Linkup Central

I have to agree with many of the reviews here. Firinn Taisdeal, the owner of BAL is a nut. I was an avid participant in BAL. I finally deleted my membership completely because of the increasingly draconian measures he implemented. He simply has the innate ability to suck the fun right out of a room simply by entering it. Control, control, control. Thankfully MeetUp is a great alternative. Sometimes chaotic but FUN and no one is trying to impose their weird world view on you. BAL is totally played-​out.

Hannibal: Why do you think he removes their skins, Agent Starling? Enthrall me with your acumen.
Clarice: It excites him. Most weirdos keep some sort of trophies from their victims.
Hannibal: First principles, Clarice. Simplicity. Read Marcus Aurelius. Of each particular thing ask: what is it in itself? What is its nature?
Clarice: He’s a total whack-​job douchebag.
Hannibal: No. That is incidental. What is the first and principal thing he does? What needs does he serve by being a douchebag?
Clarice: Anger, um, social acceptance, and, huh, sexual frustrations, sir…
Hannibal: No! He covets. That is his nature. And how do we begin to covet, Clarice? Do we seek out things to covet? Make an effort to answer now.
Clarice: No. We just…
Hannibal: No. We begin by coveting what we see every day. The significance of the moth is change. Caterpillar into Jim into Firinn… Jim wants to change, too, Clarice. But there’s the problem of his thundering douche-​baggery. Five foot ten, strongly built, about a hundred and eighty pounds; hair grey, eyes pale blue. He’d be about fifty-​five now. He said he lived in Ireland; but he may have lied.
Look for severe childhood disturbances.
Our Jim wasn’t born a criminal, Clarice. He was made a wack-​a-​doo through years of systematic abuse. But his pathology is a thousand times more savage and more terrifying.
Jim hates his own identity, you see, and he thinks that makes him a social engineer.

I joined BAL about 5 years ago and over the years I’ve both attended and hosted events. Over the last 2 years or so it has gone significantly downhill. I joined for hikes and other cultural events but there where fewer and fewer of them offered. With many of the great hosts becoming absent from the site. I have never had any interaction with Firinn but have over the years heard tons of stories about is autocratic behavior and lack of social/​emotional intelligence.
Lately it has completely hit bottom as far as events goes. I did a search on hikes — and the response was «fxxx hikes — its boring» or something similar to that.
Clearly this is no longer a site aimed at allowing the members to decide what events they want to host or attend but instead about what Firinn is interested in.
Yesterday I canceled my account. I will miss the opportunity to host and attend events that are diverse and interesting, but given that this is no longer possible at BAL I don’t have any other choice.

I left Link Up two years ago for all the reasons highlighted by other members here. Firinn has quite possibly the worst social skills I’ve ever encountered and for him to lecture others is just laughable. And he lies. Yes, a man in probably his 50s (or 60s? Not sure) tells lies. Sad.
Did get a kick out of his forthcoming site’s tag line, though:
«If you want to grow millions of new brain cells, and not just in a petri dish, you’ve come to the right place.»
LMAO — seriously the funniest and most ludicrous statement I’ve heard in many Moons.
If you want to meet cool folks, head on over to Meet Up. Or better yet, all the former LU folks can get together and form their own org — just be sure to weed out freaks that Firinn loves so much. Long-​time BAL members know to whom I refer!

I agree with Russ’ comments wholeheartedly. Ditto, ditto and ditto. Just deleted my profile on BAL.

So I’m at a conference in Colorado in 2005 when i get a call from the organizer. I can’t hear well so i ask who it is. He mutters something then hangs up. I go into the hallway where it’s quiet and then do the caller id call back. I identify myself, apologize about the noise, he then identifies himself, then proceeds to tell me that my social skills are inadequate, then hangs up on me. What a freak.

