About shibari.fyi
First-hand reviews of the studios, schools and class spaces that teach rope, and a free reference for it: what the terminology means, what classes cover, and how to start safely.
Who publishes it
shibari.fyi is published by Shibari x Club. We say so here so nobody has to go looking. It is our reference for the rope community, not an independent review service, and it makes no claim to neutrality it could not back.
How venue reviews work
- Anyone can review a studio, dojo, class or workshop they went to. No account is needed and we don't record who you are: we keep a scrambled code of your connection that changes every day, only to stop floods of reviews (at most 3 a day).
- Every review is read by a person before it appears, usually within two days. It is approved as written or rejected for one of the reasons below: we never edit it.
- Reviews are about the venue or class, not individual people, and only what the writer saw themselves. If something unsafe happened, tell the venue and, where it's serious, the police.
- Reviewers say if they went free or at a discount, and the review is labelled.
- A listing we stop showing says only that it is “not currently available”. We never publish a reason.
Reasons a review is not published:
- Names or describes a specific person rather than the venue or class
- Makes an allegation the reviewer did not personally witness
- Second-hand or hearsay
- Explicit content
- Written by someone connected to the venue or a competitor
- Spam or promotion
- Too short or not enough detail to help anyone
- Contains personal information
- Duplicate
- Off topic
Seasons, the quiz and community pictures
Every four months (Jan–Apr, May–Aug, Sep–Dec) is a season. Quiz scores start fresh each season. Members can post one picture per card each season; every picture is checked by an admin before it appears, and members vote for their favourite. When a season closes, each card's top-voted picture becomes its image for the next one. Leaderboards show the nickname you choose, never your Google name.
No ads, no tracking
There are no adverts and no analytics. Your flashcard progress and any photos you add to cards stay on your own device. Signing in with Google is only needed to suggest a term, post a picture, vote, or put a quiz score on the leaderboard.
How community suggestions work
- Anyone signed in can suggest a new term or an edit to an existing card, with a link to a reference picture.
- Every suggestion is read by an admin before anything changes. It is approved (sometimes with edits) or rejected with a reason the author can see.
- Reference pictures are kept as links. We only show an image on a card when we have permission to.
Where the terms come from
The flashcard vocabulary is drawn from three public glossaries, with descriptions written in our own words: Shibari Study, The Duchy and Rope365. Usage differs between schools; where it does, the card says so.
What we commit to
Written before the first venue review existed, so they cannot have been invented for a particular case:
- We never edit the substance of a review. We approve it as written or reject it for a reason from a published list.
- We do not remove reviews because someone threatened us, and we do not quietly settle nuisance claims.
- We correct factual errors immediately and publicly, without anyone having to threaten us first.
- We do not hand over a reviewer’s identity without a fight. We notify you of any demand for it, resist as far as the law allows, and disclose only on a court order we have exhausted reasonable means to oppose.
- We never remove a published review in exchange for payment, and we never sell ranking or placement.
- We never publish a safety allegation, and we never state a reason publicly when a listing is suspended.
Corrections
If something here is wrong, tell us and we will fix it: a definition, a figure, or anything in the guides. Use “Suggest an edit” on any card. Corrections do not require a lawyer and never will.