Rank people by flakiness (yes rsvp but no-show) and allow organizers to specify max flaky level
For popular events, where space is very limited, there are often long waiting lists. When people RSVP yes but then don't show up it creates a sad situation where a much-anticipated meetup ends up feeling like an empty house.
It would help prevent this if meetup users were given a "flakiness" score that is determined by how often they RSVP yes but do not show up. Organizers could then specify that a meetup is only available to people with a low flakiness quotient, helping to ensure that those who RSVP yes will actually show up and the meetup won't be an empty house.
This incentivizes meetup users to manage their RSVPs correctly, also. As far as I can see there is not currently any motivation aside from politeness for anyone to change their "yes" rsvp to a "no" when they realize they can't attend.
Cory Forsyth
shared this idea
33 comments
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Dan
commented
That's what happens when events are free, which is one of the many reasons I just voted on this 'top' suggestion: http://meetup.uservoice.com/forums/37079-ideas-and-suggestions-for-meetup/suggestions/2171485-monthly-dues-payment-option-required-to-join-group
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Anonymous
commented
This is a great idea.
I agree with Mark and others that this needs to be reframed in the positive, e.g. as a "commitment level".
It will also need 4 things for this to work:
(i) organizers can go in and update who actually did show up at the event (if we can't track this then the commitment level is meaningless)
(ii) the system will keep track of overall commitments and assign the ratings
(iii) the organizers can set minimum commitment levels and the system can give an appropriate message to people with low commitment levels and advise them how to increase it
(iv) the system should give options for low commitment people, e.g. put them on the end of the waiting list so more committed people get the first chance to attend, or to not allow non-committed people to register for this event or for X number of eventsAlso, it would be good to cross-correlate this request with this one http://meetup.uservoice.com/forums/37079-ideas-and-suggestions-for-meetup/suggestions/3608227-prevent-members-from-being-able-to-rsvp-to-multipl
That request says: don't allow people to register to multiple events at the same time slot and day and then only turn up to one of them or not to turn up to any. Only allow them to register for one event at any given timeslot. The behaviour of registering for multiple events and attending only one can contribute to perceived 'flakiness'
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JLG
commented
Proper editing of attendance after each event, provides the organizer with a proper attendance record for each member - # responses, # no shows,...
However, members can change their Yes RSVP to a no even after RSVP's have closed. So, I save a screen shot of the attending list and edit the last minute No changes to reflect No Show.
Another "trick" to track flakiness beyond attendance (a whiner, complainer, trouble maker,..) is to give them a custom title. Many organizers in my area do this to help each other - we give the title of a period, that's it just a period, no one else even notices it, but if we see several periods under a member's name, we know other organizers have had problems with that person. Unfortunately, titles only show up on the group for which they hold the title, so organizers of other groups have to look them out in each group to see if they have 'periods' from any other organizer.
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Bob Mc
commented
Assistant organizers and above already can see no shows in the member profiles but event organizers can't. It would be nice if this feature was expanded to event organizers and hosts
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Mark Gronwald commented
I love this. Could call it "commitment level". In a group where we all print copies of our work for the number of expected attendees, flakiness is costly and wastes a lot of paper and ink.
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Elaine Vigneault commented
This is such a funny idea.
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Jill
commented
Perhaps different levels of membership based on activity. New members start out in the middle and go up or down based on attendance or other factors set by the orgainzer
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Brad Smith commented
Some comments request using 'No-Show' as a label since it is nicer than 'flakiness'.
How about letting each group assign the label. This way each group could choose a friendly label such as 'missing friends' or perhaps a bit harsher depending on the group dynamics.
This is similar to how members are labeled. Hiking groups are 'outdoor enthusiasts', wine socials are 'grape dabblers', scrabble players are 'board game lovers' etc.
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april
commented
They had this exact thing on another group site I was on (it was even called "Flake Factor"). Everyone starts with a 100% rating, but every no show or cancelation within 24 hours of the event knocks you down by a percentage (so if you flaked 1 time out of 10 it would be a higher percentage than 1 out of 20). It kept this info for a rolling 12-month period, so people could turn their rating around. It worked great for when people were buying tickets or reservations (set the flake factor to 75 or 80% and you're pretty much guaranteed most everyone will show).
I loved this, it was one of the best things about that site.
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Steven
commented
When our members pull a NON SHOW,. we place a star * next to their name. Three stars and you're out of the club. No need to be PC about any of this.
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Angela
commented
How about adding a No-Show (nicer than flakiness) policy to your group? If you say people are removed after 3 No-Shows within one year or 6 within 3 years then you may eliminate some of them. In addition, you could also state in the event that due to popularity and size of the event those in good standing (i.e. no No-Shows within the past 3 months) are welcome to attend. Not sure if I worded this correctly. This might be better in the Org Forum: http://www.meetup.com/boards/view/listthreads?forum=203829
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Gareth Timms
commented
Can not vote for this as it does not appear to allow for individual situations nor for the variety of groups. If flakiness ( and the word is offensive with mental health connotations in parts of the english speaking worlld) score was used it should be something an organiser can switch on.
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Kelly G commented
I like the ida of having a custom title area for the organizers eyes only. In my group we decided to have a star/minus rating. I change the members titles to stars for attendance and minuses for no-shows. I keep it at a max of 5 for their last 5 meetups. For example: someone who attended the last 2 meetups, missed one, attended 2 before would be MEMBER NAME **-**. it's a bit of a pain to update it and I only update the members before or after each meetup, but it really helps. The members often don't notice the stars or minuses, but if they do we explain it. It's not as noticeable as labeling people with titles.
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Grrrr
commented
I think organizers should be allowed to limit events to non-flaky people only. But I don't think there should be public rankings. That sounds really high school to me.
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Anonymous
commented
We could just add back a MAYBE category.
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mm
commented
yes, please allow organizer make a note on their custom title area for organizer reference only. not need to public.
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phil
commented
I incent my members to attend, annually there is a prize for the most attended events, and for the members that book but don't show and don't call or change their RSVP they all know about the 3 strike rule. They are free to rejoin but then they have to pay member dues all over again if it is in the say calendar year.
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sha
commented
Thats like making a score chart for ugly people where people can score right along with you. people here are responding and are making jokes and it's not even a feature yet. How would that person feel if your scoring her as flaky and then they show up and everyone was is mean to her/him because everyone was talking about them. Smart idea real mature. H.S. stuff I say. If you don't like what there doing then act like an adult and let them know. Meetup already as a feature that shows how many meetups they have attended in the past. If they are no shows then talk to them. If they continue remove them from the group. Don't bother charging fees to everyone, that will just chase people away especially if the group was free when they joined.
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Scott
commented
If you penalize no-shows, they'll start gaming the system by changing their RSVP to "no" just before the meeting. Meetup doesn't distinguish between those people and those who change their RSVP with a reasonable amount of notice.
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Nicole Willson
commented
Instead of a flakiness factor what about using a rating based on the percentage of meetups the person RSVPed for that they actually attended. Since some people attend, but can't find the group it would be a good idea to have a way for people to comment on the rating so it the organizer has a way to change it.
