You will find links to pages with the needed code fragments,
should you wish to join one ring or both, toward the
bottom of the screen. This ring, itself, belongs
to a number of rings, which you can find the navbars for, at the bottom of this
page.
WARNING: A number of links in the page below will take you offsite to sites not under our control. We don't monitor them for content, and they aren't subject to Geocities' TOS, and so may well contain profanity and other content that some may find offensive. If you find that sort of thing objectionable, please do not click on any offsite links. Those who ignore this warning give up the right to complain to Yahoo!Geocities and be taken seriously, because their choices will have been informed ones.
Some will ask, "Isn't this just a matter of a business' right to run
itself as it sees fit?". The answer is "no", because, first of all, BMORG
(the Burning Man Organization) has effectively been claiming proprietrary
rights over an entire branch of interactive art, and that was our initial
point of objection. "Burning" is a lot bigger than Burning Man; it is an
entire category of interactive art festivals at which temporary
communities are created as acts of collective performance art, one might
say. Our dispute with BMORG arose when we decided that we didn't want the
help of a very bizarre individual who BMORG had decided should be in
charge of the creation and running of all such events in the Chicago area,
and BMORG, 2000 miles away in San Francisco decided that it wasn't going
to tolerate such rampant independence, and started the mudslinging. Any
hostilities that followed were purely their doing and purely their
choice, and utterly without justification, legally or ethically. No
copyright, trademark or patent would ever be granted that was as broad as
the one that they seem to feel entitled to, judging from their position.
We've asked this many times before, but it bears repeating: if a group of
people in Chicago want to hold a large, collective community building
party of a particular sort, on what basis does this group of people 2000
miles away claim the right to administrative authority over such an event,
and what kind of anarchists are these, that would even want such
authority?
Secondly, BMORG, according to its own position on the matter, isn't
exactly a business. Businesses do not ask their customers to perform
volunteer work. BMORG does, and often gets that volunteer work out of
them. While some have maintained that BMORG is, in fact, turning a very
healthy profit, and have made reasonably convincing cases for this
position, only made the more convincing by the fact that BMORG (the
Burning Man Limited Liability Corporation) is not, in fact, registered as
a not-for-profit, and Larry Harvey himself has acknowledged that BMORG
declined to apply for this status because to do so would have required
BMORG to open its books to outside auditing, the fact remains that BMORG
has chosen to be the recipient of charity, and defended this by portraying
itself as being "just a bunch of burners", acting as a kind of government
on behalf of this allegedly anarchist subculture, working on behalf of
burners in general. This, then, is nothing like a standard business;
given the fact that the art that people come to see and the camps they
come to visit are, for the most part, assembled by volunteers in no
way compensated by BMORG, we're left with the reality that this
"business" doesn't even manufacture its own product! It simply
collects toll on people enroute to an event which it acknowledges
arose as a result of a spontaneous groundswell that took place before
it convinced the Bureau of Land Management to allow it to start
selling tickets to this gathering taking place on public land.
Thirdly, even if BMORG were a business in the sense that General
Electric is a business, which is to say that it payed its own way and
didn't pretend to represent its customers, we would still be left with one
simple question: "since when is a business entitled to decide who may or
may not criticise it". Incredibly enough, we've heard from people who felt
that BMORG was entitled to exactly that; as some would call them, "burning
moonies". And many of BMORG's business practices are, if we view BMORG as
being simply a business, arguably more than a little shady. If we view
BMORG as being a kind of community council, they're absolutely
intolerable.
