Good to know

None of this is needed to use the guide. It is here for the reader who wants to know how the list is put together before they trust a price on it. Every section stands on its own, so read the one you came for and leave the rest.

The workHow a listing earns its place

The stampWhat the stamp on a card means

A card stamped Verified was read off the venue's own page on the date printed beside it. A card stamped Sourced has a named source and no date, which is usually a place that has not opened yet and has no page of its own to read.

The date is the useful half. It tells you how old the reading is, which is something you can weigh for yourself instead of having to trust every card on the list equally.

PricesWhen a venue never published a price

Some venues put no price anywhere. Those cards say No published price and leave it at that. A number we invented would be worse than no number, because somebody drives out on it.

A venue that has not opened yet is a different case and reads differently. It has not withheld a price, it has not set one, so its card says the prices have not been announced.

The clockWhy last week is not still on the list

Nothing here is filed by hand into a tab. Every list is worked out from the date you open it, so an event that has already happened comes off by itself, without anybody having to remember to take it down.

It runs forward the same way. Something ninety days out moves into the next seven days on its own, then into the weekend, then into today. It is also why a link somebody sent you last month can land on nothing: the event finished, which is the point of the list rather than a fault in it.

When we are not sureWhat happens when something cannot be confirmed

Checking means opening the exact page a fact sits on rather than a venue's front door, then copying the words that carry it along with the date they were read. Where those words cannot be copied, the claim is not confirmed, and it is carried as an estimate that says so rather than dressed up as a finding.

Anything to do with money or with who qualifies for a rate wants two records from two independent sites, and neither one may be quoting the other. A link that has died or that now lands on a parked page is flagged instead of trusted, because a live website is not proof a business is still open.

Paid placementsWhat money can buy here, and what it cannot

All of it comes down to one distinction. A listing sits on the list and is earned. Anything bought sits beside the list and says so.

• A listing is never for sale. Nobody pays to be on the list, and nobody pays to be higher up it.
• Bought space needs no event. The strip under a card and the block every sixth card are space beside the list, so any real business can take one whether it runs events or not.
• A promoted card is a real event on a real date. It is added to a view rather than put in place of anything, it carries the word Sponsored, and it is not counted in the totals a page prints.
• Promotions cannot be bought at any price. A deal earns that page by being real and checked, which is the only thing that makes the page worth opening.

Everything unlabelled was earned, and everything bought says so in that word, every time. The longer version, including what a placement costs and how it is counted, is on the For business page.

An hourHelp keep it honest

Every section above describes one family reading pages. What it needs is other people catching what we missed, because the checking always has room for another pair of eyes and an hour a month is a real contribution.