I can understand your concern, Fenlain. It is an understandable one, and I'll try to explain the situation as it is the best I can. It's not ideal, but it's the truth of the situation on the ground: and it's proven to be pretty good in practice thus far!
The first is really a protection provided by the type of people that tend to participate in community events at all, or even know they exist: a person would have to be in most heinous violation of Wheaton's Law to create intentionally unsafe cookies for a charity bake sale. We've been doing this since 2008 (2007 if you count the first, less formal year), and no one's attempted to do something like that yet thankfully. The good we do - and the fact that such a person, if they were caught in the act, would likely be beaten to death by an angry Child's Play loving mob - is something that would hopefully give a person pause.
That being said, it's still entirely possible for someone to still want to do it: and it's one of the many reasons why we don't take 100% anonymous contributions, and we require people to register on our website and give us a varity of personal information before they can actually participate as a member of the Cookie Brigade. If a person is causing mischief, we ideally have at least enough information to make them think twice. With the new organizational measures we're taking, we're taking strides toward being able to document the source of incoming cookies down to the user who gave them, which both means that we can reward great bakers and (in case of a sociopath somehow finding us and fooling us well enough for us to let him/her join) a way to track down someone intent on causing harm. So far, the people who know about the Brigade and end up joining have mostly been either long time forum goers, friends of long time forum goers, or people who we've met in our Brigadieering who at least appear to genuinely want to help. We do a bit of grilling of new people in the form of some questions and asking for some personal info if it hasn't been provided, so hopefully as long as we keep that up we should keep the quality of participants high.
That's pretty much the best we can do as a guerrilla charity bake sale operation: we unfortunately have neither the financial means, the time, nor the resources to centralize the production of cookies. We rely on a community of warm-hearted people who genuinely care about Child's Play to help make this all possible.
There is an inherit risk that a sociopath might invade our ranks for the purpose of committing a sociopathic level of misdeed - but history has shown that this has not yet happened, and hopefully if we keep what measures we have in place it never will. I can't promise that it won't, and it's impossible for us to promise that it won't, but if it ever does it would be an aberration of an unusually sick person and in the vast minority (even at whatever PAX they would theoretically attend, let alone over the entire history of the Brigade) compared to the thousands upon thousands of cookies we give out every single PAX from genuinely good people looking to contribute to a genuinely good cause with their genuinely good (and safe!) baking.
And in truth, if a sociopath wanted to cause harm through intentionally tainted food, they could do it a lot more easily than by going through the Cookie Brigade's vetting and organizational process: they could just hand said tainted food out of their own accord, completely separate from us, and never have to be bothered with our checkpoints. We're definitely not a path of least resistance should some psycho want to cause harm. That's probably the biggest point in our favor, actually: the fact that we *have* a vetting process means that we're already much more of an annoyance for someone looking to do harm than if they just set out on their own to do it.
Now when it comes to unintentional tainting, that is a difficult problem, and one faced by *any* bake sale: if a well meaning person simply creates cookies that have some kind of "bad" component unknowingly, how will we weed them out in advance? Unfortunately, we can't, for the same reasons mentioned above. I know that, as a Distributor, I've used my judgement before on cookies: I've refused to distribute cookies that looked like they may have been of poor quality, or that weren't individually wrapped. Last year we began a strict policy on individual wrapping which has done well for us as far as keeping the quality of the cookies high, and hopefully those sorts of measures will help.
What must be understood - by both people who make the cookies and those who consume them - is that indeed this is an underground, covert, community-run operation. We're not a company making all of these in a clean room environment. We have several recommended guidelines, registration gateways, personal information collection and personal judgement to try and stem such a situation, but in the end we can't guarantee the kind of safety that you'd get if you were opening a wrapped cookie from a factory. When push comes to shove, we can't make any more promises than a school run bake sale could. Whether that's okay with you or not is really up to you as the consumer to decide, but unfortunately unless a large corporate benefactor came along to help us it'd be impossible to promise more than that.
Historically this has been sufficient for most people, and if it's not okay for you I can totally understand that concern! I have run into people who are uncomfortable with the concept, and it is entirely within their perogative: we won't force the cookies on you, or guilt you into trying one. They're for people who want them, and if you don't want them that's totally okay! You can still donate to Child's Play, and/or take a button, trading card, or any of our other random nonedible items!
TL;DR Someone looking to cause harm has much easier ways of doing it than to register for the Brigade, and in the end we have the same problems as any bake sale: so if you're okay with food from bake sales, you'd probably be okay with us. If you're not, then we have buttons and pins for you which are definitely safe!
