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User Participation FAQ

Q: What is the user participation system?
Q: What is my participation number?
Q: How do event coordinators use the participation system?
Q: How is participation calculated, and why?
Q: How does the system know who has attended events?
Q: How do I improve my participation?

What is the user participation system?

The user participation system is a tool to help event coordinators improve the quality of their events by predicting how many people will attend the event. One of the most frustrating things an event coordinator can do is go out of their way to setup an event for a large number of people, only to have half of them not show up. It is especially frustrating if the event can only accommodate a limited number of people and some more reliable people were turned away. For most events, there are always a few "flakes" who RSVP but never show-up. If a person consistently does not attend events they RSVP to, they will be marked as "unreliable". Likewise people who consistently attend after RSVPing will be marked as "reliable."

What is my participation number?

View your participation. (You must be logged in).

How do event coordinators use the participation system?

Event coordinators are instructed NOT to deny the RSVP of someone who has been marked as consistently unreliable. Rather, if an event is full and a coordinator sees a number of "unreliable" people have signed up, they may want to let a few more in to the event with the expectation that there will be some no-shows. Also, if a spot frees up in a full event, an event coordinator may give priority to a user who is marked as "reliable."

How is participation calculated, and why?

We took a lot of care in developing the participation system. It is designed so that users will be marked as "neutral" until they prove themselves consistently reliable or unreliable. A number is calculated as follows:

+1	point for each confirmed event attendance
-1.5	points for each confirmed no-show
-0.5	points for each no-show you contacted the event coordinator about
-0.5	points for each friend you added to your RSVP but did not attend
-0.5	points for each RSVP you cancel on the day of the event
0	points if the event coordinator was not sure whether or not you attended (usually happens in events with 20 or more people)

When the cumulative score of all your past events is totaled, users with a score of 2 or higher are marked as "reliable" and users with a score of below -2 are marked "unreliable." We realize that there are often extenuating circumstances and a person sometimes can't avoid canceling an RSVP at the last minute or simply not showing up. The system is designed so that the only way to be marked "unreliable" is to consistently not show-up to events.

How does the system know who has attended events?

After hosting an event coordinators are asked to fill-out an "event recap" where they mark the attendance of people who RSVPed and make comments about how the event went (quality of the venue, whether or not people liked the activity, etc.) Comments are viewable to other event coordinators so that they can better plan future events (know which venues to avoid, etc.) The specifics of who attends an event are not viewable to any other event coordinator.

How do I improve my participation?

The best way to get and keep a good participation is to only RSVP to events you plan on attending, and if you can't attend, let a coordinator know as far in advance as possible. You may also want to introduce yourself to the coordinator at events you attend so they will know to mark you down in the "event recap." Please do not try to contact event coordinators or other people at MyPC asking them to change your participation number. As stated above, the participation system is only meant as a helpful guide for event coordinators, not as a basis for barring someone from an event (see How do event coordinators use the participation system above). The system is also designed to give you the benefit of the doubt and only flag a user as "unreliable" if they consistently don't show-up at events.