Vibecamp is built on trust: trust that you’ll look out for yourself, trust that you’ll look out for each other, and trust that when something goes wrong, we’ll do our best to handle it seriously and fairly. This page covers how to get help, how to report problems, and what behavior we expect (and encourage!) from everyone on site.
For health or fire emergencies, call 911 first. Then contact the Vibecamp team.
For less urgent health issues, contact the on-site medic (available on-call through attendee volunteers during the day, and via a hired service at night. Nighttime medics will be stationed next to the Teahouse) and the Vibecamp team.
If you see an altercation taking place, ping the Signal chat with the incident location and requesting someone from the Brute Squad to intervene.
If someone is unresponsive, struggling to breathe, or otherwise in danger: get someone immediately. Don't worry about whether it's "serious enough" - flag down a shift volunteer, grab a medic, ping the Vibecamp Signal chat, or find the nearest organizer. We would MUCH rather respond to ten false alarms than miss one real emergency.
How to reach the team
Signal: Contact organizers or members of the Safety Council through the Signal chat, their names are listed on the team page. If it's urgent, ping the general Vibecamp Signal chat. If it requires discretion, message someone from the Safety Council directly. (Contact info will be pinned in the attendee Signal chats.)
In person: Shift volunteers will be wearing sparkly cowboy hats for quick identification (and style 💅).
After an emergency is handled, we'll ask you to fill out the incident form so we can track what happened, follow up, and improve our processes.
Reporting incidents
Please report incidents using this Google Form. The form is designed around behavioral issues, but feel free to report anything that could improve Vibecamp's health, safety, or attendee experience, including media consent policy violations.
Always report red line violations (see below). For other behaviors, use your discretion, informed by whether it bothered you or someone present.
What happens to your report:
Initial reports are reviewed by the Safety Council. We will respond to every report we receive. If you don’t receive a response from us, first check the spam inbox under the email address associated with your Vibecamp ticket, and then reach out to someone on the team to let them know you haven’t heard back.
When further investigation is needed, a person or team is assigned and confidential information is siloed.
If you have concerns about a member of the Safety Council, reach out to Brooke or Regan directly. If you have concerns about leadership, reach out directly to Safety Council members.
Our approach: freedom, autonomy, and safety
We try to hold all three at once.
Individuals are generally free to choose their own risk tolerance for activities - up to the bar of "medium-to-high risk of permanent injury or death" - but you may not impose your risk tolerance on others.
Workshops with an element of risk must be clear enough about that risk that informed consent is possible.
A pair of examples: if two people are verbally abusing each other in the tea house and disturbing others, they've made it everyone's problem, and that warrants immediate intervention by the brute squad and an incident report. If two people spar in a private location, implicate no one else, are both happy with the arrangement, and aren't taking extreme risks - that's their business.
The behavior guidelines below describe categories, but we always assess based on circumstance. Something that's broadly in one category can be judged as another. For example, public nudity might be green or yellow in the woods, orange in a public space where others have asked you to put clothes on, and red if you're intentionally making people uncomfortable.
Behavior guidelines
🔴 Red lines
Red lines breaches lead to permanent bans
Felonies — including physical altercations, sexual assault, or spiking a drink
Danger to yourself and/or others (e.g., fist fights, violent altercations)
Attending without a ticket
Entering other attendees' tents or cabins against their consent
Theft and/or intentional vandalism
Brandishing a weapon (knife, tool, broken bottle, etc.) at someone
Having or carrying a firearm on site
Repeating yellow or orange behavior after warnings
🟠 Orange
Orange line breaches lead to warnings and conditions. Conditions may be applied to your continued participation, and a temporary or conditional ban is possible depending on severity
Conflict approaching but not reaching physical violence
Public nudity outside specific workshops, events, or designated areas
Taking or posting photographs without explicit consent of everyone identifiable in the frame
🟡 Yellow
Yellow line breaches are ones where we'll want to have a conversation to share feedback - we consider these a light warning
Entering other attendees' cabins without their consent to use the shower or restroom
Leaving weapons unsecured - ornamental or cool weapons to show around are fine, but you're responsible for keeping them secure. (Guns and firearms remain strictly prohibited, full stop)
Impeding shift volunteers' work
Continuing to bother an attendee after they've expressed disinterest
Unwanted sexual commentary (e.g., a single instance, stopped immediately when disapproval is expressed)
🟢 Green
Green is the baseline we hope for - these are some of the behaviors that make Vibecamp great
Report incidents you're involved in - and proactively help others report, or report on their behalf (with their consent)
Check in on people and engage proactively, while respecting their autonomy and their answers (including "I'd like to be left alone")
Communicate clearly if someone is crossing, or getting close to crossing, a boundary
Pay attention to verbal and nonverbal cues, and ask for clarification when unsure (e.g., before touching someone)
Use your discretion about whether you can handle a small incident yourself or want to get volunteers or the team involved (but always report red line violations)
Have fun, take care of your needs, and be yourself!!
Flirting and sex
We want to allow - even encourage, where appropriate! - flirting and expressions of interest between consenting adults, while not permitting sexual harassment.
We take accusations of sexual harassment seriously, and we investigate before acting: we gather enough information to have firm grounding, and we work to ensure due diligence toward both parties.
If someone enjoys flirting but has a history of making people uncomfortable doing so, we may ask them to keep their flirting to designated practice spaces.
Sex is generally cool, but follows similar guidelines to public nudity: keep it to private or designated spaces, with the consent of everyone participating and everyone around.
People being unpleasant
We'd like everyone to uphold the ideals of friendly ambitious nerds - but we can't guarantee they will.
Our scene contains a mix of values, and part of what we're all doing here is creating a container where different views and cultures mix. We encourage tolerance of differing viewpoints, along with a deep respect for personal boundaries. With that in mind: if someone's behavior crosses a line for you, please submit an incident report.
Scope: Vibecamp's responsibility is to Vibecamp's incidents
We can communicate with other event organizers, but incidents outside Vibecamp's purview may not be acted upon. We do not adjudicate interpersonal conflicts in relationships outside the event - except potentially for behavior that corresponds to our red lines.
Vibecamp reserves the right to proactively ban someone for persistent patterns of behavior crossing orange or red lines outside the event, though this is not the default.
Fire safety
All fires must be contained within a fire ring or pit, in the designated areas by Cabin U or the bonfire area next to the pond.
While the fire is burning
Never leave it unattended. Someone is always supervising.
Keep fuel away. Store wood and other fuel a safe distance from the fire so it can't spread.
Supervise children and pets at all times near the fire.
Keep safety tools ready: a shovel or trowel and a bucket of water nearby. (There's a bucket of sand and a water bucket at the Cabin U fire pit.)
Putting it out
Drown it properly. Douse thoroughly with water, stirring the embers and coals to make sure everything is extinguished.
No water? Use dirt or sand to smother the fire, burying the embers and coals.
Check for smoldering. All embers should be cold, with no hissing sound, before you leave the area.
Fire extinguisher location: the White House kitchen.
Fireworks are illegal in Maryland. Sparklers only.
The safety council
The safety council meets at least once a month. All members have access to initial incident reports, and ongoing investigations may be siloed when necessary.
Conflicts of interest: when a safety team member has a conflict of interest (e.g., they're personally close to someone involved in a report), they don't take on that investigation. They pass it on to someone unbiased.
The team is built to combine different kinds of experience: medical skills, harm reduction, mental health knowledge, and law enforcement experience.
Current team:
Regan — lead; organizes meetings; decision-maker on site at camp; attendee experience; pro-liberalism and pluralism policy experience