Ah, you guys are too good to me I hope it is sufficient explanation of our situation, and I do wish we were in a better position to make better assurances. But hopefully history combined with what safeguards and social mores we do have in place will be sufficient for most.
Oh no. I feel really badly! Between the confirm email hitting my spam folder and my net going down thanks to high winds, I missed the confirmation window. Do I need to re-register? I'm not a flake, I swear!
Long-time pax-goer, almost-never forum-poster here. I'd like to pitch in and do some baking for PAX East this year... signed up on the website a couple of days ago. No rush, I would just like to contribute since I love to bake and have always admired the cookie brigade! I make a mean chocolate chip, or so I'm told!
Just wanted to pop in and say hi! I'm not an avid forumer (I honestly just read and never post), but I put my "application" in on the cookie brigade website and wanted to let you know I'm a real person. I'm super excited to offer my baking services up to the cause. I think this is great that you guys do this!
On that note, are you sticking strictly to cookies? Or do you think slices of banana bread would fly? Because in addition to cookies, I also make a bangin' banana nut bread.
How do I spot a "True" Cookie Brigade helper at the PAX East? Thank you.
This year we're working on some Cookie Brigade patches and gold lapel pins. We'll probably post pics of the handsomeness when we get our hands on them.
karmacappa on
"In Europe, it's not America."
Scott Kurtz, The Morning After, Aug 31 - 2010
Aye, we'll be posting up the badges so that you'll know us by these as soon as they arrive! They're being forged in the fires of Mount Doom as we speak!
And indeed, I've gotten around just now to sending out the application questionnaire for anyone who applied to the brigade earlier this week: you'll have received a PM here, please answer it so we can process your request! Thank you kindly!
Aye, we'll be posting up the badges so that you'll know us by these as soon as they arrive! They're being forged in the fires of Mount Doom as we speak!
And indeed, I've gotten around just now to sending out the application questionnaire for anyone who applied to the brigade earlier this week: you'll have received a PM here, please answer it so we can process your request! Thank you kindly!
I never filled out one, do you want to send me one, or did I pass already?
Damn, I am so going to bring a fistful of cash to exchange for cookies. The Cookie Brigade, sadly, was not something I partook in during the inaugural Pax East.
I'd be happy to be a baker (I make some mean chocolate chunk-mixed nut cookies) but given time constraints very close to PAX I would either have to:
a) Bake a few days in advance
b) Make the cookie dough and drop it off for someone else to put in the oven (if there's any Boston PAXers that're interested I'd be happy to do this to keep the cookies fresh!)
so how many cookie brigade members are in this group? pax will have about a gabillion people attending and i really don't wanna miss out on supporting cp and supporting my tummy.
would it be weird if i put a big button on my bag that said something to the likes of: "looking for cookie brigade"?
p.s. those oreo chocolate chip cookies look wicked good.
Kid_nyc: We've got a large number of people this year, at least talking on the site. Something I need to do a little better on the site itself is have a way for people to state more explicitly whether they're going and what their role is going to be. We're still working out the best way to organize as we go. But you'll definitely be able to find us, look for the Cookie Brigade patches and blue flags with patches!
We usually frequent lines for panels and the main line to get in at the start of the day, as its the easiest places to manuver in (especially compared to the Expo Hall or the actual gameplay rooms). I find that people tend to only have trouble finding us if they spend their whole time at PAX in the Expo hall or the gameplay rooms. If you're in a line, odds are you'll run into us at some point! Just keep your eyes peeled and flag us down if we don't come your way for some reason!
Kid_nyc: We've got a large number of people this year, at least talking on the site. Something I need to do a little better on the site itself is have a way for people to state more explicitly whether they're going and what their role is going to be. We're still working out the best way to organize as we go. But you'll definitely be able to find us, look for the Cookie Brigade patches and blue flags with patches!
We usually frequent lines for panels and the main line to get in at the start of the day, as its the easiest places to manuver in (especially compared to the Expo Hall or the actual gameplay rooms). I find that people tend to only have trouble finding us if they spend their whole time at PAX in the Expo hall or the gameplay rooms. If you're in a line, odds are you'll run into us at some point! Just keep your eyes peeled and flag us down if we don't come your way for some reason!
I need a giant flag of Cookie Monster to fly high, else I fear you will not know how much my belly yearns for these baked goods!
So, my only internet browser happens to be my PS3. It's a great system, but the browser sucks. I would like to join.
