[michaelt]

> The tents were never in the lake. A few inches of the campsite was in the lake at high water. [...] Those words don't appear anywhere. Try looking at the actual words and not just your mental images.

I think some people are interpreting “campsite” as the literal space occupied by the tent’s ground sheet while you are interpreting it as the broader area - which in an organised institutional arrangement might be called the “campground”

To use an analogy, think of being in a partly flooded parking space vs parking lot

It makes sense that someone with the former interpretation - the tent ground sheet submerged by a few inches of water - would understand that the tent got soaked.

[selbyk]

I've always understood "campground" to be a whole area open to camping with dozens or hundreds of campers. A campsite is where your group's claim is staked and the area you occupy including picnic tables, fires, etc--not just the tent.

[jibal]

I'm interpreting the word as what it means and how it is obviously being used. No one takes "campsite" to mean "the literal space occupied by the tent’s ground sheet" unless they are playing some silly sophistic game. Here is what it means (pick your own source ... they are all similar and none agrees with your definition):

"A campsite is a designated area where individuals can set up bedding, sleeping bags, or cooking equipment, such as stoves or fires. This definition encompasses any location that allows for sleeping or cooking, regardless of whether it includes a tent, lean-to, shack, or other structures."

And here's the Wikipedia description, which notes that the English "campsite" is equivalent to the American "campground", but that is broader and neither is so absurdly narrow as your words:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Campsite

> would understand that the tent got soaked

I already refuted this nonsense ... there is no reason to think from the OP's description that the tent got soaked.

> To use an analogy, think of ...

I don't need any help with thinking, especially from bad analogies that are flatly contradicted by the OP's description. What's the parking lot analogy to building dams?