APWBWGTTD vs. ATLbloggers.net: A dilemma and potential solution

So there was some concern that came after another “failed” meet up this past week that the group was fizzling out, and was potentially either not worth maintaining, or simply in need of revamping or revitalizing. In my last post, I got lots of comments that showed there was still an interest in having the monthly meet ups (which I was glad to hear, as I do like our meet ups), but conflict was sited as the number one reason for people not coming to meet ups.

Is this true? If so, how would we propose resolving said conflicts? I have a couple of ideas:
1) We could pick a set location for our meet ups. This would prevent the need to continually decide on a place to meet, and would potentially make it easier to attract and keep people interested.
2) Several dates could be picked, and through voting, a final date could be decided upon for each month’s meet up. (I see a pontential problem here, but I am trying to find a happy medium)
3) Or, we could continue to do it the way we have been, and hope for the best (although, Lori has made it clear she will be stepping down as event coordinator); but, the whole point of this post shows that this isn’t working.
4) Other suggestions?

Now, with that being said, I would also like to know what everyone thinks of what Robert said (link). I have to say that I somewhat agree with him; the point of the website was to bring people together through common interest (i.e., blogging) regularly IRL, not just as a feed dump. I feel like ATLbloggers has changed dramatically since I joined, and would like to see some of the sense of community we had a year ago come back into the forefront. Should APWBWGTTD be synonymous with ATLbloggers.net? I think that it should at least be more closely joined. Should it be a (loose) “requirement” that you at least have a desire to participate in meet ups in order to be a part of ATLbloggers? I remember that coming to a meet up used to be a requirement for membership; should that be reinstated and enforced? Before you flip out, I am not talking about FORCING people to hang out, but it would be nice to actually get to know the people whose blogs are showcased on the site; after all, that is the point of having a “club” like ATLbloggers in the first place. If you don’t want to participate, that is fine, but why would you want to have your blog on the site with people you don’t know and have no desire to get to know? That doesn’t make sense to me.

I am sure that some of you will disagree, but let me know why; I just don’t want to see a group that has brought me some really great friends go down the tubes, and I think that it can be saved. But I need your help and suggestions to make that happen. I hope we can make ATLbloggers what it used to be, and bring our group back together. I also hope that by doing some things and potentially implementing new strategies, we can bring more solidarity and community to the group, and potentially help it grow.

I would like to see more than just a core group of regulars; we should all be participating (or having a desire to), because if not, then it isn’t really a meet up anymore, and there really isn’t a reason to continue, I guess. If the same 4 or 5 people are showing up each time, they could probably just call each other and have dinner anyway. Let me know what you all think.