I will be making (brace yourself) ... (wait for it) ... Chocolate chip white chocolate chip coconut vanilla oatmeal cookies.
Made from awesome harvested from my twisted mind. I might be able to make 3 dozen.
TheRobotGuy on
Fuck You Bottle is the name of my Jonathan Coulton cover band.
I will be making (brace yourself) ... (wait for it) ... Chocolate chip white chocolate chip coconut vanilla oatmeal cookies.
Made from awesome harvested from my twisted mind. I might be able to make 3 dozen.
Those sound so decadent...I want one! Basically all my favorites in one cookie.
"You will know me by the scent of cooking sugar, chocolate, divine ambrosia scent from the mountains of Olympus. Yea, verily, sent by Odin himself and delivered unto us from the hands of virgin Valkaries! You will see us, and you shall WEEP!! Tears of joy that shall cleanse away all the pain your empty tummy feels. An' we shall give unto you the COOKIE!"
Menolly07 on
Still PAXing strong. [E] for lyfe. ELand forever.
twitter.com/Menolly07
Posts
The first is really a protection provided by the type of people that tend to participate in community events at all, or even know they exist: a person would have to be in most heinous violation of Wheaton's Law to create intentionally unsafe cookies for a charity bake sale. We've been doing this since 2008 (2007 if you count the first, less formal year), and no one's attempted to do something like that yet thankfully. The good we do - and the fact that such a person, if they were caught in the act, would likely be beaten to death by an angry Child's Play loving mob - is something that would hopefully give a person pause.
That being said, it's still entirely possible for someone to still want to do it: and it's one of the many reasons why we don't take 100% anonymous contributions, and we require people to register on our website and give us a varity of personal information before they can actually participate as a member of the Cookie Brigade. If a person is causing mischief, we ideally have at least enough information to make them think twice. With the new organizational measures we're taking, we're taking strides toward being able to document the source of incoming cookies down to the user who gave them, which both means that we can reward great bakers and (in case of a sociopath somehow finding us and fooling us well enough for us to let him/her join) a way to track down someone intent on causing harm. So far, the people who know about the Brigade and end up joining have mostly been either long time forum goers, friends of long time forum goers, or people who we've met in our Brigadieering who at least appear to genuinely want to help. We do a bit of grilling of new people in the form of some questions and asking for some personal info if it hasn't been provided, so hopefully as long as we keep that up we should keep the quality of participants high.
That's pretty much the best we can do as a guerrilla charity bake sale operation: we unfortunately have neither the financial means, the time, nor the resources to centralize the production of cookies. We rely on a community of warm-hearted people who genuinely care about Child's Play to help make this all possible.
There is an inherit risk that a sociopath might invade our ranks for the purpose of committing a sociopathic level of misdeed - but history has shown that this has not yet happened, and hopefully if we keep what measures we have in place it never will. I can't promise that it won't, and it's impossible for us to promise that it won't, but if it ever does it would be an aberration of an unusually sick person and in the vast minority (even at whatever PAX they would theoretically attend, let alone over the entire history of the Brigade) compared to the thousands upon thousands of cookies we give out every single PAX from genuinely good people looking to contribute to a genuinely good cause with their genuinely good (and safe!) baking.
And in truth, if a sociopath wanted to cause harm through intentionally tainted food, they could do it a lot more easily than by going through the Cookie Brigade's vetting and organizational process: they could just hand said tainted food out of their own accord, completely separate from us, and never have to be bothered with our checkpoints. We're definitely not a path of least resistance should some psycho want to cause harm. That's probably the biggest point in our favor, actually: the fact that we *have* a vetting process means that we're already much more of an annoyance for someone looking to do harm than if they just set out on their own to do it.
Now when it comes to unintentional tainting, that is a difficult problem, and one faced by *any* bake sale: if a well meaning person simply creates cookies that have some kind of "bad" component unknowingly, how will we weed them out in advance? Unfortunately, we can't, for the same reasons mentioned above. I know that, as a Distributor, I've used my judgement before on cookies: I've refused to distribute cookies that looked like they may have been of poor quality, or that weren't individually wrapped. Last year we began a strict policy on individual wrapping which has done well for us as far as keeping the quality of the cookies high, and hopefully those sorts of measures will help.
