Ah, this brings back memories of the Shannonside astronomy club and it's observing nights. To avoid situations like this, which are unavoidable when the weather is hit and miss or not many people are available. A few people were assigned as observing directors who had "keys". A text alert would then be sent out to everyone who had put their mobile on the observing list saying the event was on and at what time (if it looked promising). The assigned key holder would turn up rain or shine (mainly rain where I come from
). This avoided the "maybes" on the forum pages and you were assured that at least one person would be there with access. We always got a good turn out even on dodgy nights.
It's the lack of a definite commitment that may put people off going.
Just my thoughts as a newcomer
