We at folkjam.org feel that one of the most important services we provide to the community is the validation of events so that jams which are no longer being held do not appear on the list of events in that area. The ability to maintain an up to date list of events is at the core of our website organization and represents one of the chief reasons we leave it up to members of the community to submit and maintain the jam listings. We can't be everywhere nor call everyone to verify that an event is still occurring and so we turn to the community to provide us with that information.
The central tool that we use to keep our lists up to date is an automated e-mail which is sent to the submitter of an event with a link that takes them back to the site to view a page with the event details. On this validation page are several simple buttons for accepting, editing or suspending the event. If the maintainer of the event clicks on the accept button (or edits and then saves the event), then we know the jam, festival or camp is up to date and it will remain on our lists. If the maintainer does not respond to the event within a certain amount of time (see details page) or clicks the 'suspend' button, then the event will be removed from our maps and calendars.
The verification or updating of an event only takes a few seconds, but this process is vital to keeping our listings as up to date as possible for everyone who visits the site. We appreciate the efforts of all of our submitters and other members of the community who help support us by providing the best information we can to the rest of the playing community.
When you submit a recurring jam, camp or festival to folkjam.org we will check back with you periodically to either make sure that the jam is still occurring or ask if you want to provide a new date for a past event. This is done in the form of an automated e-mail message which provides a link back to the site to a page where an event can be accepted, edited or suspended (see the validation system description for details).
In the case of a recurring jam, we will check back with you six months after the initial entry. If the jam is still going strong, you can just click on the 'accept' button on the validation page and the jam will be renewed for another six months at which time you will receive another e-mail and can accept the details again, update the listing (i.e. if the date has changed) or suspend the event if it is no longer occurring.
When you submit a camp or festival, we will check back three months after the end date of the event to see if you want to put in dates for the next occurrence. We prefer for the same listing to be used for camps and festivals from year to year (as opposed to new listings) so that other users' searches and bookmarks always point to the most up to date version of the event.
After the initial validation e-mail is sent for either a recurring jam, a camp or a festival we wait for one month to hear back from the submitter of the event. If we don't receive an accept, update or suspend response within a month's time, then another e-mail will be sent to the same address. If we don't receive notification from the submitter within a month of that second e-mail, then we will automatically suspend the event.
A single session jam does not require any validation since it will not occur again and therefore can be removed from the maps and calendars. If you have a 'single session' jam which really happens from year to year, we recommend submitting as a festival so that it will be picked up for validation and so that the link for it is always valid.