Help with a new site

May 18, 2010 12:43 PM

We need your help on a new events site (sorta gigfilter + meetups + etc)!

So we're in the final stages of setting up a site to corral all the offline things people do on this site, including organize meetups (kind of like the ten year site did) but also to showcase MeFi users and their band gigs, their poetry readings, their stand-up performances.

We need to develop two things before launching: a very general set of categories, in the range of 5-7 total that are broad enough to encompass every sort of offline activity.

More importantly, we need a run down of every possible "out there in the real world" type of event that a MeFi member would be involved in and would want other members to show up to attend. So please, keep the jokey fake events to a minimum and help us brainstorm every possible live event we'd want to publicize on the site?

So far off the top of my head, I've come up with:
- meetups
- rock show with a MeFi member playing
- a stage play with MeFi member either acting or directing
- book reading by a MeFi author on tour

In developing guidelines, we can rule out some things that might show up on the list but might not make good ideas like I don't know if speaking at a $1200 conference would make a good post, since MeFi members would have to sign up for the conference to see you speak. Also, there are fundraising events like fun runs and bike events where saying you're running 10k in Houston isn't really an event that other members would show up for.

Anyway, got any ideas for events you'd like to see on a new gigfilter-type site? (please, keep the jokey events to a minimum, it would let us launch the site sooner).

There are other obvious things to talk about (how about a tour? how many listings per week will be allowed?) that we'll cover in a future post or soon after launch.

posted by mathowie to MetaFilter-Related at 12:43 PM (256 comments total)

Dance performances (classical, modern or "exotic')
Art openings
posted by Nothing... and like it at 12:46 PM on May 18, 2010

Would it be useful to classify regular meetups differently than say, a meetup at a public protest or something?
posted by Burhanistan at 12:46 PM on May 18, 2010

There are other obvious things to talk about...

A couple other rules we've been thinking about include: 1.) events must have a physical address. 2.) events must include a MeFite involved. So 2nd-life meetups and [your favorite band] concerts would probably need to stay in MetaTalk if at all. So we might discuss these too and see if that makes sense for the new site.
posted by pb (staff) at 12:46 PM on May 18, 2010

Art exhibits/gallery openings.
Open mics/performance events.
posted by piratebowling at 12:47 PM on May 18, 2010 [1 favorite]

I vaguely remember a meTa or a comment in one about someone having an opening at an art gallery. So, gallery shows, or art shows. Something like that.
posted by rtha at 12:48 PM on May 18, 2010

Stand-up comedy gigs
Film screenings
posted by Nothing... and like it at 12:48 PM on May 18, 2010 [2 favorites]

Dangit, piratebowling.
posted by rtha at 12:48 PM on May 18, 2010

Dangit, piratebowling.

Oh hai my first comment doesn't count rtha?
posted by Nothing... and like it at 12:49 PM on May 18, 2010

So this is only for meatspace events and not live webcast-type things?
posted by Burhanistan at 12:49 PM on May 18, 2010

performance of something written by a mefite (play, music, whatever)

professional wrestling where one of the contestants is a mefite
posted by idiopath at 12:50 PM on May 18, 2010 [1 favorite]

Air hockey league. Getting together to watch the season premier/finale of a beloved TV show. Pub trivia night. Karaoke.
posted by Afroblanco at 12:50 PM on May 18, 2010 [1 favorite]

So this is only for meatspace events...

Yep, exactly what we're thinking.
posted by pb (staff) at 12:51 PM on May 18, 2010

So this is only for meatspace events and not live webcast-type things?

Yep, the focus in on offline activities happening in the real world.
posted by mathowie (staff) at 12:51 PM on May 18, 2010

This service will be much appreciated, Matt.
posted by Astro Zombie at 12:52 PM on May 18, 2010

public performance (ie. street mime, busking, break dancing) where a performance is being done but you would not be expected to show up early and stick around for the whole thing, and the venue is a place on the sidewalk
posted by idiopath at 12:52 PM on May 18, 2010 [1 favorite]

[ ] taters
[ ] Beanplate encounters
posted by special-k at 12:55 PM on May 18, 2010

Seconding Afroblanco. If a MeFite is a hosting/emceeing a pub quiz, karaoke night, or drag bingo, I want to know about it.
posted by EvaDestruction at 12:55 PM on May 18, 2010

Television episodes written, directed, or acted in by a MeFite (or the watching party if it needs a real-life address).
Film festivals with Mefite participation

a stage play with MeFi member either acting or directing Or designed...

*slinks backstage*
posted by Thin Lizzy at 12:56 PM on May 18, 2010 [4 favorites]

Parties with a fundraising aspect (like this)
Group dinners at a restaurant
Picnics
Hikes
Concerts
posted by ThePinkSuperhero at 12:58 PM on May 18, 2010

Seconding Afroblanco. If a MeFite is a hosting/emceeing a pub quiz, karaoke night, or drag bingo, I want to know about it.

I mean, I want to know about it too, but don't those sort of things fit pretty nicely into the category of "meetup"? I guess I hadn't limited that definition to meeting for dinner and beer.
posted by valkyryn at 12:58 PM on May 18, 2010

a very general set of categories, in the range of 5-7 total that are broad enough to encompass every sort of offline activity.

Watch a mefite perform
Do something with (a) mefite(s)
Attend something based around a specific mefite
posted by bondcliff at 12:58 PM on May 18, 2010 [7 favorites]

Also:

[] Hike
[] Day at beach
[] Bowling
[] Tacos and Margaritas
[] Wine tasting/Brewery tour
[] Guitarhero party
[] Chili cookoff
[] Costume party
posted by special-k at 12:59 PM on May 18, 2010

Wedding.
Funeral.
posted by smackfu at 1:01 PM on May 18, 2010 [1 favorite]

In addition to rock shows, you might also add parties/club nights with a MeFite spinning.
posted by Pope Guilty at 1:01 PM on May 18, 2010 [4 favorites]

Viewing parties? (Sports/TV shows/debates/elections/etc.)

Game nights are also fun. Maybe LAN parties, though that might be better for MeFightClub.
posted by Rhaomi at 1:01 PM on May 18, 2010

Asking MeFites to name "every possible" thing is asking for trouble.
posted by smackfu at 1:04 PM on May 18, 2010 [3 favorites]

Batmitzvah
Birthday
posted by special-k at 1:04 PM on May 18, 2010 [1 favorite]

You could crib the categories from any of the local dailies/weeklies that specialize in events listings, such as Boston's Weekly Dig:

-Comedy
-Music
-Performing Arts
-Visual Arts

They've got all these other movies/TV/video games categories that could be lumped in to... Electronic Arts, maybe? Media Arts? Something like that.
posted by backseatpilot at 1:05 PM on May 18, 2010

also why limit it to rock?
posted by idiopath at 1:05 PM on May 18, 2010 [5 favorites]

Happy Hour!
posted by special-k at 1:05 PM on May 18, 2010

Personally, I would like to know about charity events other Mefites are sponsoring/organizing. I don't really want to know about every event another Mefite is going to, but I feel differently about things created and organized by a Mefite.
posted by stoneweaver at 1:05 PM on May 18, 2010

Might it be better to stick to general categories of events as opposed to specific types? That way, all the odd little things can still early get in, while the user can filter based on category?

I was thinking this 'cause I can easily see a Mefite Scrabble game at a local place/house etc. So if there's a potential for a specific game, there's the potential for other games/events (Wii party, water ballons, laser tag, paintball Xbox tourney, chess, miniature golf, bdsm furry orgy) i.e. trying to cover everything can be fairly impossible.

Just a thought. I may be over thinking this.
posted by Brandon Blatcher at 1:05 PM on May 18, 2010

Also, please provide RSS feeds to each of the categories you end up using.
posted by special-k at 1:06 PM on May 18, 2010 [2 favorites]

General Categories:

Meetups

The standard meetup. Personally, I think the meetups should be general enough that any MeFite could theoretically join up, and it shouldn't exclude MeFites for realistic reasons. So, for example, a meetup that was exclusive to some group probably wouldn't be a good idea, or a meetup that required a very high level of specialized knowledge or physical ability. So maybe meeting to play board games or to hike would be fine, but not a meetup to sequence DNA or spelunk. There are plenty of extant social groups for those kinds of things.

Performance (featuring MeFite)

Music, theatre, readings etc where the MeFite is featured. Open mic is iffy since that's usually 5-10 minutes out of 2 hours.

Exhibition (featuring MeFite)

This is more work for you, pb, since you'd have to allow people to enter a starting and ending date rather than just a date, starting time, and ending time, but I think we should let people say something like Hey everybody, my photos will be up at the Such and Such Cafe from July 12-August 7

You could break up Performance into Theatre, Concerts, Film (if a MeFite is featured in a film to be screened in a limited run), and Readings, although frankly I think just "Performance" is pretty clear to most people and allows for more unusual events that should still be allowed but are too rare to get a category -- off the top of my head: a juggler performing at a fair, a MeFite taking part in a public competition (weight lifting, karate, etc.), a comedy troupe doing improv.

