Glowsticking.com has tried to explain the thoughts in a thorough manner, but it seems like there is just way too much information going around about why 1) you shouldn't glowstick in high school or your high school dance 2) you shouldn't battle 3) you shouldn't form separate crews

Here is a simple pragmatic reason:

The most experienced and well-known glowstickers will not help you and will ignore you if you ask for help. In addition, it's a quick way to get banned on glowsticking.com

Even if you are really young and you don't really understand WHY the rules are such, following these rules tells the older and more experienced glowstickers you are willing to follow the rules. Even if you don't exactly know why, but just trust us for a while, we trust that you will figure out why through personal experience sooner or late. it's inevitable as time goes by and events happen that you find out through real life or on glowsticking.com

So this means, I'd rather have people who just repeat the lines and follow the rules than those that think they know a lot better (those people never keep going with their glowsticking, because they are fundamentally apart from the main community and thus have no motivation to keep going. once you have a network of friends, people to learn from and exchange ideas, concepts and ideas, you have more of a chance to keep going and not hitting a plateaeu).

no one is an island.

amen

Thanks Dave for posting this up.I feel when someone glowsticks at a school dance or in school,its just ruining part of our community.

thanks for the post... i had to make mistakes on my own and learn the hard way.

hopefully alot of people will see this... great post.

alot of people that i hang out with unfortunatly do not understand that you shouldnt glowstick at a high school dance. every dance... there they are w/ their glow sticks... looking like complete fools. everyone seems obsessed w/ the idea of the "energy ball" that you pass around and fiddle with for a bit. they all end up looking realy stupid. why does noone get this... i dont know.

here's the best reason to not bring glowsticks to a dance. unless youre heavily involved in circles at raves, youre going to just be standing there all lit up and looking like a dumbass with nothing to dance to, because high school DJ's are not techno DJ's and the only thing theyre gona play is sandstorm and maybe satisfaction if youre lucky.

also, youre inevitably going to end up in a battle with some cocksure obnoxious guy who is only trying to impress some chick; then, you both get to look like idiots.

summary: techno at high school dances = sucky: its going to take a miracle for you to find anything decent

I don't know if I agree with all the terminology...but it's a good point, anyway.

I hope all new people take the time to look at this.

Seriously, pin for the Newbie forum.

I see whats up

I can't believe I didn't see this post. Very good post...awesome work Dave. (IMG:style_emoticons/default/thumbsup.gif)

talent shows are also a big NO-NO...

Usually new members on glowsticking.com feels the need to spread glowsticking such as through talent shows but, I would highly prefer not to join one because it fits in the area of "I'm better than you at so and so"

the worst part about someone throwing strings in high school (where im from at least) is whether you do drugs or you dont, the school teachers and students are going to label you as a "x-head" or something to that effect.....then its gunna get to your parents cus the school is going to be "worried" about you, this and that.....just not a place you want ta have all that drama...

shit, even if your seen throwing in public by the police it is considered "drug paraphernalia" in the small town where im from, HA!!! and then they will proceed to search you and your vehicle and what not..........

I'm not trying to cause drama here...but maybe I'm not understanding the purpose of the rules...

I consider throwing strings an art form (IMG:style_emoticons/default/inlove.gif) , why would you not want high schoolers to be able to enjoy and experience this?

Second, does battling defeat the rules of PLUR or something, is that why it's poo-hooed upon?
To me, being competetive is part of human nature, and if handled with dignity and respect for the event, it can be a healthy form of release.

Lastly, the part about forming your own crew...is that because you're worried about cliques and people getting the wrong impression of glowstickers and such?

Sorry for all the questions, I still consider myself pretty new to this whole scene...just trying to get a grasp for these "rules." (IMG:style_emoticons/default/biggrin2.gif)

Thanks! (IMG:style_emoticons/default/smilewinkgrin.gif)

Its not that we don't want high schoolers to experience the art form, its that we would also want them to acknowledge and understand the culture behind it. In our experience we've seen what glowsticking in high school/talent shows and battling has done to the art form that we're trying to protect. When people don't know the culture behind it and they just start stringing (btw, is that what you mean by throwing strings?)/ freehanding they do it for the wrong reasons and people that are introduced to it by just seeing it at a talent show or seeing it at a battle get the negative connotations of the culture that we are trying to shake like we all do drugs etc and don't get that we are really trying to push this as and art form and that we want it respected. Bottom line is, if you love the art so much; keep the negativity away from it. Competitions turn it into who's better than whom, when we just want it to be about PLUR. While it can be a healthy form of release for other kinds of dancing such has hip hop and krumping, it has no place in our culture so we fight to make sure that it stays out of our culture as much as we can. "My dream is that one day someone is going to see a stringer and say "That kid is stringing" rather than what happens 9 out of 10 times currently "omg what a fucking drug head alsjdlaksjdlasjd raver!". Turning the negative into positive is what we're all about.

