11-07-2008, 07:49 PM
<!-- m --><a class="postlink" href="http://www.couchsurfing.com">http://www.couchsurfing.com</a><!-- m --> ... Read it all.. I was skeptical at first too.
It's a global network of travelers... hosts and surfers... that open their houses up for other travelers to stay for free. It's the most social, social-network that exists today. Nearly 1 million people worldwide are on it. If you're ok staying on a couch, floor, or futon, you can stay pretty much anywhere for free. There's no monetary exchange. No exchange of favors. Just good will. You can also use it to just meet locals when you're traveling. I'll explain more as we go on...
How it works: You sign up and list your couch if you have one available. Surfers will send you "couch requests" if they want to stay with you. You can inspect their profile and decide whether or not you want to let them stay. If you don't, say no. If you do, say yes, and tell them how to get to your place... or meet up for coffee first and decide if it's comfortable.
If you don't want to surf, and maybe just want to meet people while traveling, or to meet people that are traveling... set your status to "Coffee or a drink". That way people will know that they can send you a message and maybe meet up for a chat, a drink, or maybe a tour. For example, if Gerald listed himself as up for that in DC... I might look for a local to show me around DC or just to meet up and grab a beer with. I'd send him a message and off we go.
Why it's safe: First off... this isn't craigslist or myspace for travelers. They have a dispute resolution team for any issues. Beyond that, there are three systems of verification.
1 - References. Basically a facebook wall where you only write one thing. You rate a positive, neutral, or negative experience you've had with a person and it shows up in their profile. (easy to game the system you may be thinking)
2 - Verification - This is physical address verification. They know where you live by mailing something to you. You can still be a creep.
3 - Vouching - This is *brilliant*. In order to vouch for someone, you must have 3 vouches yourself. What that means is, you can't create 10 accounts, make a ring of friends, and go around being a legit person. To be vouched for, you have to interact with the CS community and prove to someone that has 3+ vouches already that you are a good, trustworthy person. It started with the founders giving each other 3 vouches and spiderwebbing around the world as they met more and more people. Now, vouches are all over the world.
You can work within your comfort zone entirely with the site. If it's your first time, you can only choose to have experiences with people that have been vouched for, have references, and are verified.
The Community: In most cities, there's a CS group (forum) and often times, meetups. If you want to meet some new people that live around you, it's great. On the other side of things, if you're traveling (ahem... ginger... you can easily meet locals that are eager to interact with travelers)
My Experience: In the past few months, I've hosted at least 20+ groups of people. Single guys, girls, groups of guys (three german dudes that were HILARIOUS), groups of girls, a group of mormons from SLC (that were seriously amazing people)... I've had more amazing experiences that I can share. We've made food together, partied together, gone camping, explored the city, etc. It's been the best website I've ever used. I've had not one bad experience and have racked up plenty of vouches and great references. I've met local SFers, and travelers from all over the world. I've made some great friends that I plan to visit when I go traveling.
Last Notes: As you can probably tell, I love this site. Keep in mind... this is NOT a dating site. Also, being a guy, you need to work extra hard to keep the creep factor down. Don't think you'll fall in love with someone from this site. You may, but that's not the intention. The intention is cross cultural understanding and to be beneficial to travelers.
I know the idea of someone random staying on your couch is weird to a lot of people. It's not for everyone. What you'll learn real quick though is that it turns the world into a much smaller place than you'd ever imagine. After 2 months of being active... I got 3 surfers in a row who shared mutual friends.
If it sounds like something you're interested in, feel free to check out the site. If you create a user, feel free to shoot me a friend request:
<!-- m --><a class="postlink" href="http://www.couchsurfing.com/profile.html?id=1CYE6K5">http://www.couchsurfing.com/profile.html?id=1CYE6K5</a><!-- m -->
It's a global network of travelers... hosts and surfers... that open their houses up for other travelers to stay for free. It's the most social, social-network that exists today. Nearly 1 million people worldwide are on it. If you're ok staying on a couch, floor, or futon, you can stay pretty much anywhere for free. There's no monetary exchange. No exchange of favors. Just good will. You can also use it to just meet locals when you're traveling. I'll explain more as we go on...
How it works: You sign up and list your couch if you have one available. Surfers will send you "couch requests" if they want to stay with you. You can inspect their profile and decide whether or not you want to let them stay. If you don't, say no. If you do, say yes, and tell them how to get to your place... or meet up for coffee first and decide if it's comfortable.
If you don't want to surf, and maybe just want to meet people while traveling, or to meet people that are traveling... set your status to "Coffee or a drink". That way people will know that they can send you a message and maybe meet up for a chat, a drink, or maybe a tour. For example, if Gerald listed himself as up for that in DC... I might look for a local to show me around DC or just to meet up and grab a beer with. I'd send him a message and off we go.
Why it's safe: First off... this isn't craigslist or myspace for travelers. They have a dispute resolution team for any issues. Beyond that, there are three systems of verification.
1 - References. Basically a facebook wall where you only write one thing. You rate a positive, neutral, or negative experience you've had with a person and it shows up in their profile. (easy to game the system you may be thinking)
2 - Verification - This is physical address verification. They know where you live by mailing something to you. You can still be a creep.
3 - Vouching - This is *brilliant*. In order to vouch for someone, you must have 3 vouches yourself. What that means is, you can't create 10 accounts, make a ring of friends, and go around being a legit person. To be vouched for, you have to interact with the CS community and prove to someone that has 3+ vouches already that you are a good, trustworthy person. It started with the founders giving each other 3 vouches and spiderwebbing around the world as they met more and more people. Now, vouches are all over the world.
You can work within your comfort zone entirely with the site. If it's your first time, you can only choose to have experiences with people that have been vouched for, have references, and are verified.
The Community: In most cities, there's a CS group (forum) and often times, meetups. If you want to meet some new people that live around you, it's great. On the other side of things, if you're traveling (ahem... ginger... you can easily meet locals that are eager to interact with travelers)
My Experience: In the past few months, I've hosted at least 20+ groups of people. Single guys, girls, groups of guys (three german dudes that were HILARIOUS), groups of girls, a group of mormons from SLC (that were seriously amazing people)... I've had more amazing experiences that I can share. We've made food together, partied together, gone camping, explored the city, etc. It's been the best website I've ever used. I've had not one bad experience and have racked up plenty of vouches and great references. I've met local SFers, and travelers from all over the world. I've made some great friends that I plan to visit when I go traveling.
Last Notes: As you can probably tell, I love this site. Keep in mind... this is NOT a dating site. Also, being a guy, you need to work extra hard to keep the creep factor down. Don't think you'll fall in love with someone from this site. You may, but that's not the intention. The intention is cross cultural understanding and to be beneficial to travelers.
I know the idea of someone random staying on your couch is weird to a lot of people. It's not for everyone. What you'll learn real quick though is that it turns the world into a much smaller place than you'd ever imagine. After 2 months of being active... I got 3 surfers in a row who shared mutual friends.
If it sounds like something you're interested in, feel free to check out the site. If you create a user, feel free to shoot me a friend request:
<!-- m --><a class="postlink" href="http://www.couchsurfing.com/profile.html?id=1CYE6K5">http://www.couchsurfing.com/profile.html?id=1CYE6K5</a><!-- m -->
My Tumblr
2008 Felt F75 - Pedal Power
2008 Felt F75 - Pedal Power
![[Image: Fuck_Your_Couch.jpg]](http://boostrot.net/gallery/d/8644-1/Fuck_Your_Couch.jpg)