"But aren't you just a few malcontents in a sea of happy faces?", is
another comeback we've heard from the true believers, but let's get
serious. One of the original organizers of Burning Man, John Law, has
already washed his hands of the event, and many of the artists and
participants who've made burning man what it is have walked away from it,
a number of them expressing their anger and disappointment in libel
happy places like ePlaya. What makes us relatively unique is not that
we're unhappy with some of the things that we've seen BMORG do, but that
being unhappy about them, we're making an effort to make things better
from within Burnerdom, as a community, by offering alternatives. There is
something real and important that takes place at these gatherings that
matters far more than the ambitions of a few otherwise obscure people who
see their managerial roles as being the key to their 15 minutes of fame,
or the lusts of a few drugged out young men who couldn't care less about
freedom of expression as long as they get to scope out a few naked grrls
and score some free pot. What is happening is genuine spontaneity,
something that makes personal freedom something more than the polite
fiction that it's been turning into, in far too much of the United States.
Which is one reason why we will not recognise BMORG's exaggerated
proprietary claims: would you reduce freedom to being a franchise
operation, something to be bought and sold? We won't do this in
whole, or even in part, and we have to wonder about the people who
would.
What is this webring about? Believe it or not, it's not about
attacking BMORG. Not exactly. What it is about, is opposition to the
attitude that has been seen out of BMORG all too often when, while paying
lip service to the notion that Burning Man is a community (sometimes), and
pretending that the LLC has only been set up for administrative
convenience, it still ends up acting like its a for-profit corporation,
right down to an irritating eagerness to take over where its "help" really
isn't needed, or wanted.
Who is this webring for? It is for those who disagree with the
direction that Burning Man has taken and would like to suggest a
better one. It is for those who were so dissatisfied with their experience
that they will never return, should they wish to tell their stories. It is
for anybody who, in the society of the imaginary Black Rock City, wishes
to voice real dissent that doesn't fit within the constricting bounds that
BMORG and its fan club would like.
"Sure, we love dissent. Here's a list of 187 approved causes,
and we even have a few pre-made placards made up for your
convenience. Would you prefer 'Larry, How Dare You Be So D**n
Nice!' or 'Bath Water Bad, Bong Water Good!'?"
Deuce of clubs had its doubts
about the event back in 1999. (See the photographic travelogue "Why we will not be
returning to Burning Man", the Deuce's entry into "Black Rock City"
beginning here).
When one sees the "Mein Camp" parody on this page, one
can't help but wonder if the artist had any idea of how prophetic that
joke would turn out to be.
Some of us definitely will not be returning to "Black Rock City". When,
as we see on the Shrine's Burning Man page (site 3 in the ring), an offer to
help promote this festival ends up being rewarded with a call for the
would-be volunteer's murder, we have a problem. Some who have
frequented the Burning Man forums in the last few years are less than
forthcoming about their identities for a reason. "And yet you deny being
anti-bmorg?", some will ask. Yes, because I believe in disliking
individuals, not nebulous groups, though one can legitimately say that a
group is showing some disturbing signs, ones which one wishes would go
away. What is disturbing is not that dysfunctional individuals like this
can be found, but that they and their dysfunctionality are embraced. This
can remain disturbing even when the stakes are a lot lower than those
posed by a class X felony.
This ring was first conceived back in 2001, a year before I first
tried to set it up. There was a list here, bm-chicago, whose primary focus
was on local events. Whoever ran that list would be in a position of
control over much of the local Burner community. Imagine our shock and
dismay, then, when we found that BMORG, located in San Francisco, 2000
miles away, had selected a new moderator for that list, without talking
to anybody in Chicago first, or showing any sign at all that they cared
about the opinions of people here. You know, the people who would
actually be stuck with the results, if they turned out to be bad ones?
This seemed very colonial, especially since neither their appointee,
nor BMORG actually owned the list.
As was pointed out, elsewhere on this site,
their appointee turned out to be a real problem. Some just tuned out.
Others, no great prizes themselves, just went along to get along. We had a
different approach, as did somebody else, in at least one case. We decided
to set up an alternative list, strictly for local events. We don't dispute
BMOrg's right to choose its own local representatives. However, local
events are another matter.
