Foursquare has been notoriously silent on exactly what constitutes a valid venue. In fact, their latest official response is that “users can add any venue (within reason) that has location and actually exists.” “Within reason” was later clarified to mean “no vulgar venues, no venues that don’t have location (ie “state of mind”), no venues that don’t actually exist.”
That sort of “Wild West,” anything goes attitude has left many users frustrated as their nearby venues list gets cluttered with couches, bathrooms and pants. As one user put it, “I don’t want Foursquare to become the MySpace of checkin services…After the hype died down, MySpace experienced a population crash because (in part) the non-freak users got tired of the freakshow and started fleeing to better-managed sites like Facebook and LinkedIn.”
If foursquare wants to continue being the darling of big business, at some point they must draw a line with these ridiculous venues and start closing them down. Here are my opinions on the types of venues that foursquare should eliminate if they want to be taken seriously and keep their honest users engaged:
- Bathrooms and individual bathroom stalls
- Entire towns or cities
- Roads
- Individual seats or sections in a stadium, theater, etc.
- Specific tables in a restaurant
- Rooms and pieces of furniture within homes
- Individual desks, cubicles or offices within a business
- Flights, planes, etc.
- All the ridiculous, offensive venues like “Your Mom’s House” and “Some Dirty Hooker’s Vagina“
In addition, foursquare must make homes private so that they can only be seen by a user’s friends. They’ve been talking about it for months — it’s even a nonfunctional checkbox on the add venue page. It’s becoming a growing privacy and clutter concern that needs to be dealt with soon.
What kinds of venues do you think should be banned from foursquare?
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#1 by ack154 on July 9, 2010 - 5:35 pm
I have to say that I’ve started closing more and more “stupid” venues that aren’t real things. I used to be pretty lenient on them – but now I’d like to see people get the message. If they’re not going to attempt to be mature about it, just don’t play. I can understand wanting to have fun – but some things are just stupid.
Also… I wish the “events are not venues” were a little more enforced. Perfect example is the Heatpocolypse… should not be a venue. Earthquakes should not be venues… etc, etc.
#2 by Chris Thompson on July 9, 2010 - 6:14 pm
I’ve come to the point where I think actual events are fine. It actually makes some sense to have them in a lot of instances, but these Heatpocalypse and earthquake venues are really pretty stupid. I don’t see them going away anytime soon, though, since half the foursquare staff checked in to or tweeted about Heatpocalypse.
#3 by Matters of Grey on July 9, 2010 - 7:05 pm
I have to confess that we checked into the SD Earthquake venue that popped up on Wednesday. The strange thing was how the venue evolved as if Admins were taking it upon themselves to edit and re-edit the venue.
I read a thread in GetSatisfaction on this very topic and there are some strong arguments for not having “event venues” and that the event checkin should be limited to the actual venue holding it.
I do agree that the idea of venues like pants, your mom’s house and some surprisingly vulgar ones, should not be there at all. It does congest the actual venues that someone could be looking for.
#4 by Spam on July 9, 2010 - 7:20 pm
Here’s what gets me: The Snowpocalypse/Heatmageddon venues go against foursquare’s own rule about having location and actually exists, but the staff validate them by checking into them and encouraging others to do so. They’re never going to get control of garbage venues if they support keep supporting them.
#5 by Spam on July 9, 2010 - 7:28 pm
As I see it, if event venues are going to be allowed, they need to (a) be tied to the location venue where it is taking place, but in a way that prevents users from checking in at both the event and the location, and (b) have an expiration date/time so that the event disappears when it is over, with all checkins being credited to the location venue at that point.
#6 by Spam on July 9, 2010 - 7:24 pm
Rather than allowing/encouraging users to make venues for earthquakes, here’s a cool thing foursquare could do: utilize official USGS earthquake data to award a “Quake Survivor” badge to anyone currently checked in within a given radius from the epicenter of any earthquake of significant magnitude. Not only would that be better than making venues, but it would be a badge that can’t be gamed.
#7 by Chris Thompson on July 9, 2010 - 7:48 pm
I think that’s a great idea! Well, unti someone gets awarded the badge who DIDN’T survive…
#8 by Michael Bauser on July 10, 2010 - 7:10 pm
That idea wouldn’t solve the second problem with act-of-God venues: Foursquare is handing out Super Swarm badges for people joking about events that kill people.
People have died in his heat wave. People die in blizzards and earthquakes.Eventually, somebody in the press will notice that Foursquare is full of asshole lusers who laugh and deadly events, publish a story making Foursquare look bad, and Foursquare will probably do something stupid in overreaction.
