Automattic’s Community Engagement Specialist, Devin Maeztri, has announced that the WordPress Community Team will close all inactive meetup groups by September 16, 2024. Over the past month, the team has been working hard to reactivate recently inactive WordPress Meetups.
“This project comes in response to recent data revealing that nearly half of our groups are currently inactive—a statistic that underscores the need for proactive measures.”, Devin explained. As of June 2024, there are more than 762 WordPress Meetup groups across 108 countries and nearly 537,000 members.
The Community Team released a list of inactive Meetups at risk of removal from the WordPress Chapter Meetup Program. Organizers have until September 16 to confirm if they wish to remain active.
As per the list, 22 meetups have already requested closure. Spain leads with six closure requests, followed by the USA (4), France (3), and Indonesia (3).
Meetup groups that fail to respond will be removed from the WordPress Chapter Meetup Program. Currently, 140 groups are yet to respond, with the largest numbers coming from the USA (33), Italy (8), Brazil (7), Spain (6), India (6), and Venezuela (4).
“Once a group is removed from the WordPress network, Meetup.com will guide Co-organizers, Assistant Organizers, Event Organizers, and Members on how to keep the group active independently (including managing the subscription fee).”, Devin assured.
Since June 2024, WordPress.com has offered free websites for local WordPress meetups.
Organizers who believe their group was mistakenly flagged as inactive and groups that wish to rejoin the WordPress network after removal can contact the Community Team at support@wordcamp.org.
