How OnSpecial works

OnSpecial is a community guide to what's on today, starting with Regina, Saskatchewan. Anyone can post what's on, and everyone else keeps it honest by confirming what's still true. These are the rules behind every listing.

Where listings come from

Listings come from venues' own websites, from organizers' own schedules for the events they run, from the venues themselves and from the community, who post and confirm them. Each card's source line says which. They can still be wrong or out of date, so check with the venue before you go.

Freshness

Deals change, so a card says when a real person last confirmed it, and only that:

Confirmed today, this week or this month: a local confirmed it, and the card says how many have ("Confirmed this week by 4"). It names the latest one by their handle, unless they've chosen not to be named in Settings. Your own post, or a confirm from a venue's own team, never counts as this.
Nothing: no local has confirmed it in the last month. That isn't a warning, just no news. Where a listing came from, such as the venue's own website, is in its details, one tap away.
Someone thinks this ended. Still on?: someone says it isn't on any more. If you know it is, say so.

Once 2 people say a listing isn't on any more, it leaves the feed until someone confirms it. Dated listings leave the feed after they end. A recurring special never disappears just because nobody has confirmed it recently.

Listings a local confirmed this week rank higher in the feed.

Confirming

A confirm means "I was just there, and it's still on." Tap "Still on?" on a listing you've seen with your own eyes. Don't confirm from memory: a wrong confirm sends someone to a deal that isn't there.

If something's gone or wrong, tap "Not right?" on the same card instead.

When something's not right

Say what changed, and someone else has to agree before the listing changes:

At a venue nobody has claimed, your new price, time or offer shows on the card ("@kim says it's $9 now") until another local answers. One "It's $9" makes it the listing; one "Still $8" keeps the listing as it was.
At a claimed venue, the venue has 24 hours to accept or decline your change. If it doesn't answer, two other locals agreeing makes it official.
Trusted locals, with a long record of fixes that checked out, change a listing at once at a venue nobody has claimed.
"It's not on any more": one report puts a note on the card, and 2 people's reports take it out of the feed until someone confirms it again. Reporting the same listing twice counts once.

Someone else means someone else: not the person who said it, not the venue's own staff, and an account at least a day old.

Edits reset confirms

When a listing's price, times, days or offer change, its confirms reset to the person who made the change and anyone who agreed with it, because the old confirms vouched for different details. Fixing the wording, a typo or the tags keeps them. Every edit is recorded.

Your record

We keep track of how your changes and reports turned out: agreed, didn't match what others saw, or nobody checked in time. Nobody checking never counts against you. If your reports keep not matching what others saw, new ones wait for a second person before they show, and we tell you when that happens. Nothing is ever taken off your points. You can see how many of your fixes were agreed on You; nobody else can.

Tips and comments two people report as spam or offensive are hidden until we look at them. Swearing isn't posted at all: keep it clean, this community is for everyone. An account that spams or abuses the community can be blocked.

Roles and tiers

Roles are earned from what you do, and once earned they're kept:

Scout: post something others confirm.
Local: 10 confirms.
Regular: 4 confirms at one venue.
Price Watcher: 20 price checks.
Curator: 20 posts others confirmed.
Tastemaker: a pick in a Best Of top 3.

Your tier follows your contributions, meaning your confirms, posts and tips: Bronze at 5, Silver at 25, Gold at 100 and Black Card at 500. That's the whole rule.

We also keep two scores on your account: reliability (how often other people confirm what you post) and taste (how often your Best Of votes go to the place ranked first). They're in your data export, and they never hold your tier back.

Points and the weekly boards

You earn points when other people agree with what you add. A confirm earns 1 point straight away. A new special, happy hour or event earns 10 once two others confirm it. Posting specials from a photo earns the same as typing them: 10 for each group you post, once two others confirm it. A fix to a listing earns 5 once others agree with it, or once the venue accepts it; a trusted local's fix, which changes the listing at once, earns 5 once two other people confirm the new version. A new venue earns 10 once another local confirms or posts something there, and the first confirm of a listing that was flagged or marked "May have ended" earns 5 more when someone else confirms it within two days. Nothing at your own venue earns points, extends your streak or counts toward your standing. Nothing on your own post earns points either. Points still waiting show on You as "points waiting on others". Each week's boards, for the city, your neighbourhood and your specialty, reset every Monday. Points have no cash value.

Your streak shows which of the last seven days you contributed: a missed day is just an empty square, never a penalty.

Claiming a venue

Owners and managers can claim their venue to post specials and events as the venue: their posts say "Updated by the venue". A claimed venue's own listings stay confirmed longer (7 days instead of 3), and the venue can confirm everything it lists with a weekly check-in. The venue's confirm never counts as a person's: the card still says how many people confirmed it, and anyone can say it's not right. Nobody, including us, controls freshness alone. A venue's own team can nominate it in Best Of, but can't vote for it: the votes are the city's.

What we promise

No fake counts. Every number is real people.
Featured is always labeled. Paid or promoted placement says so.
Claimed venues still decay. Claiming a venue buys slower decay, not immunity.
No fake urgency. Countdowns only appear for real deadlines.
Your notifications, your call. No guilt trips, no "we miss you", and every notification type can be turned off in Settings.

The full rules are in the community rules, and how we handle your data is in the privacy policy and terms of use.