I want Foursquare to take a stand against those venue now, so they’re not overreacting when reporters start asking them about it. We just saw them panic over the bogus “Foursquare stalking” story. Do we really want to see what they’ll screw up the next time they panic?
#9 by Sassy on July 10, 2010 - 5:54 am
I’m with ack on this one. At first I was saying ‘I’m sorry, technically that bathroom is a venue, and as an SU I have to follow the rules but now I’m starting to roll my eyes and close/merge them anyway.
I must admit I do feel kinda guilty doing it as technically I’m breaking the rules, but URGH, it’s going wayyy too far so screw it!
#10 by Diego on July 9, 2010 - 5:55 pm
Traffic Jams. I think they’re pointless, not a physical venue as such, and just a way to get more mayorships.
#11 by scott topic on July 9, 2010 - 6:27 pm
i think the coming private-venue flag will go a long way towards preventing these types of stupid venues from cluttering up the average user’s searches. one-off events are ok perhaps, but they have to be closed and not show up in the searches soon after.
but that was a good point. if you let people go too wild and crazy, at some point it does equate to the ugly mess that was myspace. any more organized system could swoop in and overtake it. they need to jump on this before it becomes too much of a big mess to fix.
#12 by Spam on July 9, 2010 - 7:38 pm
Chris, I agree with all of the types of venues you think should be eliminated. Other examples that come to mind are cabs/buses/trains, individual hotel rooms and classrooms, city bus stops, and street intersections.
The longer these venues continue to exist (and be encouraged), the more the legitimate venues will be drowned out and impossible to find (therefore, leading to duplicate venues).
If foursquare wants to allow modes of transportation as venues, they need to build some sort of mechanism that allows these venues to be found at any point in their path.
#13 by Shrinath Navghane on July 10, 2010 - 1:31 am
foursquare will need an army of SU’s to first get the mess cleaned up… there should be a ‘flag’ venue function where we can notify on a fake or offensive venue.
Trust me there are a lot of idiots here who think that its the number of Mayorships that count… not what venues those are. Hence the mess.
Thanks a lot for writing this!
Cheers,
MrShri
#14 by scummgrog on July 10, 2010 - 7:30 am
Spam has it spot on. Some of these events, although playful and fun to those who create them, are just junk to the rest of us. foursquare will keep grow rapidly if they keep locations simple and events real.
#15 by Mercedes S on July 10, 2010 - 12:07 pm
I think the only venue ban that I don’t agree with are cities/towns and possibly roads but I’m not sure about that one.
I argue against cities/towns because people do travel a lot, and it’s really cool to see “I’m in Atlanta” and know where people are visiting.
#16 by ack154 on July 10, 2010 - 1:36 pm
But would you not see they are at some other venue IN Atlanta or whereever they go? Checking into a whole city just says “yup, i’m here.” But realistically, checking into an actual venue in that city already does that.
#17 by Mercedes S on July 10, 2010 - 1:39 pm
I just think it’s a pretty cool thought to be the mayor of an entire city. That’s something worth fighting for.
#18 by ack154 on July 11, 2010 - 6:09 pm
If you want to have a mayor of a city, it should just be calculated based on the person with the most mayorships in that city (based on venue address). Done.
#19 by Michael Bauser on July 10, 2010 - 7:05 pm
Fight? What fight? If you live in the city, the “fight” is remembering to check in every day. That’s a fucking button-pushing game. Foursquare is supposed to be a site for people who go somewhere, not brag about never leaving their hometown.
#20 by Paul Notar on July 11, 2010 - 9:57 pm
I don’t think cities should be venues, unless the whole concept of venues / sub-venues gets worked out as it pertains to malls, airports, etc. Even then, it would be hard to determine the fairest way to handle it.
As ridiculous as it sounds, I’ve got one slightly better, or worse….
http://foursquare.com/venue/4869894
Because, the Atlantic Ocean only exists at one spot in New Jersey. Sigh…..
#21 by Spam on July 12, 2010 - 10:38 am
I just realized how many venues there are for “The Atlantic Ocean” just in NC and SC alone. Seeing all of that made my head swim. (Pun not intended…well, maybe a bit.)
There is far more junk out there than anyone can fathom (oops, another pun). I wouldn’t be surprised if there are more junk venues in the database than real ones (especially if you consider needless duplicates). The longer this goes on, the more I wonder how it could even be cleaned up if the rules ever do change.
#22 by ack154 on July 12, 2010 - 11:00 am
I live near the Finger Lakes in upstate NY and I keep seeing venues for “The Lake” or something equally stupid around that area. Same concept. Same stupidity.