I think these categories are very general but at the same time pretty clear. I think having general categories is waaay better than not covering anything and then having to result to "Other". Under no circumstances should there be a category called "Other" or "MetaFilter-Related".

posted by Deathalicious at 1:06 PM on May 18, 2010 [18 favorites]

Never mind, I clearly can't read, hee.
posted by Brandon Blatcher at 1:06 PM on May 18, 2010

Maybe things like clubs/groups/charities that MeFites belong to and would like to encourage others to get involved with
posted by le morte de bea arthur at 1:07 PM on May 18, 2010

You asked for some broad categories, so here are some ideas:

*Social Gatherings: meetups, parties, dinners, viewing parties, etc

*Artistic Performances: concerts, dance shows, book readings, etc

*Artistic Exhibitions: art openings, photo exhibits, film screenings, etc

*Sports and Games: sports games set up by mefites, RPG sessions looking for players, board games, etc

*Presentations: lectures, presentations, speeches

*Outdoor Activities: Hikes, walks, day at the beach, etc

*Competitions: Cook-offs, athletic competitions, battle of the bands, etc

*Charity: Charity events organized by a Mefite
posted by Sangermaine at 1:07 PM on May 18, 2010 [38 favorites]

What do y'all think about making the event types more general, so they could include the range of subtypes? For example:

Arts & Entertainment (includes concerts, dance, theater, karaoke, etc.)
Academic (includes talks, conferences, etc.)
Sports (includes runs, bike races, hikes, etc.)

And on...
posted by iamkimiam at 1:08 PM on May 18, 2010

[] MeFi-specific gatherings (meetups for the sake of meeting other users)
[] Meetups that can occur within/around/after a general public event not featuring a MeFite
[] Events featuring a Mefite as a performer/participant/organizer
[] Events that occur at a Mefite's own house/studio/rented space
posted by Burhanistan at 1:08 PM on May 18, 2010 [2 favorites]

er, what Sangermaine said better.
posted by iamkimiam at 1:08 PM on May 18, 2010

Maybe LAN parties, though that might be better for MeFightClub.

It's an interesting dividing line, where I think "let's have a physical LAN party in Philly" or whatever seems like a good use of the organization site (getting mefites together physically) whereas "let's go shot each other on server x" is more strictly in the purview of something like MeFightClub that excels specifically at being a homebase for that online-niche-grouping thing.
posted by cortex (staff) at 1:08 PM on May 18, 2010

graduation
retirement
posted by special-k at 1:09 PM on May 18, 2010 [1 favorite]

MeFightClub is way smaller though, and less visible.

Honestly, I'd say we should have broad, AskMe-esque categories rather than specifics. Instead of "rock show" and "stage play" and "book reading", have "performance", "meetup", "food", "competition", and so on. Then either have subcategories for each or simply have the description handle the specifics.
posted by Pope Guilty at 1:09 PM on May 18, 2010

Con appearances (of the "MeFite sits at a table, you come say hi and maybe buy something" variety).
posted by lore at 1:10 PM on May 18, 2010

[x] Hanging out with brother meatbomb
posted by special-k at 1:10 PM on May 18, 2010 [1 favorite]

It's an interesting dividing line, where I think "let's have a physical LAN party in Philly" or whatever seems like a good use of the organization site (getting mefites together physically) whereas "let's go shot each other on server x" is more strictly in the purview of something like MeFightClub that excels specifically at being a homebase for that online-niche-grouping thing.

Well, sure, because that's the real-world/online dichotomy matt talks about.
posted by Pope Guilty at 1:10 PM on May 18, 2010

[x] dog park
posted by special-k at 1:11 PM on May 18, 2010

On postview: Wow. Yeah. Weddings and Funerals and similar are definitely a good idea. I also like the idea of things like karaoke shows, etc led by a MeFite. So maybe two other categories:

Life Events (of a MeFite)

Invitation to a meaningful life event such as a wedding, funeral, baptism, Bar Mitzvah, etc. where the central participant is a MeFite or (in the case of events involving children) the MeFite's child. I definitely think Birthdays and Such would count.

Fun Events (organized/led by a MeFite)

These are things like karaoke or quiz night which wouldn't fall under "Performance" but still feature a MeFite heavily. They're distinct from MeFits in that the focus is that the MeFite is leading the event, which will probably involve mostly non-Mefites. If a MeFite wants to set up a MeFi team at their local quiz night, that would probably fall under Meetup.

posted by Deathalicious at 1:14 PM on May 18, 2010

I would add a "Large Gatherings" or some such category to Deathalicious's lineup. I'm thinking for gathering as MeFites within a larger gathering, like Critical Mass or at a large music / arts festival.

Yes, I'm very excited about the approach of summer/warmth to Chicago.

On Preview: or what Sangermaine said.
posted by BevosAngryGhost at 1:14 PM on May 18, 2010

> Oh hai my first comment doesn't count rtha?

Dangit, rtha!
posted by rtha at 1:14 PM on May 18, 2010

Not sure this is on-topic, but getting RSS feeds for "All events near X" would be too sweet / tout suite.
posted by grobstein at 1:15 PM on May 18, 2010

Not sure this is on-topic, but getting RSS feeds for "All events near X" would be too sweet / tout suite.

> Oh hai my first comment doesn't count grobstein?
posted by special-k at 1:16 PM on May 18, 2010

Conferences, presentations: besides $1200 conferences, there are a lot of events like PechaKucha, camps, unconferences that are either free or in the $5 to $20 range.
posted by bru at 1:17 PM on May 18, 2010

Sangermaine's comment covers the categories I could think of.
posted by ocherdraco at 1:17 PM on May 18, 2010

So maybe meeting to play board games or to hike would be fine, but not a meetup to sequence DNA or spelunk.

Hey guys, I just bought a big tub of polyacrylamide gel and some LED headlamps and I was wondering if ... Oh, okay, nevermind.
posted by burnmp3s at 1:17 PM on May 18, 2010 [4 favorites]

[ ] Road trips
posted by special-k at 1:18 PM on May 18, 2010 [1 favorite]

Sports that a MeFite is involved in, like a roller derby match or a four-square or chess tournament or a kickball championship game; or if a MeFite is on a college, amateur, or pro sports team of some sort.

This would be different than inviting people to a Bowling meetup (like one meetup I still intend to call)...

Also can I say THANK YOU I love the picture of my new pony and I cannot wait to ride her and brush her mane.
posted by not_on_display at 1:18 PM on May 18, 2010

Asking MeFites to name "every possible" thing is asking for trouble.

Possibly also asking for trouble: seeking to define what constitutes a "meetup." valkyryn, personally, I don't think of meetups as necessarily equaling dinner and a beer, but I do think of them as one-off occasions, whereas a hosting/emceeing gig is generally (though not always) recurring. I would like it if the envisioned tool had the ability to capture those sorts of events - which could be categorized under "performance" (fuzzily) or "Events featuring a MeFite".

I'm thinking of hosting gigs as "Hey, somebody I think is funny on the internet is hosting something fun - I should take my friends (who may or may not be MeFites) and go see if they're funny in real life." That's why those sorts of events are separate from "meetup" in my mind.
posted by EvaDestruction at 1:21 PM on May 18, 2010

I don't imagine people using a feature to invite metafilter at large to a wedding or funeral. If they did, it's no different than a regular meet-up, anyway.

I agree with the broader categories idea.

Meet-up
Performance
Exhibition
Convention
posted by team lowkey at 1:22 PM on May 18, 2010

Also, please provide RSS feeds to each of the categories you end up using.

Yep, we plan on having location-centric views, tagging, RSS feeds, and all of that organizational goodness.
posted by pb (staff) at 1:24 PM on May 18, 2010 [5 favorites]

I don't imagine people using a feature to invite metafilter at large to a wedding or funeral.

You might be surprised.
posted by smackfu at 1:27 PM on May 18, 2010

mathowie: please, keep the jokey events to a minimum, it would let us launch the site sooner

And yet...and yet...
posted by MCMikeNamara at 1:27 PM on May 18, 2010

I think there might be three or four basic types like:

Meetups: someone is in town, you feel like getting to together and partying, whatever

Metafilter Groups: If you want to do something involving a specific activity like start up a book discussion group or a band or something that would meet off-line

Metafilter Events: When people want to go to something specific and one-time like a conference or a concert or a show or something

Metafilter Participant Events: When someone is actually performing or running something -- this would maybe be more like an invitation or a "heads-up - Metafilter people will be here!" or "I am doing this cool thing and maybe you want to come!" but this could get into self-promotey land fairly easily, I suppose

And then maybe you could have subtypes for each (Meet-Ups: Out-of-Town MeFi visitor, Family Meet-up, Bar Meet-up, &c.; Groups: Reading, Language Groups, Hobby, Performing or even more specific like Theater, Music and Dance; Events: Conference, Concert, Art Exhibit, stuff like that; Participant Events: Performing a Gig [if this is indeed what you call it], DJing an Event, Organizing a Costume Party, whatever)

Thank you so much for working on this! I think it is a super fantastic idea and I will try really hard to keep myself from posting too much in this thread.
posted by Mrs. Pterodactyl at 1:27 PM on May 18, 2010 [1 favorite]

Should there be some sort of difference for regular gigs as opposed to one-time gigs? For example, if a Mefite plays regularly at a bar every Friday is that something that should be included? And if so, should there be a way to differentiate it?
posted by charred husk at 1:29 PM on May 18, 2010

And yet...and yet...