If we, here in Chicago, 2000 miles away from the BMORG management in
San Francisco, want to set up local gatherings, then, excuse me, but how
does that become BMOrg's business? Why should we have to clear any of
that with them, or with one of their representatives? Why would BMOrg
even care? But, they did care, and we found ourselves and our reputations
being attacked by Jim Graham, their media representative, and other
members of BMOrg, in retribution for the unforgivable crime of having
argued positions they disagreed with on ePlaya, and, more seriously from
the sound of it, for having wanted to do our own thing our own way, in our
own backyard.
This isn't the behavior of a community, this is the behavior of a
corporation trying to carry out an acquisition. This is the behavior of a
group of corporate execs who want to be in control, and aren't about to
stand for any competition, or any backtalk. To hear them talk, they were
literally proud of the perception that they had been ruthless. As Jim
Graham put it, he smeared us, and tried to keep people away from our list,
"because that's the kind of guy I am".
Some of us, after that, just said "to H*** with this", and cut out. "Do
these people even know that they're running a recreational event" was a
common question. Sometimes, it's hard not to wonder if maybe they had the
right idea.
What's this Ring about? It's about telling BMOrg that it can't have it
both ways. When it asks people to volunteer their efforts without pay,
because we're all a community, and then tries to justify capriciously
throwing people off the Playa on the basis that Burning Man is a "private
event", that's exactly what it is trying to do. When BMOrg tries to tell
us that we shouldn't be seeing things in terms of "us vs. them" (as
Actiongrl said when she urged us to not set up the chi-burning
list) and yet justifies censoring people who disagree with them on
ePlaya on the basis that it is a "private" forum, we should ask "so what
are you, a corporation making a sale, or a group of community members here
to serve the rest of us, because you know what, you don't get to be both".
Those who assert that they need not answer to the community, that they
have the right to use their power any way they want, have no business
pretending that they are here to serve anybody but themselves.
This ring is for people who mind when they are told what they can say
or think, how they can express themselves, with whom they will associate
and under whose direction. It is for Burners who have the sense to realize
that we don't go into the desert only to bring with us the
corporate and governmental paternalism and the conformity of too much
contemporary urban life. That's what we go out to get away from. This is
a ring for people who, when they're handed a pile of crap, aren't afraid
to say, "no, I'm sorry Mr. Stahl, but I d**n well am not going to frost my
cake with this". Does that sound like you? If so, then why not join?
Why should you want to join our crummy little webring, with only a
handful of sites in it? Consider the fact that when you search under the
term "BMORG" in most of the major search engines, this ring comes up in a
high position. Even if the number of hits isn't that great (yet), you will
be gaining major visibility for your Burning Man site, especially if it is
one critical of BMORG in some way. Some, like Dr.
Cliff, already have that visibility. Others, like ourselves, have
found it shoved on them to their utter amazement for reasons they
wouldn't even begin to try to fathom. But most are going to find it very
difficult with the "don't worry, be happy or we'll get you" mood running
through much of Burnerdom, to get links. Sign up here and you'll get a
few more. Fair enough?
How to join
Please keep in mind that this is a closed webring, so you'll need an
invitation to get in. Also, you will have to arrange to
have us temporarily open the ring for you so that you can fill out the
application form. All of this is easy: just sign up for
this list and
post a message explaining what you want. If the provider should start
offering javascript, we suppose you can use that. SSNB code and the like seems to have become
more reliable over the years, and hardly anybody uses a non-Javascript
capable browser, so while we'd still prefer that you use the HTML code
for the Webring version of this ring, that isn't as important as it used
to be. A lot of things aren't important, actually.
