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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."
(This is slashdot, no one needs to read TFA. However, in the interests of not being completely retarded, I will acknowledge that I jumped the gun on that FP - since Meetup is for group gatherings. Oops.)
Based on what I've heard, Meetups are usually fairly popular - I don't think many organizers will have a problem with the fee, and I hope that the company has success with this business model. However, I can see a potential for one-off or irregular meetups to fall by the wayside with the monthly payment structure. I hope they'll have a package structure as well, where you can buy "X" number of meetups and use them at your own pace. Having never used this service, I'm not sure if their range of services are suitable for a package-based option, but I hope they would be.
Agreed! It's too bad Dean didn't get elected.
... in this case, the small-mid sized businesses (ala meetup.com) might have been able to survive without having to thwart the consumers.
If he had, things might have turned out differently...
Don't think that a small group of dedicated individuals can't change the world. It's the only thing that ever has.
A) Has no bearing on my life
B) Has no bearing on most of the SlashDot community
C) IS probably being paid for to mention
D) Means nothing to anyone except the author
E) All of the above
I was thinking the same thing. Who gives a fuck about meetup.com. I never even heard of them.
I remember 3 or 4 years ago I saw a website with 1,000,000 singles looking for a date. It said "register for free, search for free, meet the love of your life". So I signed up. The thing they did not tell you was it cost money to send a message. And you could not delete your profile. So I bet of the 1,000,000 people there, 900,000,000 did what I did- made a profile and never went back. I would hate to be the idiot who sent a message to a dead account.
One would think they could make enough money from advertising. Look at slashdot. They make money, and I ignore all their ad's.
Rosco: "If brains were gunpowder, Enos couldn't blow his nose."