that's the same day as Elephant Walk. I just now realized this.

How useful is this coincidence?

If it were held on Wednesday, a lot of students would have already gone home, especially being an away game.
Friday and Saturday are out because it would be the 18th.
Sunday is out because of finals on Monday.
Remember, SB is a business that has to make back money on burn night, so it has to scheduled well.

To the best of my knowledge, these are the reasons.

EDIT: Due to my sleep dep...

[This message has been edited by Armadillo Jackal (edited 10/3/2006 12:36a).]

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How useful is this coincidence?

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From a promotion standpoint, it's quite valuable. A little viral marketing at Junior E-Walk and Senior Elephant Walk will be beneficial.

i will be telling everyone to go to burn

While we're talking about the burn event...

Please focus on transportation.

The problem every year is getting enough people in and out of site in a reasonable time without massive lines and delays.

If you have a bus of 50 people arriving and unloading every two minutes, guess how long it takes you to get 6,000 people to site.

FOUR HOURS

Even with the extremely optimistic "one bus every two minutes" hypothetical, that's not a viable timeframe.

I'm not sure if there is a "magic bullet" solution to this problem, but I think some brainstorming is needed to devise a mix of strategies to solve it.

Armadillo-

Am I missing something? I thought that finals were in December, not the days before Thanksgiving.

Yes, thanks. Sleep dep. is taking its toll.

Well, I guess most of us in the real world won't be able to make it.

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Well, I guess most of us in the real world won't be able to make it.

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I suppose you could make it if you lived no farther away than Houston and if your job lets you leave before rush hour. But a workday Burn is surely going to be a problem for a lot of former students.

Bonfire is a tradition, but unfortunately it's also a business these days. SB relies on attendance for its continued success, and as it was said, having it on T-2 alienates not only a pretty big chunk of former students due to work related purposes, but also those with small kids, even though they won't be in school, and also some of the current students who live far away and look to get a jump start on their brief vacation.
Also, how long can 11/18 be sacred? I could be wrong, but I think having bonfire doesn't desecrate those who died, but pays respect to them in a way. And in a realistic sense, SB has to make financial/business decisions that are best for itself.

FWIW, Bonfire '98 burned on T-2.

Isn't T-2 when Bonfire is supposed to burn for an away game?

No, traditionally it burned two days before the game, which would be T-1, since the game is on T+1.

My point is that from a business perspective, Bonfire ought to burn the Saturday prior.

I'm not so sure. On a Saturday, you're competing with every other "Saturday Night" event - from bar promotions to parties to whatever.

The Tuesday burn night will not face the typical Saturday night competition.


Right now, the best thing for ASB attendance is a football team that keeps winning. The bigger T+1 becomes, the more enthusiasm there will be for ASB.

Just make sure there is a transportation and parking plan to support the crowd, along with a well-coordinated event program.

I thought we did Tuesday night burns in '96 AND '98.

Why is that suddenly a bad thing?

Because ASB is trying to gain the popularity that Bonfire had when it was on campus. I may be wrong, but when it was on campus, didn't they have somewhere around 40k. For the past few years it's had...8k or so? Somebody verify that and correct my mistakes. I'm just saying, with a burn on Tuesday, you're competing with those going home. Make ASB THE Saturday night event and you won't have anything to worry about.

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No, traditionally it burned two days before the game, which would be T-1, since the game is on T+1.

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oh, I was thinking T=gameday...

The thing about right now is that Bonfire is forced to burn outside of the city limits. These areas generally do not support large ammounts of traffic in a small ammount of time. It will be impossible to accomidate the pre '99 crowd as long as Stack and Burn are down a farm to market road. College Station could barely survive the traffic surge...as the numbers and popularity go up, lets hope that Bonfire gets closer to town.

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I thought we did Tuesday night burns in '96 AND '98.

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I think you're right.

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I'm just saying, with a burn on Tuesday, you're competing with those going home.

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They have classes on Wednesday, correct?

My profs were always pretty harsh on those that skipped the Wed before Thanksgiving.

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Make ASB THE Saturday night event and you won't have anything to worry about.

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Ok, how do you do that, when you're competing against parties and the like?

Yes, classes are scheduled for that Wednesday.

Classes are scheduled for Wednesday. I have two. I also have walks in both of them, and I doubt I'm the only person on campus who this is the case for. I also sincerely doubt that anybody is really motivated to stick around for some classes even if they don't have a walk.

You can remain in denial or you can let the attendance on the night of burn speak for itself.

The biggest misconception is that criticism on TexAgs matters.

Does the leadership read TexAgs? Rarely to never.
Does the leadership care about TexAgs? No.

Some of you make good points, but it does absolutely no good on TexAgs (a public forum). The people that you argue with on here are not Bonfire decision makers; they are just other people like you with ideas. The Reds don't have the time to surf the web looking for good Bonfire ideas. If you feel strongly enough about it, go out to Bonfire and make your suggestion.

I bet any Red will give you the time to make a suggestion, but you're not going to contact the through TexAgs. Email them. I confirmed that the info@studentbonfire.com address is checked 5 times a day by one person, those emails are forwarded to the appropriate leadership person.

[This message has been edited by Armadillo Jackal (edited 10/17/2006 9:51a).]

My concerns for the organization have been passed on through one of the greens.

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My concerns for the organization have been passed on through one of the greens.

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Great. That works too.

