In early July 2021, Meetup.com sent out an email saying that it was going to completely change its API from REST-API to GraphQL, and that on January 1st, 2022 the old one would stop working.
A first look at the documentation confirmed my suspicions: things were missing.
This already happened to me when I started the project 3 or 4 years ago and the API was still free. Later it became paid and things got even more complicated, because every time you write to their PRO support service (remember that you pay 360 euros/year to have a PRO account and certain elements of the API, even if you don’t use it for anything, just reading) they tell you that they don’t support the API. It is certainly a nonsense to pay for a feature and then say that they do not.
After reviewing and analyzing for a few hours and not being able to find the first steps, I decided that maybe it would be better to throw in the towel. A message on several of the WPCalendar.io pages showed that on August 1st, 2021 the site would stop updating new Meetup data (although the site would still be active).
Posting it on Twitter prompted many people to write to me privately, on the one hand to see if it was a financial or hosting issue (neither), nor if they could help in any way. I will write about this later.
After the support, a new opportunity, a couple of hours more to see if I could update or adapt some existing with the new. Failure and frustration. Again, “I want to, and I can’t”.
A couple of days of rest, talk to friends who know the project and encourage you again to keep trying: “It’s a pity that a project like this, which brings so much to the WordPress Community, ends”. And as I am quite stubborn, again a few more tests. Something simple. And the light was seen… until I found myself again with the lack of documentation.
And when frustration gets the best of you, what do you do? Cry on Twitter.
And, like crying toddlers, sometimes you get things done.