May I gently suggest this is why our forums sometimes get a bad reputation? Bob nicely extended an offer to meet face-to-face with some other forum members... and it turns into (excuse my French) a pissing contest over why he should change the venue (ummm, yeah… the venue of HIS event, that he kindly INVITED us to, and that MOST of you complaining were probably not going to attend anyway).
If people invited you to dinner on a group email or text, would you reply back to everyone - "Hey, not only am I not attending - but i think that stupid restaurant sucks and you should hold this somewhere else"? No, you would NOT.. because that would be RUDE. (Unless, of course, you're a complete Neanderthal…)
How bout this? If you see a thread with an invitation, and you don't wish to go - you could simply keep that thought contained in your own brain - no reason to regurgitate it all over the person's thread. Manners, guys... MANNERS!... for thousands of years, providing the bedrock for civilized communities.