Meetup

By far, the worst Experience that I have ever had with a Meetup Group in Columbus, Ohio was with a Group called, "CBUS Social Professionals 21-45," headed by Organizers, Mark Kido, Ross and Maurice. No one practiced COVID-19 Social Distancing Suggestions, people were extremely rude (Including the Organizers) and the Events were poorly coordinated. The entire Atmosphere was very Immature and Juvenile. I guess it's more a Casual Group for very young people in their early twenties but not one that can be taken seriously as a Legitimate Networking Group.

Some groups are okay, have weekly regulars, and no ulterior motives.
On the other hand I am disappointed in those that are clearly for businesses. Well actually they are not clear about that until the first meetup you go to and then tell you about classes they have and how much it cost. Over 300 dollars for the last one I went to. Had I know this I would never have attended. It's basically advertising their classes without really letting you know that until you're already at the meetup. So then it's a disappointment and a big waste of my time.
I do think there are some good honest meetups. I found some meditation groups that are free or they ask for a minimal donation if you care to make one. I paid the suggested fee of a dollar at one, To help them with the cost of the meetup site.
I've also attended a book group and a general meetup for coffee, and a gamers group. There were plenty of others there. And all of the groups have been running a long time.

To some people that are saying it is for losers and the people are weird. Maybe some of them are odd (to you. Whose to say what's odd. Maybe you are), but to say they all are is wrong.
I've met a lot of intelligent likable and fun people. These people are not losers, they are people that want to get together and share their knowledge and interests with like minded people. In this way meetup is a great idea.

My complaint is not political.

I thought I might find some useful comments here about the on-going changes that have made Meetup a huge headache: Changes in how people can/can't pay (dumping user-friendly PayPal for weird and pricey WePay, inc. actual manipulation to drive users toward WePay), we can no longer require payment to RSVP (which means lots of no-shows), add pictures, etc. EVERYTHING seems redesigned ONLY with concern for how it looks on a smart-phone, even if function and ease-of-use are lost. And it's IMPOSSIBLE to reach anyone like Customer Service even though I'm paying to do business with Meetup (and have been for over 10 years). I can email questions. MAYBE someone will respond. Eventually. This is unreachability is unique in ANY on-line company I do business with.

All I'm seeing here are complaints about a political stance #Resist that has NEVER showed up on any of my stuff.

Whatever they're about politically, Meetup has become deaf to its customers, remote and out of reach, making changes based on what? That serve who?

I used to feel like I was really connecting and getting my money's worth as an organizer. The site made sense and was easy to use. Now, every new event posting I add reveals another goofy new glitch. What the heck happened?

This site is a huge scam. Once you sign up you'll be harassed with endless e-mails, and changing your e-mail preferences is a major pain if you sign up to any of the groups. If you complain about the e-mail volume on their suggestion forum your account will be banned. If you say ANYTHING even slightly criticizing them on that forum your ENTIRE account will be banned. And if you paid money? Too bad, so sad, you voicing your opinions apparently means you're no longer entitled to the money you spent.

Not to mention the fact that if you don't give in at first and don't pay them to create a group, a few days later they'll send you a 50% off coupon. You have to be a pretty disgusting company to run your business like that. Trick people into paying full price but offer the reluctant ones HALF OFF. I mean, wow.

Aside from the unethical business practices the membership base itself if FULL of fake profiles. 90% of your members won't attend a meetup, won't respond to messages, aren't active in any way, and have stock photos on their profiles. Digging a it deeper you'll be hard pressed to find any of them are real.

AVOID THIS SCAM SITE AT ALL COSTS!