We run meetups for systems programmers [0] and have mostly addressed these challenges.

> 1. Finding space to have events

Talk to a coffee shop owner. Promise them your group will (reliably) order drinks or snacks. In exchange, every month we get an area "cordoned off" just for us.

> 2. Ensuring that people who said “I’m going” actually end up going.

Aside from sending a general newsletter, I personally ping and catch up with individuals. This is a lot of work. It pays off when they evangelize your event on your behalf.

> 3. Bootstrapping groups such that when I stumble upon The Offline Club, I can signup for something relevant to me, happening a short time from now.

See #2

> 4. Keeping organizers willing to continue hosting events

That's tougher. However, if the event is specialized/niche/unique enough, the organizers will be conferred high social status by the community.

> 5. Keeping away organizers who see it as lead gen for their sales job

Mmm, could we define sales job? On the business front, the meetups are used to promote our (indie) conferences. The meetup groups don't mind when I ask them to buy a ticket. They can just say no and we're not pushy about it.

[0] https://handmadecities.com/meetups

There's a meetup dynamic which has previously been explained to me, it goes something like this: someone starts a meetup where a mix of cool people and weirdos show up, the events continue until the ratio gets really bad which causes the cool people to splinter off into their own private group. I wonder if this product is able to escape that pattern.

Is there any reasonable non-commercial replacement for Meetup on the horizon?

I used to go to some hiking and bike riding meetups years ago, and those types obviously don't end up as sales events, but they still had issues with the weird Meetup system where people "had to" take charge of groups and pay somehow etc.

I remember that every time I had taken part in one of those groups, the next time it was somehow some slightly different variation of the same group under a different name that I had to find using their search. All just for the internal workings and politics of the Meetup system.

One thing I’ve noticed with Meetup is that a lot of events went virtual during Covid, then never went back. When I go there it seems like so many things near me are simply Zoom meetings, which I have no interest in.

I understand needing that during that period, but it seems like if they want to get back to the real purpose of the site, they need to do away with that option.

> 2. Ensuring that people who said “I’m going” actually end up going.

Super interested in how people solved/compensated for this problem. The approach I've found works best is to make the event, basically, "open-doors" (i.e., the RSVP is not actually required, chance attendees always welcome), and hope for the best. Someone mentioned personally messaging people but, well, that's a lot of work for something not my dayjob.

Been hosting a weekly meet-up for over a year now and there are some factors which I think contribute to this problem:

A. We set-up an auto-recurring meet-up event. People sign-up for the events happening within the next month; hence they fill-up quickly. However, as more people discover the event, they find them already fully-booked. These people end up booking for the waitlist and/or the next events that are not yet full (i.e., event slots more than one month ahead). This creates a negative feedback loop. (This January, I had sign-ups for up to May!)

B. With a long waitlist from [A] people who signed-up would tend to cancel last-minute. At that point the people in the waitlist have made other plans already and end up a no-show or just canceling too, sometimes after they already got a slot. This, again, creates a negative feedback loop.

This year, aside from open-doors policy, I've started overbooking the event on purpose to combat [B]. It's sort of effective though every week I'm playing the airline overbooking problem. This calendar year, I've only been "overbooked" once. I'm also, naturally, wary of first-timers who might be a nuisance (e.g. but not only: parent's [5] but s/organizers/attendees/) but so far I wouldn't really say that has been a problem. Maybe the type of our meet-up organically filters for it (we're an art hobby group and if you can't sit still just trying to draw for 2h, or are not interested at all in learning about art and drawing, you will have a very awkward 2h).

It definitely has things in common with meetup.com. But it looks meaningfully distinct to me because the appear to specifically have some kind of strong preference against connected devices. Honestly, I've been wishing for things in this vein recently because of the feeling that our world is growing too superficial with our faces buried in phones and being fed by addictive algorithms.

That being said, I think you're right about some of the challenges that an effort like this will encounter.

