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The Death of Couchsurfing?

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Re: The Death of Couchsurfing?

#3

Post by willio58 »

An alternative will rise eventually. Couch surfing is all about experiences, friendships, and not thinking about money. Any person creating the alternative will have to understand and accept that.

Re: The Death of Couchsurfing?

#5

Post by turnipla »

rdtwo wrote: post #2

Couchsurfing is dead post covid anyway. Who wants to risk a stranger with covid in their house for free.

I don’t think you ever used CS before and don’t understand it regardless of the current situation (which will resolve eventually)

COVID surely affected all hospitality, but money isn’t relevant to CS anyway.

Re: The Death of Couchsurfing?

#6

Post by dvtrn »

turnipla wrote: post #5
rdtwo wrote: post #2

Couchsurfing is dead post covid anyway. Who wants to risk a stranger with covid in their house for free.

I don’t think you ever used CS before and don’t understand it regardless of the current situation (which will resolve eventually) COVID surely affected all hospitality, but money isn’t relevant to CS anyway.

I’ve never used couchsurfing. Can you elaborate a few more details for outsiders like myself who perhaps can’t read between the lines you’re drawing on the topic?

It doesn’t seem that far disconnected from reality to posit that COVID has had some affect on this?

Re: The Death of Couchsurfing?

#8

Post by peterburkimsher »

willio58 wrote: post #3

An alternative will rise eventually. Couch surfing is all about experiences, friendships, and not thinking about money. Any person creating the alternative will have to understand and accept that.

BeWelcome is open-source, has been around for a decade already, and has excellent financial transparency. Their fundraising target for this year is 1300€.

I've already contacted their developer to ask if I can help create a data import tool so people can easily transfer their C$ profiles.

It's heartbreaking to see such a wonderful community be divided like this. There are no "rich" and "poor" countries, only ones with more inequality. Ideally I wish that the HQ would change their mind, but my support is now behind BeWelcome as the alternative.

We must work together and stay united as a community. Travel will continue, despite government lockdowns. Contact tracing is much easier with hospex sites like BeWelcome than with 11 strangers in a hostel room. Economic troubles will lead people to cheaper alternatives. Even if C$ has been ruined by venture capitalists, giving freely and paying it forward will live on elsewhere.

In case this message reaches the C$ investors in Silicon Valley, I don't hate you personally, and I wish that internal reform is possible so that we don't all have to flee to a new platform. But the new change, brought without consultation, is contrary to the principles that CS was founded on. CS is not Airbnb, nor is it a dating site, nor is it exclusive. Selling personal data and private messages didn't bother me too much - Facebook does the same. But trying to charge a monthly subscription from people who don't even have stable countries, never mind bank accounts, is totally ignorant. Change your mind, quickly, because the community is already one foot out of the door.

Re: The Death of Couchsurfing?

#9

Post by peterburkimsher »

MattGaiser wrote: post #7

>If community powered websites like Reddit can survive Reddit is backed by venture capital and shifted heavily to be more advertiser friendly.

I don't know how Hacker News manages to stay so pure, given that it's run by venture capitalists, yet still remains free of ads and open to newcomers. Monetising CS is like demanding a signup fee to join HN: it will drastically change the community.
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