As you travel this ring, you'll notice that a number of the navbars for
it have been customized. Some ringmasters lose their minds when members do
that, and we think that's being more than a little anal retentive. What we want
from you is for you to ask us before using a new navbar design. We reserve the
right to say "no" "for any reason or for no reason at all" (ie. we're not open
to having some hyperargumentative person play lawyer with us on this one), but
mainly what we want to see is easy recognizability, so that visitors to your
site can easily find their way back to this ring. Standardization for its own
sake is just not something that has ever appealed to us as a concept. If, for
any reason, you'd like to use one of the older forms of the navbar, which we
include below, go right ahead. Obviously, we think that the more recent forms
which the system will automatically provide you with look nicer (otherwise,
why would we have bothered to make the change), but we don't want to force that
choice on you as a condition for membership.
Making this as simple as possible : first, ONCE WE HAVE OPENED THE RING FOR YOU, go to this page to
sign up for the ring at Lord of the Rings (Webring.cc), or to this one to
sign up at Ringsurf (no membership required). Either
link will take you to a form to fill out. Do so, and hit your left arrow
to get back to here. I'd recommend that you join both webrings, because
that way even if one system or the other is down, you'll still be getting
hits. But you don't have to, if you don't want to.
If you're joining the Webring.cc version of this ring, should that system
at some point start offering something akin to the SSNB Webring uses (javascript),
that will be, as we've said, perfectly acceptable. Cut it, paste it and you're done.
We'd prefer you use HTML, because there still are people out there with
non-javascript capable browsers, and using HTML means that they can find
the next page. For you, the member, HTML means that your site won't get
accidentally suspended or deleted because the javascript has started acting
up, and yes, that has happened to us on other rings. That's much less common
of a problem than it used to be, but make your own choice.
The great unknown is how a system we don't even know will come into existence
will work, should it become a reality, but the guess we're going to offer is that
it will probably work about the same way Webring.com ssnb does, so we'll pass
along a little practical advice that worked on that system and hope for the
best. Let's say that you decide to go with HTML (smart choice). If your page also
belongs to a ring that requires the use of SSNB and you don't want the navbar for
this ring appearing twice, just register this page on our ring for another url
that resolves to the same page. For example, on this page, instead of entering
http://web.newsguy.com/commonsense/BMORG/bmorg.html
We could have entered
http://www.oocities.org/medius2/bmorg.html#waffles
which takes you to the same place, there being no "waffles" anchor tag on this page.
Or, if we had used the main page
http://www.oocities.org/medius2/
as the homepage for this ring, one equivalent url would have been
http://www.oocities.org/medius2/index.html
Either way, such a Webring.cc navbar system might hypothetically set up a new navbar stack, getting
us away from having two navbars for the same ring appear, because the ssnb would be
assigned by url, not by page. It might also be assigned by webring membership, as on Webring, so
another possibility would then be that if you were collaborating with somebody else on the page
you submitted, to use one membership for the rings you used HTML code for, and
another for the ones you use SSNB on. Either way, you'd avoid navbar duplication. But, to be
honest, this is all guesswork based on how another system did things, so really, I think
the simplest and best approach is to avoid the use of javascript if you can. Not that we
know that this will ever even become an option, as we said.
Once you've filled out the application(s), download your ring code
fragment(s). To make this as easy as possible for everybody, I'll give you
three different ways in which you can do this.
1. Cut and paste the HTML version of the navbar you find over
at Lord of the Rings (webring.cc), and/or the ringcode Ringsurf gives you. That's
good enough, probably easy to do, and we're happy with that.
If, for whatever reason, you don't care for that option,
though, we do offer you alternatives.
We'd recommend against this option, though, because we can offer
no guarantee that imageshack won't delete this image at some
point in the future, leaving you with one of those ugly
missing image markers on your site. What you get, if all goes
well, will look like this.
1b. A more prudent option would be to download the graphic,
and then cut and paste this code, uploading the graphic to the same directory as the
page that you put on the ring. (Otherwise, the graphic won't appear).