I dunno, this feels like a minimum by metatalk standards. Heh.
posted by cortex (staff) at 1:29 PM on May 18, 2010 [1 favorite]

charred husk: "Should there be some sort of difference for regular gigs as opposed to one-time gigs? For example, if a Mefite plays regularly at a bar every Friday is that something that should be included? And if so, should there be a way to differentiate it"

Yeah, are you guys going as far as publishing an ics file that people can add to a calendar? Something that can handle recurrence and cancellations and whatnot?
posted by team lowkey at 1:32 PM on May 18, 2010

I'm definitely leaning towards types

- standard meetup [hangout time with mefites, nonspecific]
- "I'm in a thing" meetup [performances, music, djing, conference talk]
- "I made a thing" meetup [art openings, book signings, garden walk]
- "let's do this thing" meetup [book club, hiking club, event-specific thing w/ mefites]
posted by jessamyn (staff) at 1:33 PM on May 18, 2010 [40 favorites]

I'm not sure this would be a good use of the subsite, but the thought occurred to me so I'll toss it out there: How about couchsurfing? MeFite from Boston will be in Seattle for four days in June, do any Seattle MeFites have open couches/spare rooms/etc.

The more I think about it the less I think it's a good idea to include, but it's something that may get posted anyhow, so discuss it why not.
posted by shakespeherian at 1:34 PM on May 18, 2010

Don't forget to plan for the future. Exoplanetary/galactic meetups should get a category of their own, as well as meetups at historical times/places.

(I'm sorry I don't have any 100% serious contributions; Celebration/Performance/Exhibition seems likely to cover everything that could happen ...on this planet.)
posted by carsonb at 1:34 PM on May 18, 2010

All the above categories are great, combined with location based RSS feeds, this is a really good idea. I'd agree with keeping the categories quite broad as otherwise people might be in 2 minds about where to post their wedding at the mime convention.
posted by arcticseal at 1:35 PM on May 18, 2010

Yeah, are you guys going as far as publishing an ics file that people can add to a calendar?

An ICS file similar to the existing meetup calendar is in the plans, yep. Recurring events and multi-event tours are still an open question for us. Maybe?
posted by pb (staff) at 1:35 PM on May 18, 2010

"Food-based events" would be a good category, I think; sometimes people want to go to a very specific restaurant, and I occasionally do cook-off-type things.
posted by Greg Nog at 1:35 PM on May 18, 2010

Community Events: Street fairs, processions, flashmobs, holiday celebrations, community building projects, festivals, gatherings, etc.
posted by ottereroticist at 1:35 PM on May 18, 2010

Do we already have a category for freaky three ways? Or is that out, because of the limitations of participation? Can we include it if I let people watch?
posted by Astro Zombie at 1:36 PM on May 18, 2010 [3 favorites]

[ ] tasting mysterious white powder found in school parking lots.
posted by special-k at 1:39 PM on May 18, 2010 [11 favorites]

An ICS file similar to the existing meetup calendar is in the plans, yep.

Incidentally, while you are at it, adding times and specific locations to the calendar would be great. With the current feed, I have to copy the event to my calendar and the add the time and place which seems to defeat the point a bit.
posted by smackfu at 1:40 PM on May 18, 2010

I want to reiterate Deathalicious's suggestion of a "Fun Events (organized/led by a MeFite)" category. I program public film series, and while I'm not personally featured in these programs the curating of them is something I put a lot of work into, and I'd love to share them with folks.

So - if deemed appropriate! - I would love to see a category that would cover larger scale offline projects that individual MeFites have poured their time, love, and energy into organizing and planning - even if they themselves aren't the main event.
posted by bubukaba at 1:47 PM on May 18, 2010 [1 favorite]

I don't see why something like 'MeFite is going to be interviewed on KWXY radio [date, time]' would be excluded (not in "meatspace" but off the web, in another medium, something we wouldn't otherwise be aware of), same for a podcast performance or interview if it's not on the MeFite's own website.

Ongoing events should be announced once and/or posted to projects.

Maybe a user would get to post an update to an ongoing event after two months or eight weeks, or once in a given time interval, say, every six or four months. (Maybe you could try something like that and see if it gets abused, and how it gets abused, and adjust the rules accordingly.)
posted by nangar at 1:47 PM on May 18, 2010

[ ] court appearance, please bring bail $$
posted by FelliniBlank at 1:48 PM on May 18, 2010 [2 favorites]

It's about this point where someone suggests tagging as a way around the difficulties of categorization.
posted by smackfu at 1:48 PM on May 18, 2010

- standard meetup [hangout time with mefites, nonspecific]
- "I'm in a thing" meetup [performances, music, djing, conference talk]
- "I made a thing" meetup [art openings, book signings, garden walk]
- "let's do this thing" meetup [book club, hiking club, event-specific thing w/ mefites]

- "get up offa that thing" meetup [meeting up with the ghost of James Brown]
posted by lore at 1:50 PM on May 18, 2010 [4 favorites]

[ ] Games of tag
posted by Astro Zombie at 1:50 PM on May 18, 2010

I'm not a performer, but I am currently in charge of a non-profit group that puts on fun and/or educational events. There's a big one at the end of July that will involve readings, presentations, music, art, and food, so it's hard to pick just one of those categories. My role in all of this is just the planning (and probably MC-ing). Where would my event fall? Would it even fit in here, since I'm the behind-the-scenes gal?
posted by chowflap at 1:50 PM on May 18, 2010

I've done a few weddings in public places that would have been improved by a bunch of strangers showing up, sort of a metafilter-flash-mob Best-Wedding-Ever type thing. I'd love the opportunity to list selected events, and I think some of the local folks would like to come, too. Now, yes, I'd have to carefully guage the couples' interest, but I see the possibility.
posted by MrMoonPie at 1:50 PM on May 18, 2010

Or, what bubukaba said. Heh.
posted by chowflap at 1:51 PM on May 18, 2010

special-k : [x] dog park

I'd like this! Though it could probably fall under meetups (it is a fantastic idea which I may explore later this summer...)
posted by quin at 1:54 PM on May 18, 2010

How about virtual things? Would those work in the "let's do this thing" grouping?
- Challenges like folding@home, mefi clans in online games, private server groups, etc...

Charity events? Are those a "let's do this thing?" Is this better off still in metatalk?
- Let's raise money for MSF for Christmas, put together a scholarship fund etc..., raise money for a sick member?
posted by bonehead at 1:54 PM on May 18, 2010

I'd love to have a Google calendar widget too.
posted by bonehead at 1:55 PM on May 18, 2010

I've been waiting for this for years! Awesome!

Some activities (I might have missed but) I didn't see, above:

- classes (e.g. a MeFite teaches a guitar or programming class)
- meat-space sales (e.g. stoop sales)
- participatory "happenings," e.g. the sort of thing Improv Everywhere does, Zombie walks, etc.
- scavenger hunt or long-term puzzle games (geocaching, etc.)
- tours

It would also be great if there was a way to post POTENTIAL events. For instance, "I would like to teach a free pottery class next month, but only if a bunch of people are interested. How many of you would attend and what day would be good?"
posted by grumblebee at 2:07 PM on May 18, 2010 [1 favorite]

Revision to jessamyn's "things" categories for the standard meetup category:

- "I'm the thing" or "I'm a big thing" [hangout time with mefites, nonspecific]
posted by filthy light thief at 2:08 PM on May 18, 2010

[ ] Performance arts (I'm in/organizing/working behind the scenes in a play/other type of show)
[ ] Visual arts (My artwork/photos are on display at a gallery/coffee shop, I curated this exhibit at a museum)
[ ] Personal (Bar/Bat Mitzvahs, wedding parties, going away parties, garage sales?)
[ ] Meetups (lets all meet at this restaurant/bar; probably almost exclusively a Mefite activity, as opposed to the others where you'd invite all your friends and family)
[ ] Academic/Professional (I'm speaking at this conference, I'm giving a talk at the library on my work, I'm teaching a class)
[ ] Charity events (fundraisers, etc.)

I'm debating about:
[ ] Food (should cookoffs, free food events have their own category?)
[ ] Political events (would this be proper place to try to get people involved in a protest, for example?)
posted by pecknpah at 2:14 PM on May 18, 2010 [1 favorite]

I like Sangermaine's categories best so far.
posted by DiscourseMarker at 2:18 PM on May 18, 2010

Yes! Cortex and I were talking about a potential gigfilter at a meet-up some time ago and I'm so totally pumped it's happening!

I second Jessamyn's idea of "i'm in a thing" "i made a thing," et al. Maybe it could be called the Unfiltered Real Life Page. My two cents on categories:

Meet MeFites
Witness MeFites
Give with MeFites
Play with MeFites
Date MeFites
Do MeFites

*kidding on the last two...kind of.
posted by Lutoslawski at 2:23 PM on May 18, 2010

I wonder if it would be possible to have a "cooldown" alert for an area that has had a meetup in the past, but haven't had one in a while.

If the resulting heatmap was superimposed over a map of the US, the SF bay area would be a white hot ball of fire.
posted by hellojed at 2:26 PM on May 18, 2010 [1 favorite]

It would also be great if there was a way to post POTENTIAL events. For instance, "I would like to teach a free pottery class next month, but only if a bunch of people are interested. How many of you would attend and what day would be good?"

