestyles. Aside from that the majority of vets I had the pleasure of meeting were very kind, as I mentioned earlier in this post about the vet who drove the tractor. I also had the pleasure of hanging out with some of the vets on the OTHER side of the road, at their own RV, and frankly.. that moment itself is one of my favorites times at PDF because I realized how amazing those people really are.. and I felt so honored to be allowed to hang out with them(partially since it was at their area.. where one isn't supposed to venture without express permission, but more so because of how amazing they are). Neither myself, nor any family/personal friends that went were harassed by the vets, their guests, or their children as far as I know. The vets who weren't fully out there and sociable etc, were in the least tolerant, polite, and quiet while giving us no grief.

Fourth, I also agree with those who say we need to be careful about how we talk up the event, and who we talk it up to. Before telling someone it's the best party you'll ever go to in your life.. mention the art, the ideals, have them read the website.. then show them pictures, and video. Introduce them to it properly, like I was introduced to it. Have discussion about what goes on, how it all fits together. Stress community and participation, as well as radical self reliance, and radical self expression.

And one last thing, while this event was different from previous events, more rave-like, and not as good in many people's personal opinions from what I've read and heard so far(and on that subject I have no opinion, it being my virgin burn and all, except to say that I've been to many raves.. and that was NOT, let me repeat, NOT rave-like.. I mean, sure, aspects of it are.. but it goes way way way way way way way beyond that, and you all should know that.. and if you don't, then go to a rave and see the difference for yourself.).... I would like to quote something from a post earlier in this thread:

"WE make this event. WE make it what it is. WE make it what it will be and WE are responsible for its future. Speak up if you're being treated poorly and please, KEEP COMING!!!!"

and to add to it.. WE also make our OWN experience of the event. It's all about frame of mind, and perception. If you have a shitty time, it's because you CHOSE to have a shitty time. Yes, shitty things can happen to you due to outside circumstances and people, but if you choose to let them dictate your experience they will, if you don't...... they won't.

-Zack