Weekly release: March 11, 2008

Hey everyone,

We have been reading this thread and paying attention. I wanted to give a quick response. I've brought the issue back up here to put the event question back in the post-Meetup survey, so we will see how that goes. I don't have any more details to give now, but we will keep you posted.

Hey everyone,

I just wanted to re-post what Jesse wrote the other day. Meetup is listening.

Rachel

I've only complained about one or two other changes in the past two years--I'm not given to whining and nitpicking. But just who is this Jessie? He appears to be another organizer, not Meetup staff. So how are we to know that Meetup is listening?

Just curious: do the people who implement changes actually use Meetup? If not, do they ever use beta testers? Is there anyway they can allow us, the Organizers, to turn features on and off? This would be a moot discussion if they could.

PLEASE BRING BACK THE OLD EVENT PAGE WHERE YOU CAN LEAVE COMMENTS...THE PAGE LOOKS JUST LIKE A MEETUP.....AND WHY HAVE THE PHOTOS ON THIS PAGE ALSO......I SEE RATINGS BUT NO COMMENTS ON HOW THE EVENT WENT..I DO DINNERS SO I NEED TO KNOW IF THE LADIES ENJOYED THE MEAL OR NOT.....WITHOUT THIS I HAVE NO WAY TO DECIDE IF WE ARE GOING TO GO BACK......

PLEASE BRING IT BACK

I SO AGREE WITH YOU!

I had another event last night playing pool and received 9 comments (all of them stating they had a great time). Sadly, I found them all posted on the "About us page" NOT ON THE EVENT PAGE. The only people who read the "About us" page is maybe new members. The comments on the event page reinforced current members who didn't attend that event that this is something they may want to attend next time based on all the comments. However if you don't see a comment the impression is that people felt the event was not worth talking about. How is this change helpful to an organizer in trying to plan events if people think the event is not worth going to even though there was lot of positive feedback just not visible?

Since the comments that are now posted in the "About us page" don't reflect what event the person had such great time at it's meaningless especially when you have many events during the week.

I had another event last night playing pool and received 9 comments (all of them stating they had a great time). Sadly, I found them all posted on the "About us page" NOT ON THE EVENT PAGE. The only people who read the "About us" page is maybe new members. The comments on the event page reinforced current members who didn't attend that event that this is something they may want to attend next time based on all the comments. However if you don't see a comment the impression is that people felt the event was not worth talking about. How is this change helpful to an organizer in trying to plan events if people think the event is not worth going to even though there was lot of positive feedback just not visible?

Since the comments that are now posted in the "About us page" don't reflect what event the person had such great time at it's meaningless especially when you have many events during the week.

This morning some of my moms went to the weekly Mommy & Me Breakfast. I'm usually there but my oldest daughter and I both have the dreaded flu again. The point is, our breakfast was at a NEW cafe and guess what........there are only 4 stars for the rating and I DON'T KNOW WHY!!!!!!!!! NO COMMENTS WERE LEFT!!!!!! GEE....I WONDER WHY????? So now what do I do????? Also, I just saw a few comments on our 'ABOUT US' page that doesn't help a potenial member...'Thanks Sandy for hosting', hosting what?? and 'Always wanted to bring Ryan here and So glad I did! We had a great time!', brought him where? To the group, NO. To the Zoo, NO. Then where???? I know where but a potential member has no clue!! How many more examples does Meetup need?? What do I do about breakfast this morning?? Do I now take even more time to get ahold of everyone individually to find out what their comments WOULD HAVE BEEN???? This doesn't seem EASIER or FASTER, this is just giving us Org. more WORK!!! I need to know if I should plan an event at this Cafe again!!

But just who is this Jessie? He appears to be another organizer, not Meetup staff. So how are we to know that Meetup is listening?

Hi - two things:

I DO work at Meetup. I am also an organizer (Central Park Sketch Meetup). I have two accounts here, so I've probably been mixing up which one was posting. Sorry about that.

Also a note of clarification: the quotes on the About Us page are the comments about the group itself; these are collected in the survey as always and didn't change with the survey changes. They have always displayed on the About Us page.

The most recent quotes in MY groups Meetup page are not just about the group but about the event they just attended. It clearly indicates that they are referring to the event , for example

So much fun last night. Really enjoy this group"
-Mari (Mar 20, 2008)

I HAD A MOST WONDERFUL EVENING, I SPENT IT WITH MY FRIENDS"
-Just Marc (Mar 20, 2008

These comments need to be on the event page. No current members go to the "About us" page. They go the event page to check out the past events, to look at the pictures, to see what others had to say.

