Burn in the Forest Renaming Project
PLEASE TAKE THE TIME TO READ THE FOLLOWING!
We have chosen to share our process & important information with you before you think about your voting choices. Click the page numbers at the bottom to go to the next page.
When considering the possible names, please first read each description included with the option.
– Take your time before voting! Don’t rush!
– Sleep on it, talk to your friends about it.
– Say each one out loud and think about how you will feel saying “this is who we are”.
We want to present the names now (Sunday), and allow 2 days for mulling them over before voting goes live (Wednesday). At Saturday’s reveal at Dustcovery, it became obvious that it was very useful for people to discuss the options and various reactions, pros & cons, with other community members.
We encourage you to participate in conversation in the comments section on the Burn in the Forest Renaming Project pag, under “Leave a reply” at the bottom. Only GVIAS members are able to post comments. This will allow for greater visibility to members not on Facebook.
VOTING INFORMATION & INSTRUCTIONS
VOTING IN NOW OPEN AND LIVE UNTIL 11:59pm SUNDAY DECEMBER 1st
On Wednesday at 10:00 AM PST GVIAS members were sent an email to their GVIAS account’s registered email address with a special unique link that is tied to their GVIAS membership.
~ You CANNOT change your vote once submitted, so don’t rush your decision!
~Voting window is 11 days, voters have until Sunday Dec 1st at 11:59pm to submit their ranked in votes.
~ Check out the discussions on the naming options either in the BitF FB Group or on the project webpage.
HOW TO VOTE
1. Before Sunday Dec 1 @ 11:59pm, click the link in your email or go to https://gvias.org/dashboard/
2. Under “BitF Name Change Election” select “Your Ballot: Click to Vote Now“.
3. You’ll be redirected to a RankedVote website with a your unique Username and Password generated and pre-filled for you, in format “Anonymous-xxxxxxxx”. Accept those defaults and hit Login.
4. Make your choices!
– You will be asked to rank your most preferred choices. You can rank all 7 if you wish or choose just your favourites. We recommend that voters rank a minimum of 2 choices.
NOTE! It’s important that you vote for your the options that you’d be ok with in order of preference, and not just vote for 1!
Because if your first choice doesn’t get picked, it gives your subsequent choices a chance… otherwise any other option gets eliminated without a vote.
So for example, if your favourite isn’t making the cut, your secondary votes can get counted towards other options that you would have also liked or been ok with.
Voting platform
We are running a ranked choice voting process facilitated by https://www.rankedvote.co/.
More information about how this works can be found here: Understanding Ranked Choice Voting.
Tech Support
If you didn’t receive the email, you can simply login to your GVIAS membership account, using what you believe to be your email and password. After Wednesday at 10am, you’ll see a special section in your member dashboard that points you to your ballot:
If you can’t remember your password you can reset it here: GVIAS Member Password Reset. If you have exhausted all options, and believe you have a membership account, but can’t find it, please email: [email protected]
[Click 2 below to go to the next page]
Venture (Benson)
I love being able to keep BitF the acronym. We locally certainly refer to it as that. I recently attended a burner leadership conference and was pleasantly surprised when people from other regions also knew us as BitF. I like that Be in the Forest really reaffirms this notion of radical self expression and being who you are. It can also be a play on using “B, like it can be used to substitute another B word that’s meaningful to you. Another point, we had a name change before when we had Burn in the Fraser…. So this is in keeping with our tradition of sticking with the acronym!
What If is also a great play on BitF and adds a whole new layer of dimensions and possibilities.
So I’m kinda torn between the two.
Unfortunately none of the other names really speak to me and names like Euforia, Glow, all sound too rave like to me and for me doesn’t reflect what and who we are.
Happy voting!
sshoichet
I’m happy to see the discussion ramping up here…. Keep the comments coming!
dianamite
Huge thank you to the renaming committee for all of your hard work – and to the people who proposed new names! I can’t believe the BitF name lasted 22 years.
TEFKAB will continue to change and bring the community together for years to come.
Germán Camou
Incredibly happy with the options selected. Thanks to the committee for your hard work and selection process!
Will definitely take my time today to take my vote, I have two strong candidates.