Yup, you got it, throwing strings is stringing or glowsticking...tomato, tomatoe..hehe

(IMG:style_emoticons/default/light.gif) I can understand that you're wanting to turn the negative views of this culture, as you call it, into positive ones. I think that is great, because I sure don't want to have anyone looking down upon me when I'm (attempting to) throw strings. But don't you think the more restrictive you get, the more underground it seems to people, which in turns gives them more reason to call us druggies and wackos, because you're not giving them the chance to understand?

And I don't think it's fair to assume that everyone in high school is not going to handle themselves in a mature manner when it comes to stringing...granted, many high schoolers I've encountered have the maturity level of a 7yr old on crack, but that doesn't mean that the ones who want to pursue this challenging artform should be banned from the opportunity, guilty by association so to speak. I think that, in itself, seems negative to me, haulting someone's desire to pursue an activity (for lack of a better word), seems distant from the views of PLUR.

It's a nice concept that you want to protect the culture and what not, but in all reality, life is tough and you can't expect this art to not come across criticisms here and there. I think it's how we react to the critics and the haters that can give us the positive (or negative) portrayls.

-Teach people how you want this culture perceived.
-Handle the negative views in a mature manner.
-Give people the freedom to learn.(IMG:style_emoticons/default/light.gif)

But who knows..maybe I'm misreading this whole topic. *shrugs* (IMG:style_emoticons/default/biggrin2.gif)

Bolded for emphasis.

So if I were to say that the majority of high schoolers aren't mature enough to handle/understand the art and culture of glowstringing, would you agree with me?

I suppose it's a bit of a rhetorical question, but some people may say no. Anyhoo, like many other people have mentioned before, a lot of high schoolers will want to learn glowsticking (in general, including both freehand and stringing) for the wrong reason(s) - to be cool, to impress others, to become "popular," etc.

There is a difference between glowsticking in high school and a high schooler glowsticking. I'm a junior in high school myself, and I've only been stringing for about two weeks. I don't believe that this community is against glowstickers who are in high school, but to spread it in such a way would have disastrous results. I remember reading a post about how breakdancing used to be like glowsticking now, until MTV did something and something happened (I have the memory of a retarded goldfish). If I remember which post it was, I'll link it.

Rhetorical question or not, I feel compelled to answer none-the-less. Yes, I would agree with you.

So are you saying that breadancing was looked down upon until a corporate entity put it out for it's viewers to see? (IMG:style_emoticons/default/confused.gif)

Found it:

http://www.glowsticking.com/nu/index.php?itemid=95

Being underground and not mainstream is not a bad thing. It going mainstream would mean losing the ability to teach the cultural values on a massive scale. People can understand and those that do want to learn it, search for it, and come her to find out its roots in history and learn as well.

NO, no one is banned from association. This community has no age limit. We limit the way things are spread. This in turns has the most positive outcomes. History has taught us valuable lessons when glowsticking is spread the wrong way. If a highschool person wants to learn, the best way to learn it would be to learn it and the culture at the same time. More often than not, you will have terrible results in a high school setting. Lets say if you did do it though, ill go with what you say, you'll have people who will learn how to glowstick in school, who do it to be cool or popular. They in turn would help others learn and things like competition arise and it gets perpetually manifested in more negative ways. THeirs actually more history to it that backs all this. Its not something im saying or something GSC is saying, its historical events that have made things this way. Plur is important but really has nothing to do with limiting access at the high school level.

This art will always have criticism come from all angles like any other art. Thats expected. How we grow as a community is the result and if you go to a meetup or meet people from the board, you'll see why a lot of the things we do result in an infinite number of positives. (IMG:style_emoticons/default/bigwave.gif)

Theirs also more stuff in the articles section if I missed anything. Just click the link above. (IMG:style_emoticons/default/sm_sleep.gif)