Nothing against your idea, but this is the sort of thing we're trying to sort of avoid with this feature. The idea is to have a place for "There is an upcoming event I am involved in, I would like MeFites to know about it and possibly attend" events. We're trying here to figure out how it needs to be constrained so that it remains useful to the most people and where we can have a somewhat bright line idea of what goes in it and what is something that the feature's not really designed to do.
posted by jessamyn (staff) at 2:31 PM on May 18, 2010

Haven't seen much said about MEFITE IN TOWN events, which has been a common reason for many recent meetups, but I think it deserves a category of it's own (or sub-category).

As for excluding 'let's all meet at the NonMeFite Star's show'... would that have nixed the mathowie/MC Frontalot event, or would there be an exception if one MeFite is offering to buy tickets for others? I still think those kinds of meetup opportunities should be okay, unless it's something like Wrestlemania.

I am, however, quite relieved that nobody has suggested "MetaFilter Flash Mobs", which I (and most of the rest of us) believe is something that should NEVER be encouraged EVER.
posted by oneswellfoop at 2:38 PM on May 18, 2010

2.) events must include a MeFite involved. So 2nd-life meetups and [your favorite band] concerts would probably need to stay in MetaTalk if at all.

Would this rule out things like conferences, if none of the MeFites in question were presenting? That seems a bit harsh. I could think of a fair number of cases where a group of people might want to get together for some specific purpose in the context of a larger event (academic or technical conference, Burning Man, SXSW, etc.) even though none of the MeFi people were directly involved in the main event except as spectators / attendees.

I can understand maybe not wanting people to put every concert that they're attending and want to bring some friends along to on the site, but the line seems pretty fuzzy. If a group wants to meet up for drinks and then go to a concert, is that okay?

The MetaFilter crowd is a pretty interesting bunch so I'd be bummed if stuff got placed off-limits that might be interesting, although I can understand that you don't want it to turn into an advertising/promotional/flog-my-favorite-band vehicle.
posted by Kadin2048 at 2:41 PM on May 18, 2010

We could still have meetups be proposed in metatalk, when finalized they'd go to the new site. Not sure about that yet.
posted by mathowie (staff) at 2:41 PM on May 18, 2010

- standard meetup [hangout time with mefites, nonspecific]
- "I'm in a thing" meetup [performances, music, djing, conference talk]
- "I made a thing" meetup [art openings, book signings, garden walk]
- "let's do this thing" meetup [book club, hiking club, event-specific thing w/ mefites]

- "I'm going to be at this thing" [attendance at larger event that other Mefites may be at too]

I'm thinking about this in terms of those "I'm going to concert X, anyone want to meet up?" meetups we've seen. I think these are different beasts from first category meetups as the focus is not hangout time with mefites, but instead a way to connect over a shared interest.

Also, foursquare interface?
posted by robocop is bleeding at 2:42 PM on May 18, 2010

I run a weekly pub quiz and (insofar as I have it in me for self-promotion) would love if there were a way to sticky this, or something. Obviously spamming the RSS every week would be crappy, but it would be nice if it remained on the static page in a way that someone would notice (say, if we were ever got a sixth mefite in Colorado Springs).

Great idea, mods!
posted by 7segment at 2:43 PM on May 18, 2010

This is a community resource, and I think having one member with a weekly thing (or several with weekly events) might get a bit annoying. I was thinking up to 10 dates in any series of things (music tour, gallery show, etc) might be a good upper bound.
posted by mathowie (staff) at 2:47 PM on May 18, 2010

Open invite parties about the opening of a new book or something, I'm always at things like that.

I host certain events during the week - so being to indicate something is an ongoing would be nice.

Sports events?
posted by The Whelk at 2:47 PM on May 18, 2010

the real question is what we'll call it.

LookitMe?
posted by The Whelk at 2:49 PM on May 18, 2010 [1 favorite]

Not sure this is on-topic, but getting RSS feeds for "All events near X" would be too sweet / tout suite.

> Oh hai my first comment doesn't count grobstein?

1) That was like your eleventieth comment, not your first

2) We are suggesting different things
posted by grobstein at 2:51 PM on May 18, 2010

pb writes "Yep, we plan on having location-centric views, tagging, RSS feeds, and all of that organizational goodness."

Can the location-centric views have some kind of distance slider? I'd zoom mine all the way out to Vancouver.
posted by Mitheral at 2:51 PM on May 18, 2010 [2 favorites]

Point well taken, Matt.
posted by 7segment at 2:52 PM on May 18, 2010

Grass-roots organizing where a MeFi member is hosting the meeting? Not a weekly thing, but maybe once every month or two?
posted by ambrosia at 2:53 PM on May 18, 2010

This could be a lot of fun, but I definitely imagine it'll (by nature) be pretty much limited to areas with large concentrations of mefites. I believe more of you should move to Japan.

Seriously though, a couple ideas

Political gatherings/protests/speeches/'town halls'
Movie screenings/premiers
Sports events (sort of like Deadspin does with baseball games-as-meetup)
Book signings/release parties
Conventions (Scifi/Gencon/PAX?)
Barbecues

About the last part, the barbecues, what can I say, I'm a big fan of grilling. I'd love to have a meetup that involved charred flesh and alcohol, as long as the alcohol is ice cold and the charred flesh isn't mine.
posted by Ghidorah at 2:56 PM on May 18, 2010

Can the location-centric views have some kind of distance slider?

Maybe. We're still developing things and right now cities are our main organizational unit. But with everything geocoded it's possible—might be further down the road than version 1, though.
posted by pb (staff) at 2:57 PM on May 18, 2010

So please, keep the jokey fake events to a minimum

And then, in one pithy phrase, mathowie excluded every category I might ever be interested in attending.
posted by It's Raining Florence Henderson at 2:57 PM on May 18, 2010 [2 favorites]

It's okay IRFH, we'll just go behind the gym and smoke and laugh amongst ourselves.


meetup : location: in my pants. tee hee hee
posted by The Whelk at 3:06 PM on May 18, 2010

Is that a flash mob in your pants, or are you just happy to see me?
posted by It's Raining Florence Henderson at 3:10 PM on May 18, 2010

The thing is, all these specific types of get-togethers (sports events, movies, barbecues, even protests) are already pretty much covered by meet-ups. You want a group of MeFites to meet at some location.

I think what they're going for is the addition of gigs to the already established meet-up protocol. So they just need to know what possible types of gigs people might want to tell the community about. Like a performance, which I think should include anything where there is an audience (reading, pub trivia, MC of an event). Or a convention appearance. Or an exhibition of artwork. Anything else seems outside the scope of the proposed tool.
posted by team lowkey at 3:10 PM on May 18, 2010

pb writes "We're still developing things and right now cities are our main organizational unit."

Would it be easier to just include a couple granularities to the location field. IE: One could enter a City; Region; State; and Country varied by local conventions. For example I might have Kamloops, Thompson-Nicola, British Columbia, Canada. Or at least City and State/Province/Territory/Länder/Prefecture/Województwo/Muhfazah/whatever the administrative layer in between the national government and the local municipalities is called.

In case it's not obvious to everyone why I'm asking: Right now I have 1(one) member near me. If Razzle Bathbone or I want near Mefites to show up to something announcing it is pretty easy. But I'm quite willing to travel quite a distance for something interesting.
posted by Mitheral at 3:16 PM on May 18, 2010

Pitchforking
Burning (at the stake)
Snarkfest
Delousing
posted by blue_beetle at 3:21 PM on May 18, 2010

Would it be easier to just include a couple granularities to the location field.

I think we can hash a lot of this stuff out once we launch something for people to play with. The plan now is to geocode all locations so we have a lan/lot and provide some different ways to get at that information including maps and lists by city and region.
posted by pb (staff) at 3:21 PM on May 18, 2010

I vote we call the new subsite "Mensa" for the sheer comedic irony.
posted by misha at 3:22 PM on May 18, 2010

"Jokey Fake Events" could be its own category.
posted by mr_crash_davis mark II: Jazz Odyssey at 3:26 PM on May 18, 2010 [4 favorites]

Seconding charity events, obviously.
posted by eamondaly at 3:33 PM on May 18, 2010

Hey pb, I think this is going to be awesome! I hope you are thinking about a location-centric ICS file too. I use Google Calendar and a Palm Pre, and I find the current one not very useful, as it fills up my calendar with lots of events that I'm not going to and are very unlikely to. Just a thought.
posted by grouse at 3:34 PM on May 18, 2010

So basically it's Projects: You Can Visit ?
posted by The Whelk at 3:34 PM on May 18, 2010 [1 favorite]

Will there be some way for posters to provide an optional bit of info that only shows up if viewers are logged in? That way people could, if they wanted, provide discount codes and the like to mefites. I would definitely do that for my events, but I don't want to post a discount code for everyone in the world who uses google.
posted by grumblebee at 3:39 PM on May 18, 2010 [4 favorites]

I think it should be called 'MeetupFilter'.
posted by painquale at 3:41 PM on May 18, 2010 [1 favorite]

Nthing Sangmarine's list.
posted by zarq at 3:41 PM on May 18, 2010

I really think Jessamyn's categories sum it up nicely. Why over-complicate matters?
posted by Bookhouse at 3:44 PM on May 18, 2010

Will there be some way for posters to provide an optional bit of info that only shows up if viewers are logged in?

