
Originally Posted by
AbundantChoice
Just as the Coachella message board doesn't represent 99% of the average Coachella-going populace, eplaya doesn't represent 99% of the average burner. It's a great resource, but it's not necessarily representative. ePlaya is "closer" to Burning Man than the Coachella forums are to Coachella, but it's far from a good fit.
One thinig that can be super-useful is to find the local burner meetup if there is one. For example, Boston has a burner meet-up every tuesday where people from all the various Boston-based camps can get together, hang out, etc. Great source of information.
In general, though, BM is nowhere near as anarchic as it used to be, true. But it still does involve a decent amount of planning. With that said, it's also really easy to overdo it. As long as you have shelter, water, basic food, goggles, bandana/dust mask, and good foot protection, you've covered most of it. Everything else is secondary.
If you've never been, my two key pieces of advice would be (a) it's utterly impossible to see & do everything at Burning Man in any given year, so don't even bother to try; just go with the flow and enjoy yourself, and (b) don't over commit in your first year; you may want to volunteer for a bunch of stuff, join a theme camp, and bring some big art project, but i'd advise taking your first year to "feel out" the festival a bit and focus on contributing by helping out on playa and being an appreciative and engaged Burner. Being part of an organized theme camp might help with that; it might not. It will almost definitely help with some of the logistical planning you'll have to do (i.e. the theme camp you join might do communal water, or have a shower enclosure for the camp, or even a mess hall, etc).