How we check

The weekly sweep

Every Monday a script visits the public page of every club we list, logged out, at a polite pace, and compares it with last week. If the page still says what it said, the club’s stamp moves to that day. If the page changed, a human looks. If the page has gone, or has been silent for a while, the club is marked quiet rather than deleted, so you know to check before you go.

The line at the top of every page says when the last sweep ran and how many clubs it confirmed. If that date is old, something is wrong on our side, and it will say so.

What the stamp means

• Checked · 22 Sep: a sweep or a human confirmed the club’s page on that day. It says nothing about the next session; clubs cancel for weather like everyone else.
• Quiet: the page has gone silent, failed a check, or a couple of people told us it isn’t running. Still listed, because it might be back. Check their page first.
• Unchecked: added by hand and not yet swept. Rare, and short-lived.

Four tiers of schedule

We place a club only as precisely as its own page allows, and no further.

1. Exact: “Tuesdays, 6:30pm.” On the day board, sorted by time.
2. Day only: “Saturdays, time varies.” On the day board, after the timed ones.
3. Rhythm: “Monthly, first Thursday.” Later this month, not tonight.
4. Unknown: “Announced on Instagram.” On the shelf, never on a calendar.

Every day and time we show is a quote from the club’s own page. When a check fails, the club drops a tier rather than keeping a time we can’t stand behind. Promotion back up takes two weeks of the page agreeing with itself, or a source we trust outright, like a published calendar feed.

Fixing a listing

Every club page has a “not running?” link. One tap. If a couple of different people say it, the club shows as quiet until the next sweep or a human clears it. Five people, and a human decides whether to retire it. Know a club we don’t? Add it; a human checks every submission.

Organisers: you don’t need to do anything to be listed, and you can’t pay to be. Every listing links to your page; we send people to you.

Opting out

If you run a club and would rather not be listed, email hello@clubsirl.com from an address or account connected to the club. No questions, no form. The listing comes down the same day, and the club’s handle and domain go on a permanent do-not-list record so no future sweep, in any city, adds it back.

We index clubs, not people. If your club’s only presence is your personal account, we link to that account as the club’s page and never store your name. The same instant opt-out applies.

How the machine behaves

• Logged out, public pages only. Never private groups, messages or member lists.
• Respects robots.txt. At most one request per site every three seconds. Identifies itself as ClubsIRL with this address.
• Other directories are only ever a hint that a club exists. Every listing is checked against the club’s own page before it appears, and nothing is copied from anyone.
• Nothing goes live on the machine’s say-so alone unless its evidence is a direct quote and two independent places agree. Everything else waits for a human.

Who runs this

Clubs IRL is made in Vancouver by Frank, one person who kept turning up to clubs that had quietly stopped existing. It has no investors, sells nothing, and takes no money from clubs. If it ever does any of those things, this paragraph changes first. Say hello: hello@clubsirl.com.

Analytics and the little we store about visitors: see privacy.