Tom As it happens over the years a number of commercial web enterprises have started this way. Run something for free and then, once the takeup has shown it to be popular, add a charge. As small example is Hotmail started free but now extra storage is a chargeable add-on. Me, I pay that because I can charge it to my company and for work I often need to send large attachments when away from home. Not defending Bill / Micro$oft, just giving an example. Conversely Yahoo Groups would be well worth a good look as an alternative to meetup. I am a facilitator / moderator on a list there (plus a subscriber to three others). The service is used to be completely free. It is still free but they fund it by the ocasional advert (about one post in five). It works very well. Drop me a line if you want to know more. MarkMcL