http://www.opencouchsurfing.org The campaign for a truly open CouchSurfing organisation Wed, 10 Feb 2010 21:24:08 +0000 http://backend.userland.com/rss092 en It's been a while I came across an interview or something related by Casey but here is an interesting interview on Shareble.net, a website devoted to increase sharing. It contains a lot of general information about trust, history, the mission of CS and community democracy but Casey also speaks about the ... http://www.opencouchsurfing.org/2010/02/10/casey-speaks-out-somewhat/ Quite interesting, my first Ghanese spammer. And the proof why registration for Couchsurfing doesn't work: Too bad that CS doesn't use SpamAssassin. But what about the profile (https://www.couchsurfing.org/profile.html?id=BFUS6VU) Why is a African person being able to "have a secure profile", while everything is against him? Another proof that registration and sponsoring CS ... http://www.opencouchsurfing.org/2010/01/03/why-sponsoring-cs-doesnt-work/ WARNING: Unpleasant Explicit Imagery Following. Be careful if you have heart problems and don't watch before, during or after meals. Have you been wondering why so many Global Ambassadors left CouchSurfing the past months? Did you think people were making a fuss about nothing? Well, check for yourself, and ... http://www.opencouchsurfing.org/2009/12/08/ambassadors-support-team-leader-warning-3-out-of-101-references-are-negative/ Seems that Couchsurfing is down: http://downforeveryoneorjustme.com/couchsurfing.com I'm wondering whether we get a update on what happened.... http://www.opencouchsurfing.org/2009/12/07/couchsurfing-down/ Kudos to Pickwick for calling out Casey Fenton and his cohorts in the wake of Brian's resignation letter. It's the smoking gun that many of us who suspected fraud have waited for. It coincides with another smoking gun revealing climate science fraud, now called "climategate". Although Casey Fenton is a ... http://www.opencouchsurfing.org/2009/12/03/couchgate/ Too bad... http://www.couchsurfing.org/group_read.html?gid=2125&post=4446530 === Hey team, I'm resigning as a CS Amb. This hasn't been an easy decision. Firstly, I really like the people on the LT/AST - how can't I? They dedicate all their time to a project I deeply love. And this project has introduced me to people who have ... http://www.opencouchsurfing.org/2009/12/03/and-another-one/ Thomas and I saw this coming: the "Moval" of the resignation of Brian. In short: You could see that coming. But in the post itself Chiara Gandolfi asks: It might be me, but as of now I fail to find it in Ambassadors Private... Can we have the link? Thanks Since Chiara is ... http://www.opencouchsurfing.org/2009/12/02/censorship-at-cs/ I wrote earlier at this blog that development at Couchsurfing isn't the most stable part of the network. Today, lack of communication, as well as a simple programming error made a well respected member of the community leave. This can be read at a post by Thomas, as well as ... http://www.opencouchsurfing.org/2009/12/01/spofs-as-source-of-income/ It's been a while since I've done any posting on OCS, but I stumbled across this post from the previous Verification Team Leader which provides invaluable information from the inside. It's a long and painful read, but here's what caught my attention the most: The Verification Team Leader himself admits that ... http://www.opencouchsurfing.org/2009/12/01/verification-team-leader-resignation/ Found at http://www.couchsurfing.org/careers_openings.html#Gardener_/_Landscaper: Gardener / Landscaper Purpose: Creates beautiful outdoor spaces for the well-being of CS volunteers, personnel, and guests. Responsibilities: Create flower and vegetable gardens from scratch Build any needed irrigation systems Build bushes, vines, or related plant-based privacy screens Establish house plants Train residents how to maintain landscaping Requirements: Extensive knowledge of local weather and its effects on ... http://www.opencouchsurfing.org/2009/11/29/flowerpower/ Warning: If you get a username / password pop up on CouchSurfing.org, click cancel, do not enter your username and password except on the CouchSurfing login page. As of right now, I'm seeing this CSS file included on all CouchSurfing.org pages. That file links to this image. That image returns a ... http://www.opencouchsurfing.org/2009/11/21/couchsurfing-password-security-vulnerability/ I've just installed K2 RC8. Previously we were using K2 RC6. I've also enabled threaded comments with the default options. So threads go up to 5 levels deep. Any of the admins on this site can change that setting if a consensus feels that it was a mistake. You'll see ... http://www.opencouchsurfing.org/2009/10/22/k2-theme-upgrade-and-threaded-comments/ "And what is the big deal about CS and its LT?" Two measures, for example. The head of the Ambassadors has two extremely serious negative references for sexual harassment (of former Global Ambassadors) is promoted into the Leadership team. While someone else's profile is merely deleted for creating another profile ... http://www.opencouchsurfing.org/2009/10/20/two-measures/ It's been in the pipeline for a while. In fact, I should have done this in 2006 ;) Still, now it's 2009 and I'm happy to hereby announce Couchwiki.org: "WikiCouch is open to anyone and everyone. It is in keeping with the philosophy of inclusion and open hospitality. We ... http://www.opencouchsurfing.org/2009/10/13/announcement-couchwiki-org/ I've been a couchsurfing volunteer for about 9 months, in which I started the couchsurfing wiki, did tons of work on the code, and much more. I was trying to open the organization in a radical way, pushing for a free software license of the code and creating a bit ... http://www.opencouchsurfing.org/2009/09/27/some-thoughts-about-positive-action/ I just read this article on the British Dailiy Mail web site. Terrible, terrible news. I only hope this leads to CouchSurfing improving the trust systems. I hope they don't use it to promote verification even more, or make verification compulsory. http://www.opencouchsurfing.org/2009/08/12/alleged-rape-through-couchsurfing/ Seriously, since the beginning this is one of my most important dogmas for the HC: no official structure for decision taking. I will always discuss issues openly with the people involved and with knowledge to come to good decisions that are the best for the network. But the final ... http://www.opencouchsurfing.org/2009/08/02/hospitality-club-veit-dictatorship/ A good day for CouchSurfing! Leadership is still listening to members. Gadget made the announcement Ambassador's Public: Yes, true! We have listened to your comments on the ? Mark that was in the new verification iconography. We agree that it is not the best way to represent a persons image ... http://www.opencouchsurfing.org/2009/07/26/mark-in-the-verification-icons-going-away/ Last night I was skimming through a book about fundraising. I was surprised to see that members of the Board of Directors are tacitly supposed to give to the charity. So I googled a bit and found this Checklist to Evaluate a Nonprofit Board of Directors (courtesy of ... http://www.opencouchsurfing.org/2009/07/15/checklist-to-evaluate-a-nonprofit-board-of-directors-couchsurfing/ The latest high season welcome message on CouchSurfing... I get it about 70% of the time I try to log on... hm... scalability problems? Let`s hope it is easy to solve! http://www.opencouchsurfing.org/2009/07/06/scalability/ Today I noticed that a green tick now appears on the images of CouchSurfing members who have paid for verification. I notice these ticks on groups, I assume they're all over the site. Wherever you see a thumbnail picture of a person, it marks who have paid and who have ... http://www.opencouchsurfing.org/2009/06/17/verification-ticks-on-images/ I read that CouchSurfing uses SphinxSearch to improve member search. The software is available under the GPL or a commercial license. I mention this here in the interests of collating technical data on how CS is built. http://www.opencouchsurfing.org/2009/06/08/cs-uses-sphinxsearch/ The "Brainstorm" group is famous for being a place to discuss new features and policies on couchsurfing.org . It is now frozen. You can't post or reply (but it is still readable). Chronology: Until the 2006 crash, Brainstorm was a place where the users and the admins could discuss about new features ... http://www.opencouchsurfing.org/2009/06/06/brainstorm-group-is-frozen/ Check here and here. You'll see "Blocked Site Error." The site used to be available in the wayback machine, so it would seem that somebody at CouchSurfing International Inc has specifically requested that the site be removed from the archive. Is there any legitimate reason why such a request would have ... http://www.opencouchsurfing.org/2009/05/20/cs-blocks-wayback-machine/ I'm wondering what happened with me that I am actually writing an article on Opencouchsurfing.org. Reason for this wondering is that I wish the users, AND OWNERS the best of Couchsurfing.com. MySQL and OTAP Unfortunately, this seems not to be the case. In my short time as System Administrator at Couchsurfing, I've ... http://www.opencouchsurfing.org/2009/05/05/development-as-spof/ Today I noticed that the CouchSurfing 2008 finances have been updated for the whole year. I whipped up a graph to show where the money goes. Employee related expenses account for 