I think the problem is people are either (a) in tech-centric cities - where there are lots of other meetups and already know lots of HN types around. Or, (b) there are only one or two people in their city, so can't sustain a meetup. (Q: how many of your cities only have one "hacker" in them?)
I could see it as a nice way to meet like-minded people while traveling: I used to use couchsurfing (which has kind of died out) like this: if traveling alone to foreign place, it's nice to meet some locals.
I think dang was responding to someone in a mid-sized US town, where there are probably more HN users. I think in other parts of the world, there really may be not many.
I could see it as a nice way to meet like-minded people while traveling: I used to use couchsurfing (which has kind of died out) like this: if traveling alone to foreign place, it's nice to meet some locals.