I've been precisely once, and only in the last few years, so I am far from an expert on the trajectory of the event or any community surrounding it. But my obs

I've been precisely once, and only in the last few years, so I am far from an expert on the trajectory of the event or any community surrounding it. But my observations were: * Any single characterization of an event that is partly defined by its city-sized number of participants is going to be incomplete. * There's a variety of different experiences to be found there. Chances are good you can find an experience to your liking. * There's better chance that you can bring an experience to your liking, and as in other situations, a lot of what you get out of it related to what you put in. If I go back, I'm mostly likely to do so as part of a camp that's doing something I'm excited about. The blank-canvas aspect of it might be the most interesting part. * Among other things, it's a pop-up art festival in the middle of a particularly dusty lake bed with lots of interesting pieces, some of building-sized scale. No matter what else is going on, if you're into art, chances are good you will like this (unless you also hate camping and don't prepare for that). * To whatever extent specific norms and stated values are different than mainstream, people are still people. You can expect to see some of the best on display and some things that are disappointing. Is it still "in its prime" or is it "over"? Have the values been commodified or sold out? I don't know. I think the questions that matter to the average person thinking of going are whether it's still interesting to you, and what values you're going to try to bring to it. I don't know if I brought enough to the time I went, but I'm glad I did it, and under the right circumstances, I'd do it again.