Couchsurfing.com used to be a gem, I hosted a number of people so far removed from my bubble and had a great time with them. I hope a viable successor appears.
Right now a lot of alternatives: Couchers.org, BeWelcome.org, Trustroots.org
Paradise lost: The rise and ruin of Couchsurfing.com
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Re: Paradise lost: The rise and ruin of Couchsurfing.com
#32Is there a good alternative? Does couchsurfing still work WELL if you’re willing to pay membership fees?
Membership fees was a horrible idea. They should have done a Wikipedia style "We need to pay to keep the lights on.. make a donation" and maybe offered a badge in return.
It's also strange they made the paywall for hosts and travelers the same. Who wants to pay to host other people?
Re: Paradise lost: The rise and ruin of Couchsurfing.com
#33The social proof that a couch surfing reference brought was second to none. Each one boils down to this "I, a stranger, stayed for a few nights in this other strangers home for free, and they were good human beings". That social proof carried to any part of the globe you visited. I cannot think of an internet app that brought people together in a more meaningful and wholesome way at scale. It was great while it laste…
Pareto principle. 80% of people are decent human beings, but the 20% that aren’t cause 80% of the problems.
If only we had some kind of "credit score" but for social things..
Re: Paradise lost: The rise and ruin of Couchsurfing.com
#34I honestly don't think the paywall was such a bad idea. The barrier to entry was too easy, there were too many people on the platform who had no intention of hosting and were just looking for a free place to stay. The very small contribution at least ensures some level of commitment.
I don't think you're getting more hosts this way though.
I was trying to set up my new place for hosting when I ran into the paywall. Didn't want that. Now I'm hosting on Couchers.org instead.
Re: Paradise lost: The rise and ruin of Couchsurfing.com
#35Earlier quoted context omitted.
Pareto principle. 80% of people are decent human beings, but the 20% that aren’t cause 80% of the problems.
If only we had some kind of "credit score" but for social things..
And it should be algorithmically driven with all sorts of fun edge cases and poor maintenance.
Edit: oh, and obviously closed source, and have it's entire db leak about once a year due to excellent security.
Re: Paradise lost: The rise and ruin of Couchsurfing.com
#36I knew a guy who said he used CS mainly for hookups. Is this really a thing?
10 years ago, there was a lot of traveling hippies on CS. We (4 guys) had an appartement in the city center of a touristic town and we did have some female visitors that quite openly talked about how they like the concept of free love and sampling for biological compatibility before committing to a relationship. That said, I don't think any of us ever took any of them up on the offer. That openness tends to come with certain hygiene and style choices.
Re: Paradise lost: The rise and ruin of Couchsurfing.com
#37The social proof that a couch surfing reference brought was second to none. Each one boils down to this "I, a stranger, stayed for a few nights in this other strangers home for free, and they were good human beings". That social proof carried to any part of the globe you visited. I cannot think of an internet app that brought people together in a more meaningful and wholesome way at scale. It was great while it laste…
Pareto principle. 80% of people are decent human beings, but the 20% that aren’t cause 80% of the problems.
Price's law: the square root of the population produces 50% of the trouble.
Apply that to the US (328.2 million people) and we have that 18,116 individuals are responsible for 50% of problems.
Mic drop
Re: Paradise lost: The rise and ruin of Couchsurfing.com
#38I'm a volunteer dev for https://couchers.org which was started in response to the Couchsurfing paywall and mentioned in this article. It's steadily growing in both users and features, and is open source and non-profit. BeWelcome is similarly open-source and non profit, which I'd also recommend as a CS alternative (although they have a somewhat different vision to Couchers and CS).
Trustroots has to be mentioned too. It appeared as a reaction to the rigidity of how things were managed at BeWelcome.
Re: Paradise lost: The rise and ruin of Couchsurfing.com
#39The social proof that a couch surfing reference brought was second to none. Each one boils down to this "I, a stranger, stayed for a few nights in this other strangers home for free, and they were good human beings". That social proof carried to any part of the globe you visited. I cannot think of an internet app that brought people together in a more meaningful and wholesome way at scale. It was great while it laste…
This was also the success secret of the early church. The apostles and shepherds who visited believers in other cities brought with them such social proof in the form of a written letter.
Re: Paradise lost: The rise and ruin of Couchsurfing.com
#40Airbnb ruined Couchsurfing because it changed social expectations around hosting strangers at your house. Before Airbnb, no one really even thought people would pay for the privilege to sleep on your couch or your spare bedroom. But once Airbnb started getting popular, I think a lot of hosts on CS were thinking well, this is neat, but I could get paid doing this. And a lot of CS guests became refugees from Airbnb thinking "well, if Airbnb wants me to pay for this, why do I go to CS and get it for free?"
I CS'd only once, in Ghana in 2011. It was great, but I was too late for the trend, it died pretty shortly after.