For current political commentary, see the daily political notes.
All of this applies to meetup.com as well as eventbrite.com
There are two things wrong with eventbrite.com. The superficial flaw is that it requires running nonfree Javascript code. That's superficial in the sense that it could be fixed easily, but it's a fatal flaw until they do fix it; running nonfree Javascript code deprives people of freedom, people ought to refuse to run it, and it is wrong to ask users to run it. See The Javascript Trap.
The deeper problem of using eventbrite to register people for an event is that it collects data about them and gives it to a company (with big brother reading over its shoulder).
If you want to register attendees for an event of any kind -- whether it is for business, for pleasure, for education, or whatever, please do it the ethical way: don't make them run any nonfree software, and don't make them send personal data (not even to you). That's how the FSF does it. We don't insist on getting a person's real name. When we charge for attendance, we accept payment in cash at the door.
When you invite specific people to a private party, perhaps you know exactly who is coming because each one is your friend. It is natural for you to know that — just don't dox your friends to a company such as eventbrite!
Copyright (c) 2014, 2016, 2018 Richard Stallman Verbatim copying and redistribution of this entire page are permitted provided this notice is preserved.