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The Death of Couchsurfing?

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Re: The Death of Couchsurfing?

#101

Post by owenversteeg »

owenversteeg wrote: post #45

So I imagine there's a lot of people here that don't know Couchsurfing or what the big deal is. Couchsurfing has been one of the most important things in my life, so I'll do my best to explain why it's so special. The basic idea is you stay at a stranger's place, or you host a stranger at yours - completely for free, no money involved. Everyone does it differently. Some people plan their trip meticulously months in a…

I'm so glad this comment is getting so much attention because Couchsurfing really is one of the best things to ever happen to me - not only with all the incredible experiences but also because it made me a kinder, more trusting and better person.

Really, Couchsurfing changed my life. Ignore the fact that the app is a dumpster fire and just give it a shot - or better, try BeWelcome or Trustroots.

And again, if anyone has any questions about Couchsurfing or wants to start but is confused (or wants to couchsurf my boat!) please send me an email (it's in my profile.)

Re: The Death of Couchsurfing?

#102

Post by alentist »

ashtonkem wrote: post #77
alentist wrote: post #63

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> AirBnB is one of the poster children of VC backed companies extracting profits at the cost of society Do you have any evidence to back up that claim? Because hard data shows exactly the opposite: https://www.bls.gov/opub/mlr/2018/beyond-bls/how-airbnb-has-...

That’s focusing on AirBnB’s effect on the hotel industry, but I’m more concerned about AirBnB’s effect on the rent market. This is a subject that’s been pretty well covered here before.

I don’t think you read the link before downvoting it. It’s about the effect on the hotel industry as well as consumers and hosts.

You also haven’t provided any evidence to back up your claim. I’d be curious to read it, if it exists.

Re: The Death of Couchsurfing?

#103

Post by ramraj07 »

julianeon wrote: post #91
MattGaiser wrote: post #18

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Hacker News is smaller than most major subreddits in terms of usage. 400 upvotes is considered a lot here. The site is extremely simple and something that could be replicated in a couple of days at most by most engineers. It doesn't process money or really require a lot of content moderation either.

> The site is extremely simple and something that could be replicated in a couple of days at most by most engineers. I'm a little skeptical of this. Don't get me wrong, I understand that it's not going to win any ACM awards for innovation in web development - it's a simple web app. I know this. But I think it's well beyond the 2-day prototype mark. Because I know what a cheapo off-the-shelf, 2-day-product or PHP foru…

Sure, but a mvp that does 75% of it is definitely possible in a weekend for a pair of really good in-the-zone coders. I'd argue that if you actually list out all these minor features fully, it's even possible to flesh it out completely in 4-5 very long days. Even otherwise, this could easily be a site that starts with a full weekend of work for mvp, followed by gradual refininig over the next few months with feedback needing no more than a Saturday afternoon. I wouldn't even consider myself the best coder out there and I have definitely coded something in a similar timeline in the past - a Netflix style book lending website with queues, inventories, user auth, the whole shebang. Im sure it wouldn't work in the same scale as HN, but I doubt it would have been that hard to keep up.

As I typed this I realized how unsubstantiated this claim looks, and to be frank the cost of just doing this isn't even that high, so I'm probably just going to do this next weekend for giggles. Let's see!

Re: The Death of Couchsurfing?

#104

Post by bacon_waffle »

em-bee wrote: post #87
brendyn wrote: post #76

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Is that really the case? I couch surfed years ago. From memory I think couchsurfing.com has a reputation system where if people stay at your house, you gain points that give you priority when staying with someone else. so it's kinda like a system for bypassing money in exchanging accommodation. Ideally, if many people start swarming the system looking for free places to stay, it will just mean they won't get chosen,…

relying on the reputation system to filter out bad guests means that new members have no chance to join. hosts will be overwhelmed with requests. many guests will be freeloaders who would be better served with airbnb. for the site to work, the influx of new members needd to be small enough so that the community csn handle it. word of mouth is the only way to make sure that new members can get a reference before their…

Like the poster you're responding to, I haven't used couchsurfing in a few years - left due to life changes, and being annoyed by earlier stages of the commercialization that the article talks about. But, prior to that I semi-regularly hosted and used it in my own travels a couple times, over maybe 8 or 9 years and a few countries.

It worked very much as described in that post, and didn't seem to have the problems listed in yours. The biggest problem I remember with CS, was people trying to inappropriately use it to get laid.

Re: The Death of Couchsurfing?

#105

Post by kragen »

https://archive.fo/6xEPW

The article makes this sound super shitty. What happens if you were traveling on May 14th in a country where you don't have cellphone service, trusting that you're going to use CouchSurfing to message your hosts to arrange to meet up when you arrive, and now you can't contact them any more? Either it's cough up the US$15 (assuming you even have a means of payment CouchSurfing accepts — I don't think they do M-PESA) or you're sleeping on the side of the road where your hitchhiking ride dropped you off. And US$15 is a fucking lot of money in some places.

I've hosted a bunch of people via Couchsurfing and also been hosted. Another alternative I've used is hospitalityclub.org, which seems to still be up. The article and other comments here mention BeWelcome, but I haven't tried it.

