An alternative will rise eventually. Couch surfing is all about experiences, friendships, and not thinking about money. Any person creating the alternative will have to understand and accept that.
So maybe alternative won't arise - because spending hours building a product and paying to host it for people who can't or won't pay is a hard sell.
I've already contacted their developer to ask if I can help create a data import tool so people can easily transfer their C$ profiles.
It's heartbreaking to see such a wonderful community be divided like this. There are no "rich" and "poor" countries, only ones with more inequality. Ideally I wish that the HQ would change their mind, but my support is now behind BeWelcome as the alternative.
We must work together and stay united as a community. Travel will continue, despite government lockdowns. Contact tracing is much easier with hospex sites like BeWelcome than with 11 strangers in a hostel room. Economic troubles will lead people to cheaper alternatives. Even if C$ has been ruined by venture capitalists, giving freely and paying it forward will live on elsewhere.
In case this message reaches the C$ investors in Silicon Valley, I don't hate you personally, and I wish that internal reform is possible so that we don't all have to flee to a new platform. But the new change, brought without consultation, is contrary to the principles that CS was founded on. CS is not Airbnb, nor is it a dating site, nor is it exclusive. Selling personal data and private messages didn't bother me too much - Facebook does the same. But trying to charge a monthly subscription from people who don't even have stable countries, never mind bank accounts, is totally ignorant. Change your mind, quickly, because the community is already one foot out of the door.
This has been brought up in the past (there have been multiple waves of disgruntled CS members leaving for BW), but it is pretty clear that CS would consider this web scraping that violates their terms of service. CS does not provide any authorized way to export its profiles.
EDIT: Sorry, I'm wrong. I left CS and chose to use only community-driven hospitality-exchange platforms pre-GDPR.
https://www.couchsurfing.com/preferences/privacy
However, there's no data import tool yet, and that's what I'd like to build.
> There are no "rich" and "poor" countries, only ones with more inequality.
This is true only in the same way that there are no tall and short people, only taller and shorter people. Most of the population of the DRC lives worse lives than the bottom 1% of the US population in terms of material consumption. The US is rich. The DRC is poor.
https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=9633122
... and it doesn't really represent the operation. At the end of the day, moderation and support for membership is needed, particularly for keeping predators out of the system, mechanisms for people who might have fallen prey to them. It is something that requires time and effort. Such operations need guaranteed vigilance on these issues, and aren't easily sustained by the whims of volunteer involvement.
It might be that many established members are okay with taking risks. I remember one host I stayed with that talked about hitch-hiking on trucks around Europe to save money, but also how she got drugged once and her money stolen and dumped in the middle of an autobahn, and then another time how she 'talked herself out of' being raped. This sort of risk might be okay for the seasoned couchsurfer, but this might not sit well for newcomers who don't know who they are staying with.
Not sure if the situation has changed with CS, and they've become profit-oriented, but it does take some money, from somewhere, to keep things to modern standards. Personally, I would prefer that CS was sustained by those who can afford to by donations, rather than subscription. And I may actually look to bewelcome, or hospitality club if that's still around. (I also used another called 'Trustroots', not sure if that still has a community.)
Edit: To that individual with the privilege to down-vote, could you please correct me where I'm wrong with an actual comment?
Servers cost money, and BeWelcome are transparent about that. Having developers to code the site and moderate the forum would be expensive if paid by the hour, but there are willing volunteers. Asking for donations is acceptable, a paywall demanding a subscription is not.
Please come over to the BeWelcome forums; I'd like to discuss the possibilities of starting new meetups, and selling merch (t-shirts, hoodies, stickers) to improve the BeWelcome brand so it can bring together the community, lest we scatter. Any financial donation like that should be discussed democratically though, so that's why your input is needed.
(I didn't downvote, I think your comment is fair)
I logged in just earlier to have a look, and I see that people do have feedback. I'm not sure if there's anything like 'vouching' that CS used to have.
> Having developers to code the site and moderate the forum would be expensive if paid by the hour, but there are willing volunteers.
I have been to a festival in Australia (the predecessor to burning man) that is completely volunteer run. It's interesting to be a part of operations and see it work, and fail to some extent, and in meat-space the 'look after each other philosophy' can work when everybody is can watch each other.
I'm not sure how that could translate to a platform that has private messaging. I believe CS had a mechanism where communications could be inspected if a complaint was raised.
> Asking for donations is acceptable, a paywall demanding a subscription is not.
I think you're right about this. The people who I enjoyed the most with CS would probably find this offensive, so I'd be more likely to participate in a platform that was donation-based.
My only hesitation is that I lose all my references.
> so that's why your input is needed.
I'll make an effort.
If that fails, you can also contact me - my account is Taiwan-registered and still has full access. I can save your references, photos, and friends list, but not your private messages.
As mentioned in https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=23219760 references is coming.
The verification issue though for import is a big one, we couldn't just trust a JSON file the user has uploaded to have real references, there would be nothing stopping them writing their own glowing references.
Verification wouldn't be trivial, but a Trusted Human, could check that both their CS and their import match, at a glance - or the public profile could be extracted to partially automate the process.
I'm curious about that (being an Australian and a Burner).
Which festival? (if you're OK sharing. My email in my profile works if you're OK sharing but not as widely as publishing it here...)
(And I've never been, Easter is BluesFest time for me...)
But that it is :) It was a direct inspiration for burning man, and also another long running festival in Europe (the name escapes me).
> (And I've never been, Easter is BluesFest time for me...)
Are you talking about the one in Denniliquin that often coincides with ConFest? It's a very short drive away, and I recall bumping into a few curious folks making a detour after BluesFest.