Could someone enlighten me as to the idea behind asking people to RSVP for a protest? It just seems like a really bad idea, to someone with a public health research perspective on personal info ("if you don't collect it, you don't have to protect it.")
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I am not defending the practice, but RSVPs would be very valuable for anything where you want to build growing attendance at a series of events. It’s the fundamentals of event marketing. Also, RSVPs, even if incomplete, probably help predict crowd size. If you’re applying for permits, you need to plan for crowd control.
This is what’s involved in getting an event permit from the City of Raleigh, NC https://cdn.cocodoc.com/cocodoc-form-pdf/pdf/129599198--Special-Event-Planning-Guide-raleighnc-.pdf
I am assuming that at least some protests are organized in this way, under the heading of general events/ rallies, a word the city probably prefers to protests. Someone is doing the planning for parking, port a potties, etc. and they need to be reasonably accurate in forecasting headcount to keep getting permits.
This announcement talks a bit about permitting and requirements for Raleigh’s Stand Up for Science rally https://indivisiblegco.com/events/stand-up-for-science-2025-raleigh-nc
