5 ms·

Speaking of, is there a good replacement for Meetup if you just want to organize some informal activities, like a user group or going biking?

joe_fishfish 3y ago
Sadly most people (at least in my country) use Facebook for this.
- ghaff 3y ago
  Probably. Purely anecdotal and it may just reflect the company I keep, but Meetup seems to have dropped off my radar and that of people I know. I can easily believe that many groups paused during the pandemic and never kicked back off again; I've certainly seen that behavior with a lot of groups generally.
  - magicalhippo 3y ago
    Here it was charging for RSVPs that killed it. Everyone dropped it like a hot potato when they announced it.
    - ghaff 3y ago
      It can be tough to get people to pay an ongoing fee for something that's often used for people to do casual recreational activities rather than one of the many free alternatives--even if they're not quite as suited for the purpose.
      - btown 3y ago
        Meetup had a way to do this: make it opt-in by organizers, then increasing organizer price later on, perhaps even drastically, to incentivize the new structure. Over a year, say, even on organizers who didn't opt in, they could likely double their revenue per subscription with minimal churn. Instead, their messaging strongly implied that, while it was still being tested, this would be mandatory, destroying community trust. An absolutely flubbed rollout. https://www.theverge.com/2019/10/15/20893343/meetup-users-furious-new-rsvp-payment-test https://www.theverge.com/2019/10/15/20893343/meetup-users-fu... https://wptavern.com/meetup-com-introduces-rsvp-fees-for-members-wordpress-meetup-groups-unaffected-by-pricing-changes https://wptavern.com/meetup-com-introduces-rsvp-fees-for-mem...
- lormayna 3y ago
  In Italy Meetup was monopolized by a populistic political movement in the '10s and nobody use it since then.
  - ipaddr 3y ago
    Aside from supporters of popular political movement?
    - bigbluedots 3y ago
      Nobody goes there any more, it's too crowded
  - EasyMark 3y ago
    Was it guilt by association? Last time I used meetup you only joined the groups you were interested in, none of mine were political
sambalbadjak 3y ago
In the Netherlands we use Erbij, (https://erbij.app https://erbij.app), which is now going international. full disclosure, I'm one of the founders
- John23832 3y ago
  So YOU use it. Not saying it’s not a good app, but your selling your book.
  - monooso 3y ago
    > Not saying it’s not a good app, but your selling your book. I'm not sure what your point is. Someone requested an alternative, an alternative was proffered and the personal interest disclosed.
    - schnebbau 3y ago
      > In the Netherlands we use Erbij This implies that this app is the established norm in the Netherlands, which it isn't (but the OP would like it to be).
    - John23832 3y ago
      > I'm not sure what your point is. Someone requested an alternative, an alternative was proffered and the personal interest disclosed. It's great that people can post alternatives, but personal interests aren't what I took umbrage with. >> In the Netherlands we use Erbij, (https://erbij.app https://erbij.app), which is now going international. This implies that there is nationwide traction for the app which there isn't. It has 300 reviews on the app store. That's called astroturfing (or, lying).
- antimius3000 3y ago
  That picture of the 3 dudes against a yellow background makes me never even want to try this, what does that even have to do with your product?
  - 3y ago
bschne 3y ago
I've seen https://lu.ma https://lu.ma used thought it's built more around one-offs than recurring meetups of the same group. Also, and I think it's closer to meetup, https://app.getriver.io/ https://app.getriver.io/ -- though I don't think it has too much traction yet.
- burkaman 3y ago
  I use Luma for a recurring meetup and it works very well.
frankdenbow 3y ago
Partiful.com has been pretty good for me
pseudocomposer 3y ago
My AGPL, micro-federated platform Jonline has support for events with anonymous (or logged in) RSVPs. Still very early, and there are definitely still bugs, but you can deploy yourself and/or contribute! https://github.com/JonLatane/jonline https://github.com/JonLatane/jonline https://jonline.io https://jonline.io https://bullcity.social https://bullcity.social https://oakcity.social https://oakcity.social
philip1209 3y ago
I'm building an async community software called Booklet [1], and I use it to organize a couple NY-based IRL communities - including an indie founders group and a tech dinners series. It doesn't send calendar invites (yet!), but I find that the async format keeps members engaged over time. Plus, it's independent of social networks and communicates via email. When I lived in SF, I used Meetup to start + run OpenLate, a tech meetup with a few thousand members. Not having access to member email addresses was the worst part of Meetup, and it's probably the main reason the site still has users. (Data portability is a big focus of Booklet). [1] https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=37585869 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=37585869
bdr 3y ago
There are plenty of tools for organizing activities. Meetup’s real value, which no one has replaced yet for various reasons, is in getting new people to join.
TuringNYC 3y ago
https://partiful.com/ https://partiful.com/
bombcar 3y ago
Anyone know of a simple badge printing setup that could work with things like Meetup, etc? Just an iPad app that can take a CSV of names and companies, say, that can connect to a Zebra printer. Everything I'm finding wants to rent you the software and the printer, I just want to scrounge them up once and for all.
mooreds 3y ago
I have a friend who is building https://rsvpstreet.com/ https://rsvpstreet.com/ He doesn't have the discoverability of Meetup, of course, but handles the RSVPs and organizing. Pricing is on the website.
prepend 3y ago
I still like Meetup for local hiking groups planning hikes and game nights and stuff. Basically “friendly things with strangers” type stuff. I’m not aware of anything else out that works like that.

