As you know Sun/MySQL and MeetUp.com could not agree on terms of the sponsorship and so now all MySQL meetup organizers have to pay for their Meetups or move them to the different location. Facebook is suggested as one of alternatives.
I’m not to take any sides in this story and judge who is wrong and who is right but I think it is quite a bad situation to be forced to move off meetup with just a 7 days notice. It may be good idea to host communities in the space which does not make organizers dependent on the sponsor but I think Meetup organizers deserve more time to arrange the move.
We spoke with Jeremy Cole and agreed it will be a good idea to offer the sponsorship MySQL Meetup organizers looking to stick with Meetup.com a little longer. You can read Jeremy’s posts on the same matter here.
P.S I just found out Open Query also offers Sponsorship so it looks like refugees will have a significant choice 🙂
Hello Peter,
Meetup.com has granted us, organizers an additional month to put the matter before our groups and make a decision about transitioning or to find sponsors.
Maybe you could join forces with Sheeri and her “User group fund”? (http://www.pythian.com/news/2443/user-group-sponsorships)
Mark