Starting a club via TT is easy, and very similar to organizing an event. All you have to do is decide what you want to do, and then make the post to the chat forum. If anyone's interested in your idea, set a firm date and venue, and meet up in person to finalize your ideas. That's it. Anyone can do it.
Here is some further advice on the details to help you make the club a success.
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Planning
Planning is the key. Make sure you compose your first, original post so that you'll attract people who are sincerely interested in your topic / hobby / interest group. (Excellent example: the League of Accidental Hausfrauen (LoAHf)) The phrasing will influence the membership of your group. For example, if you use LOL or SMS speak, you imply that the group is for younger members and you may discourage older members from attending. All without mentioning any particular ages at all.
Regards picking the initial location - as this too will set the tone and precedent for further meetups, it's best to choose a place that you know personally, and that suits your club's ideal purpose. The Stitch 'n' Bitch needs tables for yarn, the Translators need very cheap alcohol, the book discussion groups prefer locations with deep leather intellectual club chairs and fine whisky. ;) Choosing an expensive location will keep out the folk on a limited budget, choosing a noisy place will keep out people who like to talk without yelling. Be aware of the message you send!
Be decisive. Otherwise a discussion will develop and either nothing at all will happen or everyone will be so confused at what is supposed to be happening that they won't bother coming. Once you've got interest in your idea, you should set a firm date and location for the first meeting to discuss details. The club can certainly be run with rotating captains, dictators, etc., but usually one person bites the bullet and sets up the initial meeting.
Clashes with other events / clubs
Don't worry about clashes with other TT clubs that are being organised with a similar purpose. There are several thousand people active on this forum. Not all of them want to do the same thing at the same time. There is no reason why there shouldn't be 3, 4, 5 or even more similar clubs happening simultaneously. This way everyone has choice. They can choose to attend whichever club suits them best, and with the other members they like the best. Just be sure to state your club's goals precisely: what makes you different from the other clubs. If your club doesn't appear to be significantly different, you may get comments referring you to the original club. Rely on the quality and appeal of your unique idea to draw in new members: don't go around attacking or undermining other clubs. A bitch fight on your thread isn't really a great advert for any of those concerned.
How often to meet
A club or regular event ideally meets -- well, regularly, on a set schedule. This is dependable and people get used to watching for when it happens again, and cuts out lots of indecisiveness on "when to next meet". Many book clubs are once a month as it often takes a month to finish a book, but the Stitch 'n' Bitch is every week as nobody has to have the mittens finished by the next meeting. Choose a rhythm that will suit the purpose of your particular club.
Making the announcement
When the time comes to make the post be sure to include all essential details: date, time, location including address and area of town, directions by U-Bahn, and a general idea of what kind of event this is. Ask people to post replies if they want to come - this generates buzz and will attract more people.
Make sure to put the date in your post title or description. The date should be in absolute format as opposed to relative format, i.e. "11.Sep.2001" not "Tomorrow evening" or "This Tuesday". This is because by the time "tomorrow" is "today" your post title will be out of date even though the event isn't, and everyone will be confuzzled.
Also, be sure to use international formatting, again like "11.Sep.2001". If you write "09.11.2001" the Americans will think you mean 11th September whilst the Brits will think you mean 9th November.
Generating a buzz
Once you've posted, just leave the topic on its own for a while. Don't post to yourself too often: wait until some other people have replied. If nobody replies with interest in your group after a week, then post again to the same thread -- a club generally grows more slowly than a quick drinks night. If necessary, it is far better to post a reminder around five days before the next meeting, with a final reminder on the day, or the day before. Remember, many readers of the forum are spontaneous and they may not decide to attend your club event until only a few hours beforehand!
If the topic generates positive replies, great. You have your club membership. If nobody replies, don't despair! It is most likely *not* that everyone hates you! Maybe there just aren't many people interested in that type of event.
