UPDATE June 26, 2002: E2 MEETUP IS LIVE!
You can now go to http://e2.meetup.com to register yourself in your geographic area. The next "International E2 Meetup Day" is August 3, 2002; each subsequent day will be the first Saturday of the month. Kudos to Scott, Jan, and the rest of the gang at Meetup for making this service available to us.
A friendly proposition to the Everything2 User Community
I've been on Everything since E1, way back in the day. I am by no means one of Everything's Best Users, but I consider E2 to be one of the most distinctive and advanced sites on the web today. Everything as a community has been through a lot, and we have over 90 fond memories of E2 Gatherings to look back on. Unfortunately, I haven't found a gathering in Pittsburgh just yet, and I'm always out of town for the ones in my native New York. There's the Everything People Registry, but that can get cumbersome as people move around or just leave themselves off the many lists we have.
The solution to this problem, as is the case with many problems, is a database.
Last week, Slashdot reported on the emergence of a new site, Meetup, to allow people to quickly and easily set up gatherings on particular interests. Already, there are more than 3,900 users registered under the Slashdot heading alone, and over 8,000 users in total. Word of mouth advertising has resulted in many topics, from Tori Amos fans to Xbox players, sprouting up. I submitted a request to the Meetup staffers for an Everything2 Meetup site, but they have not yet contacted me.
We need more Everything. dem bones has encouraged me to rally the troops and make our little old community join the ranks of many others on Meetup.
What you can do
Meetup's site is at http://www.meetup.com. It's a free service, although they allude to some premium features that would be on the horizon to streamline meeting planning. Personally, I feel that Meetup will do just fine for connecting people in geographic areas; once we have enough users, a proper Gathering node can be posted and we continue on as usual.
To submit a new Meetup request, fill out the form at http://www.meetup.com/suggest/topic. For the sake of brevity, I would suggest the URL "e2.meetup.com" for the location. Although I've referred to us as a "community," our Meetup would best be filed under "Internet & Technology" instead. That's where Slashdot, Fark, Plastic, and a few other web sites' Meetups are located. Choose whatever schedule you want for Meetups. Although I'm fine with a monthly schedule (your choices are "once a month" and "once only") the choice is yours. We'll figure something out.
Meetup is still a new site, and is still in the growing phases. Don't be surprised if you don't hear from them right away, although I'm hoping that they get enough E2 user submissions to act and create a Meetup.
Legal crap
I, generic-man, am not formally affiliated with MEETUP, LLC. I believe that they have an excellent product, especially considering that this is presently a free service. Your use of MEETUP is subject to the terms and conditions set out at http://www.meetup.com/terms/. Please read them thoroughly before signing up. Although the suggestion form does not require a login, you will need to create a user account with Meetup to register your location once the Meetup is created.
Questions?
If you have any questions about where this service is going, or any suggestions about promoting it within Everything2, please contact me by e-mail or private /msg. Thank you kindly for your time.