I was there!

December 15, 2011 12:28 PM

IRL Pony: Can we get an "I was There!" option for past events?

Earlier this week, I got out of a meeting early, and made it to an awesome meetup that I didn't anticipate being able to attend.

Today, I went back to that meetup's page, and discovered that there's no way to retroactively mark your attendance (or lack thereof) for posterity.

It's a silly little thing, but I think it would be nice to mark these things retroactively (especially for the 'Maybes').

As it turns out, I'd already RSVP'd to this particular event before I knew I had a meeting. However, because I'm such a scatterbrain, I'd love to be able to mark my attendance after the event has ended.

posted by schmod to Feature Requests at 12:28 PM (16 comments total)

The year - 4011. The place - an archeological dig along a river, searching for the ruins of a fabled city called something like Washington. Suddenly, a student calls out, "I found something. I think it was called a glass, and I am sure it was the one used by Schmod."
posted by Cranberry at 12:37 PM on December 15, 2011 [2 favorites]

Can we get an "I was There!" option for past events?

In the past we've always felt that the attending lists weren't meant to be a record of who was there. But what if we leave the attending feature open for one week past an event date? That would give people a chance to chime in that they were there, yet close the list to goofing around at some point. It makes the 'Are you Going?' ('Joining us?' on mobile) question wrong once the event date is past—and that could be a little confusing.

And while we're at it, can the maps default to something besides "terrain"?

We chose terrain because it's less garish and all of the same street information is there. We provide a switch so you can move to the standard map view easily.

Plus it would be great if photos being added "updated" the thread and put it in recent activity or a notification got sent to the participants.

Nah. Recent Activity is already pretty intense, and we don't really have a mechanism for alerting people about things like pictures. If you really want to let everyone know you posted pictures you could make a comment to the thread, "hey I added pictures." It will bump the thread up in Recent Activity.
posted by pb (staff) at 12:57 PM on December 15, 2011

I like to deny being there, as otherwise they might work out where to send the cleaning bill.
posted by Abiezer at 1:25 PM on December 15, 2011 [2 favorites]

There have been a few meetups where an "I was there" feature would have helped me remember exactly where that hangover came from.
posted by Slack-a-gogo at 1:37 PM on December 15, 2011

But what if we leave the attending feature open for one week past an event date? That would give people a chance to chime in that they were there, yet close the list to goofing around at some point

I like.
posted by sweetkid at 1:50 PM on December 15, 2011

The Sex Pistols. Cleethorpes Winter Gardens. I was there.

No one believes me. No one. But I know. I know. My memory will die with me, but it existed, for a time. It was real. My memory. And what it remembered.

I need my pills and bedpan now. Goodnight.
posted by Decani at 1:58 PM on December 15, 2011 [1 favorite]

the young rope-rider speaks truth; to see the subway info, you have to switch to Map view. So having it be the default would be helpful.
posted by ThePinkSuperhero at 3:07 PM on December 15, 2011

Even when there isn't transit information on the map (which there is outside of NYC as well—see schmod's linked example in D.C.), Map view is more informative. It's useful to see major streets and institutions marked in a different color. It's not like Google picked an angry fruit salad either. Yellow is not extremely garish.
posted by grouse at 3:13 PM on December 15, 2011

ah, didn't know that about public transport. Yeah, we'll switch the default.
posted by pb (staff) at 3:15 PM on December 15, 2011

Decani: "The Sex Pistols. Cleethorpes Winter Gardens. I was there. No one believes me. No one.”

Well, that's your own damned fault for not using the "attending" feature and maybe commenting in the IRL thread. I hope you at least thought to update your FourSquare or post your location on Facebook Places. I swear, people from your generation as so clueless about technology - how can you know you actually went anywhere if you didn't post about it online?
posted by koeselitz at 7:26 PM on December 15, 2011

The Joining Us? question will now stay open roughly seven days past the event date. So you can switch your attending status around until then. Also changed the default map type.
posted by pb (staff) at 8:18 PM on December 15, 2011 [3 favorites]

It would also help me remember who I met, to some extent. I swear, I make your lives so much easier by having an uncreative name...
posted by maryr at 8:36 PM on December 15, 2011

(Both on Mefi and in real life.)
posted by maryr at 8:36 PM on December 15, 2011

Just sayin: You can pass custom styling information off to Google Maps if you want the street maps to be pretty, and/or more closely resemble the terrain maps.
posted by schmod at 9:44 PM on December 15, 2011 [2 favorites]

(Like this)
posted by schmod at 10:00 PM on December 15, 2011

Hmm. Wouldn't commenting in the thread work as well/better, since it will pop up on R.A.?

(I probably use "Maybe" a little too liberally. Some people, I'm sure have a threshold of 50% probability, but I use it if there's even 1% (well, maybe 10%) chance of me making it. Hate it, suckers!)

Oh and hey, everyone in/around NYC come to my shows tonight and tomorrow! =D
posted by Eideteker at 10:08 AM on December 16, 2011