Also, thanks to everyone who pitched in name ideas <3
This was my first year as a burner and I loved being part of the community so much. I'm eager to participate and be an active member of it.
Craig
Few of us every call our gathering, Burn in the Forest – we call it BitF.
BitF is a word we created together… an emergent word and identity from our community.
BitF holds the history of our event without the challenges posed by the long form name.
For me, What If is an elegant evolution of BitF.
What If is rich with possibilities. It can take us many places in the future, while still connecting us to the wonderful evolution of our beloved gathering back to its very beginnings.
Kieran
Thanks Venture! I think that articulates a lot of what I was feeling about the other names. They’re definitely ravey, and a bit sparkle pony-ish, and don’t feel like they convey what we do or who we are.
“What if” kinda sounds like a cheesy kids’ TV show. (It actually was a short-lived kids’ TV show in South Africa, with a guy in an alien costume as the titular character, and a jingly theme song, and there is absolutely no way I can possibly vote for this option.) It will also make web searches very, very, difficult. Even the acronym “WI” has bad SEO.
Of the sparkle pony options, I particularly dislike Glimmerance. Limerence is a state of obsessive, un-reciprocated infatuation, usually accompanied by intrusive thoughts and melancholia. It is very often experienced as pathological. I don’t think this is the kind of association we want for our event? (Or maybe we do, in a snarky Burner way?)
The sparkle pony option I dislike the least is Luminescence, but only because it calls to mind the bioluminescence that’s common in the Salish Sea.
I know “Wonderverse” is intentionally derivative of “Otherworld”. But I don’t love the implication that BitF is becoming a sideshow to the Vancouver Island event? Also, “Otherworld” is a real word, with nearly a thousand years of historical usage in English to describe the spirit world that’s present across a wide range of mythologies and cultures. “Wonderverse” has none of that history or association, and feels like a cheap knock-off?
I like the idea of the “Be” in “Be in the Forest” being the letter “B” and standing for whatever you want it to be. I think my only issue with that name is that BitF arguably hasn’t been “in the forest” since it left Squamish Valley a long time ago. But it’s still the best option?
(Apologies to the Naming Committee, and the folks who came up with these names, for all the criticism. I really do respect how hard this process is, and how much work you put into it. I just have feelings about names, and get curmudgeonly about them quickly.)
Sarah McManus
I was going to comment and say that Euphoria is a springtime Georgia regional burn in the southeast USA, but it looks like they haven’t held it since the pandemic and have focused on their fall regional burn (Alchemy) instead.
https://euphoriaburn.com/
squishelle
Thanks Sarah for sharing your Regionals knowledge!
We did take that into consideration. As a Burning Man Vancouver Regional Contact, I did check in with Burning Man Project’s Regional Network before going public with the choices, to make sure they didn’t see any major conflicts or concerns.
With the different spelling, not using the word “burn”, since it hasn’t happened for a few years, and is clear across the continent, we decided to give it a whirl!
Ruth Tabata
Is their significance of the spelling with an “F” Euforia?
dianamite
Can’t we just tell the insurance company that BitF stands for Believe in the Future?
Ruth Tabata
I like that name…. <3
Tamara Mataya
When considering names, I like to think about what I’d be saying to someone to invite them to our event (and how that phrasing feels in terms of the incredibly unique experience we co-create during that time).
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“Come, Be in the Forest with us…”
“The Wonderverse is waiting for you…”
.
So I guess my top two (for anyone interested):
-Be In The Forest
-Wonderverse
.
.
.
My Weird Nuances:
-I’d have liked GLIMMER (but am somehow not nearly the fan of Glimmerance).
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-Phuck Euforia’s spelling LOL, I kid BUT it’s more likely to yield years of spelling annoyances (ie ‘YES it’s spelled with an F…’)
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Also, ‘Euphoria’ has some not-sober connotations that could come up for some. Also, not all seek that emotionally excited state of euphoria, they’re seeking something more peaceful from the event/life.
.
(Hence why I return to liking ‘BE in the Forest because there aren’t many amazing places such a radically different-yet-inclusive community can just Be ourselves these days…).