Doubt it. People will be able to RSVP though so you can send them a code via MeMail.

I call it Me+1Filter.
posted by jessamyn (staff) at 3:46 PM on May 18, 2010

As long as DJing is included somewhere, I'm cool with whatever.

PS, having some kind of functionality for Guestlist/RSVP would be neat.
posted by empath at 3:51 PM on May 18, 2010

I like Sangermaine's or Jessamyn's approach. If you really want to dig into the information-design aspects of this it, I think problem invites a faceted solution along the lines of:

- participatory vs spectatorial
- indoors vs outdoors
- athletic vs sedentary
- involves beer (Y/N)

This would let you cover a bowling night (participatory + indoors + athletic + involves beer), watching a MeFite at the roller derby (spectatorial + indoors + athletic + involves beer), book group (participatory + indoors + sedentary + involves beer).

Actually, you know, you can probably take the "involves beer" facet as a given.
posted by adamrice at 4:01 PM on May 18, 2010

Is there a compelling reason that you're creating a new site instead of using an existing event service? Rather than build such a site from scratch, could you form a partnership with Socializr or a similar company? They bring the already-built service, you bring the MetaFilter user base, you both agree on some reasonable revenue sharing split, and maybe you could even work out a custom branding for the MetaFilter part of the site?

Personally, I really hate having to use several different sites for the same basic function/service because each of those site's creators decided that they wanted to re-invent the wheel THEIR way, and then the user base for such sites gets spread around so that the sites end up with incomplete but sometimes overlapping information. (Hey, instead of creating a MeetupFilter, maybe you could think about creating a MetaMeeting service -- a site that can log into your accounts on other meeting/event sites like Meetup, Socializr, eVite, Demand, etc. and aggregate all the upcoming events in one place?)

Anyhow, my biggest peeve is keeping track of multiple accounts. So I'd be much more inclined to use it if logging into MetaFilter also automatically logged me into the event site and I didn't have to create a new account.
posted by Jacqueline at 4:06 PM on May 18, 2010

I don't think anything like Upcoming or Socializr offers a way to link MeFi-only events with an outside site, or offer ways to list really small events.

We built projects even though digg exists, I think we can have a meetup/events subsite here that can do more and offer more than other outside services.
posted by mathowie (staff) at 4:13 PM on May 18, 2010 [2 favorites]

Is there a compelling reason that you're creating a new site instead of using an existing event service?

Being able to customize and control the content to our specific needs, and to provide the service without third-party barriers to all mefites, is pretty much the big selling point; it's specifically worth it to us to make the effort because the wins there justify the work.

Upcoming et al do a good job of being services for folks whose main priority is to use an event-organizing service, but what we're talking about here is folks whose main priority is mefi-related events. Only being able to do event management by telling anyone who might be interested to go sign up at or look at another site is a real pain in the butt in a lot of ways, to the point of being a pretty much deal-killing disincentive.
posted by cortex (staff) at 4:17 PM on May 18, 2010 [2 favorites]

Is there a compelling reason that you're creating a new site instead of using an existing event service?

Yeah, this is supposed to be a way for MeFites to let other MeFites know about things that are happening that are just a little bit outside of the range of what the meetup announcements usually do. It's not for an all-purpose calendaring system and we're not intersted in revenue sharing or anything like that. The problem it's trying to solve is "hey my band is playing and I'd like to tell MeFites about it, but it's not quite right for Meta" not "Hey I'd like to find a way to invite people to my event and keep track of who is going in one central location"

We'll offer standardized data coming out of it so that people can import it into the calendaring app of their choice if they want to, but this isn't supposed to be your personal calendar, it's supposed to be an extension of the meetup functionality we already have on-site.
posted by jessamyn (staff) at 4:19 PM on May 18, 2010 [1 favorite]

Anyhow, my biggest peeve is keeping track of multiple accounts. So I'd be much more inclined to use it if logging into MetaFilter also automatically logged me into the event site and I didn't have to create a new account.

Oh, yeah, to be really clear here: we're building anewsubsite.metafilter.com, which will just be part of metafilter's built-in experience like the rest of the subsites, not some separate cousin site that would be independent. The idea is that this becomes part and parcel of the mefi experience.
posted by cortex (staff) at 4:20 PM on May 18, 2010 [1 favorite]

Magazine/other publication launch parties?
posted by limeonaire at 4:21 PM on May 18, 2010

Yeah where mathowie said site, substitute subsite.
posted by jessamyn (staff) at 4:21 PM on May 18, 2010

My biggest peeve is slow drivers in the fast lane.
posted by It's Raining Florence Henderson at 4:28 PM on May 18, 2010

I propose that the new subsite be named "Meet Metafilter", which we can shorten to "MeetMe".
posted by Pope Guilty at 4:32 PM on May 18, 2010 [21 favorites]

More on the topic of your actual question, it would be nice if MeFites could also register a standing interest in "If another MeFite comes to town, I'd be interested in ... [activity]." Because it seems like I'm the only relatively active MeFite who actually LIVES in Las Vegas, but I know that many of you will VISIT here sometime. My husband and I had fun impromptu pub crawl with askmehow, and would be up for something like that again. (It seems that a shared guilty pleasure in reading Human Relations AskMes provides an instant conversational connection, ha ha.)
posted by Jacqueline at 4:34 PM on May 18, 2010

I propose that the new subsite be named "Meet Metafilter", which we can shorten to "MeetMe".

Best name idea ever.
posted by Jacqueline at 4:40 PM on May 18, 2010

Because I am a backstage inclusionist, I wanted to note that folks can make valuable artistic contributions to theater that are neither acting nor directing. Designers always get the short shrift. *sigh*

Pedantry aside, this sounds rad!
posted by mollymayhem at 5:05 PM on May 18, 2010 [4 favorites]

I was going to suggest "MeetFilter", which we could shorten to "MeF..."

Never mind.
posted by Nice Guy Mike at 5:27 PM on May 18, 2010

which we can shorten to "MeetMe".

Yes, this.
posted by quin at 5:43 PM on May 18, 2010

Is "Meetafilter" going too far?

Of course, apparently according to that survey a while back, some of you already pronounce "Metafilter" that way..
posted by malapropist at 5:51 PM on May 18, 2010

I propose that the new subsite be named "Meet Metafilter", which we can shorten to "MeetMe".

Best name idea ever.

Only until we do a recipe site called 'EatMe.'
posted by jonmc at 5:51 PM on May 18, 2010 [1 favorite]

MODS, GET OUT OF MY HEAD! This is so aptly timed! I *just* read this thread today. It made me cry a little because my band is going on tour in three weeks and I was trying to figure out how to hang out with MeFites all over the country without the self-promotion-y OH HAI COME SEE MY BAND KTHX! drama.

So, my solution was to schedule a meetup across the street from wherever our band was playing and just run back and forth between the two, like Mrs. Doubtfire (sans old lady garb).

I like this new MeetFi idea much better. Thanks matthowamynex (and pb).

Also, I love Sangermine's categories as well. Succinct and flexible.
posted by chara at 5:52 PM on May 18, 2010

Some ideas towards a taxonomy of events

participatory or not
music - many subcategories
dance - ballet, ballroom, tap, etc
visual arts - painting, fiber art, scupture, etc
performance - poetry, theatre, comedy, etc
athletic - include bowling anyway
openings
life events
Ideas - politics, presentations,
MeFiMeetUps

Form for submission?
Event - who/what, location, cost, MeFi connection, date, time, notes

This is a cool idea. Thanks
posted by theora55 at 5:54 PM on May 18, 2010

which we can shorten to "MeetMe"

In contrast to MeatMe, Matt's other project for a bacon subsite.
posted by bonehead at 6:03 PM on May 18, 2010 [2 favorites]

- "get up offa that thing" meetup [meeting up with the ghost of James Brown]

I guess this is just jokey / fakey, but obviously such an event cannot take place until when (if!) James Brown dies.
posted by Meatbomb at 6:07 PM on May 18, 2010 [3 favorites]

I would go for a minimalist set of categories:

Meetup (for meetups)
Event (for plays, movies, rock concerts, conventions, poetry readings, etc)
Activity (for pottery classes, bowling, knitting, rpg games, political rally, anything where people are being invited to participate)
posted by that girl at 6:13 PM on May 18, 2010

Roleplaying?
posted by turgid dahlia at 6:18 PM on May 18, 2010

Something to do with ribs. Or brisket. Or barbecue in general.

I think I need to work on this one some more.

*picks teeth, licks finger*
posted by slogger at 6:39 PM on May 18, 2010

FINALLY A WAY TO ORGANIZE MY FOURSQUARE LEAGUE
posted by klangklangston at 6:47 PM on May 18, 2010 [3 favorites]

Foursquare is better known by the name "HAY EVERBODY MAH HOUSE IS EMPTY RAHT NAO!"
posted by Pope Guilty at 6:50 PM on May 18, 2010

And MeetMe can be shortened to MeMe.
posted by Mitheral at 6:51 PM on May 18, 2010

MiMi?
posted by FelliniBlank at 6:54 PM on May 18, 2010

So I know you said real life events, how about quasi real life events like the nascent book club(s)?

