Meetup list in the blue

June 20, 2007 4:30 PM

I'd like to see the meetup list on the front page in the blue, just to get bigger turnouts (and a better sense of community). I imagine there's quite a few people who don't regularly visit Metatalk, but would like to go the meetups.
posted by spiderskull to Feature Requests at 4:30 PM (50 comments total)

I'd recommend putting it either above or below the regular sidebar. You can differentiate it by having it be a slightly darker shade of blue from the regular sidebar.

Then again, I can see how this would create clutter, so maybe a new "tab" to the right of "Recent Comments" that just showed the list of meetups?
posted by spiderskull at 4:30 PM on June 20, 2007

Also, I'd like to add that there's been several occasions where my infrequent visits to the gray meant that I missed meetups -- just to add one data point.
posted by spiderskull at 4:32 PM on June 20, 2007

I bet we could pull it in there pretty easily somehow.
posted by jessamyn (staff) at 4:35 PM on June 20, 2007

But, but... we only want the snarkiest, MeFi-obsessiest people at meet-ups!

Seriously, this sounds like a good idea to me.
posted by chrismear at 4:35 PM on June 20, 2007 [1 favorite]

It can be an added bonus for people who are logged in.
posted by grouse at 4:38 PM on June 20, 2007

Do we really want to restrict it to people who are logged in? I often visit Mefi on computers that aren't mine, where I'm not logged in.
posted by spiderskull at 4:41 PM on June 20, 2007

What, encourage the front page riff-raff?

Personally I only wish to expend the energy to meet up with the type of hardened Metafilter user who spends most of their time engaging in increasingly bitter battles on the grey. Those who only visit the blue are weak, unfocused, occasionally pleasant. No one wants that.
posted by hugsnkisses at 4:41 PM on June 20, 2007 [1 favorite]

Are there really people who would meetup who aren't aware that we do so? Solution for those who don't check Metatalk regularly: start checking Metatalk regularly.
posted by ThePinkSuperhero at 4:47 PM on June 20, 2007 [2 favorites]

I keep seeing the London ones... but it is just too far and too dear.

Birmingham, anyone?
posted by chuckdarwin at 4:48 PM on June 20, 2007

Worried about riffraff? Specify a dress code. Problem solved.
posted by ardgedee at 4:55 PM on June 20, 2007

Are there really people who would meetup who aren't aware that we do so?

My guess: Yes, many. And your 'solution' doesn't sound like it's very likely, given that this is the entire issue.

On another note, I totally agree with spiderskull. I feel like it could greatly increase attendance/awareness.
posted by ORthey at 4:58 PM on June 20, 2007

Do we really want to restrict it to people who are logged in?

It's an interesting question. My gut is "yes", but I'm having a hard time articulating why that is.

One of the nice things I've found in meetups is the way everyone who shows up of their own accord is more or less conversant in the site—we may all read it for different reasons, and in different ways and with different amounts of vigor/obsession/attentiveness/outspokenness, but everybody has more or less gotten their hair wet. There's that sense that everybody has that one thing really in common, that when you poke your head into the bar or restaurant or whatever and crane your neck trying to spot the table with the mefites at it, they'll be craning and looking in the same spirit, both of you wondering if that's a fellow traveler you see there yonder.

Which might be silly sentimentality, but I have to say I've never felt like a meetup had been partycrashed, and I'd hope not to feel that in the future. People bring friends along, usually having warned them of what they're getting into, and I think that that is fantastic too—and yields a fair number of new members by the end of the night—but right there is the sense of kinship and commonality bringing in even the stranger.

Would it be weird or uncomfortable to have any old non-member reader see a meetup notice and show up? I dunno. Probably not. Would it even happen often? No idea. Commenting in the meetup threads seems so elemental to the process to me that the notion of someone showing up without having done so is actually kind of weird.

The metatalk sidebar is already world-readable, of course, so that's an argument toward me overthinking this a bit, but then I'd be shocked if there were many—really, any—regular metatalk-only lurkers. Who would read the grey only passively?
posted by cortex (staff) at 5:01 PM on June 20, 2007

It'd also be a nifty thing for someone who had been lurking for months or years to finally see after logging in for the first time. The new user will see that their MetaFilter password is a key to unlock the secretive gathering of a mysterious community. Later they will also learn that it can never be changed.
posted by grouse at 5:06 PM on June 20, 2007

cortex -- The only reason I'd disagree is that two of my friends who read Metafilter so often (and in fact are the reason why I have an account) don't even have an account themselves. They simply don't feel any compulsion to post anything, but both are likely to go to the meetups (which I realize is sort of strange -- call it selective involvement).
posted by spiderskull at 5:12 PM on June 20, 2007

Metafilter is a community. Meetups are an extension of that community. I think it's strange to encourage people who are not members of the community to show up to meetups.
posted by ThePinkSuperhero at 5:20 PM on June 20, 2007 [1 favorite]

