This is the craziest set of options on Earth.
Yes, attending. That makes sense.
No, not attending. That also makes sense.
Maybe? MAYBE!?
That is not a useful piece of information.
The part where you’re “maybe” attending is the part when you look at the invitation page and decide whether or not you’re going. So if people want to briefly click “maybe” while then pulling out a calendar to confirm, that would be acceptable. For those couple minutes, you truly may or may not be attending.
But after that, a Yes or No is the real point here.
You may be unsure, and that’s okay. But you know what the equivalent of a “maybe” is? No answer whatsoever. You’re still “maybe” attending from the moment you’re invited, and there’s no real need to confirm this status.
You see, once the invitation is sent, the fact that you may or may not be attending is a foregone conclusion. There are only two possible options, that you’ll be there or you won’t.
Imagine a multiple-choice test. The question: “Did Shakespeare die storming the beach at Normandy in WWII?” The possible answers: true or false. NOT true, false, or MAYBE. There’s no half-point right for every “maybe” filled in. Because maybe is not only a non-answer, it’s incorrect. Shakespeare did not maybe die in Normandy. He absolutely did not.
I would like to encourage everyone to stop filling out the Maybe. It’s worthless, and we’re being tricked here.
Planning an event, there’s a such thing as a six-pack, and there’s a 12-pack. But no Maybe-pack that contains a flexible number of beers. My car doesn’t maybe hold 6 people. Preparing food for 6-12 people means spending too much money on food that don’t get ate.
I know it’s scary, but you have to Yes or No.