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Couchers is officially out of beta

couchers.org

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Re: Couchers is officially out of beta

#81

Post by vincnetas »

nabramow wrote: post #77
jonp888 wrote: post #46

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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-…

so couchers focus on better UI and new tech? why not join efforts with bewellcome? or are they too "democratic" and not everyone sees new tech and better UI as major improvement?

curious where this new road will lead surfers.

Re: Couchers is officially out of beta

#82

Post by apt-apt-apt-apt »

nosioptar wrote: post #75
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.

Sharing towels is a great way to feel better about not being the only one with a fungal infection.

Re: Couchers is officially out of beta

#83

Post by yoavm »

yosito wrote: post #73
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.

Making it impossible for me to even see my own profile or message with people I previously hosted is exactly what I call "aggressive". It's not about the cost, it's about what exactly is being restricted. They literally took content that I created (MY profile) and are asking me to pay for it. A sane monetising approach would be to charge for sending new requests, for example.

Re: Couchers is officially out of beta

#84

Post by mattigames »

onionisafruit wrote: post #79
mattigames wrote: post #47

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

As much as stackoverflow puts you on the hook as a moderator.

Re: Couchers is officially out of beta

#86

Post by sschueller »

yunesj wrote: post #71
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.

Self censorship resulting from pressures from the likes of Visa, MasterCard, Google Play and Apple's App store when the law doesn't forbid it. This is the problem when the world is run by monopolies. Laws don't mean anything, companies effectively make them.

Re: Couchers is officially out of beta

#87

Post by madaxe_again »

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.

This is just hospitality reviews 101. I run a couple of Airbnbs in the uk - 99.9% of guests leave gushing reviews, 0.01% break open locked cupboards and are like “There was a cupboard FULL of cleaning supplies! Disgusting! 1/5!”.

I’ve even had people bring a plastic rat with them and pose it around the apartment to then complain to customer service - successfully. That one cost me about £5,000 in a refund, lost revenue as I was made to cancel bookings until I had a pest controller in, and a mystified but still expensive pest controller.

Pareto’s law is pareto’s law.

Re: Couchers is officially out of beta

#88

Post by figmert »

madaxe_again wrote: post #87
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.

This is just hospitality reviews 101. I run a couple of Airbnbs in the uk - 99.9% of guests leave gushing reviews, 0.01% break open locked cupboards and are like “There was a cupboard FULL of cleaning supplies! Disgusting! 1/5!”. I’ve even had people bring a plastic rat with them and pose it around the apartment to then complain to customer service - successfully. That one cost me about £5,000 in a refund, lost reven…

I think the difference between Airbnbs and couchsurfers is huge. Couch surfing is a voluntary yet free service provided by someone out of the goodwill of their heart. Airbnb is provided for profit. Leaving such reviews is fine for an Airbnb (assuming it's deserved ofc), but certainly not okay for couch surfing.

It does depend what they've reviewed though. Is the person hosting living in a in a gross apartment vs the towel designs are not nice.

Re: Couchers is officially out of beta

#89

Post by nandomrumber »

madaxe_again wrote: post #87
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.

This is just hospitality reviews 101. I run a couple of Airbnbs in the uk - 99.9% of guests leave gushing reviews, 0.01% break open locked cupboards and are like “There was a cupboard FULL of cleaning supplies! Disgusting! 1/5!”. I’ve even had people bring a plastic rat with them and pose it around the apartment to then complain to customer service - successfully. That one cost me about £5,000 in a refund, lost reven…

Scam plan: know someone in Airbnb customer satisfaction team > rent expensive Airbnb accommodation > make bogus complaint complete with faked pictures to support bogus claim > have the claim approved by acquaintance > share profit.

Re: Couchers is officially out of beta

#90

Post by rambambram »

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

Every month I get an email from Paypal that I automatically paid 1,99 euros to Couchsurfing. I love that email!

Had some great experiences with CS and I'm happy to pay them for these couple of times a year I host somebody.

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