How about the cookie/CD swaps, or secret quansar? Real, but not in person.
posted by shothotbot at 7:30 PM on May 18, 2010

Foursquare is better known by the name...

Actually, klang plays the old acoustic version with the big red ball and stuff.
posted by jessamyn (staff) at 7:36 PM on May 18, 2010 [1 favorite]

How about the cookie/CD swaps, or secret quansar? Real, but not in person.

Nah, that stuff can mostly stay in MeTa. The point is to not clear MeTa out, but to have a place where people can do a little more than you can do with a meetup thread, and maybe have a place to deal with more meetup-type threads. I assume there will be some sort of cross-posty thing happening. We definitely haven't worked out what it will all look like yet.
posted by jessamyn (staff) at 7:38 PM on May 18, 2010

Garage sales (previously).

Sports that a MeFite is involved in, like a roller derby match or a four-square or chess tournament or a kickball championship game; or if a MeFite is on a college, amateur, or pro sports team of some sort.

this is really important. I can't believe more people haven't suggested it.
posted by Chuckles at 7:42 PM on May 18, 2010

I don't have anything constructive to add, but I think this is awesome!
posted by Kwine at 7:49 PM on May 18, 2010

Actually, klang plays the old acoustic version with the big red ball and stuff.

I have, somewhere, action footage of this from a first-person perspective.
posted by cortex (staff) at 7:54 PM on May 18, 2010

I certainly wouldn't mind seeing a reminder about a weekly MeFite-hosted event (trivia, whatever) once a month or so.

It'll be weird to not feel weird about mentioning my band here. This is a cool idea.
posted by mintcake! at 8:04 PM on May 18, 2010

I need to know what color the background is going to be before I can offer any suggestions.
posted by Sailormom at 8:07 PM on May 18, 2010 [2 favorites]

It is not going to be orange because I suggested it and they all laughed in that HAHAHA way that indicated either that they thought I was kidding or that my idea was ridiculous.
posted by jessamyn (staff) at 8:08 PM on May 18, 2010 [7 favorites]

My votes are:

"adult" stuff in general as a category, like kink parties (i.e. SUSPENSION you should go everyone), smutty readings, sex workshops, etc

Dating events/singles events (yeah metafilter is dating central you know it's true)

Sex parties (ok not really but on the other hand we're all pretty hot)
posted by internet fraud detective squad, station number 9 at 8:09 PM on May 18, 2010 [1 favorite]

I'm okay with orange, I just remember Matt trying a creamsicle color and hating that.

Maybe sort of a maize?
posted by cortex (staff) at 8:17 PM on May 18, 2010

Pale pink.
posted by The Whelk at 8:20 PM on May 18, 2010 [1 favorite]

Plummy purple!
posted by the littlest brussels sprout at 8:21 PM on May 18, 2010

Pantone 137!
posted by mintcake! at 8:38 PM on May 18, 2010

Stucco!
posted by turgid dahlia at 8:42 PM on May 18, 2010 [1 favorite]

"Stucco" always amuses me as an answer to colour questions because it reminds me of that teeth-whitening toothpaste ad where the kindergarten teacher woman is sitting in front of the kids with a book and she points to an apple on the page and says "Now what colour is an apple?" and all the kids say "Red!" and then she points to her teeth and says "What colour are my teeth?" and the kids are like "Uhh...off-white?" "Beige." "Mother-of-pearl?" "Stucco!"
posted by turgid dahlia at 8:48 PM on May 18, 2010

Oh!


Grape Yum Yum

Pink Put On

Midnight A-Go-Go

Banana Beige

Periwinkle Pussycat

Lemon Meringue

Peach Paradise

Papaya Surprise

Turquoise Trouble

Very Strawberry

Canary Commotion

Purple Persuasion

Coco Mocha

Argyle Action

Silver Secret

Blueberry Bomb!
posted by The Whelk at 8:54 PM on May 18, 2010

The answer is tawny.
posted by danb at 8:55 PM on May 18, 2010 [5 favorites]

Bris?
posted by buzzman at 9:07 PM on May 18, 2010

I do a fair amount of organizing or publicizing political events, usually related to my job. I'd be very happy to have another place to post them and to encourage people to show up, but don't want to spam metafilter with them. How much do people want to see political events (rallies, at which I may or may not be speaking, for example) and does it depend on the issue/target/mefite participation?
posted by gingerbeer at 9:21 PM on May 18, 2010

Keep it simple -- I think Jessamyn has covered the 4 basic categories (I don't think sub-categories would be necessary because entries would include a hand-written description, I'm supposing) but to those four, add

-charity event

because an event that might not draw out people on the basic strength of whatever it is (cowboy hat fun run and cupcake throwing event) alone, but might draw people out for the causes various MeFites espouse (cowboy hat fun run and cupcake throwing extravaganza to build hospital wing).

Or maybe charity event could be appended onto the basic four in some way so that people knew that it was 1.My Interpretive Dance Performance 2. To Support Iron Lungs for Bowlers.

The color should be fushcia fuiscaia fucsia poop green.
posted by Devils Rancher at 9:26 PM on May 18, 2010

I really, really hate the meat-for-meet word substitution. It reminds me of skeezy dating BBSs where not only were all uses of the word "meet" usually replaced by "meat" by the users to be cute, but all uses of the word "come," regardless of context, were instead spelled "cum."

Oh, and I vote for very minimal categories. Meetup, Event, Activity seems fine to me.
posted by desuetude at 9:39 PM on May 18, 2010

Quick music one I don't see here: open mic/jam session opportunities.
posted by davejay at 9:41 PM on May 18, 2010 [1 favorite]

all uses of the word "come," regardless of context, were instead spelled "cum."

I really hate the spelling "cum". It always looks like teenagers trying to be all hot and raw and just sounding stupid instead.
posted by Pope Guilty at 9:43 PM on May 18, 2010 [1 favorite]

What color is bruise?
posted by klangklangston at 9:49 PM on May 18, 2010

And according to the Hustler style guide (which I regret giving my copy to the computer folks to scan), "come" is the verb, and "cum" is the noun.
posted by klangklangston at 9:50 PM on May 18, 2010

It is the color of heartache
posted by The Whelk at 9:55 PM on May 18, 2010

I will add my voice to Jessamyn's groupings above. Clean, logical, and inclusive.
posted by pjern at 9:56 PM on May 18, 2010

My vote is for some kind of purple BTW, royal linkage and all.
posted by The Whelk at 9:56 PM on May 18, 2010 [1 favorite]

- events that extroverts will like
- events that introverts can tolerate
posted by desjardins at 10:09 PM on May 18, 2010 [12 favorites]

[x] dogging
posted by nthdegx at 11:55 PM on May 18, 2010

Scientific conferences often have free public lectures attached so if a mefite was giving something like that then it should be included even if the actual conference is expensive.

Also smaller conferency type things that are free or cheap, as someone mentioned above, for example I know a mefite who used to organise scibarcamp type things. I don't know if you'd want to draw the line between someone just participating, someone presenting or someone actually organising. Also when does it go from a meetup of some kind (skeptics in the pub say) an become an actual conference (or unconference or whatever).

I do like the idea of highlighting if it's for charity at all.
posted by shelleycat at 12:08 AM on May 19, 2010

Munches
posted by By The Grace of God at 1:24 AM on May 19, 2010

The background should be puce.
posted by h00py at 1:46 AM on May 19, 2010

Meat?

Meatups is ok but that is for the adult section. For the hot hot mefi lovin'. (Just kidding but seriously though have you seen the meetup photos we're all hotties)
posted by internet fraud detective squad, station number 9 at 4:10 AM on May 19, 2010

Yes munches

(Munches are clothes-on BDSM /kink get-togethers)
posted by internet fraud detective squad, station number 9 at 4:10 AM on May 19, 2010

"TenFi = MeetMe" (July 2009)
posted by cashman at 5:17 AM on May 19, 2010

My 2 cents:

1. Broad categories, not too granular
2. I'm so excited about this. Thanks.
posted by Miko at 5:59 AM on May 19, 2010

Will there be an anon or logged-in-only/google-blocking feature? Inviting people to come to something you've worked on links your user account to a real full name/identity much more solidly and publicly than anything else on the site. I suppose the solution is to have someone else make the post, but it would be nice if the thread could be made not to show up in google results for the event if the poster desires. Opt-out would be fine. The concern is less about MeFites knowing who you really are, and more about non-MeFite colleagues stumbling upon the post through a vanity-search.
posted by nobody at 6:15 AM on May 19, 2010 [3 favorites]

Yeah, setting robots.txt or whatever to fuck off and not index this subsite would likely be a very good idea.
posted by Pope Guilty at 6:26 AM on May 19, 2010

I like The Whelk's list of event categories.

What?
posted by DevilsAdvocate at 6:50 AM on May 19, 2010

Yeah, setting robots.txt or whatever to fuck off and not index this subsite would likely be a very good idea.

