• How long does it take for an event to be approved?
• How do I edit an event?
• Can I trust the information on your site, is it up-to-date?
• Do you rank the events on how good they are?
• There's a an open mic in the town centre on Wednesdays, why isn't it listed?
• How many hits do you get?

How long does it take for my revision to be approved?

I aim to approve all revisions within a couple of days, although it's often daily. If there is a period of time where I am unable to administrate the site, the next administration window will be displayed on your Dashboard, below any pending revisions.

How do I edit an event?

Remember, you edit venues on Open Mic Finder, not events. This is a subtle but important distinction. Events do not move venue on Open Mic Finder, this would be treated as the old venue stopping hosting an open mic and the new venue starting to host an open mic. The reason for this is to build a continuous timeline of each venue's history, all the various names it had over the years and when it did or didn't host an open mic.

Anyone can submit a revised version of any venue's details by clicking the "Edit" button on the venue details page. You will need to have registered an account in order to do this which only takes a moment.

Can I trust the information on your site, is it up-to-date?

Any information on the web could potentially be out of date and Open Mic Finder is not exempt. Venue owners and event organisers tend to apply more enthusiasm when promoting a newly launched event than they do when announcing the cancellation of one. Sadly, data is sometimes left to rot.

This is why the site had to introduce a policy of automatically presuming a venue no longer hosts an open mic if nobody has submitted a revision in over a year.

Here are my tips for assessing the accuracy of the data on any venue details page:

1. Look at the date the revision was submitted. Every venue details page displays it.
2. See if there are confirmed dates displayed. Confirmed dates are manually added by a user and show a clear dedication to hosting the event on that date.
3. Click on the profile of the account that submitted the current revision and see how active they are. If their account has only ever submitted 1 revision it might have been a trial event that failed to gain traction.
4. Check any linked social media accounts. If they haven't posted for months or there are comments and questions going unanswered, it could be a sign they've lost interest in running the event.
5. Finally, if after all the above steps, you're still not confident, phone the venue. If the line is dead the venue might have closed.

If you do discover a venue's details are definitely out of date, please help out by submitting a revision.

Do you rank the events on how good they are?

No. Absolutely not. Open Mic Finder has a core principle of impartiality. Although scoring and ranking the venues may seem like a natural thing for a website to try and do it would be impossible to collect high quality data. There are too many variables affecting an individual's definition of "good". Not least the fact that the definition of an open mic is a lack of a screening process and an unpredictable lineup. Some venues can be absolutely joyous one day, but a sort of awkward chaos on another.

Remember, everyone — including you — is responsible for lifting the energy in the room. Smile warmly, cheer appreciatively, don't get hungup on imperfections, allow yourself to laugh easily, and celebrate each performer's achievements.

There's an open mic in the town centre on Wednesdays, why isn't it listed?

Because you haven't submitted it yet. Open Mic Finder is not a team of people dedicating their life to collecting data. Open Mic Finder is a Wiki-style platform for a community to share venue details. Every venue needs a person associated with it, who can volunteer to receive an automated email a couple of times a year, requesting that they confirm the current status. That person does not have to be the event organiser or even the venue owner. Just someone who attends the open mic.

There is another reason why some open mics are not listed on this site and ironically it's because they are so popular and well attended that they do not need to promote outside of their immediate vicinity. This is a bit sad because it feels like a bit of a local clique, unwelcoming to outsiders.

How many hits does Open Mic Finder get?

Exactly what counts as a "hit" is pretty subjective. Across 2022 and 2023 there was a fairly steady average of 15,000 unique visitors each month, with peaks in Spring and Autumn and a big dip in December. March 2023 was the site's historical high with 110,000 page views.

Obviously the COVID pandemic made a huge dent in the sites engagement and there is some evidence to show the scene has not fully recovered to levels seen during 2017, 2018 and 2019.