Community Guidelines

Upcoming is a multicultural, global community. We speak so many languages; it's no wonder that sometimes there can be misunderstandings. This is when our guidelines come in handy. If you follow them, we guarantee you'll have more fun. And it'll be safer out there for everyone if you do, so remember that you're subject to follow these guidelines and our Terms of Use.

What Makes Us Happy

Be excellent to each other.

We're here to make friends and discover the neatest events happening nearby. Be kind, polite, and respectful of opinions that do not match your own. If you're friendly on Upcoming, maybe you'll meet at your next event!

Talk to each other.

If you see an event with an error somewhere in its description, feel free to directly contact the organizer. Moderation within the community keeps us sharp and independent. If your concerns aren't being taken care of, you're always welcome to contact us.

Watch a lot.

When you're unable to attend the events you like, watch them. It lets us know what you're interested in, so we can recommend other good ones to you.

Talk a lot.

The comments are a great way to learn more about an event. You can find reviews, podcasts, odd news, and if you're lucky, funny stories about the last time someone went to an event just like it. Of course you've got your own stories to tell, so we suggest using the comments frequently.

Know when to invite someone.

Here on Upcoming, we often hear about birthdays and cocktail parties on the weekends. Thanks for inviting us! But we recommend switching your soirees to private so that you don't find yourself with someone who mistakes your fun for their good time.

Promote yourself, but start slowly.

We want you and your band, or venue, or company, to promote yourself. And the best way to go about this is to add your events slowly. As the community discovers you, you'll find out whether Upcoming is the right place for your self-promotions. Be aware of your audience.

What Makes Us Sad

All events should happen in the real world.

This means no virtual world events, no website launches, no podcasts or other live streaming events, no gold raids with your World of Warcraft clan, no hot dates in Second Life, or anything else without the opportunity to shake hands with a stranger.

Also, holiday events should always have a specific location. So creating a New Year's Parade in New York is OK, but adding a New Year's "Everywhere" event is not.

All events should occur at a set time.

Part of the definition of "event" is lost if you're adding something that happens on a daily basis. You cannot count the opening hours of your local business as eventful. If we spot you adding events on a daily or year-round basis, we'll give you a warning.

Recycling events is bad.

Time for the newest event of your recurring monthly or yearly event? Don't just edit the date/time of last year's event in hopes of keeping the same title and description. If you do, you'll also drag along the same watchlist, attendees, comments, and Flickr photos, which may not be relevant to your most current event (and will definitely upset the community). Make a new event instead.

This is a place for teens too.

Which means you should be on your best behavior. If you're already squeamish just thinking about the children seeing it, then don't post it here or your account will be reviewed.

No naked buddy icons.

If you're spotted, we'll take it down and give you a warning. Try us again and we'll terminate your account.

Adding me, you, and everyone else as your friend.

We're not MySpace, there's no reason for it, and you're just giving us a reason to deal with you. Contact spamming (indiscriminately adding hundreds of people as friends) is a really easy way to get yourself banned.

Use tags and groups in moderation.

Event search benefits from the good tags and the right groups. So irrelevant tags and groups just make the event search less effective. We'll remove your tags, groups, and give you a warning.

Don't be a bully.

Upcoming is a place to discover events and make friends. Bullies just get in the way. Please don't threaten, insult, harass, or behave aggressively towards each other. If we receive a valid complaint, you will receive a warning.

Venues have copyright laws.

It may seem harmless to copy and paste a venue's event description over to our site, but it's against the law. Please mind your copyright infringement by remembering to cite the sources you feature. And any photos not taken by you should also be given credit where credit is due.

In Conclusion

These guidelines were designed so that you can enjoy Upcoming as much as we do. It all works as long as everyone moderates their own content, so it's mainly up to you to behave responsibly. If you don't feel you can follow the Community Guidelines as outlined above, maybe Upcoming isn't for you.

Feel free to ask us a question or leave suggestions. We're always ready to hear from you.