Meetup.com abandons API

Abandoned may be a strong word and I’ll explain why but the changes that were announced on 14th June 2019 and their lack of interest in discussing these changes virtually makes that the case:

The first problem with these changes is that although you can create a new OAuth key for free before August 15th 2019, actually using it is not that simple:

1. The server flow and implicit methods require you to be logged into the meetup.com site before you OAuth, this requires a form submission, tracking a cookie and sometimes also a Google recaptcha response. For any automated scripting (remember this is what APIs are for) this is practically unworkable. Aside – it’s quite puzzling to be hiding the OAuth authentication method behind a login, that’s kind of the point of what OAuth is for.
2. The server flow with user credentials method doesn’t require a form login but is only permitted if you are paying $30/month for their Pro service.

The second problem is that all future access requires that you use OAuth 2.0 and APIv3 – all previous versions being discontinued. Meetup.com don’t appear to provide any of their own client libraries (at least for PHP and Python), instead providing a list of third party ones and as of 2019 it’s out of date and lists libraries that range from a mix of old to very old.

The only two python libraries are marked as “discontinued” and “maintenance”. Most of the PHP libraries don’t support API v3 and the only one that does only supports OAuth 1.0.

This all seems like a bit of an oversight so I contacted support with a rather long email pointing out some of these issues only to be met with the following response:

Thanks for asking about Meetup’s API. If you have questions about using the API, please use our API documentation. Beyond that documentation, we don’t provide support for using the API.

Warmly,

XXXXX
Senior Community Support Specialist

Somewhat dumbfounded by the complete lack of interest in response to my long query, I wrote back, this time getting a response from a manager:

I’m YYYYY, a support manager at Meetup HQ. While we don’t offer support for use of the API, anyone who registers for OAuth before August 15th will not be charged.  If you have technical questions, please use the our API documentation.

Warmly,
YYYYY
Support Manager

An alternative attempt at engaging them through twitter resulted in a slightly different but equally ineffective response:

So despite writing a long query regarding a paid for service (albeit not on their new Pro account) it appears as though Meetup.com are completely uninterested in either providing support for their API or acknowledging that many people will no longer have a way of accessing it.

It’s hard to understand what is going through their minds although one can only presume that since the acquisition of Meetup.com by WeWork for $200m they have decided that the API is no longer something they regard as an important part of their platform. But also bizarrely, they think they can shift people to paying $30/month for it whilst providing no support and no client libraries.

It’s a strange change in policy and approach and will only lead to decline in use of their API when you would think they would be wanting to grow their platform.