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Classes are scheduled for Wednesday. I have two. I also have walks in both of them, and I doubt I'm the only person on campus who this is the case for.

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This is a shot in the dark...

you wanted to go home early and were excited when your profs gave you walks, but never looked into when burn was. The date (Nov. 21) has been set since July.

There actually aren't very many profs that concede full day of class because the students don't want to come...or else that would happen every day.

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I also sincerely doubt that anybody is really motivated to stick around for some classes even if they don't have a walk.

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Grades and exams do tend to motivate people to attend class. Knowing the profs that I had, many attendance quizes and very important information will be given the day before a long break. This holds true for spring break too.

You suggested Bonfire could compete for attendance on a Saturday night, but wouldn't it be easier for Bonfire to convince people to stay an extra Tuesday night and leave in the morning. Driving would be safer in daylight, you would get an extra night's sleep...you could even watch Burn.

I always had walks in my classes the wednesday before Thanksgiving. Reason being, classes are canceled Wednesday afternoon, so if they get a walk, so should the morning classes.

BTW, the leadership is people just like you and I, and many do read these boards. I'm not sure where you're coming from, but there is nothing different about them.

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the leadership is people just like you and I...but there is nothing different about them.

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Wow.

So, you and I are busy working on logistics of an event with around 1000 people?
So, you and I are working out at a cut site 30 min away nearly everyday (no elec. for comp.)?
So, you and I using whatever spare time we have to choose whether to attend class, study or sleep?
So, you and I are making trips to cities around Texas for promotion and picking up equipment.
So, you and I are working on the countless behind the scenes work that goes into making Bonfire happen?

I don't think so. That is where I'm coming from. I was never Red/Grey, but I do know a little of the responsibilities they take on. Above is just the tip of the iceberg.

I’m just letting you know that if your intentions are for the betterment of Bonfire, use the email system. TexAgs won’t get you far in that aspect.

Also, I've had one walk on the Wednesday before Thanksgiving during my time at A&M. Its different all over campus.

Ok, keep arguing about it and defending it solely because that's the decision that's already been made. The fact is that never has ASB had a burn on anything but Saturday night, and attendance has never been stellar. Now it's been moved to the middle of the week, of Thanksgiving no less. Apparantly there are two parties of people represented, those that wish to maintain pre-99 tradition and also keep 11/18 sacred by never doing anything on that day again, and those that wish to see an organization succeed in a pretty critical year for them. I'm going home Tuesday, I always have in years past, most of my friends are going home Tuesday too. Just like we have in past years.

If you don't believe me about the issues you'll face on having it burn Tuesday night and you honestly believe that having it on Tuesday night, more people will come, well then I guess we'll just have to let the attendance speak for itself. But like I've said, my plans are to take advantage of the walks I've been givem take the opportunity to spend that time with my family. You never had to compete with walks or families as long as it was the Saturday prior. Also, that weekend before almost nobody goes home because they will be going home either that Tuesday or Wednesday night. So I would venture to make the guess that the weekend prior to Thanksgiving is one of the more populous in the Fall semester.

Let the attendance speak for itself.

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I'm going home Tuesday, I always have in years past, most of my friends are going home Tuesday too. Just like we have in past years.

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Sounds like you really care about the success of ASB.

You could decide to go home Wednesday morning and encourage your friends to do the same, but the opportunity for an "I told you so" seems to be more important.

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The fact is that never has ASB had a burn on anything but Saturday night, and attendance has never been stellar.

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Maybe one of the reasons WHY attendance has never been stellar is because it was on a Saturday.

You seem to word your arguements as if you were making them to the Bonfire leadership. If you are, I still recommend info@studentbonfire.com. No upper leadership have been posting.

And if you're 07, why aren't you involved. You obviously live here. Whats keeping you from going out to build the hell?

I can't speak for you, but..

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So, you and I are busy working on logistics of an event with around 1000 people?no, many more people than that
So, you and I are working out at a cut site 30 min away nearly everyday (no elec. for comp.)?no, I work at a site an hour away. We use generators for electricity
So, you and I using whatever spare time we have to choose whether to attend class, study or sleep?Construction has long hours. I have no spare time
So, you and I are making trips to cities around Texas for promotion and picking up equipment.Yes, part of my job
So, you and I are working on the countless behind the scenes work that goes into making Bonfire happen?Not Bonfire, just a $32 million project. Much less complicated[/sarcasm]

I don't think so. That is where I'm coming from. I was never Red/Grey, but I do know a little of the responsibilities they take on. Above is just the tip of the iceberg.

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Wow.

Are you just stupid?? I said that they, as people, are no different than us. I said nothing about their responsibilities, etc. I commend these guys and gals for their efforts and countless hours. They made a tough decision that, unfortunately probably doesn't work with many people's schedule. I guess the difference is, if it were on Saturday, Sunday, or even Wednesday, people would have to CHOOSE not to go. On Tuesday, many people CAN'T go.

Edit: But I will still help with cut/stack when I can make it down on the weekends, and I will do everything I can to make it to burn.

[This message has been edited by bgrimm05 (edited 10/17/2006 4:37p).]

What I'm saying, is your complaints to TexAgs posters about what Bonfire should do is in vain.

Please point out where I complained about what they should do, before you took a shot at me. I simply stated that the scheduling was unfortunate for most former students.

so the scheduling has ALWAYS been a problem for former students? It seems that 10 years ago there were plenty that made it on Tuesday night.

the 2002 fire took place on a weeknight, just FYI.