[UPDATE Friday, February 3, 2012: Linkup is now rasprava​.org] Folks, after being a long-​term and very active and supportive member of Bay Area Linkup (over 8 years), I have come to the painful and very disappointing conclusion that I can no longer support its endeavors. Therefore I am compelled to not only drastically lower my former 5-​star rating of Linkup here on Unilocal,but also pull my former review in its entirety and replace it with the following review.]
The founder of
and
, Mr. Firinn Taisdeal, decided in late January 2012 to abruptly pull the rug out from under its members by changing the name and the focus of these sites to preclude most member activity in favor of activities only he wishes to promote. Mr. Taisdeal’s unilateral decision was made without the engagement of, formal announcement to, or — in my estimation, the benefit of — its members.
The result is that many of us members have been left without a site we can use to host the events we want to host — at least a site that offers the responsibility/​commitment-​oriented focus we had come to cherish with Linkup.
I would have strongly preferred that Mr. Taisdeal continue to maintain the Linkup website in perpetuity for all its members — with a willing administrator, if need be (I would have volunteered) — and that the new focus be shifted to an entirely separate web address outside of and wholly removed from Linkup. I wrote Mr. Taisdeal to express these points, but he did not directly respond to them, instead replying with the non sequitur that many Linkup members had been gaming the site’s payment system for the last two years.
I am of the mind that technical loopholes can be fixed in relatively short order. I also feel that trust, once broken, can take years to rebuild — if ever.
I cannot respect Mr. Taisdeal’s decision. Furthermore, because of an appalling and gracelessly obscene search result that I discovered today on the Linkup site about a passion close to my heart, hiking — statements which I must presume were deliberately posted by Mr. Taisdeal himself (yes, they’re so graceless that they cannot be shown here) — I have come to the strong conclusion that I can no longer respect Mr. Taisdeal himself. It had already become quite apparent that Mr. Taisdeal has a great disrespect for the passions and desires of anyone who in any way acts or thinks other than he does, and it has become even more obvious that the man has for many years possessed an abundant self-​loathing.
Therefore, I refuse to be a participant in any of his future undertakings. And I have today willingly deleted my profile from Linkup.
It deeply pains me to have to make these statements, in large part because I was a such a staunch supporter of Linkup for many years. When other members — people of good heart whose company I enjoyed — were summarily killed off the site by Mr. Taisdeal without benefit of doubt, I was still willing to give Mr. Taisdeal the benefit of the doubt because I really dug the simple functionality and usability of his site and its philosophies of commitment and accountability.
I will do so no more. Because of his repeatedly demonstrated lack of accountability to his sites’ members, his unwavering intransigence in general, and most especially because of the graceless and unwarranted ugliness I allude to above, Mr. Taisdeal has finally, completely and totally lost my trust.
And he does not deserve to earn yours.
This April, the name of Bay Area Linkup — and Linkup Central — will supposedly change to
. You should know that though the name and the focus of the site will change, its owner likely will not.
Leaders lead. Autocrats do not.
Caveat emptor, my friends.

I joined Bay Area Linkup 3 years ago, when I was looking for people who enjoyed the same types of events I did and were available at the same time I was. Voila! I found out about things going on in the Bay Area and other people’s interesting ideas, and even if I wasn’t available to attend, I sometimes went to that show or restaurant or event at a different time. The site is extremely user-​friendly and well-​organized, and well worth the $ 4.95/month.
This website has rules, to be sure, but they are very reasonable ones. In my life outside of Linkup I’ve been frustrated at times by flaky people who said they were interested in something and would be at a certain place at a certain time, and weren’t. Well, Linkup vastly reduces the likelihood that that will happen, by making people accountable for their actions and trying to create a «flake-​free» environment that benefits us all.
When I didn’t see events that interested me on a given day I was free, I created my own… Lo and behold, I have developed a network of lasting friends through the events I have hosted and attended — people with like-​minded interests and reliability. Thanks, BAL!

I’ve been a member of Bay Area Linkup for 4+ years and have had only pleasant experiences. I consider the founder, Firinn, to be a generous, caring person. He has always been refreshingly candid with me and I’ve found him to be a strikingly forward thinker. I have also found the events he hosts to be the most fun, creative and thought provoking. I would encourage anyone to give BAL a try and see for yourself how it is. It absolutely could not be a better value either.