Sometimes TT-organised eating or drinking events attract quite large numbers of people - 40 people or more. Do not expect that the same will happen with your club, as they tend to be more specialized in nature. If you are doing a regular slackers' lunch, and 'only' six people attend, well, personally I'd call that a success not a failure! Six people is a perfect number for a meal. With a large group you probably never end up talking to anyone other than those sat immediately next to you anyway.
Running the club
If others complain that they don't like the location this time, or the date, or whatever - let them organize the next club meeting! You have taken the initiative to start this, not them. There will always be people who complain, no matter what you do. Harmony and consensus are more important to a regular club than to a one-off event though, so enfold your members by encouraging them to actively help with the organization, don't alienate them. It is nice to have various people take charge at various times, otherwise you run the risk of developing a cult of personality: one person always organizes stuff, gets tired of always having to do it, and if the Chief Member goes on vacation, the meetings don't happen because everyone's used to the one person doing it all the time.
Keep discussion of the club's events, goals, purposes and banter on the thread rather than hidden in PMs or email -- this bumps the thread, lets others know there is an active group participating, and lets newbies see what the vibe of the group is and if they think they'd like the people who are going. If you are specific enough in your first post about what you want the club to be about, what vibe you want, then those people who are attracted to that vibe will come and you will meet a higher percentage of people with similar expectations.
Starting a mailing list
One of the greatest things about Toytown's software is that it allows any thread to become a mailing list, so members needn't log into TT to see what's going on in the club. All any member needs to do is "subscribe to the thread". This is absolutely maintenance-free for any organizers as the "mailing list" updates itself. The original organizer can leave the country for several months, but the "mailing list" keeps working regardless. No having to ask Editor Bob to do anything, no moderator has to get involved, anyone who starts a thread can ask others to subscribe to it. How does it work?
Click the 'Options' menu at the top right of any topic, and go to 'Track this topic'.
Among the choices you are given, a daily digest is probably best for a club. One mail per day, only sent if someone has actually posted to the thread.
After choosing a method, click "Proceed", you're subscribed, and you land on the thread's page again. To unsubscribe from any forums or topics that you are subscribed to - just go to the 'Subscriptions' section of 'My Controls' and you can do this from there.
Signup Lists
Running up to the club's next meeting, you'll want to ask people to start posting if they're coming or not. This keeps people posting to the thread (reminding members that your club is meeting), and lets the captain-of-the-week know how many people need table space. Do try to get a count set and your table reserved the day before to make sure you get in to your location of choice. A simple format starts with your name at 1.) and asks others to add their name to the list for a headcount. See for example: Frankfurt sushi night, Munich 20-something drinks, Mannheim pub quiz, etc.. Browse the discussions and you'll see everyone there expressing their interest and saying "I'm in", "see you on Wednesday", "looking forward to it", etc., and it gives a much warmer, attractive, community feel.
Meeting at members' houses
Some clubs prefer to meet at a member's home, perhaps the member with the largest TV screen for DVD nights or the largest kitchen for Cook'n'Dine. Discussion in public is good, but you needn't give your address on the thread: feel free to post "PM me for my address". PMs are not visible to anyone but the sender and recipient and are not searched by Google: the forum, however, is, and if you don't want your address permanently public on the internet don't post it.
Calendar entries
Make sure your event gets listed in the calendar, linked at the top of every page in the forum. To get a listing in the calendar you must correctly specify the date in your post title. The correct format for dates is: dd.Mmm.YYY. For example: 11.Sep.2001. For more details on this see: Event listings
Maintaining the thread
The first post in a thread can be kept as the original post for as long as your club exists. Chat about the events, deciding on venues, etc., can be archived in a separate thread, so as to keep the current thread short and readable. See the League of Accidental Hausfrauen (LoAHf) for an example of a concurrent active and archive thread. It is important that the club keep using the active thread for their chat, as members will subscribe to that particular thread for the "mailing list".
If you cannot edit the topic title to change the date and venue for each meeting, simply report the first post to a moderator as soon as a new date and / or venue have been determined. As soon as you've met the requirements for title editing, you can do it yourself.
Guidelines, not rules
Remember, these are guidelines only. Not rules. Good luck, and have fun!
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