4 ms·

Couchsurfing's downfall was lack of money (and incredibly poor use of funds) that led to the sale to the bizarre monetizing and "creepy engagement" scheme that

Couchsurfing's downfall was lack of money (and incredibly poor use of funds) that led to the sale to the bizarre monetizing and "creepy engagement" scheme that ruined it. I would pay $300/yr if it would restore the Couchsurfing community and original site. If this $100 site led to the kind of community we used to have, it's a bargain. But it's not clear yet whether they will foster a community.

solardev 3y ago
I sadly stopped hosting a few years ago. What happened to the community/site? I must've missed that part?
- throwaway892238 3y ago
  They killed the useful forums, made the login page a "dashboard" so useless you had to bookmark other pages to remember how to get to them, made a bunch of unrelated sections nobody wanted, increased font sizes so you couldn't fit much on the page and thus finding useful information got worse, ignored feature requests, refused all offers of volunteer tech work, introduced a "chat with random people nearby" that led to 30 dudes trying to hook up with the only female in town, and added fees to verify or send couch requests. All of which led to an exodus of any of the active users to random Facebook groups. Now the site is mainly for people to try and hook up while traveling, there's no community to teach people to act hospitably, profiles are garbage, and few people host anyone but the opposite sex. There are still some good people who use it the right way, but way more who don't. It's arduous, inconvenient and sketchy now.
  - solardev 3y ago
    Oh damn. That's a real shame! Is there any real hope left to save it and bring back the community? Is it too late? I wish I paid more attention :/ Had I known this was happening I would've done more... seems like people tried, to no avail? It's really sad. It was such a fantastic resource and I really wish I could still host (my partner's not too into it... maybe I'll try to convince her if there's any more community left TO host).

solardev 3y ago

I sadly stopped hosting a few years ago. What happened to the community/site? I must've missed that part?

throwaway892238 3y ago
They killed the useful forums, made the login page a "dashboard" so useless you had to bookmark other pages to remember how to get to them, made a bunch of unrelated sections nobody wanted, increased font sizes so you couldn't fit much on the page and thus finding useful information got worse, ignored feature requests, refused all offers of volunteer tech work, introduced a "chat with random people nearby" that led to 30 dudes trying to hook up with the only female in town, and added fees to verify or send couch requests. All of which led to an exodus of any of the active users to random Facebook groups. Now the site is mainly for people to try and hook up while traveling, there's no community to teach people to act hospitably, profiles are garbage, and few people host anyone but the opposite sex. There are still some good people who use it the right way, but way more who don't. It's arduous, inconvenient and sketchy now.
- solardev 3y ago
  Oh damn. That's a real shame! Is there any real hope left to save it and bring back the community? Is it too late? I wish I paid more attention :/ Had I known this was happening I would've done more... seems like people tried, to no avail? It's really sad. It was such a fantastic resource and I really wish I could still host (my partner's not too into it... maybe I'll try to convince her if there's any more community left TO host).