#23 by mercedes sherman on July 12, 2010 - 1:53 pm
Michael, the cities thing isn’t just for people who don’t travel. I do and spend a lot of time in other cities and I like the thought of being able to check in to cities. If you don’t like that, its your perogative, but were all entitled to our own opinions.
I can understand not liking the earthquake thing but the heat wave/blizzard is for fun. Yea people die in them sometimes but people also die crossing the street and pulling into driveways. People die in mosh pits. Does this mean houses and concerts shouldn’t be venues?
Sometimes people need to lighten up. I love going to new places but that shouldn’t mean that I can’t have fun in my own town.
#24 by Michael Bauser on July 12, 2010 - 7:24 pm
I spend a lot of time in other cities, too. That’s why I have accounts on actual travel sites like TripAdvisor and Dopplr. I’m a “right tool for the right job” kind of guy. Foursquare is not the right tool for the job of keeping track of cities I’ve been to.
“It’s fun, so I should get to do it” is a child’s argument, because it doesn’t take into account the consequences of ones actions on other people. Checking into cities, oceans, bathrooms, and beds is making Foursquare unusable. Your argument is basically that your “fun” is more important than people being able to find real places in Foursquare.
#25 by Mercedes S on July 13, 2010 - 6:06 pm
I’m against bathrooms and beds being a venue. I’m for ACTUAL PLACES being venues. And…you know…cities and oceans are places. I’m against having multiple venues, also. So if my visiting NYC means I have a “hard time” finding restaurants and stuff because there’s one listing for a city…
Foursquare IS fun. it’s MEANT to be fun. If this were a completely “serious” tool, they wouldn’t be offering a douchebag badge, or have had a slut badge for sxsw. Hell, they’d take away the player badge, which is a badge you earn that really has NOTHING to do with finding a new place, but having fun with people. Look at what foursquare is as a whole, it’s not just a place finding tool.
But either way, I’m against bathrooms, pants, “some hooker’s vagina”, and other such fake venues. The heatpocalypse venue is for fun and foursquare has no issue with it. I don’t either. It’s fine to have a few “for fun” venues. But I still fail to see what’s so horribly wrong about having one listing for a city…
#26 by Spam on July 13, 2010 - 5:52 am
Here’s another argument against cities and roads in Foursquare…
Foursquare is set up to deal with locations that are a specific point…not a large area, not a length of distance. If you create a city venue on one side of town, people on the other side are likely to miss it and make duplicates. If you make one in the center, users closer to the city limits won’t see it. If you check in on a road, which part of it are you checking in at? Even if you can see the venue for a city or a road, if you’re not close enough to its GPS location, you’ll get flagged for cheating.
Foursquare venues are meant to be points of interest that can be pinpointed by GPS. Broad areas not only clutter up the database, but they just don’t work on a site like this one.
#27 by Pioneer Pest Management & Mosquito Misting on October 19, 2010 - 11:16 am
Based on this comment though, how do you address food trucks and the availability of the Ziggy’s Wagon badge? These trucks are often located at different places depending on the day/hour.
#28 by ack154 on July 13, 2010 - 11:05 am
In starting to go through the “mislocated” list on the SU admin page, I’ve seen a bunch of buses and taxis flagged for incorrect locations…
“No shit,” I thought.
#29 by @phiunit on July 14, 2010 - 10:46 am
I’ve been using an alias for my house and adding great tips for it.
#30 by Eric on July 20, 2010 - 10:35 pm
I do agree with the list of exclusions that you’ve suggested, Chris, with Spam’s addition of cabs. City and school buses, as well as trains, mostly have regular routes, and it would be nice to have some way to include them. (But… it also runs the same risk that including a whole road or street would. At least I can “shout” it, if I feel like it.) The idea of city-wide mayors, by Ack’s design, appeals to me, too.
#31 by Caleb on November 24, 2010 - 1:55 am
I hope they get the concept of sub-venues worked out. Checking into an airport is hard enough without dealing with “Delta Terminal A Gate 37 ✈,” “Such-and-such International Airport ✈,” etc.
I agree with the routes idea. Checking into a flight or an interstate isn’t a bad idea, but they need to re-work it. The ONLY way to get the Gogo in-flight badge is to check in while in-flight, of course, but flights shouldn’t be tied to the place you took off from, and neither should buses be tied down to the terminal you left from.
#32 by Chris on March 24, 2011 - 8:21 am
Cities and towns should be allowed.
#33 by Chris Thompson on March 24, 2011 - 12:59 pm
Care to elaborate?