joe_fishfish 3y ago

Sadly most people (at least in my country) use Facebook for this.

ghaff 3y ago
Probably. Purely anecdotal and it may just reflect the company I keep, but Meetup seems to have dropped off my radar and that of people I know. I can easily believe that many groups paused during the pandemic and never kicked back off again; I've certainly seen that behavior with a lot of groups generally.
- magicalhippo 3y ago
  Here it was charging for RSVPs that killed it. Everyone dropped it like a hot potato when they announced it.
  - ghaff 3y ago
    It can be tough to get people to pay an ongoing fee for something that's often used for people to do casual recreational activities rather than one of the many free alternatives--even if they're not quite as suited for the purpose.
    - btown 3y ago
      Meetup had a way to do this: make it opt-in by organizers, then increasing organizer price later on, perhaps even drastically, to incentivize the new structure. Over a year, say, even on organizers who didn't opt in, they could likely double their revenue per subscription with minimal churn. Instead, their messaging strongly implied that, while it was still being tested, this would be mandatory, destroying community trust. An absolutely flubbed rollout. https://www.theverge.com/2019/10/15/20893343/meetup-users-furious-new-rsvp-payment-test https://www.theverge.com/2019/10/15/20893343/meetup-users-fu... https://wptavern.com/meetup-com-introduces-rsvp-fees-for-members-wordpress-meetup-groups-unaffected-by-pricing-changes https://wptavern.com/meetup-com-introduces-rsvp-fees-for-mem...
lormayna 3y ago
In Italy Meetup was monopolized by a populistic political movement in the '10s and nobody use it since then.
- ipaddr 3y ago
  Aside from supporters of popular political movement?
  - bigbluedots 3y ago
    Nobody goes there any more, it's too crowded
- EasyMark 3y ago
  Was it guilt by association? Last time I used meetup you only joined the groups you were interested in, none of mine were political

sambalbadjak 3y ago

In the Netherlands we use Erbij, (https://erbij.app https://erbij.app), which is now going international. full disclosure, I'm one of the founders

John23832 3y ago
So YOU use it. Not saying it’s not a good app, but your selling your book.
- monooso 3y ago
  > Not saying it’s not a good app, but your selling your book. I'm not sure what your point is. Someone requested an alternative, an alternative was proffered and the personal interest disclosed.
  - schnebbau 3y ago
    > In the Netherlands we use Erbij This implies that this app is the established norm in the Netherlands, which it isn't (but the OP would like it to be).
  - John23832 3y ago
    > I'm not sure what your point is. Someone requested an alternative, an alternative was proffered and the personal interest disclosed. It's great that people can post alternatives, but personal interests aren't what I took umbrage with. >> In the Netherlands we use Erbij, (https://erbij.app https://erbij.app), which is now going international. This implies that there is nationwide traction for the app which there isn't. It has 300 reviews on the app store. That's called astroturfing (or, lying).
antimius3000 3y ago
That picture of the 3 dudes against a yellow background makes me never even want to try this, what does that even have to do with your product?
- 3y ago

bschne 3y ago

I've seen https://lu.ma https://lu.ma used thought it's built more around one-offs than recurring meetups of the same group. Also, and I think it's closer to meetup, https://app.getriver.io/ https://app.getriver.io/ -- though I don't think it has too much traction yet.

burkaman 3y ago
I use Luma for a recurring meetup and it works very well.

frankdenbow 3y ago

Partiful.com has been pretty good for me

pseudocomposer 3y ago

My AGPL, micro-federated platform Jonline has support for events with anonymous (or logged in) RSVPs. Still very early, and there are definitely still bugs, but you can deploy yourself and/or contribute! https://github.com/JonLatane/jonline https://github.com/JonLatane/jonline https://jonline.io https://jonline.io https://bullcity.social https://bullcity.social https://oakcity.social https://oakcity.social

philip1209 3y ago

I'm building an async community software called Booklet [1], and I use it to organize a couple NY-based IRL communities - including an indie founders group and a tech dinners series. It doesn't send calendar invites (yet!), but I find that the async format keeps members engaged over time. Plus, it's independent of social networks and communicates via email. When I lived in SF, I used Meetup to start + run OpenLate, a tech meetup with a few thousand members. Not having access to member email addresses was the worst part of Meetup, and it's probably the main reason the site still has users. (Data portability is a big focus of Booklet). [1] https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=37585869 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=37585869

bdr 3y ago

There are plenty of tools for organizing activities. Meetup’s real value, which no one has replaced yet for various reasons, is in getting new people to join.

TuringNYC 3y ago

https://partiful.com/ https://partiful.com/

bombcar 3y ago

Anyone know of a simple badge printing setup that could work with things like Meetup, etc? Just an iPad app that can take a CSV of names and companies, say, that can connect to a Zebra printer. Everything I'm finding wants to rent you the software and the printer, I just want to scrounge them up once and for all.

mooreds 3y ago

I have a friend who is building https://rsvpstreet.com/ https://rsvpstreet.com/ He doesn't have the discoverability of Meetup, of course, but handles the RSVPs and organizing. Pricing is on the website.

prepend 3y ago

I still like Meetup for local hiking groups planning hikes and game nights and stuff. Basically “friendly things with strangers” type stuff. I’m not aware of anything else out that works like that.