Frequently Asked Questions
- What/Who are you people?
- Are these "flash mobs"?
- What kind of people join your group?
- What's the difference between you guys and Banditos Misteriosos?
- Can I particpate?
- Why aren't you putting this energy into something important?
- How do I RSVP to an event?
- Can I import your events into iCal/Google Calendar?
- Why am I getting so many (possibly duplicate) emails?
- I don't want to get any emails/How do I delete my account?
We're a group of friends (you're our friend too) who's primary goal is to bring innocent fun and joy to people when they least expect it, mostly through a hybrid of creative guerrilla theater and outright silliness. We're providing a free public service to help break up the monotony of day to day life by giving those who find themselves spontaneously immersed in our worlds a story to share and memories to cherish. By creating spectacles in public places we encourage people to be more aware of their surroundings and the people that make up their city. In an age where security rhetoric seems to distance us from one another it is more important than ever to use our public spaces for activities that can be equally enjoyed by people of any age, race, religion, sexuality, or political affiliation and hence promote inclusiveness and tolerance. When many different kinds of people come together to experience the same kind of silly, innocent joy we see that we don't have to be as afraid of each other as we might have thought. It's a very simple equation: Inclusiveness is the make-up, silliness is the method, joy is the result.
When the philosophy is said and done we're mostly just out to have a good time for the sake of having a good time and sharing those good times with everyone around us. We are not affiliated with any formal organization- We're just strangers with a common goal.
Sometimes in a way; but mostly not. We put together creative, seemingly spontaneous events whose number of participants may be just 2 or more than 200.
We encourage everyone to join! Fun is universal! As far as we can tell there are only two kinds of people on the planet. The kind who, when they hear about something we do, look at us blankly and ask "why?", and the other kind who hear what we do and burst out laughing and ask how to get involved. As sweet as it is to get looks of utter bewilderment from the why-sayers, lets do our best to bring them over to the other side. Its much more fun here.
Though both our groups share the same last 7 characters in our URLs (sos.org) and we both provide diversions for people in Boston there are actually a couple important differences that characterize our philosophies and methods of practice. BostonSOS is an offshoot of NYC based Improv Everywhere, a kind of interactive, playful performance art. Banditos Misteriosos is part of the Urban Playground movement. Essentially BostonSOS causes scenes ala Improv Everywhere; Misteriosos reclaims public spaces for large scale free-for-all play events like water gun fights, pillow fights, and dance parties.
Improv Everywhere and urban playground group, New Mind Space are both based out of New York City- Boston mirrors this cohabitation with BostonSOS and Misteriosos. Clearly there is some crossover in the groups and we play together quite nicely- and literally! People behind the scenes at Misteriosos are members of BostonSOS and vice versa. We also share a fairly common member base, so if you find yourself here there's a good chance you could find yourself at www.misteriosos.org very shortly.
Absolutely! We'd love to have you! Smaller stunts tend to be limited to long time members- those with a proven track record of following through and aren't afraid to make fools of themselves in public- but we arrange many large scale events and anyone can join. Just register here at this website to get involved. If you are only interested in large scale open invitation events you can join our Facebook group- the link is in the menu at the top of the page.
I think we're providing an important service. Pulling these stunts together takes a lot of time and energy and commitment and I think there are people that say acting silly is not a noble cause and one that doesn't deserve funding or attention- I think some people might think "don't you know that there are AIDS and cancer and starving families?" And I have to say that of course we know that, but there are already countless organizations working towards fixing and alleviating all of them and who is to assume our members are already a part of these important movements? Just because there are these other causes out there that deal with life and death doesn't mean taking a moment to cut loose and be silly isn't a cause that doesn't deserve any representation. The fact that all these other organizations exists proves that life is short and hard and full of pain- so it's very important to remember that sometimes you just need to enjoy it for no other reason than to enjoy it. I think we're a very compassionate group- we have a section of our website with links to these kinds of local organizations that need peoples help. Find it in the primary link buttons near the top of the page.
When new invitations are sent to BSOS members they are notified of the invitation via email. To view and respond to the invitation log in at BostonSOS.org and select View Invitations from the menu on the left. The event will be listed followed by a link for the invitation. Select the event title for event details or select the smaller invitation link below the event title to RSVP. After you open the invitation (important- you must click on the invitation link, not the event title) you can notify whether you are attending or not from the drop down menu that appears. Simply select "Attending", "Might Attend", or "Not Attending" from the list. After you select your status click "Reply" below that. That's it! The page will reload with a thank you response if it went through successfully.
If it is an open-invite event you may also include the email addresses of your friends to whom you wish to receive the invitation as well. If it is not an open-invite event this option will not appear. Open-invite events often have their own event pages on Facebook and MySpace as well. Events scheduled strictly for BSOS members will only appear on this site and crucial event related info is only made available to members who RSVP'd to their invitation.
Many events will send out their last invitations a few days before the event date- so if you recently registered on the site and an event is right around the corner you may not get one at all- but no worries as there's always another on the horizon! Information on meet-up locations are sent out about 24 hours prior to the event- so if you take too long to RSVP as attending you might miss the attendee-only email even though you RSVP'd.
Yes! You can automatically have all the events saved into your favorite calendar software! If your software is configured properly you can click on the little icon right above "more" in the Upcoming events section to the right- most major calendar programs will automatically import the dates.
If you use Google Calendar you can save this file to your computer and manually import it by following these instructions:
1. At the top of the calendar list on the left, click the "Add" down-arrow button and select "Import Calendar."
2. Click "Browse" and choose the file that contains your events, then click "Open."
3. Select the Google Calendar where you'd like to import events, then click on "Import."
Open invite events are posted here as well as on Facebook (and sometimes MySpace and other sites) as a way to bring in new members or to simply offer a one time activity to the general masses. If you RSVP for an event on MySpace, Facebook, AND here at the official site you will end up with 3 emails for every announcement related to that event. If you are registered here there is no need to register on a Facebook event page as well. This does not mean you shouldn't join the Facebook group (and MySpace and IE Global groups) to show your support- join the GROUP but don't respond to a Facebook EVENT unless you don't mind getting double emails. Open events allow invitation forwards to your friends' directly from this site- so there is no need to get on Facebook or MySpace to forward the invitation if you know their email addies.
If you do not wish to receive emails from BostonSOS.org but wish to remain registered in order to comment on events and get in touch with other members you can select the Opt-Out option when you register or afterwards by editing your account details. Simply select "My Account" after logging in then "Edit"- scroll down and select Opt Out and submit your changes. After this you will only get emails if you respond to an invitation. If you respond to any invitation you will be marked as a participating member and will automatically receive updates on that and possibly some other events. If you do not want to be in the know simply ignore invitations and you will not receive any emails at all.
BostonSOS membership means getting site updates and event invitations via email as well as the right to post comments on pages and access to send messages to other members. If you don't want to get emails or invitations or to be reachable to other members the only option is to cancel your account entirely. To do so log in and select "My Account" from the menu on the left. Select Edit and scroll to the bottom of the page and select Delete. Any comments you posted will be changed from your improveratti name to "Anonymous".
