Comment by clmay | Hacker News Reader

Comment by clmay | Hacker News Reader

There is actually a way to delete Meetup groups, versus just leaving/stepping down from them.

The Meetup docs are quite clear about the default behavior if you leave/step down: https://help.meetup.com/hc/en-us/articles/360002865332-Closi...

The answer you needed was just a quick Google search away: https://www.google.com/search?q=delete+meetup+group, e.g. https://support.google.com/developergroups/answer/7378020?hl... and many other results.

Could Meetup offer up this distinction more clearly in their user docs? Sure. But like I said, the Meetup docs are pretty clear what happens when you follow their instructions.

It's hard not to read OP as "we took an action without doing due diligence to fully understand the consequences of doing so." The point at which you make an assumption like this is the point at which you bear equal responsibility for unfavorable outcomes.

Edit—the UI is actually very clear about this, and has been for at least the last couple of years: "Your members will be given the chance to become the organizer and keep the group running without you."

Yeah, it felt that way to me as well.

Also, why not just pay, do the clean up you failed to do initially, and then go away like you planned? Failure to plan on your part does not constitute an emergency on their part

You're reading my mind. Totally. I used to work in CX and "Failure to plan on your part does not constitute an emergency on their part" was like a mantra, internally. We were still very compassionate to customers who found themselves in such situations, but as a support person it helps one keep oneself from getting sucked into the emergency mindset.

> It's hard not to read OP as "we took an action without doing due diligence to fully understand the consequences of doing so." The point at which you make an assumption like this is the point at which you bear equal responsibility for unfavorable outcomes.

At least the last time I used the site, the UI is actually not very clear about this, to the point where it seems almost intentional. (After all, it's to Meetup's advantage to have the group continue and collect money from someone else for it, rather than have it deleted by default).

There are actually a lot of problems with how Meetup handles organizers stepping down and/or billing. I've lost track of the number of groups I've been in that experienced a "hostile" takeover because (for example) the primary organizer's credit card expired, which created an opening for any member to become the primary organizer just by providing their credit card, even though the other organizers were still present.

> At least the last time I used the site, the UI is actually not very clear about this

That's BS—in September 2020 (the oldest archive date for the Help Center on Wayback Machine), the messaging was: "Your members will be given the chance to become the organizer and keep the group running without you" and that remains identical to the copy on the current "step down" user flow.

If that's not clear, perhaps I don't understand the meaning of the word.

Meetup's intentions or incentives are totally beside the point. The UI is clear, the docs are clear, and have been all along.

> There are actually a lot of problems with how Meetup handles organizers stepping down and/or billing. I've lost track of the number of groups I've been in that experienced a "hostile" takeover because (for example) the primary organizer's credit card expired, which created an opening for any member to become the primary organizer just by providing their credit card, even though the other organizers were still present.

None of this has to do with the situation at hand, is there a reason you're bringing it up? Meetup has a ton of shitty practices and dark patterns, but none of that has anything to do with the fact that in this case, the situation is quite clear.

Is Meetup shitty? Yeah. But in a world full of adversarial entities, the responsible thing is to be defensive and act accordingly.

> After all, it's to Meetup's advantage to have the group continue and collect money from someone else for it, rather than have it deleted by default

Isn't it also to the group's advantage to continue under new leadership if the original organizers lose interest? This sounds like it's good for everyone, except for those who feel like they have a right to kill a group because they started it.

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