Well-kept gardens die by pacifism. I believe ACX meetup organizers should have that particular phrase in their toolbox.
The older I get, the more strongly I suspect that there are two kinds of worthwhile groups:
Groups which are too small or obscure to have been abused.
Groups which have the ability and willingness to uninvite people who ruin other people’s ability to enjoy the group.
Beyond a certain size, this generally means enforcement mechanisms. At a large enough scale, you will eventually need the ability to do things like handle harassment complaints filed against your guest of honor or against your regional group leaders. Many organizations fail badly.
To give a positive example, LessWrong upholds a certain kind of community because someone is putting in the work. Meetups should do the same. Banning one jerk who refuses to follow the local rules can make 50 other people much happier. Not banning one jerk will often quietly drive out 10 delightful people.
This doesn’t always need to be hard work. There are some lovely 500,000-person subreddits with 5 active mods who keep a very light touch. But when they’re needed, they can ban people.
This also doesn’t mean that every group follows the same rules. For example, the Atheists Lunch and the Tuesday Night Theology meetups may each ban many of the other’s members, and this is fine. “Freedom of Association” is an often-overlooked right, but it’s the source of much happiness in the world.
The older I get, the more strongly I suspect that there are two kinds of worthwhile groups:
Groups which are too small or obscure to have been abused.
Groups which have the ability and willingness to uninvite people who ruin other people’s ability to enjoy the group.
Beyond a certain size, this generally means enforcement mechanisms. At a large enough scale, you will eventually need the ability to do things like handle harassment complaints filed against your guest of honor or against your regional group leaders. Many organizations fail badly.
To give a positive example, LessWrong upholds a certain kind of community because someone is putting in the work. Meetups should do the same. Banning one jerk who refuses to follow the local rules can make 50 other people much happier. Not banning one jerk will often quietly drive out 10 delightful people.
This doesn’t always need to be hard work. There are some lovely 500,000-person subreddits with 5 active mods who keep a very light touch. But when they’re needed, they can ban people.
This also doesn’t mean that every group follows the same rules. For example, the Atheists Lunch and the Tuesday Night Theology meetups may each ban many of the other’s members, and this is fine. “Freedom of Association” is an often-overlooked right, but it’s the source of much happiness in the world.