> Go to church (I'm serious, even if you are an atheist)

heard people say church is about community more than religion so i tried engaging earnestly with 3 churches as a normy adult with a spouse. at nondenominational it was about the show and egos of performers and at catholic church it was about the tradition. of course it was all very clearly about the money too

id say going to church as a non-churchgoer is mostly an exercise in seeing how weird and bad church is but not in the same ways it was weird and bad as a kid

> Go to your HOA/City/County board/commissioners meetings

i go to these so my spouse doesnt have to and recommend others to only go in order to spare the ones they love from these meetings as well

Edit: the roller skate community is incredibly inclusive. my experience is that there are hotshots, but many more welcoming and friendly people who want to share their joy of skating and are just looking to spend time relaxing with others. my experience going a few times in an earnest attempt to check out the scene as an adult

> Go to a hunting/gun class or just hunt/shoot.

Lol'ed at this. Imagine literally hunting for a new friend

You don't go into the forest with a gun because you crave human company

Can you explain how I will meet people at the library?

> Go to church (I'm serious, even if you are an atheist).

A few cities have a humanist group called "Oasis"; I used to go and it was basically exactly the same structure as church, except the "sermon" would be a guest speaker talking about a topic that interests them. But still, music, community moment, pass the donation plate, coffee, gossip...

https://www.houstonoasis.org/

Some Oasis groups post a podcast if you want to listen-in.

And of course there's also Unitarian Universalist groups...

Or just find an open-minded place of worship and start attending.

How do I find clubs that do not exclusively consist of retirees?

Go to church (I'm serious, even if you are an atheist)

> Go to a meditation center instead!

I'm not a huge table top gamer or anything and have checked out my local shop to play with others. It was definitely fun, but I'll admit that it wasn't for me and I stopped going. If you are into board games, you definitely should check them out though. I just found it required more interest in board games than I was willing to partake in when I really just wanted a third space to hang out.

On the flip side, I was into swing dancing for a few years and I found that was a great place to socialize. Of course, like the board games thing, it's not for everyone. That said, I did find it was a bit easier to just show up there and just socialize. Once you're a regular, you don't necessarily have to be constantly dancing or anything. (I did when I got started, though.) You can just hang out and have a good conversation with another regular, and often there's a bar where you can chill with a drink. It's definitely intimidating to go dancing as a newb, though, so I recommend going some place that offers a weekly class. That's a great way to meet other newbies and go to the dance together.

The problem is the weirdo problem someone else mentioned. You can only put up with so many stinky man children till you decide it's not worth going

Maybe it's just part of the reflexes I've developed in recent years as an American, but there is never going to be a day where I hand my phone off to anyone for any reason. Not because I am addicted to it, but because there is simply too much PII and sensitive content to protect on it.

Why not just trust people to keep their phone in their pocket when out at a social gathering that was formed for the expressed purpose of disconnecting? Wouldn't that also help the person break the habit of checking their phone frequently while also knowing it is still there?

A few years ago, I realized my screentime was getting out of control. Being a person who has a history of substance abuse (and recovery), I recognize addiction when I see it. So, I took some measure to minimize my use.

1. Remove all non-essential apps. Games, news apps, social media...basically anything that was not helping me get something done. I ended up left with email (work) any my banking or payment apps, while all the "fun" apps got installed on my tablet that stays at home.

2. Use a minimalist app launcher overlay. It's actually crazy how the removal of graphical icons helps, turning everything in lists of words, making you have to think about why you just unlocked your phone and find the specific app instead of something like "oh, there's Discord, I might as well check that while I have my phone open. These launchers also tend to have built-in blockers for notifications.

It seems like these were two simple things, but they were not. Especially at first. For about the first month, I found myself pulling my phone out for no reason, since the trigger that was making me do it (boredom, anxiety, FOMO) was still there, but I learned to cope with them and eventually they faded.

I would not have accomplished that by handing my phone off to other people, which actually makes me more paranoid about what's going given modern privacy concerns. In the US, we even campaign against handing your phone over to law enforcement since the implicit trust has been broken one too many times. Do Europeans share this anxiety?

Don't even bring your phone, feels even better.

I’m sure in a nice community cafe you could just ask them to hold onto your phone if you really wanted to. This is one of those Silicon Valley things where everything needs to be commodified with some nice branding and an app offering a solution to a problem solvable with “talk to other humans”.

