We have a bit of a problem.
Not a big problem, but one that’s been fairly persistent over the past half dozen years we’ve operated our Arlington event calendar. It’s a two-fold issue that no amount of boldface type on our event submission page seems to solve.
First, even though the event calendar is clearly labeled as being for events in Arlington, we get loads of submissions for events in D.C., Alexandria, Falls Church and elsewhere. We do our best to screen those out and reject any events not in Arlington.
Second, event details have a way of changing after they’re submitted. Whether it’s a submission error or a case of the event being moved to a new time or venue, we regularly get requests to make changes to events (there is no way for those submitting events to edit them later).
Our official policy is that events with incorrect information are removed but the event organizer may re-submit the event afterward. A downside of that is that any links to the original event page would be broken, and it is a bit of extra work for the event submitter.
On the other hand, having our staff make changes upon request would be a drain on our resources and would serve to reward lackadaisical submitters who do not double check their information. Ideally, event information should never change, as the act of putting it on an event calendar means you’re telling our readers they should show up at that day and time and expect the event to take place as described. If such information frequently changes, it would discourage people from using and relying on the event calendar.
We’ve been mulling over changes to both policies for awhile, but wanted to ask you — our readers — about it first. Should we start allowing events outside of Arlington that may be of interest to ARLnow readers, and should we be more accommodating with event information change requests?