Heh.

Meetup, in the way of initially free internet services, is starting to charge. $9/month per group for now, $19/month starting next year.

Unsurprisingly, groups who've been using Meetup are trying to decide if it's worth it to them, or if they'd rather find another way to organize. DH goes to a monthly meeting of local bloggers, who discussed what to do at their Wednesday meeting. Someone did a little photo captioning and blogged about the meeting as follows: [link] (DH is the guy listing three options in the top photo. Annabel is the baby in the first and third photos.

Then, things get interesting. A Meetup employee posts on the company blog wondering what was up with the belly-achin': [link] DH did a little searching and discovered that the poster in question was the VP for Communications.

DH and others blogged about the gall of a VP for Communications chiding customers for complaining. Another employee, lower on the totem pole, apologized, and all looked like it was calming down, but here's what Mr. VP for Communications just commented to DH's blog:

Seattle Bloggers!

I'm sorry if y'all took that post the wrong way.

It wasn't meant to put you down ... not in the least. (Simon Willison got it right...)

We love you guys. We really do!

"Belly Achin'" was merely a reference to the annotated photo #3 (http://www.makeyougohmm.com/20050421/1742/) where, if you ask me, it really comes across that y'all were, well, belly achin'...

"Meetup? Yeah, they suck"

"I could use the power of print to produce fliers that say Meetup Sucks"

"Meetup? Yeah, sounds kinda greedy"

Harsh!

Now, please tell me -- are these comments constructive? Or was just a little bit of belly achin'?

Again, sorry if the tounge-and-cheek reference to the photo didn't translate in that post on Meetup Watch.

Myles

Can someone please pay me a lot of money to be VP of Communications somewhere? I promise to keep my mouth shut when I think people have said harsh things about my employer, and not get after customers for not being constructive in their criticism.

This guy is VP of Communication and doesn't understand that the correct response to publicly-expressed customer dissatisfaction is NOT lecturing customers about how they've been ungrateful?

He actually kinda reminds me of Krystal the rejected intern. Similar sense of wounded entitlement.

I suppose I understand how someone gets that way, if they're always dealing with underlings whose job is to cater to their needs rather than the reverse. But anyone who's going to be dealing with clients should have it drilled into their heads that you offer solutions or at least apologies rather than recriminations. You'd think an understanding of that process would be a requirement for becoming a corporate executive.

I just got in from a party and am watching the, um, Popefication.

He looks about ready to collapse beneath the weight of the vestments. They're going to have to herd those cardinals and their white smoke stuff back inside before communion at this rate.

The other thing about the whole meetup situation that I thought was neat was the proposal for building their own version, which made me all nostalgic and stuff. There seems to be more and more of that going around as the suits try to stick it to their non-paying customers.

I just have to pause in horrified w-one-der at "tounge-and-cheek"!!1!

beej: Grab' em. Sell them on ebay. Donate proceeds to the Buffistas operating fund. Just an idea...

::looks at great huge piles of stuffs to do in the next month. briefly considers Gus' very good idea for someone else to do::

Uh-huh.

::waves 'price of shipping' option at Gus::

OK. I'm in. If the ebay sale doesn't cover the shipping cost, I will hunt you down and...

...smother you in smooches.

t hopes beej is a femme, 'cuz otherwise there may be some degree of squick

Profile addy good.

eta: Get the guy's name, and anything that might legitimitize provenance of the tapes.