Meetup.com have introduced fees for the use of their service:

Everyone asks “How does Meetup.com pay its bills?” That question is even more important as we plan new ways for you to grow your group and have better Meetups. To get there together, we are introducing a required small monthly Group Fee to be paid by Organizers.

Do all members pay?

No. Organizers pay the Group Fee to Meetup.com and may ask their members to chip in. It’s up to the Organizers. The fee is per group, not per person.

Organizers have already started to step down, preferring to use some other way of organising events than paying the $19 (or even the discounted $9) a month that Meetup.com are now charging. I’d love to know how many of them are now going to abandon ship and how many feel that the service provided by Meetup.com is worth the money, but I’m betting that Meetup.com aren’t going to be sharing that information any time soon.

UPDATE: MSNBC has more.