What must be understood - by both people who make the cookies and those who consume them - is that indeed this is an underground, covert, community-run operation. We're not a company making all of these in a clean room environment. We have several recommended guidelines, registration gateways, personal information collection and personal judgement to try and stem such a situation, but in the end we can't guarantee the kind of safety that you'd get if you were opening a wrapped cookie from a factory. When push comes to shove, we can't make any more promises than a school run bake sale could. Whether that's okay with you or not is really up to you as the consumer to decide, but unfortunately unless a large corporate benefactor came along to help us it'd be impossible to promise more than that.
Historically this has been sufficient for most people, and if it's not okay for you I can totally understand that concern! I have run into people who are uncomfortable with the concept, and it is entirely within their perogative: we won't force the cookies on you, or guilt you into trying one. They're for people who want them, and if you don't want them that's totally okay! You can still donate to Child's Play, and/or take a button, trading card, or any of our other random nonedible items!
TL;DR Someone looking to cause harm has much easier ways of doing it than to register for the Brigade, and in the end we have the same problems as any bake sale: so if you're okay with food from bake sales, you'd probably be okay with us. If you're not, then we have buttons and pins for you which are definitely safe!
+1
This!
To which I reply: THIS
twitter.com/Menolly07
I ♥ making awesome crafts! I ♥ my Cookie Brigaders!
i'm not able to help out this year, but come next year my access to multiple ovens only minutes from boston will be put to good use i assure you.
wow....never used the word "assure" so much in my life.
twitter.com/Menolly07
I am so, so sorry. {and seriously embarrassed}
PAX East Pics: 2010-2015 & Vids: 2012-2015
PAX East Pics: 2010-2015 & Vids: 2012-2015
On that note, are you sticking strictly to cookies? Or do you think slices of banana bread would fly? Because in addition to cookies, I also make a bangin' banana nut bread.
Thoughts?
~Jess
This year we're working on some Cookie Brigade patches and gold lapel pins. We'll probably post pics of the handsomeness when we get our hands on them.
Scott Kurtz, The Morning After, Aug 31 - 2010
http://s774.photobucket.com/user/SchoolGirlGoodness/library/
https://www.etsy.com/shop/VeronatheMad
[SIGPIC][/SIGPIC]
And indeed, I've gotten around just now to sending out the application questionnaire for anyone who applied to the brigade earlier this week: you'll have received a PM here, please answer it so we can process your request! Thank you kindly!
I never filled out one, do you want to send me one, or did I pass already?
Wel, I'm not a vet and I haven't gotten a PM either. Is this because I'm baking and not distributing? Or something else?
Also DJ, that's awesome! We greatly appreciate your support!
I'd be happy to be a baker (I make some mean chocolate chunk-mixed nut cookies) but given time constraints very close to PAX I would either have to:
a) Bake a few days in advance
b) Make the cookie dough and drop it off for someone else to put in the oven (if there's any Boston PAXers that're interested I'd be happy to do this to keep the cookies fresh!)
If not.... I still cant wait for cookies...
WHOS ON SNICKERDOODLES FOR ZEROHOURHERO DETAIL THIS YEAR?
would it be weird if i put a big button on my bag that said something to the likes of: "looking for cookie brigade"?
p.s. those oreo chocolate chip cookies look wicked good.
twitter.com/Menolly07
Kid_nyc: We've got a large number of people this year, at least talking on the site. Something I need to do a little better on the site itself is have a way for people to state more explicitly whether they're going and what their role is going to be. We're still working out the best way to organize as we go.
We usually frequent lines for panels and the main line to get in at the start of the day, as its the easiest places to manuver in (especially compared to the Expo Hall or the actual gameplay rooms). I find that people tend to only have trouble finding us if they spend their whole time at PAX in the Expo hall or the gameplay rooms. If you're in a line, odds are you'll run into us at some point!
I will be making (brace yourself) ... (wait for it) ... Chocolate chip white chocolate chip coconut vanilla oatmeal cookies.
Made from awesome harvested from my twisted mind. I might be able to make 3 dozen.
Those sound so decadent...I want one! Basically all my favorites in one cookie.
my sentiments exactly.
thanks for the info vt. i plan on being in a few lines so i hope i'll catch someone!
I'll be the one in the Nintendo hoodie. If that means anything in a crowd of 50,000 or so.
"You will know me by the scent of cooking sugar, chocolate, divine ambrosia scent from the mountains of Olympus. Yea, verily, sent by Odin himself and delivered unto us from the hands of virgin Valkaries! You will see us, and you shall WEEP!! Tears of joy that shall cleanse away all the pain your empty tummy feels. An' we shall give unto you the COOKIE!"
twitter.com/Menolly07