I thought this was a timeleft kind of deal about pairing for dinner with strangers but it’s barely even that.

Yeah, it fails the first test.

There's no way I'd hand my phone to a stranger.

Well, if it's at a venue, they have to rent it out.

I guess it's a way to keep the weirdos out. Some might be willing to pay that money just for the opportunity to be surrounded by likeminded individuals.

There's one in copenhagen where you have to pay to have a picnic in a public park :D

the gentrification of boredom?

is there anything that can't be repackaged and marketed to a consumer.

If you squint a little bit, what you are describing is a (public) library.

Points 1 and 4 (and in some cases, Point 5) are a Private Members' Club: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Private_members%27_club

Points 2 and 3 are the Diogenes Club: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Diogenes_Club

Classic network effects vs. product scenario.

You're thinking about the wrong stage of friendmaking.

The pitch here is for getting people over the first hurdle, which is being at the same place at the same time as other people, and to some extent, the second hurdle, which is striking up a conversation (as anyone who would attend something like this is, by their presence, signalling an interest in at least casual interaction with the other participants). This adds people to your "acquaintances" list.

The next step is forming setting specific friendships. Your gym buddies, your work friends, etc. Then you need to actually invite some of those friends to other settings, until your friendship isn't entirely predicated on the particular setting. Then you need to spend enough time with that person to maintain the friendship.

For most people, the big hurdles are the "being present", "striking up a conversation", and "converting setting specific friendships into general friendships" steps. Everything else is pretty straightforward.

Casually dropping by someone's place unscheduled is typically reserved for pretty close friends. That's not what this service is targeting.

People are busy and can’t accommodate random pop-ins all the time. That is also a nightmare for certain personality types, and is often considered quite rude.

My dad is in his early 70s and still regularly gets together with people from all eras of his life, going all the way back to high school. Old neighbors, former co-workers and employees, and various others he met along the way. Unlike a lot of retirees, he has a rich social life and a packed calendar with dozens of close friends. This was all due to him regularly reaching out and scheduling a meal or activity, or just time to chat, over the course of his life. Friendships don’t just spontaneously last decades, they take effort, especially as people go through different stages of life.

There's a few furry events in my city which are basically "This pub, this day of the week every week". You don't bother working out who is going, how it fits in to everyones schedule. You just go if you feel like doing something that night and there will be people there.

I've got a few friends who I don't even have the contact details for, If I want to talk to them I just go out to whatever the current event or party is and they will probably be there.

I see the value of these services, but there's definitely an impersonal and formal nature to them, which takes away some of the humanity of just meeting people IRL and deciding to spend time. However, it feels like there are fewer third spaces people can spend time at without having to spend money where they can just randomly meet new people and see them regularly. Making new friends requires regularly being in the same space with them over time so you can build familiarity. Just meeting someone one time isn't enough for a lot of us to just decide "let's be friends and spend time together". If this service encourages people to hang out regularly, I think it's a step in the right direction.

While I generally agree with this sentiment - it's pretty hard to maintain friendships and relationships where both parties don't talk because they're both waiting to be spontaneous.

I don't "book/plan" things with friends, but it makes a massive difference to consistently reach out and nurture friendships.

The way you're describing meeting people seems fun, but half the time folks are busy with life or other stuff to be spontaneous.

I work from home, live far away from family, and sometimes the only social interaction I get each day is getting marketing text messages from HelloFresh. I then can take the time to go speak to my local barista for ~30 seconds and buy a drink.

Where I grew up, just showing up at someone's house unannounced was a faux pas. Scheduling in advance was the only way to do shit.

That looks cool. Bit US-based (and maybe a bit young) for me, but much respect, the world could do with more of this. The kids are alright.

This seems like an app that would have been created by the team at "The Idler" magazine (it's a monthly UK publication).

Too much of life is already tied to a screen. I spent the last few years sitting in front of "offline" computers seeking fun and relaxation. I got all kinds of cool stuff for Atari 2600, bought a Commander X16, even learned how to program for both. Ultimately, it just feels like everything else in life now, but harder.

Anyone interested in buying a bunch of retro stuff? :)

Can you please not post snarky comments here? This is in the site guidelines: https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html.