Mac User Groups
How many of these things are still really active and why do people belong to them?
I have never been to one of their meetings or anything but there was a get-together a week or so back at the Apple store down the block from me while I was there. It seemed pretty pointless.
I understand why maybe 10 years back they may have existed and provided benefits given that so few people had access to the internet and sites like this did not exist. But now all the troubleshooting help you need can be found here or any number of places. Including the Apple stores with free "genius" help if you want to wait for it.
The discounts they give are pretty small and can be matched if not beaten by doing a little searching online.
The breadth of knowledge that can be found there is not exactly tough to locate.
It just seems like very little can be gained from being a member of these things given that you can acquire most of the services and benefits through other means today.