I think that most people will not want to come to a
workshop here because .... I'm a rude
fucker. (I'm still a bit baffled that people voluntarily use my forums, listen to my podcasts, etc.)
A few people are fine coming here because their values are aligned with mine and they think I am not a rude fucker, but a perfectly reasonable guy. But, that's only a few. Very few. Hardly anybody.
I just now gave the opening talky-bit about how things work here and I feel like I was being super harsh, but it seemed like folks were being really cool with it - so maybe they are mostly part of that very few.
Here are the things I think I am super tough about:
wear your name tag
Always. It is your ticket to the event and ticket to meals.
I want to say "If I see a person without a name tag, they will be expelled for the rest of the day. And if they are a
douchebag about it, they will be expelled for the rest of the event and for all time." --- of
course, I don't want to ever get to that point. Just fucking comply.
Feedback I have heard: "but it could get caught in what I am working on." "Sometimes I forget." "It fell off." "I pinned to my shirt and forgot to move it to my other shirt." etc, etc, etc.
My response: You MUST be THIS smart to ride this ride. If you cannot keep track of your tag, you didn't pass the test.
I've been to a variety of professional conferences in the past and that was the way it worked. It is so well known, that I have seen people arrive at the event without their badge and then they go back to their hotel to get it.
I've been to events where the tags were not policed and had people at the event tell me that they just walked past the registration table without paying and have been attending all the fun stuff and eating the food. They are so proud of this, they are sharing it with me, a person that paid.
I remember being on a planning group for an event and they were working this into their budget: the number of people to facilitate that did not pay.
And at two events here, we had that sort of thing happen. And it was all because we were so lax at name tag stuff.
I feel like that is terribly disrespectful to the people who paid. And adds a strain onto the costs of the event, which I later have to pay for.
Most importantly, the idea that cheaters get just as much candy as the people who paid for the candy is a violation of my values. I am powerfully compelled to stand up for the guys that follow the good and decent path and to impede the people that don't.
I think it is a lot like how I feel about copyright: respect the wishes of the author and/or publisher.
I accept that there are lots of people that don't agree with my position (just as it appears that very few people agree with my position on copyright). Which is why, I suppose, very few people will want to actually attend one of the events here.
Yarn/twine, pins, clips, etc. will all be provided so your favorite way of wearing your tag (badge) will be your way. Maybe we can even provide a pen buffet so that people can show off their artistic ability.
no tobacco
To get to the
root of this one would need to cross into things I would rather not talk about in my childhood or even events from adult life. I will openly say that my anti-snoking position on this is going to appear to be outright crazy to most people.
There are a lot of people that are going to be interested in events here that are smokers. And they will have a hard time giving up their addiction for several days. So i suggest that they don't come. Maybe there will be a video later.
We do have a challenge however: ernie smokes a pipe - and often plays a major role in events here. For a long time, ernie would go off property to smoke his pipe. Even out in the rain. Of course, his leg is all fucked up, so it is a bit of a challenge for him to hobble a hundred yards, in the rain, on his crutches, to get off property to smoke his pipe. Last year we tried to set up a guy to care for him and drive him in one of the EVs, but that guy flaked out.
As of this morning, we have set something up in a far away secluded spot that ernie has agreed to ... this is partly in response to finding a cigarette butt this morning, from somebody else. So while ernie is here we are going to try to set up a few chairs on the far side of arrakis so that ernie can sit with his leg up and maybe have some company. My crazy in this space makes me hate this, but I cannot think of a better solution at this time.
take care of your gabage - especially beer related garbage
I don't drink beer. I just never liked the taste or smell. And I understand that most people love the stuff. We seemed to find a lot of bottle caps last year, just a few feet from garbage cans.
But more importantly, I was a little surprised that permies would litter. I'm a little surprised that anything would be said here. But, there ya go - it really happened, so I am really saying something.
- - - -
As I write this, I got an email from cassie. Apparently somebody sent her an email telling her what an awful person she is, and that her name is paul. So, the email is really about what an awful person I am, only the author accidentally sent it to cassie instead of me.
This guy is actually the reason why I felt I needed to write this. While I was emphasizing the name tag thing for all the people at the workshop, he decided that that was the time to address the group to point out how stupid the name tag thing is. His points were that his name was already known, and it was already known that he had paid. He forgot to mention that the tag he received showed to others whether he paid for food or whether he paid for camping and I know that I couldn't remember that. As part of his protest, he showed that he had his name tag, and then proceeded to hide it within his clothes - to complete his act of defiance against the authority (me).
But I will share just small sample of his email:
there is no place for hostile, condescending dress-down for non-compliance to your petty control-freak name tag rule.
I confess that I like the idea that there is never "hostile, condescending dress-down" --- of course, my preference is that on my property at a workshop that I am facilitating, that everybody is respectful to the way things have been arranged. So, yes, there is no "hostile, condescending dress-down." At the same time, I might possibly have a dose of genetics and a dose of how-i-was-raised combined with being freaky giant sized, that I do have a tendancy toward .... correcting problems with direct and stern language. And I confess that "direct and stern" would be a euphemism.
Even more than this: I like the idea that some day a much kinder, gentler person will manage these events. I even like the idea that I could get all of my tasks organized so well that I might actually be able to participate a bit.
I think someday the
ants will have workshops and they may or may not use badges/tags. Since I'm not there, it won't very much matter to me. If somebody takes something that is not theirs, it will be an issue that doesn't involve me.
After all, I think I am pretty open about being an utterly horrible person by the standards of most people. This horrible-ness makes me unbearable to most people. Which is why the master of ceremonies for nearly any worthwhile thing
should be somebody else.
I am hoping that by writing this stuff, the only people that show up will be people that are glad to comply with my crazy shit. I do very much enjoy the company of people that are, apparently, the exact same flavor of crazy that I am.
If you think you might be the exact same flavor of crazy as me (or really, really close), please give a thumbs up for this post and maybe say a word of encouragement in this
thread.