Overview
TechCal isn’t just an event discovery platform—it’s a professional networking community. Connect with other tech professionals, see who’s attending events, and build meaningful relationships that accelerate your career.All social features respect privacy. You control what you share and who can see your activity.
Key Social Features
Follow Users
Build your network by following other professionals. See their event activity and connect at events.
Public Profiles
Create a professional profile at
/u/yourname. Share your event history and career focus.Who's Going
See other attendees for events. Plan meetups and find potential collaborators.
Block Users
Control your experience. Block users for privacy and safety.
Following System
How Following Works
Following someone allows you to:- See events they’re attending (if they enable attendance sharing)
- Get notifications when they attend popular events
- Discover new events through their activity
- Build a professional network
Following Someone
Find Users to Follow
Discover users in several places:
- Community Directory (
/community): Browse and search all public profiles - Who’s Going sections: On event detail pages
- Public Profiles: When viewing
/u/usernamepages
Click Follow Button
Click the Follow button on their profile or user card. The button changes to “Following” immediately.
Unfollowing
To unfollow:- Hover over the Following button on their profile
- It changes to Unfollow
- Click to unfollow
Unfollowing is silent—the other user isn’t notified.
Follower/Following Counts
Your profile displays:- Followers: People who follow you
- Following: People you follow
Mutual Follows
When you and another user follow each other, it’s a mutual follow. This indicates a stronger connection and is highlighted with a badge.Trust Levels & Following Restrictions
Progressive Feature Unlocking
To prevent spam and ensure quality interactions, TechCal uses trust levels:| Trust Level | Requirements | Following Allowed? |
|---|---|---|
| Level 0 (New) | None | ❌ No |
| Level 1 (Basic) | 7+ days + onboarding completed | ✅ Yes (up to 100/day) |
| Level 2 (Member) | 30+ days + 3+ tracked events | ✅ Yes (up to 200/day) |
| Level 3+ (Advanced) | Reserved for future | ✅ Yes (unlimited) |
Checking Your Trust Level
Go to Settings → Social to see:- Your current trust level
- Requirements for the next level
- Progress toward unlocking new features
Privacy Controls
Profile Visibility
Control who can see your profile:- Private
- Public
Who can see: Only youBest for: Users who want event discovery without social featuresLimitations:
- No public profile page
- Can’t be found in search
- Won’t appear in “Who’s Going” sections
Attendance Sharing
Control whether others see which events you’re attending:- Enabled: You appear in “Who’s Going” sections on event pages
- Disabled: Your event activity is hidden (even if profile is public)
Attendance sharing is separate from profile visibility. You can have:
- Public profile + attendance hidden
- Public profile + attendance visible
- Private profile (attendance always hidden)
Granular Control Example
Scenario: You want a public profile to showcase your career focus, but don’t want to reveal which specific events you attend. Settings:- Profile Visibility: Public
- Show Attendance: Disabled
- ✅ Your profile is searchable and viewable
- ✅ People can follow you
- ❌ You don’t appear in “Who’s Going” lists
Blocking Users
When to Block
Block users who:- Send unwanted messages (in hackathon chats)
- Engage in harassment
- You prefer not to interact with
How Blocking Works
When you block someone:- Mutual invisibility: You can’t see each other’s profiles or activity
- Unfollow both directions: Any existing follow relationships are removed
- No new follows: You can’t follow each other in the future
- Hidden from searches: You won’t appear in each other’s search results
- Removed from “Who’s Going”: You won’t see each other on event attendee lists
Blocking Someone
Navigate to Their Profile
Go to their public profile page (
/u/username) or find them in a user list.Unblocking
To unblock:- Go to Settings → Social → Blocked Users
- Find the user in the list
- Click Unblock
Unblocking does NOT restore previous follow relationships. You’ll need to follow each other again manually.
Block Enforcement
Blocks are enforced at three layers:- Database: RLS policies prevent queries
- API: Server filters blocked users from results
- UI: Client removes blocked users from displayed lists
Network Context on Events
”Who’s Going” Sections
On every event detail page, you’ll see a Who’s Going section showing:- Total attending: Count of all TechCal users tracking this event
- Visible attendees: Users with public profiles and attendance sharing enabled
- Your network: People you follow who are attending
- Avatar and name
- Username (@username)
- Headline (bio)
- Relationship badge (“Mutual follow”, “You follow”, “Follows you”)
- Follow button
Network Attending Badge
On event cards in Discovery and Calendar views, you’ll see badges like:3 in your networkThis means 3 people you follow are attending. Click the badge to see who.
Network badges only appear for events where at least 1 person you follow is attending.
Community Directory
Discovering Users
The Community Directory (/community) is a searchable database of all public TechCal users.
Search & Filters
Search bar: Type to search across:- Usernames
- Full names
- Headlines (bios)
- Has headline only: Show only users with complete profiles
- Sort by: Followers (most popular first) or Alphabetical
User Cards
Each user card displays:- Avatar (initials if no photo)
- Full name
- @username
- Headline (bio)
- Follower/Following counts
- Follow button
Pagination
Results load 20 at a time. Scroll to the bottom and click Load More to see additional users.What’s Next?
Set Up Your Profile
Create your public profile and customize your social settings
Join Hackathon Teams
Use social features to form teams and collaborate