When Facebook first rolled out their “Events” section ages ago it gave invited guests three options with which to RSVP.
- Going
- Maybe
- Not Going
Seemed like enough. But people who RSVP “Maybe” to events kind of suck at life. I can’t maybe make more food on the fly. I can’t maybe have enough alcohol. I can’t maybe have enough room for everyone. These are things that I have to have. Ryan and I host parties from time to time and often get as much as 50% of our RSVPs as “Maybe” and it drives me crazy.
Facebook seemed to understand this and for a period of time you could remove the “Maybe” option. People were either there at your party or not there. No longer were there these Schrödinger’s cat guests! (I love making physics jokes…)
Sadly this option was taken away but today I noticed a new option in place of the “Maybe”. Now invitees can select “Interested”.
This doesn’t bring back the ability to disable all those indecisive people from not committing to your event. However, the wording change might prevent people from abusing the selection like they abuse “Maybe”.
If someone is interested in coming over they should understand that it doesn’t mean they have said they are or aren’t going. It’s a non-commital option that should tell everyone involved that at this point, you’re not going but the event interests you.
Do you think this will make a difference? I sure hope so. Also, properly RSVP to events people. It’s the civilized thing to do. Just ask Violet Crawley, Dowager Countess of Grantham.
This has always driven me nuts. I will sometimes start as a maybe when replying to someone else, but always flip it to yes or no a few days before… Or sooner when I can confirm plans.
For hosting, our patio only seats 12 for dinner, for instance. And we want as many friends to join as possible. We’ve had Maybe’s and even people who didn’t answer at all show up… And yeah. We don’t have 3 more steaks or 2 more chairs. Sorry. Awkward!
richmackey Exactly. For our last event we had 23 people say “Going” and 9 people say “Maybe”. 3 of the 9 showed up. In addition, almost 10 other people were brought as guests. It was fine, everything worked out.
However, the invitation was setup to allow guests to invite a “Plus 1” and add them to the list yet only one person did. That’s another level of event RSVP etiquette that seems to be lost these days.
@justex07 no
@shayes287 thank you! It drives me crazy when people don’t consider the hosts of events.
@justex07 I don’t like Facebook events at all, send me a card or an email
@shayes287 paper cards aren’t feasible for my events between the timing and the fact that very few people know other ppl’s mailing address.
@shayes287 for major events like weddings, yeah paper works and is appropriate. But for a our max 1 week advance notice it wouldn’t work.