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Hi all

As I said in a previous discussion, I used to go regularly to the London meetups. But I stopped because of work. Part of the reason I have not started up again is because of the 50p charge. I am wondering why we are with this company who charges money to use their web facilities when there are other companies who give the same services for free. I know 50p is a trivial amount but for me bookcrossing is supposed to be completely free, it is sort of a point of principle. I hope people do not think I am tight fisted or get the wrong idea in that way. I am just curious about what meetup.com provides that is not provided by, for example, Yahoo and which justifies paying for it. Meetup seems to be a largish US business even though not quite as large as Yahoo but it does not seem to be a small business, so it can't be that. Is there some issue with privacy or some extra service I am not aware of? The main US Bookcrossing group as well as the UK one is on Yahoo, and I don't see why we can't start a London one on there, if it is good enough for the other BC groups. Or if people have a violent dislike to Yahoo, there are other companies who provide similar services and are still free. I hope people don't get the wrong idea and don't mind me asking, but I have been curious for a while about this and only discovered this messageboard yesterday so I thought I would take the opportunity to ask.

Hi!
I can appreciate what you mean about the 50p charge (which usually falls just short of covering the costs anyway!), as I was extremely cross when Meetup started charging. However a lot of people go on the meetup site that just do not go to the Yahoo BookcrossingUK site (so would be unlikely to go to a Yahoo meetup group), and who don't read the forums on BC to see announcements about meetings. So we seem to be pretty well stuck with Meetup - even when they do silly things like cancel Diomedes as organizer because his partner (ie me!) paid the fees!
If it is any consolation to you, Stephen and I don't browbeat anyone into paying the 50p (although we really appreciate those who do), and have a policy of not letting anyone pay on their first meetup (after all, why should they pay for something they might not like?!). So please, don't stay away from coming to a meetup just because you don't like Meetup.com!
Mary/WistfulDragon

I personally don't go to the YahooBookcrossing UK site purely because I don't like the format. I find meetup.com much easier and quicker. Probably if I sat down and spent time looking into it I'd be fine with Yahoo but time to me is a very rare resource! Even browsing the forums on Bookcrossing.com can be time consuming - ok, I admit it I do get sidetracked!!!!

I'll personally go along (within reason) with whatever the organisers choose as they are coordinating events on a voluntary basis and to me that entitles them to call the shots. I'm not in a position to assist them so the 50p "token" charge is minimal for the convenience created to all.

I'm surprised that the 50p usually falls just short of covering costs though - how may people have to attend each meetup (assuming they all contribute) for the costs to be covered? I could probably work that out if I knew the annual charge!

I agree though please don't stay away from coming to any meetup because you don't like Meetup.com

Hi!
In answer to your question, meetup charges $12 USD per month. This equates to about £8-£9 per month. Numbers at each meetup are about 12-15 - with a few outlying values. So it does usually fall a little short. But for the value of the meeting, which is always great fun, we don't mind paying a pound or two extra!
Mary/WistfulDragon