where to share interesting virtual events?

August 15, 2024 9:30 AM

Recently I've come across two online 'events' that I thought mefis might be interested in. IRL doesn't seem like the place to share them because they are not In Real Life. is there a place? If not, could there be?
posted by bq to Feature Requests at 9:30 AM (10 comments total)

I would argue that these events are In Real Life even if they are delivered virtually. I'm a real person and presumably so are you, and these events are really happening. We're just communicating with more mediation than we would be if we were in the same spacetime. I would post to IRL.
posted by twelve cent archie at 11:03 AM on August 15 [1 favorite]

What's your goal? Are they events you want Mefites to get a group together and 'attend' like an online trivia night or something? Or are they just interesting things that are going to happen online that you think Mefites might want to know about before they happen?

In the former case, I think IRL had some virtual events during COVID? It probably messes up the localization features, though, so I don't know how many people will actually come to know about it if they don't get a notification. I doubt many people are actually checking IRL on the regular for new posts.

In the latter case, I think the right place to post about them is probably the Blue. Tell us what they're about, who is involved, when they will be. That seems like a good and interesting post to me. Probably won't garner much discussion until the event happens, but a good post doesn't have to.
posted by jacquilynne at 11:09 AM on August 15 [3 favorites]

I think jacquilynne has the right read on this. Immediately I was thinking about a virtual reading that a podcaster/author I like held that was hosted by an independent bookstore. It's not a direct place for MeFites to interact with each other, so it's not really right for IRL, but the blue could be a good place to let people know it's happening as long as you can hang enough of a hook on it that it doesn't just seem like an ad.
posted by Night_owl at 12:37 PM on August 15 [1 favorite]

I really can't think of any way to frame this that doesn't read like an ad, that's my problem.
posted by bq at 2:21 PM on August 15

This sounds perfect for Fanfare. It already includes podcast, perhaps it can also include whatever these events are.
posted by zompist at 3:42 PM on August 15 [1 favorite]

FYI, if you post it on IRL there is an option to choose the category of Online (Events taking place remotely).

So yeah, IRL sounds like a perfectly fine spot to post these events!
posted by Brandon Blatcher (staff) at 4:01 PM on August 15 [6 favorites]

Only tangentially related, but is IRL currently broken? I wanted to restart the Boston-area pub trivia meetups but every time I try to post an IRL event with a location attached I get a generic error page.
posted by firechicago at 3:37 AM on August 16

Yes, IRL is broken. I've contacted the admins, and it was acknowledged, but I haven't heard anything back yet.
posted by ShooBoo at 10:48 AM on August 17

IRL seems like the perfect place to post this. How would people find out about such an event without checking IRL itself? Does the online 'location' mean that everyone who has opted in for notifications for their area get notified or something?
posted by dg at 6:59 PM on August 18

I'm working on a site for virtual events, emphasis on Metaverse, but any virtual medium could be posted and searched for. When it launches I'll post in Projects.
posted by Sophont at 4:07 AM on September 4 [1 favorite]