The Death of Couchsurfing? • Hacker News Board

Re: The Death of Couchsurfing?

#111

Post by mierz00 » Mon, May 18, 2020, 5:20 AM UTC

nroets wrote: post #80

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 used Couch Surfing thought-out the world. In China and Vietnam, I found that the locals use the site only to meet foreigners. For example an teacher in Vietnam asked me to be a guest during an English class. I traveled by bicycle. This meant I could use also the Warm Showers website. This worked extremely well in Europe and the US. I had wonderful hosts in New York City, Los Angeles, Las Vegas, Bavaria, Zurich, Was…

Hah! I had the same experience in Vietnam. It was in Hanoi and I had such a blast. The students of the class took me around and showed me places for the rest of the week.

Re: The Death of Couchsurfing?

#112

Post by jbverschoor » Mon, May 18, 2020, 5:26 AM UTC

aclimatt wrote: post #17

Like the article says and as applies to almost all failed startups / products, it can all be traced back to bad management. I've been a heavy CS user for over a decade, I've been to events at their (now defunct I suppose) office in SF, I met their CEO at the time (one of many) and even did a walk around the block chatting strategy with their VP of Product at the time. After building lifelong relationships through the…

I’ve met quite some surfers who are definitely not broke. That’s like saying people who go to burning man are broke

Re: The Death of Couchsurfing?

#113

Post by [deleted] » Mon, May 18, 2020, 5:29 AM UTC

VWWHFSfQ wrote: post #93

Bro.. you gotta pay $15 a year. That's $1.25/month. I would like to see you make a website like Couchsurfing that can operate for free forever. Just pay the $buck 25 and keep using the site and go on with your life. This is not a Capitalist Conspiracy to rob you of your hard-earned $dollars

[deleted]

Re: The Death of Couchsurfing?

#114

Post by Frondo » Mon, May 18, 2020, 5:31 AM UTC

ashtonkem wrote: post #51

MattGaiser wrote: post #44

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I did not think it was universally beloved, but just never read any negative viewpoint about them so was curious.

Keep in mind that YC is very visible. As a result, complaints about VC behavior in general will accumulate to YC, since they’re often the public face of startups and startup culture. That might not be fair or ever correct, but it’s how people work. Personally, YC’s involvement in AirBnB is my biggest complaint with the company. I’m not sure how it looked from the inside before hand, but in retrospect AirBnB is one of…

Extracting profits at the cost of society may be a bad thing for you and me, but it might be a good thing for YC.

I'm reminded of Paul Graham's words on unions:

https://twitter.com/paulg/status/663456748494127104?lang=en

From his perspective, it could be that society is something standing in the way of profits.

Re: The Death of Couchsurfing?

#115

Post by inimino » Mon, May 18, 2020, 5:32 AM UTC

VWWHFSfQ wrote: post #93

Bro.. you gotta pay $15 a year. That's $1.25/month. I would like to see you make a website like Couchsurfing that can operate for free forever. Just pay the $buck 25 and keep using the site and go on with your life. This is not a Capitalist Conspiracy to rob you of your hard-earned $dollars

/s?

I almost wonder if you've ever met anyone in need. This brand of smug entitlement preceeds revolutions ...bro.

Re: The Death of Couchsurfing?

#116

Post by Ayesh » Mon, May 18, 2020, 5:35 AM UTC

It's about €2 a month, and I subscribed yesterday. It didn't occur to me until they prompted that CS must be doing pretty bad during the pandemic. I still open for Hangouts (I'm "stranded" in Vietnam where things are open back now), and the CS as a platform was fantastic to meet new people.

I think the €2 price is only for those who live in relatively richer countries. Here in Vietnam, my friends were not asked to pay, it's just me because my address was set to the Netherlands.

They even support PayPal payments, which I believe take ~€0.30 for the payment.

Re: The Death of Couchsurfing?

#117

Post by Ayesh » Mon, May 18, 2020, 5:36 AM UTC

teruakohatu wrote: post #35

Couch surfing is not dead. In the adventure motorcycling community, there are this concept "tent spaces". It is like crowd surfing but instead of a couch, you get access to a toilet and space to pitch a tent. https://advrider.com/f/threads/tent-space-map-v2.1215147/

Warm Showers is also pretty good. It's mostly Europe focused cycling community, where you meet amazing cyclists with a decent garage and a night full of stories.

Re: The Death of Couchsurfing?

#118

Post by licebmi__at__ » Mon, May 18, 2020, 5:36 AM UTC

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…

All my experiences with couchsurfing were on the weird side, as a friend, friendly but serious kind of guy who is a weirdo magnet published the home we were renting together.

We had an artist which might had a mental issue or maybe just acting as he constantly confused who we were and told the same histories again and again. Some guy who in his own words, was trying to start his own religious cult. And some guy who brought a lot of peyote and blow the kitchen trying to destilate the mescaline.

Those were pretty interesting times, I definitely appreciate the experiences I had, but I also don't think I host anybody now (or at least not until my son is older).

Re: The Death of Couchsurfing?

#119

Post by skrebbel » Mon, May 18, 2020, 5:43 AM UTC

fxtentacle wrote: post #106

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 gues…

Wasn't the initial Airbnb pitch "like couchsurfing, but with money"?

Re: The Death of Couchsurfing?

#120

Post by Markoff » Mon, May 18, 2020, 5:45 AM UTC

husky_voice wrote: post #82

Can't read story about Couchsurfing paywall as the article is behind paywall ;)

Well folks, in these changed times it seems that the last artefacts of the old world have been firmly cemented in history, as Couchsurfing International Inc. decides to unilaterally charge its members, eroding away the last remnants of community spirit and hammering the final nail in the capitalist coffin it built for itself.

The fact Couchsurfing didn’t warn or consult the community it hosts that the company was switching to a paid service, effective immediately as of 14th May 2020, only underlines the already poor track record of the management. Just in case you weren’t sure how mainstream the service went, they’ve gone and removed all doubt.

In order to simply message old friends through the site, people who you warmly welcomed into your home, who kindly hosted you in a strange foreign land — or who perhaps changed your life — you must now pay a subscription fee. Users have essentially had their accounts frozen unless they pay the fee immediately.

The bosses of Couchsurfing know how much these old connections mean to some members, so in one final hustle have blocked messaging and even referencing, forcing those who have no other communication links to sign up for at least a month to speak to their friends, and hoping for a little bonus before the gentrified party is over for good.

It also means those that use the site only for hosting, in other words, offer their homes to others for free, have to pay the fee too.

This should kick out the remaining ethically-minded members. Leaving only noobs and those that want to save money when travelling to run the whole show. To be fair, $15 a year is not a lot to ask. But the way they asked shows everybody exactly where Couchsurfing stands.