Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

Couchers is officially out of beta

couchers.org

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

71–80 of 139 posts

Re: Couchers is officially out of beta

#71

Post by yunesj »

0xbadcafebee wrote: post #65

I haven't used Couchers, but I was once very active with the Couchsurfing community in a couple cities. Here's what made Couchsurfing once a vibrant, thriving community: - Forums. Regular-old stupid 1990's CGI web forums. They are the perfect way to grow organic community on the web. Simple, functional, compact, reliable. They don't bury content in endless scroll, they organize discussion by topics, pinned messages h…

Wow, thanks for the warning that Couchers bans naturists. I am aware of many unique and beautiful experiences by naturists hosts. It’s disappointing that Couchers would want to eliminate them.

Re: Couchers is officially out of beta

#72

Post by yosito »

yrcyrc wrote: post #12

Very fond memories of couchsurfing met very nice people both as a traveler and a host. But this was long ago. Not sure this will ever work again though

CouchSurfing still has a very active community. I'm hosting these days and get multiple requests every week.

Re: Couchers is officially out of beta

#73

Post by yosito »

konsalexee wrote: post #43

Nice I was loving Couchsurfing until they started aggressively monetising it. Had really great experiences with hosting people! Hope Couchers will revive the great experience of hosting people

Couchsurfing isn't aggressively monetized. They've got a very very small annual fee, and once you pay it they never harass you for money. It's far less monetized than other mainstream apps.

Re: Couchers is officially out of beta

#74

Post by bemmu »

subarctic wrote: post #69
nabramow wrote: post #27

Earlier quoted context omitted.

IMO AirBnb and Couchsurfing have to entirely different aims. AirBnB is about the space itself. You pay for the space. Couchsurfing is about the people sharing the space with you, cultural-exchange, etc. You do not pay, it's more about connecting and meeting with people.

Ya in some cases Airbnb can be like Couchsurfing if the host is there in the same apartment/house and actually more of a host/local guide, and I think some Couchsurfing hosts may have transitioned to Airbnb, but there's definitely a difference in what the "default" expectation is

We've been hosting both AirBnB and Couchers/CouchSurfing.

AirBnB has the vibe that you as the host are a provider of a service, which will be rated by the "customer". Couchsurfing is just some people hanging out.

Re: Couchers is officially out of beta

#75

Post by nosioptar »

daft_pink wrote: post #10

I hosted couchsurfers and it was fun, but i stopped when i started getting detailed reviews about random shit about my home after people left. Letting people live in your house in the central business district of a top tier city and then having them comment on your towel designs. It’s not a hotel. I’m so over it.

That's some weird shit. I'd never couch surf without my own towel.

Re: Couchers is officially out of beta

#76

Post by muppetman »

daft_pink wrote: post #10

I hosted couchsurfers and it was fun, but i stopped when i started getting detailed reviews about random shit about my home after people left. Letting people live in your house in the central business district of a top tier city and then having them comment on your towel designs. It’s not a hotel. I’m so over it.

Can we please see a photo of the towel(s) I'm too invested in this now.

Re: Couchers is officially out of beta

#77

Post by nabramow »

jonp888 wrote: post #46
aapeli wrote: post #23

I'm one of the Couchers founders and wrote this blog post (and incidentally spend way too much time on HN), awesome to see this show up here! This launch is the culmination of a huge push from our volunteer team to clean up a bunch of core features and make the platform easier to use. We are also launching a new branding strategy and new landing page. Quick plug: we are looking for senior React Native devs to join us…

Alternatives to Couchsurfing.com such as BeWelcome and WarmShowers have been around for many years, decades even and have users counts into 6 figures. They've remained non-corporate but never managed to reach mainstream popularity like Couchsurfing.com did. What are you hoping to achieve by launching another hospitality sharing site that the other established non-profit sites couldn't?

Couchers Frontend Team Lead here. Aapeli is out for the night so I'm popping in to answer from my POV.

I think the main difference is that we're trying to capture the spirit of what CouchSurfing.com used to be: modern, easy to use, welcoming to newbies and centered on genuine social connection. But we also want to go beyond that. Build for today’s world—with better safety tools, better moderation, and more community-driven features that help people find each other easier.

Couchsurfing was initially about free hospitality and cultural exchange but is now largely driven by monetization. They also haven't really provided many new features to users since going for-profit.

BeWelcome is another alternative that came out of the CouchSurfing community years ago. It has a more ideological focus around democratic decision-making and they are not as newbie friendly, have an older UI, and are a bit slower to adopt new tech.

WarmShowers on the other hand is for a completely different crowd: it's for bike tourers that leave at the crack of dawn and arrive at sunset. They need a shower (hence the name), a place to put their bike, and a bed to sleep on. They'll probably be a bit too tired to socialize. That's very different from the traditional couch surfing platforms where socialization is the focus.

Re: Couchers is officially out of beta

#78

Post by RyanOD »

wewewedxfgdf wrote: post #20

Note to all founders: Tell the reader what your product is - first. And you can't manage to do that, then your logo link should go to your product, not back to the blog. I gave this TWO attempts to find out =what the product is - that's the biggest opportunity most startups will get - and this company failed twice to tell me conveniently what it is and I am not trying a third time.

Completely agree. It took me much longer than I wanted to figure out what the hell Couchers is. Be direct and to the point with the language you use above the fold (on the home page...not the blog post).

Re: Couchers is officially out of beta

#79

Post by onionisafruit »

mattigames wrote: post #47
daft_pink wrote: post #10

I hosted couchsurfers and it was fun, but i stopped when i started getting detailed reviews about random shit about my home after people left. Letting people live in your house in the central business district of a top tier city and then having them comment on your towel designs. It’s not a hotel. I’m so over it.

Reviews in these kind of sites should always be moderated before it reaches the hosts, if not by a moderation team (due lack of fund) then at least other users, e.g. 2 out of 3 other hosts that mark the review as helpful and within the spirit of the website.

In this scenario hosting couch surfers also puts you on the hook as a moderator? I’ll pass.

Re: Couchers is officially out of beta

#80

Post by onionisafruit »

hallak wrote: post #48
-mlv wrote: post #40

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Top locations have way more people interested in couchsurfing than there are people hosting, so probably not feasible.

I am a couchers host in NYC and don't actually get too many requests! I host someone about once or twice a month.

How’s your towel design?
Post reply on HN