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

landcamp.org

181–190 of 236 posts

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

#181
I've noticed a trend on HN where people seem to complain about the price of things, even when they are not the target market.

Dominant case in point is the long discussion here over the $100 price point.

Is this a spill-over of the Open Source ideals many hold? That software, and by extension services should be gratis as well as libre?

People point out alternative (free) sites, and so on, as if the price matters. Or more accurately as if its the only thing that matters.

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

#182
post #158
post #90

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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

Its also ripe for abuse; create dummy accounts that use their free stays to give a host credit, then the host sells those credits for real money. On a certain movie tracker some invite selling scum would join via the signup process that used to exist on reddit, cheat a bunch of upload on popular torrents, convert that upload into bonus points, launder the points to their main account through a forum contest where the…

I enjoy the irony of complaining about people breaking the rules on a pirate movie tracker.

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

#183

I've noticed a trend on HN where people seem to complain about the price of things, even when they are not the target market. Dominant case in point is the long discussion here over the $100 price point. Is this a spill-over of the Open Source ideals many hold? That software, and by extension services should be gratis as well as libre? People point out alternative (free) sites, and so on, as if the price matters. Or…

Given the choice between expensive things and cheap things, or cheap things and free things - it’s always better to be given the choice.

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

#184
post #73
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…

You can camp for free in all unimproved areas of US national forests that aren't designated wilderness areas or otherwise designated as off limits for dispersed camping. This is something like 98% of the forests. The exact rules can vary a bit from place to place, so always check with the ranger station in that area (don't rely on the website!) for anything special. You usually need to have a permit if you're parking…

my understanding is that most allow the discharge of firearms, for fun or hunting.

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

#185
post #140

Hi, as a former employee of Couchsurfing, I just want to say: it’s great that you’re thinking about revenue and reciprocity upfront.

what is Couchsurfing's revenue model?

Last time I checked the app for events, it pushed you to pay for verification (blue badge a la twitter) so that you'd appear more trustworthy to others.

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

#186

I've noticed a trend on HN where people seem to complain about the price of things, even when they are not the target market. Dominant case in point is the long discussion here over the $100 price point. Is this a spill-over of the Open Source ideals many hold? That software, and by extension services should be gratis as well as libre? People point out alternative (free) sites, and so on, as if the price matters. Or…

Because the title is misleading. It isn't costing 0 USD. If something costs money, be up front about it. Because a lot of people do not have much money to spend freely, and by saying 0 USD you signal to them, only to get them disappointed later. Its a low blow, really.

On the other hand, if a service is expensive, you can be reasonably sure certain types of people will not use such service. Which increases the likelihood of meeting peers of your class. Good for friendship and mating purposes.

Case in point: I have fond memories of going to Playa Montroig as a young kid. One rule there was absolute silence after a certain hour. If violated repeatedly, one could get kicked from the site.

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

#187

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Also, you leave out (which the comment you mentioned does) - please respect local rules. For instance, in Death Valley, you can free camp most anywhere (refer to NPS guidelines) two miles off of a designated roadway.

But try to be aware of what you're signing up for: Death Valley Germans [0] [0] https://www.otherhand.org/home-page/search-and-rescue/the-hu...

I’ve been going to DV for over 25 years at this point. Mostly backroads exploration. The moral of most of these tragedies is know what you are doing.

Even as late as the last couple of winters, idiots follow GPS guidance (Waze, google/Apple Maps) onto closed roads. Again, know your environment. If a major highway is closed, likely the minor side roads are as well.

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

#188

I've noticed a trend on HN where people seem to complain about the price of things, even when they are not the target market. Dominant case in point is the long discussion here over the $100 price point. Is this a spill-over of the Open Source ideals many hold? That software, and by extension services should be gratis as well as libre? People point out alternative (free) sites, and so on, as if the price matters. Or…

Open source is software communism, is it any surprise that folks here want actual communism? No, it isn't.

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

#189
post #97
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 re…

To my knowledge, no.

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

#190
post #6
post #3

> All members are vetted By who? There's literally zero information that would make me trust this: who's running this, how's it backed up, what proof you have that this works. But, cool idea. Love the reciprocity focus. Kind of like couchsurfing, but shinier?

> trust me bro It’s an MVP to capture interest. Simple As.

It's an absolutely lovely idea in theory, but I can see a small proportion of bad-faith actors absolutely ruining the experience for the rest. For example, how do you get overstaying guests to leave, what happens if there's suddenly a deluge of visitors on a holiday weekend and how do you say "you, not you"?
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