What about something big and shiny that can get people to the wiki, but then direct them elsewhere for actual discussions? In fact, it seems that this is already what's going on. The wiki page for meetups provides links that seem to go to either Google Groups or email lists of some sort. In other words, the wiki is doing what it does best (providing a more-or-less static source of information that can be easily updated), and other tools are doing what they do best (allowing for planning and discussion).[1]
My vote would be:
If any of these were in place, we could actually vote on whether any meetup announcements occur on LW proper -- if you get people to a mailing list... then they'll be getting the emails, which seems better than relying on them to visit LW or their news reader in a timely fashion anyway (I think I'm safe in betting that people check their email more than LW).
This seems to be a win-win, though I may have missed pitfalls.[2] In other words, the hoopla about the top-level site cluttered with meetup announcements gets resolved, but new visitors aren't left clueless about the existence of meetups.
Let me know if you think this is the best idea since sliced bread, or if (far more likely) you think it's highly unnecessary.
I think the ideas contained are quite good (we need a way to a) reach newcomers, b) communicate/plan meetups, and c) keep things clean on the site), but I think actually implementing all three in LW proper might be re-inventing the wheel a bit. I think we can definitely do a & c, while b is the bullet that primarily requires new functionality and is done well by solutions mentioned below, IMO. Thus, I think getting something low-hanging going which does a & c while directing people to tools that do b might be a better approach.
(1) And there are other tools as well. While meeup.com is great and full-featured, it costs money. I checked out Group-O-Matic and it looked like it would work well enough for my attempt at a Minnesota meetup. Google groups is working for 8 of us planning two separate virtual meetups right now. Anyway, there's options is the point.
(2) One, for example, might be that a new person doesn't want to sign up for a mailing list because it seems bothersome to get auto-emails, but they would check a website because they are still left in control over whether or not they visit. Thus, a truly new person who didn't know if they wanted to stick with LW for the med-long haul might randomly check the site and see an announcement, but wouldn't have joined the mailing list for his/her area to be informed. Then again... with something like google groups, they can check the group if it's public without getting the emails anyway. Just trying to think outside the box and think of ways that this isn't a good suggestion.
Recently there has been an explosion in the number of posts about meetups. I think this is a great thing, as it seems to me like one of the best uses of this site would be to facilitate the formation of rationality groups. The problem with this is that they're starting to take over the main page, to the extent that currently upon going to the main page they are all one sees without scrolling down.
To solve this (perhaps trivial) problem, and more importantly to make the posts themselves more effective, I propose the creation of a section of this site devoted to the creation of and discussion about meetups/meetup groups. I realize the wiki catalogue of groups exists, but I have 2 problems with it. First of all, it is fairly out of the way. Fewer people use the wiki than the main site, and not everyone who uses the wiki reads all the links on the right side. I know I don't. I only found the meetup page because I am one of the organizers of the Toronto group, and I did a Google search of lesswrong looking for posts about meetups. Secondly, the wiki format (compared to the blog post format) is far less conducive to discussion, and gives no priority to newer posts, something we would want for a meetup section to make it easier to start a group. It also gives no way for people to indicate if they are going to be attending a meeting, something that is useful if the venue requires a reservation.
As an organizer, I want to posting on the main page about each meetup, so that we keep getting new members. That being said, I don't want to clog up the main part of the site with posts that only apply to 10 people, most of whom already know everything the post is going to say. The only compromise I can think of is a section of the site devoted to meetups. I am by no means a website designer, so I don't know if this is the best solution or if there is something simpler and more efficient I am overlooking.
This post is aimed mainly at the moderators, as they are the ones who would have to implement anything we come up with, but input from everyone is appreciated. Let me know if you think this is the best idea since sliced bread, or if (far more likely) you think it's highly unnecessary.