[chiglug] "Windy City Linux Users Group" on meetup.com

Thu Aug 27 15:31:27 UTC 2015

I went out to the meetup.com page a few days ago to see how much it
costs, but their "how much does it cost?" help page timed out on me. It
worked today, though.

Their basic membership starts at $9.99/month, but only allows for up to
50 members. If you go past that (which is easy to do . . . we have lots
of members who have never shown up for a meeting), it's $14.99/month
(well, they say it "starts at" that price) for unlimited members. Seems
like a bit of a racket even if people are willing to pay for it. (Which
reminds me that I have no idea who has been paying for this all this
time. Maybe we got grandfathered-in at a lower rate?  I'll check with
Mike M. to see if he's been paying. I'm not sure if he subscribes to
this list.). If it were $25.00 a year, it would seem more reasonable.
And I'd rather have people chip-in towards something like our SSL certs
(the first year was free).

I know that meetup.com has the network-effect going for them, though.
They are kind of like the Facebook of hobby-oriented groups . . . you
don't want to have to use them, but everyone else is using them, and
you'll feel left out or not know what's going on (or risk not get new
members) if you don't use them.

Eventbrite meetings are free if we don't charge a fee for tickets, but
I'm not sure if you can set a recurring meeting on Eventbrite (I don't
think that you can). I think Eventbrite is more for one-off kinds of
meetings, but they do send out meeting reminders if you sign up for an
event through them, and that's one of the good parts of meetup.com.

Also, we do have a couple of things going for us . . . if anyone
searches the web for "chicago linux" on any search engine, we come up
first (Yeay us).  And we are a group that is largely oriented around
computing freedom, so not going with a proprietary meeting-organizing
service would be "in our wheelhouse."  There don't appear to be any
existing free software alternatives, though. Chipy kind of built one
with their Django app website, but as Sheila indicates, it sounds like
they've gotten more members with a presence on meetup.com.

Jim

On Thu, Aug 27, 2015, at 09:41 AM, Freddy Martinez wrote:
> Meet up is horrible but other people use it. So we should use it.
>
> Freddy.
>
> On Thu, Aug 27, 2015 at 09:39 Yijun Yuan
> <bbbush.yuan at gmail.com> wrote:
>> Hi-
>>
>> I was wrong. A meetup group does cost a lot money. Sorry about my
>> previous post.
>>
>>
>> On Thu, Aug 27, 2015 at 6:02 AM, eviljoel <eviljoel at linux.com> wrote:
>>> Hey,
>>>
>>>
I forgot to mention something. One problem with Meetup (or at least this
>>>
was a problem) is if you stop paying for it, any member can buy your
>>>
group's name and "steal" your membership.
>>>
>>>
- eviljoel
>>>
>>>
On 08/26/2015 11:40 PM, Yijun Yuan wrote:
>>>
> My understanding:
>>>
>
>>>
> Meetup.com is free to setup new groups.
>>>
> It is convenient to show all LUG events on the same calendar.
>>>
> Chicago is a large city, so the attendants are not "local" any more, a
>>>
> smaller group might help.
>>>
> A new group can have clear identity, more specific title and mission
>>>
> statements. Even both Jim and Meg can update current group,
> they cannot
>>>
> freely do that because it is very much shared by other LUG(s).
>>>
> Possibly charge a fee to members.
>>>
> Mailing list noise is not a huge issue, per se. We all have many other
>>>
> lists and uninteresting topics.
>>>
>
>>>
> A new group will only add a little inconvenience: ask people to
> sign up.
>>>
> An event should be posted to both groups, adding some
> administration burden.
>>>
>
>>>
> On Wed, Aug 26, 2015 at 10:35 PM eviljoel <eviljoel at linux.com
>>> > <mailto:eviljoel at linux.com>> wrote:
>>>
>
>>>
>Hey All,
>>>
>
>>>
>I'm quite certain Meetup.com significantly increases meeting
>attendance.
>>>
>However, since our meetings are already listed on a Meetup.com
>site, I'm
>>>
>not sure how much we would benefit from having our own Meetup.com page.
>>>
>Our meetings are already pretty packed. I'm not sure we need more
>>>
>attendees.
>>>
>
>>>
>Thanks,
>>>
>eviljoel
>>>
>
>>>
>On 08/26/2015 10:06 PM, meg ford wrote:
>>>
>> We started using meetup because we found that it made it easier for
>>>
>> people to find out about the meetings and we reached more people.
>>>
>> Because we recognize that some people choose to use only free
>>>
>software,
>>>
>> we also announce all of the meetings on the list and the website.
>>>
>Before
>>>
>> we started using meetup we had a hard time finding new people who
>were
>>>
>> interested in coming to the LUG. We also try to get the word out in
>>>
>> other ways (for example at Flourish! and Software Freedom Day).
>>>
>>
>>>
>> Meg
>>>
>>
>>>
>> On Wed, Aug 26, 2015 at 9:59 PM, Rob Dux <robwdux at gmail.com
>>>
><mailto:robwdux at gmail.com>
>>> >> <mailto:robwdux at gmail.com <mailto:robwdux at gmail.com>>> wrote:
>>>
>>
>>>
>>     +1 for meetup.com <http://meetup.com> <http://meetup.com> and
>>> >the utility it provides
>>>
>>
>>>
>>     I'm also willing to contribute to offset the cost for a
>>>
>specific group
>>>
>>     on meetup (ChicagoLUG)
>>>
>>
>>>
>>     Best,
>>>
>>     Rob
>>>
>>
>>>
>>     On Wed, Aug 26, 2015 at 1:57 PM, sheila miguez
>>>
><shekay at pobox.com <mailto:shekay at pobox.com>
>>> >>     <mailto:shekay at pobox.com <mailto:shekay at pobox.com>>> wrote:
>>>
>>     >
>>>
>>     > On Wed, Aug 26, 2015 at 1:56 PM, sheila miguez
>>>
><shekay at pobox.com <mailto:shekay at pobox.com>
>>> >>     <mailto:shekay at pobox.com <mailto:shekay at pobox.com>>> wrote:
>>>
>>     >>
>>>
>>     >> population of people, especially people who are familiar
>>>
>with the
>>>
>>     concept
>>>
>>     >> of user groups.
>>>
>>     >
>>>
>>     >
>>>
>>     > NOT familiar with. sorry about that.
>>>
>>     >
>>>
>>     >
>>>
>>     > --
>>>
>>     > shekay at pobox.com <mailto:shekay at pobox.com>
>>> ><mailto:shekay at pobox.com <mailto:shekay at pobox.com>>     >     >
>>>
>>     > _______________________________________________
>>>
>>     > discuss mailing list
>>>
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>>>
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>>> ><mailto:discuss at lists.chicagolug.org>>
>>>
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>>>
>>     >
>>>
>>
>>>
>>
>>>
>>
>>>
>>     --
>>>
>>     Rob Dux
>>>
>>
>>>
>>     _______________________________________________
>>>
>>     discuss mailing list
>>>
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>>>
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>>>
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>>>
>--
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>>>
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>>>
>
>>>
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>>> 
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>>>  
>>  
>>  
>>  
>> -- 
>> bbbush ^_^
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