Well that didn’t take long. The owner of BAL found my Unilocal review of him after it was up less than 4 days. I don’t know if it was coincidental or if he’s trolling the web looking for negative reviews (turns out there are a few) with all his spare time. He sent me a sarcastic note about how I told everyone to stay away but was still using the site so it was a compliment despite my personal public attack of him. He apparently didn’t consider I was about to quit BAL but he also doesn’t seem to understand the concept that as a client I don’t have an obligation to be his shill.
This update was interrupted in the middle of writing as I got an http 40? on Internet Explorer similar to what Steven described so I had to run my antivirus software. Is it just a coincidence or malware inserted by BAL? Hard to say but I’m suspicious.
So I quit right after he sent me that message and he immediately instituted a Stalinistic purge of my existence. I can’t say I’m surprised as that’s pretty typical once you leave for any reason. Given this recent episode, I have to downgrade BAL and now warn everyone to stay away as Big Brother is watching.

I have been a member of the BA Linkup for several years now. It’s a great way to find people to do stuff with. I commend the founder on setting up a really great website/​service for people to connect through.
When I first joined, there were many fun, social events to choose from. I hosted many myself, met a bunch of friends though doing that. I am in my forties and found it refreshing that there were plenty of people my age wanting to do the same things as far as fun activities, shows, concerts and a few quirky things thrown in for good measure.
The thing about linkup is that there is a rating system built into the program where attendance is required. Basically you need to show up to what you RSVP to in order to maintain a good rating and ultimately your membership. If you flake, the host might report you as doing so and therefore, your rating drops a bit. It’s really not a big deal, but you run the risk of being dropped if you show a pattern or if someone complains about how you behaved.
All of this is at the discretion of owner, Firinn. He’s kinda like the soup nazi in Seinfeld — «No linkup for you!»
Over the past couple of years, more and more people who were fun and who’s events I enjoyed have been booted off for one reason or another. Usually it’s because they did something the Firinn didn’t like, or there was a complaint, a conflict, or a misunderstanding. And unfortunately, those booted off were some of the members who hosted the most fun and interesting events. (well, maybe there are a few of us left) This has caused Linkup to get a little boring now. The events tend to be the same people over and over. Feels a bit clicky sometimes, especially on those competitive hiking events.
Which is not necessarily a bad thing to want to do the same type of things over and over with the same people.
The problem I am having with Linkup events is that the conversation at the events always comes around to talking about who Firinn kicked off this week and it’s like a «fear of Firinn» roundtable. This goes on at just about every event and has become very tedious. His «control» extends even when he is not present.
The other thing I noticed as Michaela mentioned in her review, was the men to women ratio is rather weak (speaking from a woman’s perspective). So you can expect a 6:1 women to men ratio which often causes the man to behave a little awkwardly. And I have to say, in most events, the women are much more interesting and socially engaging then the men. Sorry, guys.
Oh, I wish, I wish, for more interesting men to join Bay Area Linkup.
In the meantime, I’ve been checking out events on
, which is Linkup’s competition. Watch out Firinn. There I find a lot of the people who have been booted off Linkup. Meetup is fun, you can flake all you want, or you can just show up to the events and have fun with a whole new crowd. The thing is, occasionally, they talk about the owner of Linkup too.
…damn, can’t get away from this guy.

First, since I am a member of many groups, I can say that it does not hurt my feelings that I was booted off of it, when they (He/​She) sent me a response that I was spamming and was removed, I was not spamming, I was just looking to get in contact with other folks who lived near me, and only was sending messages to the local people, not far from me. I had no interest on messaging people who lived more than 5 miles from me. no thanks…
I did not want a male contact, since I was looking for safe activities with other women in the area,
that this group is actually run by one person, if people have had success with it, thats fine. I always tell people if they don’t like something start one of their own groups… however, I came to find out the group does charge… and to that I say again, buyer beware, thats fine, the host should be able to recoup costs. And if you have the money to join, more power to you. But events are still public viewable, so its not exactly like you are paying for a private site.
I could not rate with less than a one star, as it automatically only allowed the one, not a half.
I say, if its your bag, go for it, but I wouldnt pay for something like that.
I don’t think the owner has a power trip, as the writings stated, but I am GLAD I didnt pay for something and then get kicked off for the «no reason» I was given.

I haven’t had the negative experiences that some folks have had with the owner of this service. I think Flinn is performing an important social and public service and if I applied a personality filter to other Bay Area activities, groups, and causes, there might not be much to do!
The regular emails offer a wide variety of options and the service itself is relatively easy to use.