<br><br>
<center>
<table border="5" width="400" cellpadding="2" cellspacing="0" bordercolor="#3333cc">
<tr><td><table border="0" cellpadding="1" cellspacing="0" bgcolor="#000000" width="100%">
<tr><td width="1%"><img src="tent1.gif"
height="100" width="100" alt="BMORG doesn't speak for us : A ring for dissent in the
Burner subculture" border="0"></td><td><table border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="4"
width="100%" align="center"><tr><td nowrap><font face="arial" color="#ffffcc"><b><font
color="#000000">..</font>BMORG doesn't speak for us<br><font color="#000000">..</font>A
ring for dissent in the Burner Subculture</b></font></td></tr><tr><td nowrap colspan="2"
align="center"><font face="arial" size="-1" color="#ffffcc">
<font color="#000000">..</font>[ <a
href="http://web.newsguy.com/commonsense/BMORG/join.html"
target="_top"><font color="#33ff33">Join Now</font></a> | <a
href="http://www.webring.cc/cgi-bin/ringlink/list.pl?ringid=bmorg;siteid=(your id)"
target="_top"><font color="#33ff33">Ring Hub</font></a> |
<a href="http://www.webring.cc/cgi-bin/ringlink/rand.pl?ringid=bmorg;siteid=(your id)"
target=_top><font color="#33ff33">Random</font></a> | <b><a
href="http://www.webring.cc/cgi-bin/ringlink/prev.pl?ringid=bmorg;siteid=(your id)"
target=_top><font color="#33ff33"><< Prev</font></a> | <a
href="http://www.webring.cc/cgi-bin/ringlink/next.pl?ringid=bmorg;siteid=(your id)"
target=_top><font color="#33ff33">Next >></font></a></b> ]
</font></td></tr></table></td>
</tr></table></td></tr></table></center><br><br>
2. You COULD use the older "native style" code that prevailed before the introduction
of navbars. I'm not sure if I would recommend that for pages that don't use the once
nearly ubiquitous white backgrounds, but if that's what you want to do, we can set you up.
Print the code below directly onto a file in your diskspace
at your
ISP. This will probably be easier for you, if you are using an
older browser like Lynx. All that you do in Lynx, for example,
is click on the relevant link, go to the relevant page, hit "p"
for print, hit enter when the "print" page comes up, and cut
and paste the resulting file, whose name you will see here.
Which ring are you joining ?
the one at Ringsurf.com : bmorg2.html
the one at Webring.cc : bmorg3.html
both of them : bmorg4.html
That last choice will give you a combined fragment that should
be good for both webrings. If you feel unconfortable with the
fact that what you are using is not standard Ringsurf code,
no problem. You can get standard code here : ringsurf1.txt
If you want to join both rings using old style code, but have a nonwhite page background,
we'd recommend use of the modified code.
3. Here's your third option. Let's say you have a slightly
more
advanced browser, and you don't want to be bothered with
downloading the fragments to your ISP webspace. Again, no
problem. Click on the appropriate link, and you'll find
yourself on a file
which you can then directly download. As before, if your text appears
against something other than a white background, you probably want to use
the modified code for reasons of symmetry
which should soon become clear.
Which ring are you joining ?
the one at Ringsurf.com : bmorg2b.htm
the one at Webring.cc : bmorg3b.htm
both of them : bmorg4b.htm
standard Ringsurf code : ringsurf2.htm
Graphics options, if you're joining the Webring.org ring :
1. Download the current webring graphic on this page.
2. Download the less bulky graphic on the old webring hub.
(Courtesy of the same place we found the first one;
the Animation Factory, we believe. If you use this
graphic, be sure to remember to go the place in the
webring code where you see
<img src="tent1.gif alt="BMORG
doesn't speak for us
and replace "tent1.gif" with "siegheil.gif",
otherwise the graphic won't show up).
3. Use your own.
4. Or, if you prefer, use no graphic at all.
Don't sweat the little stuff. We're not going to go all anal
retentive on you. Considering the amazingly bad performance some FTP
servers put in when one tries to upload pictures, we've sometimes felt that
graphics are far more trouble than they're worth, and if your provider
doesn't support file uploading we do understand the problem.
