How free-event spots work, and what counts as a no-show

Most of our events are free, and most of them fill up. When someone holds a spot and doesn't use it, that spot could have gone to whoever was next on the waitlist. So we keep a simple record of who came.

The short version: turn up, or cancel in time. Do that and you will never think about this page again. Everything below is for when something goes wrong.

If you weren't checked in

• The next morning, from 10:00, you get a message with a tap that says "I was there". Your host gets the same list, and can check you in.
• At the end of that day, anything still unresolved is recorded as a no-show.
• After that, your host can undo it for 30 days, and you can contest it for 30 days.

So there is a whole day, and a one-tap way out, before anything is recorded — and if that message never reached you, nothing is recorded at all. Being marked absent depends on our having actually told you in time to do something about it.

When nothing is recorded, whatever the roster says

• Nobody was checked in at all. If the door was never opened we have no idea who came, so the whole room is left alone.
• You paid in advance. You bought the seat; missing it is your loss alone.
• You took the spot late — inside 3 hours of the start, which you may never have seen in time.
• A host or admin removed you.
• Your spot was released because you didn't answer "Still coming?" — silence can cost you the spot, never your standing.
• The event had no cap on numbers, or the city is in its first 90 days.

Cancelling

Cancel more than 24 hours ahead and nothing is recorded — that is exactly what we want, because the spot goes to someone waiting. Inside 24 hours it counts the same as not coming: too late for anyone else to use.

This is why the "Still coming?" message arrives 48 hours before the event, comfortably before that 24-hour line — answer it honestly and you are clear either way. And if you do cancel late but someone from the waitlist takes your spot and comes, it is forgiven automatically. The rule is about the empty chair, and there wasn't one.

Cards

• First time in 90 days — a message. No card.
• Second — a yellow card. You join waitlists for limited events at the back.
• One more after that — a red card. You can't take a spot on a limited event until it clears. Events with no cap are unaffected, and any RSVP you already hold stays valid.

Cards clear by turning up: 2 check-ins for a yellow, 3 plus an admin's review for a red. They don't expire on their own — showing up is what clears them.

If it is wrong

Tap "I was there" on the event within 30 days and a person looks at it. Faster still, tell your host — they were at the door, they know, and they can undo it themselves for 30 days. Hosts are asked to be generous here: a missed scan is far likelier than someone claiming a room they weren't in.

Who can see it

Your standing is private. It is not on your profile and other members never see it. A host sees it only when you are waiting on their approval for a limited event — the one moment it is meant to matter.

You can always check yours at Standing. If there is nothing on record, that is exactly what it will say.

Thanks for helping keep Smileys events full of people who actually want to be there. ❤️