Week 1 Release: March 2008

Well, until this gets fixed/resolved, I just went into my manage comments and dropped all comments off the welcome page.

As much as I hate to do this, I have done the same. Consider it my puny but evidently only way to protest.



-- Beth

I guess we organizers have to remember that we're not the only ones that use this site and have a say in what gets done..

But the organizers are the ones who pay for the site and I'd like to think most of us strive for an experience that our members enjoy. For what it's worth, none of my members have ever expressed any desire to...(sigh) comment on comments.

Oh, and I love when you click "do u agree?" on the thumbs up thingy that u don't get a chance to answer "yes" or "no". That is pretty hilarious.

"By allowing members to vote on comments, it also allows NEGATIVE comments to "bubble up" to the surface, too." Correct. Our goal was not to have the most favorable comments move to the top necessarily, but the most accurate ones. Sadly, if there's a negative comment that most members agree with, there's a good chance it's deserved. Part of the goal of the project was to give you some additional feedback from your members. (And of course you could still hide any negative comments.)

Hi Jesse! While I, too, am yet another person who's not an immediate fan of the thumbs up/thumbs down feature, I want you to know that I think your intentions are positive and healthy.

The issue I take with it is the issue I take with many Meetup upgrades, which is that not all upgrades fit universally with all Meetups. For example, what about a political documentary film-screening discussion group, where the organizing could have been spectacular but the choice in subject matter didn't suit certain members?

I just think that there are so many variables to consider with the infinite range of Meetups that could be created, and choosing personally reflective features is iffy only because it might bring up red flags with certain types of groups.

On my organiser help and tools page, News tab, the following text appears. This also appears on the same page for every single Organiser and every Assistant organiser.

---

Here you'll find all of the tools and advice you need to:

• Personalize your Meetup's details
  
• Communicate with your members
  
• Attract new members to your Meetups
  Get help, guidance and support from Meetup.com resources
  

Plus, we'll give tips, examples and announce new features here too!

---

This has never happened in all the time I have been an organiser.
Meetup please, keep your promises.

Len

Yes, it has, Len.

We used that section to announce features in the past, one instance that comes to mind readily is when we launched mailing lists.

I'm sorry you're feeling this frustration, and we've acknowledged your concerns about being better prepared for new features.

We appreciate your feedback and we hope that you'll understand that we're working to make this a smoother process in the future.

Thanks again for this feedback.


Lucette

We appreciate your feedback and we hope that you'll understand that we're working to make this a smoother process in the future.

Appreciate our feedback? How can that be a true statement when countless Organizers have sent you all time and time again a list of grievances that have continously been ignored? We're more than Organizers. We are your CUSTOMER BASE! It is our hard work and efforts that truly makes Meetup shine! Sooner or later, y'all are gonna have to start taking our concerns seriously!

Has anyone considered what they're asking of meetup and the amount of time it takes to work on these projects? I'm sorry I hate to disagree with people here, but my husband works in IT, and I know how much work it is just to get one upgrade done for his company. You have a whole process you have to go through and it's not as simple as clicking a button. Writing new codes can take insane amounts of time. Making said code work with the site can be a process in itself. I actually happen to believe that Meetup is working on a lot of these issues, it just isn't as easy as some would like it to seem. And perhaps, just perhaps, some features won't be removed because Meetup has determined that the call for it to be taken away isn't as large as those who like it or just don't give a damn whether things are there or not.

Then lets look at who posts here verses how many organizers there truly are. This isn't the only venue in which organizers communicate with Meetup.

And to the person who says who cares about the members who don't pay, obviously doesn't care if their members remain in their group. User experience here determines whether people will stay in the group. Their voices count just as much as ours for without them I'd not have a group in the first place. Oh and if your members pay fees so that you can cover your costs of this site, then obviously they have a say.

Oh I do have a question though, when did the event survey change and why?

"By allowing members to vote on comments, it also allows NEGATIVE comments to "bubble up" to the surface, too." Correct. Our goal was not to have the most favorable comments move to the top necessarily, but the most accurate ones. Sadly, if there's a negative comment that most members agree with, there's a good chance it's deserved. Part of the goal of the project was to give you some additional feedback from your members. (And of course you could still hide any negative comments.)

Feedback is one thing, but to have it displayed for ALL members to see is not good at all. I want people to WANT to be a part of my Meetup group, and I should hope that is what Meetup wants as well.

"If they want to learn about my meetups, they can look at my About Us pages!" I agree! Unfortunately, we have a ton of people coming to the Meetup pages who don't take the time to do that. We want to catch their eye and convey the character of your Meetup, and we've learned testimonials and quotes from the members is one of the most effective ways to do that - which is why we changed it from showing one quote to three.

Meetup.com encouraged Organizers to work on their About Us Pages, to be creative, pretty them up, etc... Speaking for myself, I have spent an enormous amount of time doing so. Organizers in the past BEGGED Meetup to have the About Us Page as THE MAIN PAGE, not the Welcome Page. But, Meetup did not listen, unfortunately.

Please listen to us.

Bonnie & Sushi

Has anyone considered what they're asking of meetup and the amount of time it takes to work on these projects? I'm sorry I hate to disagree with people here, but my husband works in IT, and I know how much work it is just to get one upgrade done for his company. You have a whole process you have to go through and it's not as simple as clicking a button. Writing new codes can take insane amounts of time. Making said code work with the site can be a process in itself. I actually happen to believe that Meetup is working on a lot of these issues, it just isn't as easy as some would like it to seem. And perhaps, just perhaps, some features won't be removed because Meetup has determined that the call for it to be taken away isn't as large as those who like it or just don't give a damn whether things are there or not.

i agree Pamala...it took me months to just format my lousy about pages...LOL i can't imagine the time that was spent on putting those little thumbs that clutter up the main page.

but i think the frustration is that all that time and energy was put into this feature, which really doesn't do much to help an organizer run his/her group better. this is just extra. fluff & nonsense. it's not relevant towards helping me search for and contact my members better. it can't help me manage my AOs better by giving them more specific jobs (and likewise, manage my group better by taking away certain responsibilities from certain people!) These are the things we are expecting from Meetup, especially when we've been told to expect them!

sure, it might enhance the whole "user experience", in some way (honestly, i can't imagine why or how), but what it comes down to is that each of us is paying for a website that we are expecting to make relevant and useful changes.

i'll be the first to admit it, we are not paying much in terms of what websites & programming usually costs, but at the same time it is so frustrating to see stuff like this that has little bearing on either my group's community or ease in posting and tracking events, when what i really need are tools like a waitlist category, private forums for organizer discussion, etc.

and let's not forget this "my calendar" feature that has been requested for over a year, but apparently there are still no plans to implement such a feature in the next year.