A word about our Comments Policy

We’re thrilled (THRILLED, we tell ya!) that so many Burning Blog readers have taken the time to stop by and leave their thoughts on our posts so far, and we definitely want to encourage you to keep doing it. It’s been a great launch and we hope you’re enjoying it! At the same time, now that we have a little time under our blogging belts together, we wanted to focus on the Burning Blog Comments pages for a moment and share a few thoughts about how they are managed.

This is your brain on comments. Warning, by Terry Pratt; photo by noise
This is your brain on comments. “Warning” by Terry Pratt; photo by noise

First, if you haven’t yet, please read our Burning Blog Comments Policy. We run a relatively tight ship here, with some pretty firm standards for maintaining a civil and on-topic discussion, reserving the more free-form open conversation for the ePlaya. We really do want every reader to understand the Comment Policy and how we will uphold it, so we would encourage you to take a moment to look at it today.

We also wanted to point out a few more comments-related items:

1. Comments are moderated according to the Comments Policy by members of the Burning Man staff on a regular (but maybe not always daily) basis. You, as a user, are responsible for educating yourself on that policy before you post. Thing is, the blog is the result of the efforts of many people, and we currently do not have the resources nor any technological mechanism to send a private email every time we moderate out a comment that violates the Comment Policy — so if you don’t see your comment go up within a few days to a week, you can assume we have reviewed it and determined it falls outside our policy and it won’t be posted. If that happens to you, read the Policy, rethink it, and try your comment again.

If your comment appears but then disappears after you saw it, it’s because another user used the tools available to report that comment to the Mods and it was deemed to be violation of the policy in our review. We will not be able to send you a message when this happens either, but again, feel free to rephrase and post again. Our hope is that by holding a very high standard before we moderate anything through, such surprises shouldn’t happen because other users won’t have to report nasty comments – we’ll have already caught them.

2. The authors and contributors you are responding to in the comments are not necessarily the same people as the Burning Blog moderation team — so they may or may not make return visits to the entry to engage in the comments dialogue with readers over time. Thus, it’s okay to ask questions within your comment, but do keep in mind that it would be unreasonable to expect that every staff member/contributor will return repeatedly to each post to engage in a personal dialogue or answer every direct question that comes up – in fact, they may never see your comment at all. If your comment is more than a comment, and you really do feel you need a reply to a burning question, try a visit to the On The Playa section to find an email contact for the specific team that would know your answer, or try questions@burningman.com for general information.

3. HOLY CANNOLI, IT’S AUGUST! And that means we’ll be heading to the playa in just a few short days, and response times for moderation may take longer than usual; some posts may be made with comments closed during known blackouts for moderator availability. Don’t worry – we’ll be posting from the playa with even more fresh and tasty Preparation information, and more inside looks from the building of BRC — and we’ll do our best to stay on top of the comments queue during our transition to the desert. Just be advised that your comments may take several days or more to appear during the peak moments of August and September.

Thanks – again – for your contributions to the Burning Blog…the man burns in (gulp!) 26 days!

About the author: Andie Grace

Andie Grace

Andie Grace returned to the staff of Burning Man in 2019 as a producer of strategic storytelling content. During her original tenure at BMHQ from 2000-2013, she was a member of the Executive Committee, managed the Communications Department, and helped oversee the early development of the Regional Network. During her seven-year hiatus, she co-founded an indie film distribution label, an indie video game label, and a creative coworking hub in Silicon Valley, but ultimately her passion for Burning Man and its cultural future pulled her back to the staff of the Project. She lives with her family in Berkeley, California.

3 Comments on “A word about our Comments Policy

  • Hey Mindy, you gotta check http://www.TheGhostOfFutureman.com and the new
    song, WAR……..it’s the absolute best antiwar song………tell all your friends
    to download and spread the work………war is a barbaric anachronism which
    dishonors God……and breaks our spiritual bonds and makes humans forever
    unable to pierce the veil to the vault of the oneness and the eternal I AM!!!!!!

    RightO will check it out and can The Ghost Of Futureman make it to Burning
    Man 2008………..

    In spirit of the song, so play it and play it LOUD!!!

    Report comment

  • Tom Stewart says:

    This year (2009) I saw a banner being pulled by a helicopter. I think it was an ad for a company called Advanced Nutrition. Even though it was an ad for growing marijuana I didn’t like see it. One of the main reasons I come to burning man for the last eight years is because there is no commerce at the event. Is this a sign of things to come?

    Report comment

  • Sherilyn Laughlin says:

    Every year we in the Sierra Nevada, especially those living in towns along the Highway 80 corridor live with the “Burner’s” for several weeks. Mostly we are happy they visit our town and spend money but every year, without fail, I come into work on Tuesday morning and find your trash all over our parking lot and we are NOT the only business in town that has to then pay to have it hauled away!

    This morning I came in and there is a queen size mattress with BURN spray painted all over it laying against the dumpster along with 5 bags of YOUR garbage. Who in the heck do you think pays to have this trash hauled away. You consider yourselves the “environmentally” sensitive artistic earth group yet you leave your trash every where between the Black Rock Desert and your homes.

    It is bad enough to leave a mattress (this is the 3rd in 5 years) but to leave your garbage outside in bear country is just beyond belief. We – the bank employees – have to pick it up after the bears spread it all over the parking lot.

    PLEASE start living by the haul it in haul it out principals you so loudly preach and don’t leave your trash in our town.

    Report comment

  • Comments are closed.