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Meetup.com Ends Free Meetups
jalefkowit writes "It was nice while it lasted... massively popular social-organizing service Meetup.com has announced that from here on out, they will be charging a $19/month fee to the designated organizer of each Meetup registered with the service. Regular users (those other than meetup organizers) can continue to use it free of charge, though they suggest that some organizers may wish to split the cost with their members. Users who paid for the Meetup+ service get the fees waived for one group of their choice (if they're not organizers, they can pass this benefit on to someone who is). Here's more information about the move and why they made it."
There are much better ways to organize "real people". Meetup.com was fun while it lasted, but I'll be one of the first to remove links to it from my site.
They offered a decent service while it lasted, and _yes_ they should get something for their efforts; but they _shouldn't_ sabotage their users to get compensation.
They'll die unless they re-create or re-evaluate their efforts within the next 3 weeks.
Don't think that a small group of dedicated individuals can't change the world. It's the only thing that ever has.
Here's some of what's new:
Wait...people can send e-mail to each other instead of to a group address? Who'd've thunk it?
Custom, professionally-printed offline materials for your group-- shipped (real mail, not email!) to Organizers for free!
I could make a lot of photocopies for $19 a month.
Optional online tools to make it easy for Organizers to receive money from their members.
If these members are motivated enough to sign up with a Meetup payment system, why wouldn't they just go with PayPal, which they can use for everything else as well?
We expect the number of Meetups will go down at first, but the community will rebound stronger than ever. The Group Fee will weed out less committed groups; the community will be smaller in the near-term, but it will be made up of the best Meetup Groups. ...
Oh, I get it. If you're smart enough to figure out a more productive use for $19 a month, you're just not "committed" enough. Since when was being stupid with money a sign of moral fiber?
Did you look at the team members and board of directors in the "about meetup" section? They are going to need to pull in a heck of a lot of money to keep all of those people gainfully employed. You could probably set up and run the whole operation with one manager and a couple of designers, maybe an external accountant contacted once a year to do up the wages.
I wouldn't deny anyone providing a valuable service the right to make money from that service, but their operation is waaay too bloated to stay afloat. Dot bomb, anyone?
What he can't kill, he has sex on. Trent.