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-‘Glow’ sounds gentle and delightful to me, but CAPS CAN FEEL AGGRESSIVE so GLOW (in caps) FEELS OFF for that reason
-Luminescence is okay…
-What If is okay…
Arthur Goldsmith
The case for “What If”
Voting is now open, and I encourage all my fellow GVIAS members to check their email and participate.
Right now I’d like to make genuine case for why “What If” is a great name for our event.
To start, I’ve never really liked Burn in the Forest as a name, not because of the “Burn” part of it, but because it’s not really all that inspired; it lacks creativity, it only speaks to those who know what a “Burn” is, and it was the most literal name we could devise. This is also why I’m also not a fan of “Be in the Forest”, it inherits all the same problems that BitF had, and let’s be real, it’s no longer in the forest.
“What If” is the start of every crazy burner idea you’ve ever had.
It’s the start of a suggestion to make your project even crazier than before.
It’s the start of the question those folks from SF asked themselves when they brought an effigy to Baker Beach all those years ago.
“What If” is an open invitation for those to participate in whatever way they can imagine.
I’d pronounce it: WtF personally (so it sounds like BitF) and it’s playful enough that it’s also an acronym familiar to many adults, and the reaction you want when your “What If” project finally comes to fruition 😉
If you’ve read this far, thank you, and have a fun time voting!
Vote “What If” 2024!!
squishelle
NOTE! It’s very important that you vote for the options that you’d be ok with in order of preference, and not just vote for 1!
Because if your first choice doesn’t get picked, it gives your subsequent choices a chance… otherwise any other option gets eliminated without a vote.
So for example, if your favourite isn’t making the cut, your secondary votes can get counted towards other options that you would have also liked or been ok with.
John Gojevic
I was initially drawn to any name that preserved the acronym because I’m cheap. The thought of all those trinkets losing meaning and being destined for the junk drawer seemed a waste. Further reflection has expanded my connection to our previous name, now improved with Be vs Burn. I never liked burn, it seemed angry and destructive and my least favourite burn was watching people delight in the destruction of the effigy.
There are two reasons I like the new take on BitF. The first is “Be”. The best advice I’ve ever received (and struggle to adhere to) is “Wherever you are, be there “. It speaks to mindfulness and intention. Being fully present is a challenge for all of us but when we’re together with common purpose we can achieve anything. The other is “Forest”. It identifies my home, my chosen place to be. It identifies a principal feature of where we most of us live and separates us from other regional events. I feel calmer, healthier in the Forest. It sustains me and refreshes me. I suspect in a cataclysmic event I would run to a forest for safety, bounty and beauty.
Regardless of which name is chosen I will still attend because as the master told us “A rose by any other name would smell as sweet “..
Mitch Brown
Honestly, I just came here to say that my primary concern is with “GLOW”.
There are already at least two events in the Lower Mainland that use that name prominently. One is an established large commercial Christmas *festival*, that draws tens of thousands of visitors every year.
Branding, slogans, word play, domain names, logos, etc. will be very hard to come by – and risk infringement.
The “Wonderverse” / Otherworld duality could be neat, but it does feel a bit copy-cat. It also could imply affiliation, at first glance – whether good or bad. Has GVIAS talked with Otherworld on this, out of curiosity?
I’m torn between “What If” and “Be in the Forest”. The others are too difficult to spell, and kinda feel like cheap warehouse rave names.
Nadya Blouin
Loving the comments thread.
Personally I feel drawn to What if and Wonderverse. They’re both so whimsical and imaginative. And they make me feel like any wild thing is possible. I do appreciate what someone said about how it would feel to say it out loud when inviting others and that’s where I feel Wonderverse takes the cake. Also curious about if anyone reached out to Otherworld and how they might feel about this. I’m gonna have to sleep on this one for sure!
paTrick
First, thank you for your incredible work!
Second, I guess nobody remembered that GLOW stood for Gorgeous Ladies of Wrestling.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gorgeous_Ladies_of_Wrestling
– not a bad association, but perhaps a tad limiting. 😉
paTrick
If we go with Wonderverse, then we need a bylaw stating that for every four (4) hours of music, there must be at least one Stevie Wonder tune. 😉
Ruth Tabata
Luv it! Wonderland