01Two scores, never mixed
Every venue, party and festival has two scores, shown side by side. One never feeds into the other: critics tell places apart, the crowd shows the consensus.
CritScore
Critics · 0–100
It comes from critics and our editorial team, who score against a public rubric — sound, line-up and curation, crowd and vibe, door and entry, bar and prices, venue and safety — and from specialist media, always cited with source and link.
Still taking shape. Until a venue has enough reviews from critics, we show “under review” instead of a number.
VibeMeter
Crowd · % HIT
The share of HIT votes among people who went. Everyone picks one of three answers:
- HITworth the night
- Okfine, nothing special
- FLOPnot worth it
Ok is there for people who don't want to hurt the party but didn't leave thrilled either. It doesn't count as a HIT — so the % measures real enthusiasm.
02Minimums & calculation
At least 20 votes
The VibeMeter only appears once there are 20 votes. Before that, we show “not enough votes yet”.
Vote count and histogram, always visible
Next to the %, we show how many people voted and the split between HIT, Ok and FLOP, so you can tell consensus from a place that divides opinion.
Rankings use a Bayesian average
Lists and rankings use a Bayesian average, like IMDb: places with few votes are pulled toward the city average. That way, 3 perfect votes don't jump ahead of 300 very good ones.
(v·R + m·C) / (v + m)v = the venue's votes · R = its % HIT · C = city average · m = minimum weight
Recent reviews count more
Nightlife changes fast: residents, door policy, crowd. We review each night or edition, and when we add them up for the venue, party or festival, newer reviews weigh more.
Critics and crowd disagree?
When the two scores are far apart, we show a “critics and crowd disagree” notice instead of hiding the gap.
03Who can review
Today
Unverified votes
For now, we don't check whether voters were at the event. Every vote is labelled “unverified”.
Coming soon
Verified attendance
We'll confirm attendance through a ticket from a partner box office, a QR code at the door or an on-site check-in during the event. Those votes will get a “verified” badge.
04Review policy
Not allowed
- Paid reviews or reviews traded for any perk: entry, guest list, drinks, discounts.
- Conflicts of interest: owners, partners, staff and organisers reviewing their own venue or party — or a competitor.
- Extortion: using a review as a threat or bargaining chip (“I'll take down my bad review if you give me a ticket”).
- Hate, discrimination, harassment or personal attacks.
- Personal data about other people: full names, phone numbers, addresses, photos of people who didn't consent.
Reviews that break these rules are removed. A negative review breaks no rule on its own: we never remove a review for being negative.
Safety has its own channel
Safety reports — spiked drinks, harassment, violence, overcrowding, discrimination at the door — aren't treated as ordinary reviews: they go to a dedicated channel, handled separately from the score. For now, write to [email protected]. In an emergency, contact local authorities.
Venues get a voice
- Public reply: the venue, party or festival can reply to any review. Replies are moderated too.
- Private note: reviewers can leave a note only the venue sees. It isn't shown on the site and doesn't change the score.
Money doesn't buy scores
- We never sell scores.
- We never reorder reviews in exchange for payment.
- Sponsorships are always labelled “sponsored” and have no effect on the score.
05Agenda & sources
- Public sources. We collect events from public sources: the venue's or party's website and social media, box offices and listings such as Resident Advisor.
- Always credited. The source appears below every event and every flyer, with a link.
- “Check the source”. This label appears when the information came from a third-party listing rather than the venue or organiser itself.
- Buy from the official source. The ticket link points to the event's official source first. Times and prices can change: always confirm at the link.
06Corrections & removal
Any venue, party or festival can ask us to correct information or to be removed from the site.
- Use the “Request a correction or removal” button on the venue, party or event page.
- Or write to [email protected].
- We reply within 7 days (indicative).
We fix wrong information and honour removal requests. Requests to delete only the negative reviews are not accepted.
07Policy updates
When this policy changes, we update this page and the date.