The tickets for Apogaea are non-transferrable, an element that many in the Burn community have voiced as being a clear and simple solution that BMORG should have used. The possible pros of this process, in my sometime less than humble opinion, FAR OUTWEIGH the cons. Yes it prevents people from gifting tickets, and for those of you who have read my previous articles on gifting, you know how important gifting is to the culture and the experience, as well as to me personally. Non-transferrable tickets do not prevent anyone from gifting tickets; any person who would like to gift tickets can simply gift the money for the ticket in place of gifting the actual tickets. Non-transferrable tickets almost completely inhibit the ability for scalpers to molest the system; and, more importantly, safeguard against the increasing commoditization of tickets. There are always ways to manipulate things, but for the majority, scalping of our culture, our friends, and our family would be prevented. There is also concern that providing ID to get into the city would be an invasion of privacy, and contradict the principle of Radical Inclusion. This is completely wrong. Everyone HAS IDs, and requiring ID to enter is not an intrusion of privacy. If you are flying on a plane to Nevada you have an ID. If you drive a car to Nevada you have an ID. If you are riding in a car, you most likely have an ID. Providing ID is not an invasion of privacy, and I for one would be glad to show mine at the gate to heaven, if it meant no one would be paying upwards of $1,000 for tickets. Regardless of how terrible my ID picture is and how much it makes me looks like a drug-dealing-scum-douche-bag-of-a-thug, I would happily do it.
[...]
Maybe next year BMORG will take some direction from the APO planners and use a direct headshot on the ticket-problem-zombie. I sure hope so. Lock and load BMORG, it’s your move.
April 8, 2012
Burning Man Tickets should be Non-Transferable
April 2, 2012
Dear Mr. President, what are you doing to California?
Dear Mr. President we seem to have a bit of a problem.
Dear Mr. President we have a slight disagreement.
Dear Mr. President, I don’t like how your agents are doing their job.
I don’t like them busting up schools where people learn gardening.
I don’t like them shutting down dispensaries while liquor and drug stores run rampant.
Dear Mr. President, do you know what your DEA is doing?
Dear Mr. President do you know that California pays more in taxes than it receives?
Dear Mr. President do you know that California has 55 votes in the electoral college?
Dear Mr. President do you know that if an earthquake seperated California it would ruin the economy?
Dear Mr. President why do you want to cause earthquakes?
Dear Mr. President why won’t you leave California alone?
Why won’t you let us live our own lives?
Dear Mr. President why must you punish sick people?
Dear Mr. President don’t you think they’re punished enough?
Dear Mr. President why do you have to add to their punishment?
Dear Mr. President I don’t think you’re really listening.
I think if you were listening, you’d hear California crying.
I think if you heard her crying you’d cry too.
I had to write this cause Ginsberg was unavailable.
April 1, 2012
Petition asking StubHub to stop scalping Burning Man tickets mentioned in the New York Times
I think we were just mentioned in the New York Times.
Today the barriers to attending Burning Man are staggeringly high. The festival is still five months away, but no tickets remain for sale to the general public except through scalpers. (At one secondhand ticket Web site this week, the cheapest of more than 80 available passes cost $1,225; one likely prankster was asking a cool $999,999. The aficionados who call themselves “Burners” are petitioning the site’s owners to discontinue all Burning Man-related sales.) Serendipitous trips to Burning Man, like the one I took in 2002, are a thing of the past.
New York Times, March 29, 2012
Please sign the petition and Join Burners Against Scalpers today!