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The Death of Couchsurfing?

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Re: The Death of Couchsurfing?

#301

Post by mycall »

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…

> new members have no chance to join.

Maybe they should host first?

Re: The Death of Couchsurfing?

#302

Post by h0l0cube »

h0l0cube wrote: post #130
bigiain wrote: post #100

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> I have been to a festival in Australia (the predecessor to burning man) that is completely volunteer run. It's interesting to be a part of operations and see it work, and fail to some extent, and in meat-space the 'look after each other philosophy' can work when everybody is can watch each other. I'm curious about that (being an Australian and a Burner). Which festival? (if you're OK sharing. My email in my profile…

Surely you've heard of ConFest? Still going strong since the 70s. Started by Jim Cairns (the then ex-deputy to the ex-prime minister Gough Whitlam). The name is a portmanteau of 'conference festival'. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ConFest

> I just hadn't ever heard it referred to as "the predecessor to burning man".

But that it is :) It was a direct inspiration for burning man, and also another long running festival in Europe (the name escapes me).

> (And I've never been, Easter is BluesFest time for me...)

Are you talking about the one in Denniliquin that often coincides with ConFest? It's a very short drive away, and I recall bumping into a few curious folks making a detour after BluesFest.

Re: The Death of Couchsurfing?

#303

Post by ivnamei »

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.

I'm trying to migrate to BeWelcome, but I really miss the hangout feature. Any other alternatives?

Re: The Death of Couchsurfing?

#304

Post by justnotworthit »

m4lvin wrote: post #178

In related news, https://www.warmshowers.org/ (a couchsurfing, but only for cyclists) also changed "business model" this month. However, they will not charge existing active users and only ask new sign-ups for 30 USD once for lifetime access. https://www.warmshowers.org/sites/default/files/files/inline...

Did they do a "host only" free signup?

I left couchsurfing (which i used mostly for hosting) to warmshowers where I've hosted a dozen or two guests over the last few years. I've never traveled on a bike and don't have any plans to. The guests are great, since bike touring is a filter for a certain kind of person.

I don't know I would have signed up if it were $30 (though it has obviously been worth it).

One of my "things to do when im rich" daydreams was to visit my favorite guests/host from CS in a world tour. Most I didn't exchange numbers or emails with, but having their good reviews on my profile was a monument of what the kind of person I wanted to be. If it's true I can't message them now, I should've got rich sooner.

Re: The Death of Couchsurfing?

#305

Post by abyssin »

technick wrote: post #155

I used to host couch surfers in Denver. Everyone I met was amazing. Had a couple from Jamaica stay a few days and taught me how to cook jerk chicken. Then I hosted a group of 5 from Australia which put me up when I visited them. I hope something replaces this site.

There's already alternatives, and they've been there for a while. The first treason to the community came from Casy Fenton who sold Couchsurfing some 10 years ago, even though he'd benefited from the volunteer work of many skilled members. That triggered the creation of BeWelcome. Some years later, BeWelcome was perceived as suffering from different issues that were preventing it from growing to its potential, and Trustroots was founded as well. Trustroots is a promising project.

Re: The Death of Couchsurfing?

#306

Post by simonebrunozzi »

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…

Great comment. I've used couchsurfing in 2008-2009 a bit, but never to stay - just to meet local people when I was traveling for work in foreign places.

The weird thing is, AirBnB came along, and I keep reading the sentence "nobody believed that hosting a stranger at home would work", which made me internally scream "but there's couchsurfing!!".

In fact, I think that Couchsurfing (the website/company) had a chance to become like AirBnB. They didn't. Maybe intentionally.

Re: The Death of Couchsurfing?