62.8% of total expenses. In that figure I've included salaries, tax, payroll fees, rent, travel, food, and staff development. Admin ... http://www.opencouchsurfing.org/2009/05/02/cs-2008-finances/ If you're interested, you can see some overview visitor statistics for couchsurfing.com on quantcast. Why CouchSurfing is enabling QuantCast to measure visitors is an interesting question. No doubt this will spark lots of "theories". Personally, I think it's interesting to note that the weekly reach of couchsurfing.com is circa 300k people, nothing ... http://www.opencouchsurfing.org/2009/04/19/couchsurfingcom-stats/ I saw a discussion about CouchSurifng International Inc attemping to trademark the term "CouchSurfing". I feel like this is something I would like to take action on, but I'm not quite sure what action to take. I guess that if we can find uses of the term "couchsurfing" before the incorporation ... http://www.opencouchsurfing.org/2009/03/05/couchsurfing-trademark/ When one takes a look on HC/BW/CS from a distance, it can result in one's smile: so many battles have already happened between these ideological networks - networks with pretty much the same goals. Most of my hospex communication went through HC, I know it, grew up with it - ... http://www.opencouchsurfing.org/2009/02/19/comic/ You could pretty much figure out by Veit's unguided flame against BeWelcome last year, that his income through adds on Hospitality Club was already dropping. But now it appears that there are hardly any volunteers left at HC: these days it takes more than 4 months to get your profile ... http://www.opencouchsurfing.org/2009/02/17/death-of-hospitality-club/ What do you want to do with your life? What is your mission? This is what Casey and Heather ask you in the marketing video "Couchsurfing The Movie". We will choose three Missions and CouchSurfers to star as the subjects in our documentary "Couchsurfing: The Movie" (expenses paid! sic). This journey ... http://www.opencouchsurfing.org/2009/01/20/couchsurfing-the-movie/ hey, my profile was deleted some six months back. whatever the issues, i have promised not to repeat any mistakes again. is there any chances of getting my profile back? or i am doing a futile exercise. i feel one mistake of a CS lover like me should be ignored. please be unbiased and take ... http://www.opencouchsurfing.org/2009/01/18/are-there-any-chances-of-re-instation-of-a-deleted-profile/ If you want to know where the next CS collective will take place, just follow one of the CS bunnies. For two months now Pinkfish, has been traveling (with her expenses paid?) in a tropical wonderland, scouting a place for yet the next 'collective'... I'm traveling around in Costa Rica at ... http://www.opencouchsurfing.org/2009/01/09/next-decadent-collective/ Somehow, I always think it is funny when CS defines itself, knowing that whatever it says about being so wonderful and inclusive, doesn't count for the organisation itself. By the very definition of our mission, we have a commutation solution that is 100% inclusive. We invite everyone everywhere into the community: ... http://www.opencouchsurfing.org/2009/01/05/sncr-award-for-cs/ We are just fresh in 2009 and CS finally launched its new feature: 'News Channels', one overview for all organizational communication towards all CS-member. It not only features the latest news from the organization and tech-news, it even hosts the earlier announced member-stories about hospitality experiences and also the news-letters ... http://www.opencouchsurfing.org/2009/01/01/uncoordinated-couchsurfing/ To many people's surprise - especially supporters of the OpenCS campaign  - CS appeared on the list of nominees for the Open Web Awards. CS was nominated mostly because of the efforts of Ambassadors. In the end -after a voting round of 4 weeks - CS didn't win at all ... http://www.opencouchsurfing.org/2008/12/23/and-the-winner-is/ I just read midsch's posting about his helplessness in the hospitality exchange scene... He described the different situations quite good. However, my view on it and the possibilities connected to it are not as dark than his are... It does not matter if CouchSurfing, HospitalityClub, GlobalFreeLoaders, BeWelcome... hospitality exchange pages have ... http://www.opencouchsurfing.org/2008/11/10/drupal-communities-meet-real-life/ If I read the 2008 CouchSurfing Inc finances (citation) correctly, CS Inc is on track for income in excess of $600'000 USD this year. Contributed support for 1 Jan - 31 Mar is listed as $155,616.73. Web/ Internet/ Host Fees - $ 2,960.59 Telephone & telecommunications - $ 2,208.03 Equip rental & maintenance ... http://www.opencouchsurfing.org/2008/10/30/cs-inc-600k-revenue-in-2008/ Short and cynical comments on some could-be-existing networks: * Caseysurfing.com - Easygoing consumerfriendly network run by a bunchfull of burning men buddies with no strategy for the future at all. As they eat up an amazing amount of donations and the market for virtual social networks collapses with the international cashflow ... http://www.opencouchsurfing.org/2008/10/25/quo-vadis-hospex/ Future of Hospex in Couple Wang’s eys What would you like to see the future of Hospitality Exchange Network ? Scenerio 1. CS have a lion’s share,say take 70% market BW,HC,GF,SERVAS,www.huzhuyou.com and others have the rest 30% CS do what ever they want members without verifed and donation can’t a. see the whole group members,(you want to ... http://www.opencouchsurfing.org/2008/10/24/future-of-hospex-in-couple-wang%e2%80%99s-eys/ With CS getting more mainstream day by day, the culture of hosting might also be changing. Christopher Culver raises this interesting issue on the hitchhiking forum on Couchsurfing. "Does anyone else get the impression that the CS hosting community is becoming less friendly to hitchhikers? I was shocked when two ... http://www.opencouchsurfing.org/2008/10/22/the-couchsurfing-culture-of-party-hosting/ Have you always wanted to be a "Ambassador Management Coordinator" or "Safety Systems Coordinator" for CouchSurfing? Now you can! CS published their "career openings", or "couchsurfing careers". Since these openings are not even linked from anywhere on the CS-website yet, you might stand a fairly good chance (it got posted!) ... http://www.opencouchsurfing.org/2008/10/15/a-couchsurfing-career-life-with-benefits-that-money-cant-buy/ There is a hidden feature in CS, about what few people know. No official documentation, except this page: http://wiki.couchsurfing.com/en/Stealth When a member get "stealthed" he can't be found with the CouchSearch but just trough friend links or group links. If he writes a message, it goes nowehere and it's never received by its recipient. Sometimes ... http://www.opencouchsurfing.org/2008/10/04/hidden-cs-features-stealthing-members/ Pickwick raises some interesting questions and answers them: With hesitation I take on the task of writing a summary with my view on legal and financial issues, because I'd rather do something more pleasant on this public holiday in Germany. I'll try to be brief, and I won't bother with lots ... http://www.opencouchsurfing.org/2008/10/03/legal-and-financial-status-pickwicks-questions/ "I live at the CouchSurfing Base Camp with 14 other people in the heart of downtown Berkeley. It's close to lot's of great food, shopping, entertainment, and student life. I'm still just learning about Berkeley myself. Base Camp is busy day and night as the home and office for much ... http://www.opencouchsurfing.org/2008/10/01/couchsurfing-base-camp/ A lot of the stuff BW is based on (money, texts, layout - see above) was taken away from HC and HC volunteers who worked on it for a long time without their permission. We will try to bring this stuff home and reunite the community. Since BW advertises having ... http://www.opencouchsurfing.org/2008/09/28/project-reuniting-the-community/ This blog is mostly run by BW-lovers with a clear agenda (make CS and HC look bad so their "oh-so-moral" alternative looks attractive). For all others, who still have a somewhat open mind and don't fall so easily for Kasper & Co's constant propaganda, here a link to our side ... http://www.opencouchsurfing.org/2008/09/26/wwwbewelcomeinfo-the-real-background/ Good news for all CouchSurfing volunteers who signed the non-disclosure agreement: the California Supreme Court rejects noncompete clauses.  Since it seems as if the organization has moved on to San Francisco it would be even harder to enforce anyone breaking the non-compete clause, although Matt Whatley seems to have been ... http://www.opencouchsurfing.org/2008/08/09/california-supreme-court-rejects-noncompete-clauses/ No more extremes? CS updated their reference system, following examples by other hospitality networks. This is not the only change that had been implemented during the latest Alaska CS collective. In fact, a whole lot of bugs have been tackled [ 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 ]. Weird though that, ... http://www.opencouchsurfing.org/2008/08/06/exit-extremely-positive/ Trent Collins writes in the brainstorm group link Hi Guys, The tech team migrated the messages off of the main server in the last few days to lighten the load further and so that glitch may have been part of that migration. I've just got back online after a few days holiday ... http://www.opencouchsurfing.org/2008/07/03/disinformation-by-the-middle-man/