My guess is we'll do something like that. I don't think there's any utility to letting the googlebot [and otherbots] search it and there's high utility in allowing people to not do realname-MeFiname linking.
posted by jessamyn (staff) at 7:24 AM on May 19, 2010

Of course, if this gets implemented MetaTalk will become a wasteland of pony requests, updates to old posts, and posts complaining about posts complaining about posts complaining about a particular kind of post.
posted by kaibutsu at 8:08 AM on May 19, 2010

also crazy fighting and long, drawn out, marathon threads where the mods have to explain themselves 39949493 times and people link to examples like LOOK MODS YOU DID THIS HERE 4 YEARS AGO!!! WHAT IS DIFFERENT NOW!?!!?!??
posted by internet fraud detective squad, station number 9 at 8:18 AM on May 19, 2010

What color is bruise?

Purple, duh. Looks good -- nay, fabulous -- with blue, green, and gray.
posted by the littlest brussels sprout at 8:26 AM on May 19, 2010

If you pick some kind of purple I can then totally have my Mefite Outfit

(Not kissing. Purple stripped shirt, green vest, dark grey pants and bright blue and gold sneakers. it literally just occured to me yesterday that I was wearing all the site colors)
posted by The Whelk at 8:33 AM on May 19, 2010

(Not kissing)

You have MeFite Kissing Outfits? :)
posted by zarq at 8:39 AM on May 19, 2010

I hope there's a way to sign up to automatically MeMail you when there's a meetup in one's area.
posted by yeti at 8:40 AM on May 19, 2010 [1 favorite]

I'll be using the Professional White Background on the new subsite, as I do with all of the others. But on behalf of my color-blind brethren, I'd like to request that the colors used on the new site not be too funky or difficult to read. Something with decent contrast would be preferable. :)
posted by zarq at 8:42 AM on May 19, 2010

You have MeFite Kissing Outfits?

Greg Nog's got a purdy mouth.
posted by The Whelk at 8:44 AM on May 19, 2010

I also want purple, a deep and finely aged royal burgundy, maybe #65063C or the like.
posted by Meatbomb at 9:09 AM on May 19, 2010

By the way (and feel free to ignore my question if it's been answered, I've been away from MeTa for some time) what ever happened to Travel?
posted by sveskemus at 9:52 AM on May 19, 2010

Shhhh! There was never anything called Travel! NEVER!
posted by The Whelk at 9:53 AM on May 19, 2010

I think we need to be describing events on at least two dimensions.

Dimension one is the kind of event: performance, meetup, athletic event, sex party, whatever. That's been well covered.

Dimension two is the way(s) in which mefites are involved. That would include things like

• In honor of [USER] [OCCASION]
• Fundraiser for [USER] [OCCASION]
• Organized by [USER]
• Featuring [USER]
• Hosted by [USER]

which would let you convey things like "Bar night in honor of [USER] moving to town," "Art show fundraiser for [USER]'s reelection campaign," "Concert that [USER] isn't playing in but is organizing," "Sex party featuring [USER]'s glorious naked ass," and so on. If it was multiple choice, you could also convey, f'rinstnace, "[USER ONE]'s band is playing in a benefit concert to raise bail for [USER TWO], hosted at [USER THREE]'s uncle's bar."

This would be useful because it would let you alert me to events involving my contacts, even if my contacts didn't actually post them. Let's say J Random MeFite decides to throw a party in my Number One Spouse's honor. I still want to get the heads up — and this would make it easy for you to do that automatically.

If you were worried about abuse of the feature, you could give users the ability to modify their own involvement level in events. (i.e. I could amend a concert listing to say "Hey, my band will be in that too," or edit a sex party listing to give the disappointing news that my glorious naked ass won't actually be featured.)

A possible third dimension might be flags for variables that might determine who can or wants to attend. Smoking/nonsmoking, kid-friendly/all-ages/18+/21+, drinking/no-drinking, dubbed/subtitled/incomprehensible, vegan/vegetarian/omnivorous/bloodthirsty, kosher/treyf, clothed/naked, athletic/sedentary/slothful, etc. etc. etc. Who knows how in-depth you want to get here, but you can imagine someone wanting to know, say, if there are any MeFi events in NY this week that aren't at a bar.
posted by nebulawindphone at 10:48 AM on May 19, 2010 [5 favorites]

I'm curious why this would be viewable by the public and not just by logged in members. Isn't the point of it to attract Mefites? I think I'd be less likely to, say, plan a Mefite hike (MeHike?) if I knew the plan/location/time was visible to anyone who happened to see the thread.

I realize Metatalk is open to all as well, so anyone can find out about meetup plans, but this sub-site would obviously be used for a lot more activities.

That said, I think this site is a great idea.
posted by bondcliff at 10:59 AM on May 19, 2010

I'm on the side of it being a logged in only feature too....
posted by The Whelk at 11:03 AM on May 19, 2010 [1 favorite]

I'm a fan of nebulawindphone's two-dimensional system. I think it does a good job of handling some of the problems that others are having here. There's a big difference between a MeFite inviting others to his or her own show and a bunch of MeFites planning to get together for a viewing of someone elses' work... and those sorts of categories are totally orthogonal to the sort of event (concert, hike, etc.) that is taking place. Trying to smash those two axes into one category is no good, nor is it a good idea to ignore one axis or the other.
posted by painquale at 11:25 AM on May 19, 2010

jessamyn:
- standard meetup [hangout time with mefites, nonspecific]
- "I'm in a thing" meetup [performances, music, djing, conference talk]
- "I made a thing" meetup [art openings, book signings, garden walk]
- "let's do this thing" meetup [book club, hiking club, event-specific thing w/ mefites]

grumblebee: Some activities (I might have missed but) I didn't see, above:

- classes (e.g. a MeFite teaches a guitar or programming class)
- meat-space sales (e.g. stoop sales)

In jessamyn's type-speak, maybe those are "I have a thing for you" meetups.
posted by zennie at 11:33 AM on May 19, 2010

nebulawindphone's on to something. At least for the first two dimensions.
posted by janell at 11:34 AM on May 19, 2010

A hiking board game club would be sweet. We could play some Axis & Allies somewhere deep in the woods.

Anyone know of a neat fort in the woods?
posted by yeti at 11:54 AM on May 19, 2010

I'll say what I've said in past Gigfilter threads: my dream feature would be to be able to tag an item with multiple locations and dates. If a Mefite's band is playing in eight different cities, one thread is a better way to build momentum and talk about the shows than eight threads.
posted by roll truck roll at 12:15 PM on May 19, 2010 [1 favorite]

I'm not even sure that'er a difference really between "I'm in a thing" and "I made a thing". In both cases, it's "come to my thing" right? Is there a difference I'm missing?
posted by bonehead at 12:18 PM on May 19, 2010

nebulawindphone has a good idea with the two dimensional structure. I think he must be playing 12d chess against Obama in his head.
posted by Babblesort at 12:19 PM on May 19, 2010

Ixnay on the ikhing ubclay... We havea long, proud tradition of having no cabals here at Metafilter, and we'd like to see it stay that way.
posted by kaibutsu at 12:25 PM on May 19, 2010

What color is bruise?
It is the color of heartache.

Sweet, sexy heartache.
posted by rokusan at 12:25 PM on May 19, 2010

Bowling alone, Bowling league, Curling club, dodgeball
posted by y2karl at 12:32 PM on May 19, 2010

A hiking board game club would be sweet. We could play some Axis & Allies somewhere deep in the woods.

Apparently what we need is a hiking porn club.
posted by nebulawindphone at 2:19 PM on May 19, 2010

irl.metafilter.com

Some way to have recurring events without it being annoying would be nice, like I dunno ... if you spin records every Saturday ...
posted by 31d1 at 2:27 PM on May 19, 2010

irl.metafilter.com

afk.metafilter.com
posted by Pope Guilty at 2:38 PM on May 19, 2010 [6 favorites]

Some way to have recurring events without it being annoying would be nice

Maybe a sidebar with the days of the week listed. You click on a day and all of that day's recurring events appear.
posted by desjardins at 3:13 PM on May 19, 2010

In jessamyn's type-speak, maybe those are "I have a thing for you" meetups.

But I thought she meant...oh. Oh, yeah. I guess.
posted by danb at 4:13 PM on May 19, 2010

I always like the way ical asks "delete just this event or all recurring events?" so there could be a view with all the events and then MyMeetMe [or whatever] with just stuff you've affirmatively selected. This may be getting ahead of it all in any case, but yeah we're thinking on this stuff.
posted by jessamyn (staff) at 4:16 PM on May 19, 2010

- events that extroverts will like
- events that introverts can tolerate

Please, please make this the little tag line under whatever you name the subsite.
posted by mintcake! at 5:41 PM on May 19, 2010 [2 favorites]

Assuming some kind of broad category/more specific tag split akin to AskMe, I definitely think the categories make most sense if viewed from the perspective of what the attending MeFites are required to do, rather than what role the organising MeFite has played in it.

While I think there's some utility to a division based on what the organiser's involvement is, I think it breaks down with all sorts of edge cases, and would end up unnaturally splitting similar events into different categories (e.g. a play gets put into different categories depending on whether it's the set designer or actor who posts it.) Ultimately, the main goal of the site is less Look I've Done A Thing, more Would You Like To Come To My Thing - so it's best to let people filter it along the lines of what level and type of involvement they're interested in.