And they'd have to introduce themselves using their real names. That clearly wouldn't work.
posted by chrismear at 5:21 PM on June 20, 2007

me overthinking this a bit
No way in hell anyone would ever in a million years accuse of that. Not never.
Perchance we were at the same Mefi table I would surely refrain from asking you to pass the salt fearing a dissertation on Gandhi's salt march or similar while my burger got cold. I also don't doubt it would be an entertaining cold meal.
posted by peacay at 5:27 PM on June 20, 2007

Current alexa stats show that metatalk gets only 5% of site visits. So I agree that a sidebar meetup thingy would be nice -- but I agree it should be visible only to those logged in (ie, members of the community).
posted by melissa may at 5:27 PM on June 20, 2007

Perhaps we could introduce some sort of hazing or initiation at meetups to weed out the undesirables?
posted by blue_beetle at 5:31 PM on June 20, 2007

TPS -- I guess my intention here is that people who are members of Mefi and those who just visit are likely to have a lot in common.

Honestly, I rarely meet people that I truly get along with, and I get the impression that this site's visiters (members or non-members) would be an exception.

I can totally (all-encompassingly?) understand both sides of the argument, though.
posted by spiderskull at 5:46 PM on June 20, 2007

Yeah, I could do that. How about I just list the top three upcoming meetups (by closest date) at the top of the sidebar, along with a [more...] link that leads to metatalk?
posted by mathowie (staff) at 5:47 PM on June 20, 2007

If you don't read Metatalk, you shouldn't go to a meetup. So there.

If you're miraculous poultry, you probably won't go anyway.
posted by stavrosthewonderchicken at 5:47 PM on June 20, 2007

How about I just list the top three upcoming meetups (by closest date) at the top of the sidebar

Is there a way to do it by date. Like the next seven day of meetups? That might make more sense.
posted by jessamyn (staff) at 5:55 PM on June 20, 2007

Has there ever even been an Austin Meetup? I don't have too many prominent mefites listed as close to me in my profile. Seems odd, Austin being a relatively high-tech town, but oh, well. I'd call one, except for that nagging feeling that I'd be sitting in some bar nursing a warm O'Doul's at an 8-top all by myself, making lame excuses to an ever-increasingly irritated waiter. I'd order a plate of beans if they had one, though. I think.

I have no opinion on the prominence, or lack thereof, of meetup postings, though.
posted by Devils Rancher at 5:57 PM on June 20, 2007

Bit of an e-pony- display meetups that are nearish to the location listed in your profile.
posted by zamboni at 7:29 PM on June 20, 2007

I think it's strange to encourage people who are not members of the community to show up to meetups.

People that only read the blue are still members of the community. It's not like we're taking out text ads on other sites or anything.
posted by Rhomboid at 8:16 PM on June 20, 2007

Haha, I know, Rhomboid; I was referring to the idea of showing a list of meetups on the front page to people who are never logged in (i.e. not registered).
posted by ThePinkSuperhero at 8:21 PM on June 20, 2007 [1 favorite]

I agree that it should only appear to people who are logged in. In fact, it makes me borderline uncomfortable to announce on the front page to ANYONE who comes along where I will be and when. In MeTa, fine, it's pretty inner-sanctum. Front page in the blue? Sort of weird.
posted by hermitosis at 8:34 PM on June 20, 2007

And if you read from other people's computers and aren't logged in sometimes, well then, make a point of checking for meetups when you are. That's all.
posted by hermitosis at 8:34 PM on June 20, 2007

I agree that it should only appear to people who are logged in. In fact, it makes me borderline uncomfortable to announce on the front page to ANYONE who comes along where I will be and when.

I feel the same way.
posted by ThePinkSuperhero at 8:42 PM on June 20, 2007 [1 favorite]

If there was a single page that collected upcoming meetups, you could just put "Upcoming meetups" in the sidebar, but there isn't, so.. Also, if it is important to add it to MetaFilter, then it is probably just as important to add it to Ask MetaFilter.

I don't mean this to sound like a call for a meetups subsite, but I can see how one might read it that way :P On one hand, the more links there are, the less likely people are to click them, but on the other, if podcasts deserve a subsite, I'd think meetups do too.
posted by Chuckles at 11:36 PM on June 20, 2007

If there was a single page that collected upcoming meetups, you could just put "Upcoming meetups" in the sidebar, but there isn't, so..

*cough*
posted by stavrosthewonderchicken at 1:02 AM on June 21, 2007

I was recently surprised to see meetup pictures in which attendees were identified simply as MeFi lurkers. Given that others were identified by username in the photos, I assumed that the "lurkers" must not be registered users. I think it was the Tokyo meetup, maybe? I'm still not sure how I feel about it, but I think there are a lot of people who read this site enough to feel that they're part of the community, even though they don't post. You can argue all you want about whether that $5 makes you a better member of the community, but there are people who understand the MeFi ethos and would get all your in-jokes even though they're not registered users. (Hell, I read the site for several years on a daily basis before finally signing up.)

