I was (and possibly still am) the organiser of the Group 'Writers, Artists, and Performers', which had (and possibly still has) 26,000+ members. Back in November, AirBnB Inc. started announcing that the Groups systems was going to be closed and all posts deleted. A deadline came on February 25th, and I advised the members that the Group's closure was imminent. The date came and went, and I - along with all other Group Organisers - was made to look a fool because the Groups carried on as if nothing had happened! Eventually a notice appeared afterwards saying the closure had moved to April 29th. Nobody in AirBnB Inc. could be bothered to send out an email to Group Organisers saying what was happening. So, again, I advised my members that closure really was coming in April. Again, the deadline came and went, and at the last minute AirBnB changed the date. Again, no communication was sent out. Absolutely no effort was made to communicate in an effective and businesslike with Group Organisers. Then a third deadline was set, May 31st. Again, to the laughter of my members, I announced the imminent closure of the Group. This time, the Groups systems seems to be half-dead, half-alive, like Frankenstein's monster!
I can no longer access Groups page - I just get redirected to the Community page. I see from other comments in the Community page that at least some other people are experiencing the same thing - as if the Groups have finally closed.
And yet - and yet! - since May 31st, I have been notified by the system that at least 50 more hosts have joined my Group - a Group that, as far as I can tell, does not exist!
At first, I thought that it was being shut down by time zone and that, over 24 hours, the Group joins would die out. But no! I saw joins coming in from Europe, the Americas, Asia, Australia, ... So I thought maybe it was being done by country. But today I had someone join from my own towm of London, England.
What on Earth is happening? Does anybody actually know?
If anybody from AirBnB Inc. actually looks at these pages, please could you asnwer these three questions:
1. What exactly is happening with the Groups?
2. How is a Group Organisers supposed to organise a Group if the Groups page has been made inaccessible?
3. Is there any reason the Groups system has been handled in such an unpredictable, uncommunicative manner?
Peter B. Lloyd
London, England
