Last month I blogged here and here about Manchester Social, an online group organising in-person meets for food and nights out etc. I described how, at an event I wasn’t at, there was some kind of fallout between attendees, and a breakaway group formed that I for some reason got invited to. I met with them a couple of times, but they really weren’t my kind of people. Not for any particular reason, but they didn’t seem to be any kind of people at all – a mishmash of different personality types and no real interest in doing anything I wanted to do.
So I left the WhatsApp chat.
Meanwhile, Manchester Social was growing in popularity and were putting up different nights out, food events and other outings. I kept an eye on their Discord page, where people were interacting and planning. I’ve a strong interest in the idea of people meeting online, and then in person, based on shared interests. So, when a site emerges to compete with the Manchester Meetup scene, I’m going to look into it. I gather Discord is a like a message board, mostly for videogames. Their icon looks like a console controller.
I had a browse through Manchester Social’s Discord, steadily getting my head around the platform. A lot of their planned events either weren’t my thing, or clashed with Meetups I was running with Manchester Nightlife.
Eventually, a night out was uploaded for Maundy Thursday, starting in Wolf at the Door in Northern Quarter.
I met with the organiser and a few regulars. One attendee had actually come to one of my meetups before Christmas and had told me about Manchester Social, hence my involvement in all this. Wolf at the Door did good food.
Took ages to get served, but it tasted good. Had a good chat with the organiser about all the drama with this breakaway group that I don’t even speak to any more, that occurred on a night when I wasn’t even there. It seemed like we might get on.
We moved to Freemount, a large pub on that recently moved from one Oldham St location to another. Wasn’t my kinda place before, isn’t now. Too loud. We didn’t stay long, so I can’t have been the only one feeling that way.
Affleck and Brown had a live band on. Too crowded and overpriced, but we found a table to chat. People seemed cool.
Not long after this, though, the decision was made to go to Moon under the Water, a Wetherspoons pub on Deansgate – a bit of a walk away – as it’s cheap and everyone was broke. Once we got there, I explained to them that the pennies you save on a pint you more than pay for with your reputation. They all seemed totally oblivious to CEO Tim Martin’s shit behaviour during the pandemic. I also mentioned I was an essential worker during this time, working in admin dealing with clients who were mostly 50-75, who were largely massacred by the bastard Tory government.
So I bailed at 10pm.
I’ve kept an eye on the Discord. It seemed after Moon under the Water they moved on to Satan’s Hollow, another atrocious shithole, some rock place, and a load of them for some reason got kicked out.
Again, another online social system attracting people with limited social skills, all bouncing off each other. And yes, I fully get the hypocrisy: I run 3 Meetup groups, and haven’t had many repeat attendees across them. But that’s where my efforts are going to go.
So yeah, give Manchester Social a shot if you want, but I won’t again.
