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Comment by atoav | Hacker News Reader

As someone who organized very popular parties back in my teenage years: Whatever you optimize for, don't overdo it. Good social events are all about the right mixture between familar/safe and the unknown/dangerous. Match people too closely and you will bore people, I am not saying you should seat people randomly, but also consider which interests might add to each other.

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Yeah it’s very tricky and an art for sure. We spent a lot of time on it, i feel like we really nailed it because it was all about finding overlap but also creating introductions. We intentionally split up many friend groups because we knew they’d gravitate at the bar and dance floor anyway, so ideally getting them to meet new people over dinner was going to create an even bigger party - and it for sure did.

So yeah all to say, you’re right and it’s very unique for each gathering and its audience as to which approach you should take.

> I am not saying you should seat people randomly

With the exception of people who would throw hands at each other, this actually doesn't seem like an awful idea.

It is an awful idea because it will make most people sad not to be next to the ones they love, like spouses and friends

I mean grouping people that want to be together and then mixing those at random might not be the worst approach.

I agree that having serendipity adds to the mix. This tool is more an iterative tool, meant to help guide the decisions, rather than being prescriptive.

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