What is MOOP?
MOOP is an acronym for Matter Out Of Place. We are borrowing the term from the Burning Man festival where it means litter or debris. It also refers to objects that impede the use of spaces designated for a particular activity. The event has a “leave no trace” policy so when it is over, MOOP is anything that doesn’t belong to the land.
In our case, anything that impedes the use or enjoyment of permanent shared spaces can be designated as Matter Out Of Place. Examples of MOOP include trash and litter items such as candy wrappers, cigarette butts, dog poop, and bits of metal or plastic. But MOOP could also be anything that is not obviously trash or hasn’t been stored in the proper location and hinders the use or enjoyment of a shared area: usable wood, broken concrete, tools, buckets, dishes, furniture, bicycles, appliances, building supplies.
Who is responsible for MOOP?
The building management is usually responsible for the maintenance and upkeep of common grounds, but we have created a special situation for ourselves that comes with a fair amount of freedom to create and somewhat lowered standards of care and accountability. Anyone that uses a common space is also responsible for its upkeep, our Use of Common Spaces policy simply states:
Follow the policy to the letter and leave our spaces as you found them or better. Do all within your powers to make this happen in 24 hours.
So what's with the stickers?
Lots of freedom can be good and fun but when irresponsible parties abuse their power or neglect their possessions, everyone involved is affected. Keeping up with the material world is very challenging and holding each other accountable can be very difficult, especially when living busy urban lives laden with tempting distractions. At the moment the purpose of tagging things with a MOOP sticker is simply to name things as a reminder or a gentle nudge, a naming without confrontation yet visible to everyone as a playful attempt at creating accountability. Eventually, if the idea catches on, a MOOP sticker could be used as a way of marking something for removal.
How do I get a sticker?
You can print your own by downloading any of the files below, or you can ask on the listserv:
moop.jpg - single image jpeg
Moop2page.pdf - 2 stickers per page
Moop4page.pdf - 4 stickers per page
Moop8page.pdf - 8 stickers per page
WhatIsMoop.pdf - a sign with a link to this page
MoopVector.svg - vector file for use with Adobe Illustrator or Inkscape
Credits and notes
Lettering on the sticker done by Joe Linton.
An older reference to the expression is a poem entitled “Dirt” by Robert Service that starts with the line “Dirt is just matter out of place”.