While I agree with comments that it shouldn't require hundreds of millions of dollars a year to run the site, and that we need to move community services like this onto decentralized systems, I think things like the Beaker Browser are not yet widespread enough. Communities like CouchSurfing where lots of people meet up in person and try new things might be the most fertile soil for something like that.

Re: The Death of Couchsurfing?

#106

Post by fxtentacle »

owenversteeg wrote: post #45

So I imagine there's a lot of people here that don't know Couchsurfing or what the big deal is. Couchsurfing has been one of the most important things in my life, so I'll do my best to explain why it's so special. The basic idea is you stay at a stranger's place, or you host a stranger at yours - completely for free, no money involved. Everyone does it differently. Some people plan their trip meticulously months in a…

Oddly enough, your experience with CouchSurfing very much matches my initial experience with AirBnb, back in the days when they were still small.

My experience with CouchSurfing, on the other hand, was weird. When me and my roommates (3 guys, 2 girls) signed up our shared house (in waking distance of a touristic city center), we were expecting to see lots of backpackers and tourists our age. Instead, most of our guest requests were middle-aged women with a strong urge to point out how adventurous they were feeling. I believe we not once had a guest request from a guy.

Re: The Death of Couchsurfing?

#107

Post by joshvm »

stormdennis wrote: post #99
owenversteeg wrote: post #45

So I imagine there's a lot of people here that don't know Couchsurfing or what the big deal is. Couchsurfing has been one of the most important things in my life, so I'll do my best to explain why it's so special. The basic idea is you stay at a stranger's place, or you host a stranger at yours - completely for free, no money involved. Everyone does it differently. Some people plan their trip meticulously months in a…

Have there been any cases where something bad has happened to either a host or a guest? (Such are the thoughts that consume my middle aged mind, I think I was more trusting when younger but never to the extent that you are). BTW, I think your attitude is great.

Sure, this does happen, but it's very rare. Anecdotally the most common issue is non-violent sexual assault - e.g. guys hitting on girls. That's largely a risk for solo female travelers unfortunately. If you travel as a couple, for example, the risk is far less. On the other hand the vast majority of solo travelers, male and female, don't have any issues.

There are some safety nets in place, like you can get verified by couchsurfing for a small fee. It's a trust system, people are encouraged to vouch for each other. If you're worried, then only visit/host people who have a lot of good reviews, or who can be vouched for by someone else in the community. If you were asking from the perspective of a prospective traveler I would suggest going to local couchsurfing meetups rather than randomly finding people to stay with. Often you can get recommendations directly and gut feel is very valuable.

Re: The Death of Couchsurfing?

#108

Post by ido »

stormdennis wrote: post #99
owenversteeg wrote: post #45

So I imagine there's a lot of people here that don't know Couchsurfing or what the big deal is. Couchsurfing has been one of the most important things in my life, so I'll do my best to explain why it's so special. The basic idea is you stay at a stranger's place, or you host a stranger at yours - completely for free, no money involved. Everyone does it differently. Some people plan their trip meticulously months in a…

Have there been any cases where something bad has happened to either a host or a guest? (Such are the thoughts that consume my middle aged mind, I think I was more trusting when younger but never to the extent that you are). BTW, I think your attitude is great.

I've participated in couch surfing for years when I was younger (single/childless) & the worst that happened (I hosted a lot more than I surfed) was that some people are just not that nice/interesting. I had many more positive experiences.

Keep in mind I'm a pretty big, able-bodied guy & at the time I was in my 20s. If I was a small woman living alone I may have skipped hosting single men.

Re: The Death of Couchsurfing?

#109

Post by [deleted] »

julianeon wrote: post #91
MattGaiser wrote: post #18

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Hacker News is smaller than most major subreddits in terms of usage. 400 upvotes is considered a lot here. The site is extremely simple and something that could be replicated in a couple of days at most by most engineers. It doesn't process money or really require a lot of content moderation either.

> The site is extremely simple and something that could be replicated in a couple of days at most by most engineers. I'm a little skeptical of this. Don't get me wrong, I understand that it's not going to win any ACM awards for innovation in web development - it's a simple web app. I know this. But I think it's well beyond the 2-day prototype mark. Because I know what a cheapo off-the-shelf, 2-day-product or PHP foru…

[deleted]

Re: The Death of Couchsurfing?

#110

Post by stormdennis »

ramraj07 wrote: post #103
julianeon wrote: post #91

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> The site is extremely simple and something that could be replicated in a couple of days at most by most engineers. I'm a little skeptical of this. Don't get me wrong, I understand that it's not going to win any ACM awards for innovation in web development - it's a simple web app. I know this. But I think it's well beyond the 2-day prototype mark. Because I know what a cheapo off-the-shelf, 2-day-product or PHP foru…

Sure, but a mvp that does 75% of it is definitely possible in a weekend for a pair of really good in-the-zone coders. I'd argue that if you actually list out all these minor features fully, it's even possible to flesh it out completely in 4-5 very long days. Even otherwise, this could easily be a site that starts with a full weekend of work for mvp, followed by gradual refininig over the next few months with feedback…

I hope you did better than Netflix. It's horrible to navigate. For example it's really really not obvious how you find previous seasons of a show.
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