Internet meet up

I know that it's a rule that you shouldn't meet up with people that you've only met over the internet.  However, isn't there an exception to this if the meeting is in a public place, and it's more than a 1 on 1?

Venue for the meet up

Hence, I recently attended my 3rd meeting of the Melbourne Trip Advisor group, most of whom are active on TA's Melbourne discussion forum. Even though they're self-selected and an open invitation appears on the internet to attend, those who came along were an interesting group of genuine people, with a real interest in helping travellers through the TA forums.

One couple was from interstate and another attendee was from the US who was in Australian on business.

The TA "community" is keen to maintain its credibility, and the long-term members keep a close eye on new "faces" that appear in the forum, to see that they don't depart from the etiquette of keeping contributions constructive and reasonably accurate.  If subtle or not-so-subtle hints don't work, then the ultimate recourse is for TA "Big Brother" to cut off access!   TA is a substantial US corporation, so it has an interest in maintaining its image.