Do LIDS RSVP?

According to About.com, hosts increasingly do not receive firm indications whether guests plan to attend their parties, even if RSVP is clearly  printed on the invitation.

Two thoughts:

1.  There is a growing trend toward rudeness in our society.

2.  People don't understand what RSVP means.

Assuming No. 1 can't be true, on to No. 2:

So the literal translation is: "repondez s'il vous plait" meaning "please respond".  If RSVP is written on an invitation, it means the invited guest must tell the host whether or not they plan to attend the party.  A host would indicate RSVP if a head count is needed by the specified date.

An incomplete list of respondents can cause numerous problems for a host including difficulty in food quantities, issues relating to minimum guarantees with catering halls, uncertainty over party favors and difficulties in planning appropriate seating among other things.

Third thought:

3.  There is a leadership issue in play here.  A lot of people may react when invited to an event.  Example: "I don't want to come to this thing anyway.  I'll show them- I'm not going to RSVP."  Leaders, however, respond.  In his book Tribes, Seth Godin writes that the easiest thing to do is react.  The second easiest thing to do is respond.  The hardest thing to do is to initiate.  "Reacting is intuitive and instinctive and usually dangerous.  Responding is a much better alternative.  You respond to external stimuli with thoughtful consideration.  But both pale in comparison to initiative.  Leaders see something others are ignoring and they jump on it.  They cause the events that others have to react [or respond] to.  They make change."

As a LID: initiate.  And, as a leader, when others step out in leadership by initiating and event and ask for a response: respond.