If you'd like to remove the mail link to cut down on SPAM, no
problem. I did, and I'd recommend that you do so as well. Consider
dropping by Bravenet and
signing up for an account there, if only to get access to a
mailform you can put on your site. It will save you many
headaches. (If you take this advice, replace "mailto:(your
address) with the url of your response page; if not, your call and many
make the same one, but don't say that you weren't warned.
And here's the the new
Ringsurf webring graphic. Download away.
The ringcode fragments below should give you some idea of how yours
will look, after you install it. But first, because of the usual
complainers who will harass my provider otherwise, I now have to waste
your time with an absolutely pointless ...
WARNING : If you travel the rings below, understand that these, by
their nature, are intended for a mature audience. There may be nudity,
there will probably be profanity. Burning Man is, after all, an adult
event. If this sort of material offends you, then please do not click on
the links below or travel these rings, because you have a good chance of
being greatly offended. By ignoring this warning, you waive all right to
complain to our provider, and be taken seriously. Are we clear on this ?
Now, here are those code fragments.
The combined code for both the Ringsurf.com and Webring.cc rings:
 
The blame for this
"BMORG
doesn't speak for us"
site goes to some Chicago burners
Webring
: Previous
| Random | List
Sites | Next
| Join This
Ring
Ringsurf : Previous
| Random | List Sites | Next
| Join
This Ring
Our combined ring is a happy member of both the Webring.cc and Ringsurf families.
The modified combined code :
The blame for this
"BMORG
doesn't speak for us"
site goes to some Chicago burners
Webring
: Previous
| Random | List
Sites | Next
| Join This
Ring
Ringsurf : Previous
| Random | List Sites | Next
| Join
This Ring
Our combined ring is a happy member of both the Webring.cc and Ringsurf families.
The Webring.cc code:
The blame for this "BMORG
doesn't speak for us" site goes to your friends over at the Chicago
Burners
Previous
| Random
Site | List
Sites | Next
| Join This
Ring
"BMORG doesn't speak for us" is a happy member of the Webring.cc family.
The revised, nicer looking Ringsurf code:
This Ringsurf "BMORG
doesn't speak for us" site belongs to the Chicago Burners
Previous
Site | List
Sites | Random
Site | Next
Site | Join
This Ring
The standard Ringsurf.com code:
[
Previous
5
Sites
|
Skip
Previous
|
Previous
|
Next
]
This RingSurf "BMORG
doesn't speak for us" site
is
owned by the Chicago Burners.
[
Skip
Next
|
Next 5
Sites
|
Random Site
|
List
Sites
]
Obvious question: "I looked at these ring fragments, and none of
them really grabbed me. Would you mind if I customized my ring code and
gave it a look to my own liking? Obvious if you've been skimming, and
missed some of our remarks above.
Answer: Sure, why not? Here's what's important:
1. Don't be mysterious. The visitor has to know that
he's looking at the ring code for the "BMORG
doesn't speak for us" ring.
2. If you're using something akin to old style code,
like the older pre-navbar code you just saw, say who your page
belongs to. A nickname, or even "like me,
dude" is fine. Just don't leave the name out because people
are so used to seeing it that its absence is going to be
disconcerting for some.
3. We want to see the following links present and working:
a. list sites
b. previous site
c. next site
d. link to ring sign up page
e. link to the ring homepage
4. If you are going to create your own ring graphics, keep them
in good taste. This is not an adult ring.
I hope this answers all of your questions, for now. Click on one of
these two links to get to the list page for this ring over at Webring.cc
or Ringsurf.
(This material is being subhosted on Medius' Storage Shed).
This Ringsurf "BMORG
doesn't speak for us" site belongs to the Chicago Burners
Previous
Site | List
Sites | Random
Site | Next
Site | Join
This Ring
|