#307

Post by Mediterraneo10 »

owenversteeg wrote: post #267
mnky9800n wrote: post #170

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Every woman I've met on couch surfing has been a victim of some kind of sexual harassment or violence due to someone they meet on couchsurfing. Basically they stay with a guy and he has expectations and is vocal if not forceful about it. Women would be surprised that I had a bed just for them, didn't expect them to sleep with me, didn't ask them for sex, etc. I hosted for two years living in Berlin. That being said I…

Wow! I've hosted a good bit and that's completely different from my experience. > Women would be surprised that I had a bed just for them It sounds like you were taking a lot of the desperate people on the site that aren't mostly in it for the cultural exchange but to save $5. Because here's the thing - everyone's profile has a section detailing what kind of room/bed the Couchsurfer will get. A "shared bed" is a red…

Couchsurfing was founded after Casey Fenton had a plane ticket to Iceland but no money for a hotel. So, he spammed the University of Reykjavik's e-mail directory asking to stay on someone's couch. Aiming to save money on accommodation has ALWAYS been a thing on CS. Yes, it is great when cultural exchange and friendship arise on top of the exchange of free accommodation, but it doesn't happen with every guest or with every host.

Also, as a 2005 signup, I can attest that copy/paste requests have always been a thing. In fact, initially they were the norm. Back when travelers used internet cafes and were paying for every minute, it was understandable that they needed to send out a wave of requests quickly without being able to personalize them. Even now, I prefer copy/paste as a host because I can sympathize with travelers and don’t want them to jump through silly hoops.

Re: The Death of Couchsurfing?

#308

Post by bigiain »

h0l0cube wrote: post #302
h0l0cube wrote: post #130

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Surely you've heard of ConFest? Still going strong since the 70s. Started by Jim Cairns (the then ex-deputy to the ex-prime minister Gough Whitlam). The name is a portmanteau of 'conference festival'. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ConFest

> I just hadn't ever heard it referred to as "the predecessor to burning man". But that it is :) It was a direct inspiration for burning man, and also another long running festival in Europe (the name escapes me). > (And I've never been, Easter is BluesFest time for me...) Are you talking about the one in Denniliquin that often coincides with ConFest? It's a very short drive away, and I recall bumping into a few curi…

Nah, Bluesfest in Byron Bay...

Re: The Death of Couchsurfing?

#309

Post by em-bee »

mycall wrote: post #301
em-bee wrote: post #87

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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…

> new members have no chance to join. Maybe they should host first?

not everyone has the ability to host. especially young people who live in student housing, or in a shared apartment, or even still with their parents, may not be able to host, but those are the ones most likely to travel and look for a couch.

Re: The Death of Couchsurfing?

#310

Post by mnky9800n »

owenversteeg wrote: post #267
mnky9800n wrote: post #170

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Every woman I've met on couch surfing has been a victim of some kind of sexual harassment or violence due to someone they meet on couchsurfing. Basically they stay with a guy and he has expectations and is vocal if not forceful about it. Women would be surprised that I had a bed just for them, didn't expect them to sleep with me, didn't ask them for sex, etc. I hosted for two years living in Berlin. That being said I…

Wow! I've hosted a good bit and that's completely different from my experience. > Women would be surprised that I had a bed just for them It sounds like you were taking a lot of the desperate people on the site that aren't mostly in it for the cultural exchange but to save $5. Because here's the thing - everyone's profile has a section detailing what kind of room/bed the Couchsurfer will get. A "shared bed" is a red…

This isn't even the case though. I heard from many people and stayed with some people where you would get there and they would be like "yeah i dont have that anymore". couch surfing also became super obnoxious in some places. Like in Berlin I would host anybody, but in Tokyo basically nobody would host you unless you could demonstrate your awesomeness some how either by cooking a 10 course meal, being super model hot, etc.

I don't think you are wrong, sometimes it is obvious you are walking into a bad situation, but wtf is the point of couchsurfing if its not to save money? lol.

TBH I think the real problem with couchsurfing is that it was more of a passing fad, cultural phenomenon rather than something that will stay forever. My guess is someone will come up with a more clever solution and the generation that used couchsurfing will keep using it and a new generation of travelers will use the new thing.

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