Hey All,

I don't normally 'reply all', and I don't want to start an email storm, but I did want to chip in and support Amy here.  I totally agree with this idea, as well as the last statement about seeing value in the group.  

As a member of several Meetup groups over the past year - some of which I have dropped out of - I have seen fees handled in different ways.  Almost everyone charges at least a little something, and there are even those organizers who seek to make money off of their group by jacking up the activity fees: this group is most definitely not one of those!!  Personally I think $2 is extremely low for a single meetup.

As a new organizer of my own group and an active member of NoVA TD, I totally see not just the benefit but the need to charge in order to be sure people show up.  Too many times people RSVP 'yes' just to reserve their spot, but are not really sure if they'll make it, treating 'yes' as 'maybe'.  It doesn't cost anything to RSVP 'yes' so people don't lose anything if they don't show up.  If the person did have to pay, however, then they'd be more likely to show up.  'No-shows' are a huge problem in every group, and are very unfair on others who want to go but can't because the 'yes' list is full.  When I started my group, I fortunately had a year's experience watching the 'no-show' phenomenon happen in other groups, thus I decided to start charging fees immediately.  Without that experience, it would probably have taken me a year to reach my patience limit before starting to charge.  I'm not saying that's what happened to Amy, but that would have happened to me.

I personally think that, if you care about this group and about the 'no-show' issue, then you will not have a problem with these fees.

OK, I'm off my soapbox now...

Holly and Max