FAQ

General

Simply click the "I'm Interested" button to indicate your interest in one or more activities. Then other folks who share your interests can invite you to related events around town. Visit our How it works page for a thorough walk through of Planstigator.

Interests are the boxes on the main page and reflect the types of activities you might like to do -- anything from hiking to hula hooping. By clicking the "I'm interested" button on those boxes, you're making it known that "I like this activity and I'd like to be invited to future related events!"

Events have a date, time, and location, as well as an instigator (the event organizer). There are often many events for a particular interest, created by different instigators.

For example, you might notice "Hiking" as an activity option that floats your boat and click "I'm interested." You might then be invited to two separate events, one hosted by John on Saturday at 2pm at Mount Tam and another hosted by Rachel on Sunday at 11am at Tilden Park. You may attend one, both or neither, depending on your schedule and interest.

While anyone can browse interests, during our beta phase, only people in the San Francisco Bay Area can be invited to events. We'll make it to other cities very soon! In the meantime, if you don't live near San Francisco, feel free to click "I'm interested" and as soon as we launch in your city, you'll start getting related invitations.

By all means! Tell us what you'd like to see (note: you need to be logged in) and we'll try our best to get it live quickly.

We'd be thrilled! Read more about getting involved.

Attending Events

You can either accept or decline the invitation. If you accept it, you'll have access to the event page, where you and other attendees can have a conversation. If you decline an invitation, the instigator can scan their invitee list to know that you can't make it.

If you initially accept an invitation and then change your mind, you'll be able to change your response at any point before the event takes place. Once you've declined an invitation, you will no longer have access to the event page. You can re-accept the invitation at a later date by clicking the "See all your invites" link on the main page.

We believe it's common courtesy to show up at events you've accepted. In many cases, the instigator (the event organizer) might have invited someone else, if they had known your space would be available. If you can't make an event that you've accepted, simply decline the invitation.

In most cases yes, but it depends on the nature of the event. Planstigator doesn't charge you anything and we don't facilitate credit card transactions among our users. If the event involves a fee, the instigator (the event organizer) should specify the cost and preferred method of payment in the event description.

Most definitely not. Instigators can click an "invite" button next to your name, and you'll receive an invitation in your Planstigator invitations box, an email (from Planstigator, not from the instigator), as well as a notification through Facebook.

Instigating Events

An Instigator is someone who decides to organize an event. It might be something casual like a short hike, or a more formal event. We hope you'll consider instigating an activity!

Go to an event page where you'll see an "instigate" button. Click it, and fill in information about the event before inviting people on the event page.

Here's an example: You come across a Planstigator interest called "Hiking" and see that 12 people are interested. An avid hiker yourself, you know of some great hikes. With the good weather expected next weekend, you decide to click the "Instigate" button. After entering the event date, time, and location, you'll be able to invite any of those 12 interested people in addition to your own friends. Those who accept will gain access to the event page, where everyone can discuss the details around the hike.

Be as descriptive as possible, describing the nature of the event, the cost (if there is one), and anything else that would help someone decide if they'd like to attend. Once the event is created, you'll see questions regarding the event logistics on the event page that you can answer.

After you've created the event, the event page will show the names of people who have expressed an interest in that activity. Each name will have an "invite" button next to it, which you can click to invite them. You can also click the "Invite my friends" button, which allows you to invite your own Facebook friends.

On the event page, the names you'll see are for people who have expressed interest in that activity and who also live in the city that corresponds with your event. (You will have set your event city when creating your event.)

You can delete an event after you've created it by clicking the "Delete This Event" button on the event page, as long as you haven't yet invited anyone.

After an event has been created, you can edit the note, location, and date and time. However, you can't change the event city.

It's up to you and depends on the nature of the event. For example, a day hike wouldn't require a participation fee, but a necklace making workshop might (to cover the materials you provide). If an event is not free, we request that you make this clear in the event description. Planstigator does not facilitate credit card transactions, so you'll need to use a different means such as Paypal, Square, your own website (if it's setup to collect money), or collecting cash at the event. Describe the method of payment in the event description or on the event page.

As the Instigator, you'll see a "Manage Past Invitations" link on the event page. Click it, and you'll be able to reject ("un-invite") any attendees who have previously accepted the invite.