I think people are under the impression that when they are writing in the space Share your thoughts: Why should others join "this particular Meetup group" that they are leaving a comment about the event as they did before when they rated the event.

It's cliched but if aint broke don't fix it.

i am just baffled. What is so difficult about asking members to post a comment? and "guiding" them to the right place to do so? do it once or twice and they'll pick it up.

i organized an event that had 44 attendees last weekend. a day or two later when i had the time, i had to take a few extra minutes to take a look at the new survey--being the first one that i'd seen--then filled it out myself, checked the sign in sheet and updated attendance (only three no-shows!), then sent an email out to all the people who RSVPed "yes" or "maybe" asking them to stop back in & see photos & rate the event (now that the number of ratings is next to the stars, i could tell that some folks had already done that, as well as by the comments that were left before i got there). Then i sent an email to the other group organizer telling him who signed in from his group. (it was a joint meetup; that's why i had 11 guests, there's another request....) and chucked the sign in sheets. done with that one.

the whole process took less than 20 minutes (i have a standard follow-up email template) and we went from 11 to 17 ratings....percentagewise that appears to be about average for us.

it would have been nice if i could have contacted the people who actually attended, instead of the people who said they would attend, but that will be another release.

instead of posting the comment in your survey, you post it in the big white box that says "talk about this event." it's not that difficult to grasp!!?? i don't get the fuss. maybe if "talk about' was changed to "post a comment about" this event, more people would get it?

thanks for the response Jesse, although i don't really get what you meant about the "event question" getting put back :)

Also a note of clarification: the quotes on the About Us page are the comments about the group itself; these are collected in the survey as always and didn't change with the survey changes. They have always displayed on the About Us page.

Gees, Jesse! That's the point! The members of our groups are not going to the event page to leave a comment after an event. They are going to the survey, getting confused and thinking 'well, I guess this is where we put what we thought of the meetup we just went to' or they aren't even reading it because the event comment has always been the top comment section. So now the event comments are showing up the about us page.

That's why organizers are all giving you examples of how this upgrade has turned into a downgrade. We realize the about us has always been there...the problem is so was the event comment - until now :(.

I have one my about us page that reads:

"The people there where great. Some knew how to play better than others, but wow I got my butt handed to me : ) Had a blast. Good Fun with Great People"

Obviously an event comment and not an 'about us' comment. I'll have more after tomorrow night's event, no doubt.

Come on' meetup...quit dancing around us and fix this. Our events no longer have comments and are about us pages are being destroyed.

If you want the event comments on the event page in the discussion area...then add the event comment back to the survey and place them there (instead the old way next to the members who attended).

I am so baffled by the ease of this fix and yet nothing is being done? At this point, I can't believe I'm paying $144 a year for this type of customer service. Make this site free for all again and then do whatever the heck you'd like!

I agree with the masses who dislike the new changes to the rating system. First off, our group is CLOSED to new members, so why should we have to answer the question "why should others join the group?" when THEY CAN'T???


I vote for 2 separate ratings, one for the event itself (yes, EVENT, not meeting!) with a space for comments right there on the same page, and another rating for the venue.

Please get rid of the overall star rating for the group! Or make it optional...

Thank you!

Rotating logo & bug fixes
The Meetup logo that appears in the top left corner of the Meetup.com site will rotate on each page load. And we made a bunch of behind-the-scenes bug fixes.

Till next time!
Maya

To the Staff at Meetup!

Who cares about a rotating logo, I would like to know how that is meant to be improving meetup?

All I can say is, bring back the comments after events! Why the hell was this removed? This is the only bit of feedback specific for an event. How are we meant to improve and meet members needs at events if they don't have the chance to express it any more.

But no, lets focus and get excited about a rotating logo! There's meetup staffs time well spent...grrrr! I'm glad we paid for that improvement! How about the meetup staff start listening too the suggestions made by the people who pay and organize meetups. Only a month ago there was a thread asking for star rating to be removed (it was even brought up in this thread) We all agreed how much we liked that we could receive the comments and feedback after an event, but no, lets remove the part that we find helpful.
Please listen to what it is that we as orgs really need, we are paying you after all!

Kind Regards
Julia Rule
Renton Moms Group