So maybe something along the lines of:

[]Socialise (Parties, bar meets, picnics - anything where the focus is purely on socialising)
[]Attend (Gallery openings, political rallies, charity balls - basically, anything where there's a focal reason for being there other than socialising, but you can mostly socialise freely with people while you're there rather than having to shut up and pay attention to whoever's on stage)
[]Watch (Gigs, plays, lectures, conferences - anything where courtesy demands that you do in fact have to shut up and pay attention to whoever's on stage)
[]Participate (Jam sessions, political organising-type events, sex parties)
[]Compete (Cooking contests, Ultimate Frisbee tournaments, fights)

Tags would then allow for a more specific description of the genre of the event. Maybe if there was a pre-suggested set of common tags (e.g. Film, Play, Dance, Comedy, Lecture...), that would help people filter down and track events by common tags without missing stuff due to multiple tags being used for the same genre of event (e.g. Film, Movie, Cinema, etc.). If your event doesn't match the pre-suggested ones, you can add your own - maybe these could then be added to the suggested tags list if they get used a certain number of times?

Oh, and I've just thought of a couple more factors that could be a very useful filtering tool, but that probably just need a yes/no answer for each - Entrance fee required? [Y/N] and Pre-booking required? [Y/N]

And, okay, maybe another division between MeFite involved and Common interest to distinguish between, say, Cortex's gigs and Jon Bon Jovi's gigs. (Jon Bon isn't a member, right?)
posted by flashboy at 6:54 PM on May 19, 2010

Jon Bon isn't a member, right?

Not since Quonsar left, no.
posted by killdevil at 8:10 PM on May 19, 2010

Not before he left either.
posted by jessamyn (staff) at 8:50 PM on May 19, 2010

Great idea; thread is tj;dr (too jokey). But yes, some catchall for performance could cover readings, lectures, the occasional magic or mime. And no open mics, they're dreadful. Too much to ask. Unless maybe you're the host and doing lots of time between acts, plus a bunch up front.
posted by msalt at 11:49 PM on May 19, 2010

events.metafilter.com

Color it light yellow with dark blue text, or maroon with light yellow text.

And a blue mane and a swishy tail that I can tie a bow to.
posted by not_on_display at 4:06 AM on May 20, 2010

Not before he left either.

Which still leaves while he left. I find this interestingly ambiguous.
posted by Devils Rancher at 4:26 AM on May 20, 2010 [1 favorite]

flashboy: And, okay, maybe another division between MeFite involved and Common interest to distinguish between, say, Cortex's gigs and Jon Bon Jovi's gigs. (Jon Bon isn't a member, right?)

I would prefer that all such event postings require direct involvement of a mefite. "Let's all go to the Bon Jovi concert" can go in the general social meetup category.
posted by zennie at 5:58 AM on May 20, 2010 [1 favorite]

I need to know what color the background is going to be before I can offer any suggestions.

The background should be a map that changes based on the location of the event.
posted by Deathalicious at 11:10 AM on May 20, 2010

I wasn't joking about the introvert/extrovert thing; if your poetry reading is going to have 10 people at it, I won't go because I'll probably have to, y'know, talk to people and it will be awkward. If I can sit in back of 50 people and go unnoticed, I'm more likely to go.
posted by desjardins at 11:53 AM on May 20, 2010

Dissertation defenses
posted by chrisamiller at 8:45 PM on May 20, 2010

MetaTalk will become a wasteland of pony requests, updates to old posts, and posts complaining about posts complaining about posts complaining about a particular kind of post

become???
posted by theora55 at 8:55 AM on May 21, 2010

Ooh, can we re-name MetaTalk as "Pony Wasteland"?
posted by the littlest brussels sprout at 4:45 PM on May 21, 2010 [2 favorites]

Out here in the gray
I camp every day
I get my back into my snarking
I don't need to cite
To prove I'm right
I don't need to be the FARK king

Don't whine
Just get in line
It's only pony wasteland

MeFite, take my hand
We're here to make a stand
Get out the popcorn
And don't sit on my pitchfork

The BanHammer is here
The cabal is gathered near
[There is no cabal]
What the hell's a tater?

Pony wasteland
It's only pony wasteland
Pony wasteland, oh yeah
Pony wasteland
Let's get wasted!
posted by It's Raining Florence Henderson at 5:39 PM on May 21, 2010 [1 favorite]

The executive electric pony wasteland!

My Pretty Pony Wasteland!
posted by not_on_display at 3:05 PM on May 24, 2010

We do not need any more colour suggestions, thanks. Team Mod has made a final decision on purple / burgundy.
posted by Meatbomb at 11:21 PM on May 24, 2010

Hush, astral boy.
posted by cortex (staff) at 7:07 AM on May 25, 2010

his silhouette is so stationary....
posted by The Whelk at 7:09 AM on May 25, 2010 [1 favorite]

Damn. I was hoping tor taupe.
posted by kaibutsu at 8:33 AM on May 25, 2010

Versatile color. Taupe of the morning to ya. Taupe me Obi-Wan Kenobi, you're my only taupe.
posted by grobstein at 11:35 AM on May 25, 2010 [1 favorite]

Taupe duct.
posted by MrMoonPie at 12:09 PM on May 25, 2010

Soul on roll, but you treat it like soap on a rope
'Cause the beats in the lines are so taupe.
posted by SpiffyRob at 12:23 PM on May 25, 2010

Living in the same neighborhood

Neighborhood networking

Volunteer together

Fundraising

Taking political action together

Same city daycare/babysitting/house sitting/pet sitting?

Helping each other during a time of crisis/hospital/emergency
posted by nickyskye at 1:33 PM on June 3, 2010

I'm coming really late to this thread, but hopefully this'll still be read: there are two techie aspects I'd really, really love to see for Metafilter Events or Metameetup or whatever you end up calling it.

The first is an iCalendar feed. To me, this is really essential, because otherwise I have to manually input whatever I decide to go to or want to follow and I'm not likely to put in that amount of work. With iCal, I can just subscribe to it in Google Calendar (or Outlook or whatever), and bam, it's there. Of course, the complication of filtering does enter it -- i.e., I'm not necessarily going to find it useful to know about Los Angeles or Juneau events -- but even if the filtering's too complex a task, someone could probably do something with Yahoo! Pipes like I suggested here for the MeTa meetup iCal post. It's currently down and I can't recall the precise options it offers, but fbCal has struck me as htting the sweet spot on the options for an events calendar (it's something like "on your iCal, show: (a) only those you're attending; (b) those you're attending and those RSVPs you've not responded to" and one or two other options). As a less preferable but better-than-nothing alternative to that, having an "add to Google Calendar" option might be useful, in which the basic events of a MetafilterEvent listing is shuttled into the appropriate fields of Google Calendar (location, date, time, etc.) would be useful.

The second is I really like how Facebook handles its RSVPing for events and I think mimicking it could only help here. Being able to click on the event listing, which appears in a sidebar in your main screen, and have a tiny little AJAX drop down that says "RSVP: Yes / No / Maybe" -- it's gotten me to be a lot better at RSVPing on such things than I ever had before. I think that's a feature worth implementing ... perhaps having an "events sidebar" on the blue or green where you have a similar little "RSVP: yes / no / maybe" choice for events.

A quick search leads me to think these ideas haven't been brought up yet; if they have, sorry for the duplication.
posted by WCityMike at 4:59 PM on June 6, 2010 [1 favorite]

A sidebar for the blue or green would not be awesome. It's not just because imitating facebook would make me sad, but it muddles the bright line division. Currently, Green things really stay on the green. Blue things really stay on the blue. Gray things stay on the gray once they eventually migrate there full of GRAR. I don't want cross-pollination between sub-sites. It might be appropriate as a greasemonkey script, but I don't want events bugging me other places. If I wanted that, I would be on Facebook.
posted by stoneweaver at 5:18 PM on June 6, 2010

stoneweaver: I don't want cross-pollination between sub-sites.

If two bloody lines of 9-10pt text on the green or blue end up offering better RSVP headcounts and thus more Mefites enjoying each other's company in meatspace, I think the extremely microscopic amount of cross-pollination/muddling would be highly worth it. Grar grar grar, indeed.
posted by WCityMike at 5:36 PM on June 6, 2010

WCityMike: someone could probably do something with Yahoo! Pipes like I suggested here for the MeTa meetup iCal post.

As I discovered tonight, that doesn't work.
posted by WCityMike at 5:38 PM on June 6, 2010

We're planning some sort of feed-ability thing that works with iCal and google calendar and whatnot, yeah. As far as RSVPing, our idea was that it would work sort of like how the tenth anniversary stuff did. There's a way to get headcount, but not a lot of flashy stuff. I don't know exactly what pb/mathowie are building, but I think some sort of headcounting will be possible. That said, we're still thinking of it as being something for mainly meetups and gigs, so not really something meriting its own sidebar sort of thing, people can greasemonkey it up if they want.
posted by jessamyn (staff) at 5:49 PM on June 6, 2010

jessamyn: we're still thinking of it as being something for mainly meetups and gigs, so not really something meriting its own sidebar sort of thing, people can greasemonkey it up if they want.

Sounds good. Just admiring (geez, for a change, considering their usual track record) the Facebook UI on that: interesting that they can pack a lot of usefulness into two lines of small type on a page, and thought it was worth copying.
posted by WCityMike at 7:00 PM on June 6, 2010