@thraeryn I mean we talk about wrestling...so it seems fitting we could be burner friends too! I've been a #burner for going on 9 years and have done a bunch of regional burns on the East Coast but never Burning Man.

There's actually a big BM exhibition on at the Smithsonian that I'm dying to get to https://americanart.si.edu/exhibitions/burning-man

@oneoddfrog
HURRAY! I'm glad there's at least one more #burner here! Have you done the regional near Atlanta? That was my hometown for a long while, but I don't think their regional started while I was still around.

@thraeryn I haven’t personally, but I have some GA burner friends who have. I’m mostly northeast burns the last couple of years.

@finn
Good question. I feel like it SHOULD have legs b/c nudity allowed, actual privacy with respected community member holding keys to data, reports and moderation -
and motherfuckers will NOT leave Facebook for oral and a lobster dinner.

@thraeryn It would absolutely need to be marketed right. Technical merits are obviously irrelevant as they're all on fucking facebook right now

@finn
Yeah. I really tried in my friend groups. Told 'em they could post things like "men are trash" w/o temp bans. Told them they could post nudity. Told them no company would ever buy their data OR advertise to them. Told them I was in charge of determining harassment and would come down hard.

Them: "BUT EVERYONE IS HEEEEEEEEEEERRRRE"

@finn
What's the MOST frustrating is watching people bitch, then talk about their accounts with AnotherCorp or AlsoBiz, like those people
- don't already have most of the same policies, however they market themselves
- won't sell their sites to MoneyOrg in a hot minute, with MoneyOrg immediately changing anything that doesn't generate $$

@thraeryn (removed the CW since it's really no longer relevant) So once again, the network effect is hard to overcome. How do we start a new network? I think that having a burner-centric server with an inviting community and decent moderation might be a step in the right direction.

@finn
I'm not sure. I think one of the only things that would get accounts would be talking to heads of regional orgs and somehow convincing them to give the site information exclusivity. No genuine org updates come from FB, Twitter, email for 6-12 months. Make the mountain come to Mohammed.

That's unlikely.

@thraeryn yeah good luck doing that. A first step would be to get them to post on masto at all, can go from there. I think just having a community, even if there was no pressure to join it, would be a big first step.

@finn
Yeah. Barring that, maybe contests? Furthest Burner pen-pal, most extra light display or costume, best thread on one of the principles, best packing list?

Gotta get people sharing, gotta get eyes on what's shared.

Maybe crafty stuff as prizes offered by the admins, stuff folks could use in their art or camps.

@finn
The biggest things I found starting this instance are the hardest hurdles to overcome:
- So many things you'd consider draws aren't enough of a draw. Community is one of 'em. Privacy is one. Lack of censorship for non-abusive posts, and harsh censorship for abusive ones, isn't a draw. People are bitching just to bitch.
- If you can't get fifty friends to give it a good, thorough go from Day One, you can't get fifty friends.

@finn
Maybe getting a bunch of dedicated sign-ons at the annual Global Leadership Conference, put it forward as an inherently Burner, DIY, whatever network would be a good start.