In any case, I think showing the meetup schedule on the blue is a great idea.
posted by Inconceivable! at 6:02 AM on June 21, 2007

At the Marlboro MA meetup there were one or two people who occasionally read the site but didn't have memberships. They were friends of people who were members. I've almost never seen, maybe never seen, a total lurker come to a meetup all on their own. In fact more often I'll see people sign up for memberships at the meetup after considerable beer and pressure. Very rarely there are people who show up at the meeetups who just don't want their face and username connected and so they are sometimes called something other than their username as well.
posted by jessamyn (staff) at 6:36 AM on June 21, 2007

Yeah, lurkers show up, and we accept them and feel comfortable around them-- because we know that if they are reading the site enough to find the meetups in MetaTalk, then they must really know (and love) the site.

People start finding the meetup info when they're ready, and attend when they're ready. Paying five dollars doesn't automatically make someone a better member of the community, but it's just one of the many small checks that are in place to guide people toward responsible site participation.

I know that meetup info is available in MeTa to unregistered readers, but as people have pointed out, it's so weakly trafficked that it just doesn't reach the same people or send the same message. Putting a meetup on the front page, fully visible to nonmembers, sends the message that all are welcome, all are invited. So what happens when we plan an event at a regular sized bar and fifteen extra people show up who we don't know at all? In New York this is a very realistic possibility. Also, it puts a huge amount of people who we have had no contact with at all in a position to know our whereabouts-- and considering the opinions that some of us voice on the the site, is that altogether safe?

To be honest, something like this would alter my willingness to participate in meetup threads at all, and possibly my comfort in attending meetups. Maybe that's just my problem to deal with, but I really doubt I'm alone here.
posted by hermitosis at 6:52 AM on June 21, 2007

You can argue all you want about whether that $5 makes you a better member of the community, but there are people who understand the MeFi ethos and would get all your in-jokes even though they're not registered users

That's not really the point, or at least it's not my point. Registering ties you to the community- it gives the admins and the rest of us some information about you (specific information, like e-mail and IP stuff, but also information that trickles out as you contribute to the sites). Like hermitosis, I'm uneasy with the idea of advertising specific information about our whereabouts to people who have provided no personal information to the community. Registrations aren't closed anymore; there's not the barrier there was before.
posted by ThePinkSuperhero at 7:31 AM on June 21, 2007 [1 favorite]

Seriously, I am with hermitosis, TPS, and cortex. This is a Bad Idea. I don't like the idea of meetups being that much more obvious, especially just to save someone the trouble of clicking the "metatalk" link. It just skeezes me out. If you don't know enough about the site to click on all the linky parts, maybe you shouldn't come.
posted by dame at 7:32 AM on June 21, 2007

You know, that sounds meaner than I meant it to, but I don't know how to express how uncomfortable the idea makes me. Having some investment in the community or a tie to someone here strikes me as a reasonable barrier.

Not to mention, if we did move them to the blue, I would probably try to move to less-announced meetups: emailing people, not putting the location in the thread, etc.
posted by dame at 7:38 AM on June 21, 2007

You didn't sound mean at all. All reasonable.
posted by peacay at 7:43 AM on June 21, 2007

At least one of the Tokyo meetup lurkers were pretty well versed in Metafilter/Metatalk/Ask.Me things, but simply preferred the lurker lifestyle.

Still, it seems a bit strange to advertise meetups to unregistered folks.
posted by ejoey at 7:45 AM on June 21, 2007

So ti seems like there are a few options

- Meetups available on MeFi but only to logged in users
- Meetups avilable on MeFi to anyone
- Meetups not available on MeFi at all [status quo]

For people who don't want this info available to non-members, how do you feel about having it in MeFi but only to logged in people?
posted by jessamyn (staff) at 8:03 AM on June 21, 2007

I'd have no qualms about it showing for logged in users on the blue. In fact, I'd prefer that to the status quo.
posted by cortex (staff) at 8:10 AM on June 21, 2007

I'm fine with it on the blue to logged in users.
posted by hermitosis at 8:26 AM on June 21, 2007

For people who don't want this info available to non-members, how do you feel about having it in MeFi but only to logged in people?

I think that sounds like an excellent idea! Whoever thought that up must be an eminently sensible human being.
posted by grouse at 8:31 AM on June 21, 2007

I don't love it but it seems a reasonable compromise.
posted by dame at 8:40 AM on June 21, 2007

You didn't sound mean at all. All reasonable.

Agreed. I was just playing devil's advocate based on evidence that lurkers have been at previous meetups. I like the idea of showing the schedule on the front page, but only for logged in users.
posted by Inconceivable! at 8:45 AM on June 21, 2007

Can we also keep them in MeTa, as well?
posted by occhiblu at 11:30 AM on June 21, 2007

Oh, natch.
posted by cortex (staff) at 11:32 AM on June 21, 2007

Oh, I thought that page was past meetups only.. You know, because only dates in the past are prominent, and the only link to it I know of says "Past Meetups". Sorry..
posted by Chuckles at 5:51 PM on June 21, 2007

Past Meetups is past meetups only.. Where did you find that link Mr. Wonderchicken?

Ahh... Categories... Well, there you go then..
posted by Chuckles at 10:01 PM on June 22, 2007