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Show HN: Van, truck or car camp for $0 a night

landcamp.org

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Re: Show HN: Van, truck or car camp for $0 a night

#91

Post by jacurtis »

renewiltord wrote: post #58
solardev wrote: post #46

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Hosting is actually free (as it should be). I used to be very active on Couchsurfing and have hosted dozens of travelers -- to rave reviews, and much more often than I stayed. It doesn't cost me anything to share a couch (or a room, on the rare occasion I had a spare). What I'm objecting to is the website taking $100/yr -- for what? It's unclear -- on principle, when communities like it have existed for far cheaper a…

How can hosting possibly be free? You need a parking spot and a restroom to offer.

On the website it says that if you only want to host, you don't need to pay the membership fee.

So the fee is really only if you want to be a guest. But then you need to host to earn credits to be a guest.

Re: Show HN: Van, truck or car camp for $0 a night

#93

Post by latency-guy2 »

solardev wrote: post #47
jmspring wrote: post #32

Earlier quoted context omitted.

$100/year, $0.27/day is not in the realm of privilege. The groups you mention spend more than that a year to upgrade gear/etc. I call bollocks on this.

I think this is missing the point. It's not "Can I afford $100 for a year's worth of travel", it's that communities have been sharing hosting/staying for a long time already, for free or nearly free. Then suddenly a new company shows up, offers the same service, but now wants to charge hosts and guests $100/yr for doing the same thing as before. Why should they pay that? What does the new company offer? FWIW, it is a…

They did not miss the point.

Re: Show HN: Van, truck or car camp for $0 a night

#94

Post by i_am_jl »

jmspring wrote: post #30

The van equivalent of couchsurfing.org. I'm going to go with they probably are flaunting local laws as to where people can park.

The van equivalent of Couchsurfing is Vanly.

This is Vanly where the barrier to entry on the platform is owning property in California.

Re: Show HN: Van, truck or car camp for $0 a night

#95

Post by Nowado »

muti wrote: post #90
xwdv wrote: post #69

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The idea is hosts sell off their excess credits if they don’t want them.

So it's not free to camp, we'll end up with centralised mega hosters (seedboxes in the tracker analogy) and in practice travelers will be too small time to actually be able earn any credits

Isn't it beautiful, how new wave of couchsurfing scales into airbnb without having to become a new entity along the way?

Re: Show HN: Van, truck or car camp for $0 a night

#97

Post by i_am_jl »

muti wrote: post #35

1 host = 1 credit looks like a problem, similar to how it can be hard to build up ratio on well established private torrent trackers. The distribution of credits will not be even with many hosts building up credits for some nebulous future trip. How do those actually travelling around earn credits past the first 3 complimentary? Bonus point systems or just ignoring ratio solved this from my pov for trackers, the 1 to…

It seems so obviously flawed that I'm wondering if that isn't a key part of the value proposition. Boondockers and more recently Vanly already provide a very similar service (RV/Van parking on private property), but aren't limited to California and don't have the pseudo-barter system requirement.

I'm wondering, is there some sort of California-specific tax/zoning loophole that allows this but doesn't allow nightly rentals ala Vanly or Boondockers? It's the only way that this makes sense to me.

Re: Show HN: Van, truck or car camp for $0 a night

#98

Post by isatty »

mrb wrote: post #15
solardev wrote: post #5

So it's kinda like Couchsurfing.com and Warmshowers, but expensive ($100/yr) and only for vanlifers? Interesting. I like the community peer to peer model, but it kinda feels exploitative to put an expensive business layer on top of it. What does the $100/yr provide that Couchsurfing's $30/yr doesn't, aside from a feeling of exclusivity? Or is that the point, to weed out poor vanlifers and allow only rich vacationers…

"rich vacationers" ? Most American adults can afford $100/year. Edit: I'll even add: most american adults spend $100 per month , not per year, on frivolous stuff. Fast food. Cable TV. Unnecessary high-end phones (instead of mid-range phones). All these people could definitely afford $100/year.

Not personal but I absolutely hate your edit. Frivolous stuff that you mentioned is _important_ for mental health and hence not.

Re: Show HN: Van, truck or car camp for $0 a night

#99

Post by FollowingTheDao »

muti wrote: post #90
xwdv wrote: post #69

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The idea is hosts sell off their excess credits if they don’t want them.

So it's not free to camp, we'll end up with centralised mega hosters (seedboxes in the tracker analogy) and in practice travelers will be too small time to actually be able earn any credits

Agreed, I don’t like this at all. And everyone’s always giving something only just to get something. And it Hass to be monetize and quantized and socialized. Gross.

Re: Show HN: Van, truck or car camp for $0 a night

#100

Post by hesdeadjim »

ghostly_s wrote: post #89
solardev wrote: post #9

For anyone looking for actually free, no strings attached (and no subscription) camping, check https://freecampsites.net/ instead. It's a community wiki of free camp sites, usually on federal lands of various sorts (National Forests and BLM lands often have primitive campsites with fire rings and not much else). It's great for travel around national parks, especially. But please do leave no trace, pack out what you b…

Like this website, the important caveat is in the Southwest . Public lands other than formal parks and preserves are basically nonexistent elsewhere.

We’re so lucky out here in the west. Practically infinite access to nature. Contrast this to Maine, which despite being enormous has next to nothing for public land.
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