CouchSurfing

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The CouchSurfing Project is a free international Internet-based hospitality service, and currently the largest hospitality exchange network. As of January 2008, it had more than 400,000 members in 223 countries and territories. From various indicators it can be estimated that many members were actively using the website, with 40 percent offering their couches to host travelers (with another 22 percent saying "maybe" and others who are traveling at the moment).[1]

Members use the website, initially designed by founder Casey Fenton, to coordinate accommodations. It features extensive profiles, and uses an optional credit card verification system, a personal vouching system, and personal references to increase security and trust. There are many other features on the site, such as interest discussion groups, meeting functionality, live chat and more.

In June 2006 the project experienced a number of computer problems resulting in much of the database being lost.[2] It was initially announced that the project was being ended; however, within days it was confirmed that the site would be rebuilt, and users were again able to login (but not yet access the site's full functions). "CouchSurfing 2.0" was announced on 3 July 2006, planned to be operational within 10 days.[3] As of July 7th 2006 couchsurfing.com is once again fully operational although some, mostly inactive profiles, group postings and personal messages seem to have been lost. Most functions and pages are unchanged (the biggest change is the way friend links are managed now) and the site is called "2.0" now because of a philosophical change, the site's motto is "Participate in Creating a Better World, One Couch At A Time". In August a CS wiki was launched where everyone is invited to participate and make CouchSurfing better.

Contents

[edit] Organization

CouchSurfing International Inc. is a not-for-profit corporation incorporated in the U.S. state of New Hampshire, created on 2 April 2003.[4] Until July 2004 CouchSurfing reported itself to be a non-profit registered according to section 501(c)(3) of the United States Internal Revenue Code.[5] Casey Fenton stated that on 27 January 2007 that CouchSurfing is not a registered 501(c) non-profit and is currently run by a board of which he is the only member, until the process of moving to 501c3 is completed[6]. As of July 2007 it is stated on the website that Dan Hoffer and Seb LeTuan are also part of the board [7]. CouchSurfing is not on the list of a registered charities in New Hampshire [8] or on the Federal US level with the IRS [9].

The mission statement of CouchSurfing is Participate in Creating a Better World, One Couch at a Time [10]: "CouchSurfing seeks to internationally network people and places, create educational exchanges, raise collective consciousness, spread tolerance and facilitate cultural understanding. As a community we strive to do our individual and collective parts to create a better world, and we believe that the surfing of couches is a means to accomplish this goal. CouchSurfing is not about the furniture, not just about finding free accommodations around the world; it's about making connections worldwide. We make the world a better place by opening our homes, our hearts, and our lives. We open our minds and welcome the knowledge that cultural exchange makes available. We create deep and meaningful connections that cross oceans, continents and cultures. CouchSurfing wants to change not only the way we travel, but how we relate to the world!" [11]

Couchsurfing.com is registered by Casey Fenton Consulting. CouchSurfing.org points to the same website as CouchSurfing.com, though there are some other websites using similar addresses, such as couchsurfing.net, the German couchsurfing.de, and couchsurfing.info (which points to a forum on Hospitality Club), and opencouchsurfing.org.

[edit] Finances

CouchSurfing claims that "the founders and admins are volunteers".[12] Their 2005 Summary of Expenses though shows that 62% of the donations in 2005 have been used for the payroll of Casey Fenton and travel expenses against only 24% on IT expenses. In 2005 CouchSurfing paid a total of US$13,500 in payroll of Casey, and in 2006 US$27,067.42 [13]

As of July 2007 two new employees have been hired in the role of General Manager and Volunteer Coordinator [14].

[edit] How it works

Membership in the organization is free and is obtained simply by registering on the website. The core activity of the organization is exchange of accommodation. Acting as a host, a member offers the possibility of accommodation at his or her leisure; it is not required, but obviously it is encouraged. Acting as a surfer (guest), a traveller may search for and request accommodation at his or her destination. Accommodation is entirely consensual between the host and surfer, and the duration, nature, and terms of the surfer's stay are generally worked out in advance to the convenience of both parties. It is also expected to be free; no monetary exchange takes place except under certain circumstances (e.g. the surfer may compensate the host for food).

There are three methods to ensure security and trust, which are all visible on member profiles for potential hosts and surfers to see prior to arranging anything with each other:

  1. Personal references, which hosts and surfers could leave for each other at their option after having used the service.
  2. An optional credit card verification system, which allowed members to "lock in" their name and address by making a credit card payment and entering a code that CouchSurfing mails to the billing address. This also allows CS to recuperate some costs by requiring a fee for verification. For fairness the verification fee is based on a sliding scale, taking into account the Purchasing power parity and Human Development Index of the country of residence.
  3. A personal vouching system, whereby a member that had been vouched for — originally starting with the founders of the site — might in turn vouch for any number of other members he or she knew or had met through CouchSurfing, and trusts.

Volunteers within the project often arrange meetings or camps which are events that last several days and bring people together.

Since June 2006, the website has been run in large part by CouchSurfing Collectives, which are groups of CouchSurfers who get together in a chosen city to develop and improve CouchSurfing. The first three Collectives took place in Montreal, Vienna, and New Zealand.

Members who wish to volunteer for various tasks on the site and help spread the word about CouchSurfing in general may become ambassadors. Ambassadors must be verified and actively promote the CouchSurfing spirit among members and to the public. In addition to promoting use of the site, they greet new members, help with questions and other administrative tasks, and more, all on a volunteer basis.

[edit] Criticisms

During the "temporary failure" described below, CouchSurfing was criticised for making errors in backing up and then just letting the project die. The decision seems to have been taken by one person only – founder Casey Fenton's initial announcement cited personal reasons and quoted guru Osho.[1]

In May 2007, a group of concerned users, many of which at some stage worked on the website as core volunteers, launched OpenCouchSurfing. Initially petitioning for a more open, transparent and accountable organisation [15], the campaign evolved, and now tries to raise awareness among CS users for various issues, ranging from organisational structure and finances to communication and leadership style.

[edit] Temporary failure of the project

The CouchSurfing project was taken down temporarily due to a major database error on June 30, 2006.

An email sent by Fenton, to members of the project reported that a fatal database error had occurred — too much important data was lost to allow the project to continue in its current form.[2] He decided to stop the project for personal reasons, but later changed his mind.

However, many members protested, offering assistance and donations,[16][citation needed] and within days it was confirmed that the site would be rebuilt. "CouchSurfing 2.0" was announced on 3 July 2006, planned to be operational within 10 days.[17] As of July 7 the website was up again. Most of the profiles could be recovered, and CS claims that those that were lost were largely those of inactive members.

Immediately following the announcement of June 30, some websites started up in response, promoting attempts to help rebuild CouchSurfing; some sites request users to enter their CouchSurfing.com details. However, such sites were not officially endorsed, and members have been warned against giving their personal details to other sites.[3] Discussion pages also appeared, including instructions on how to recover profiles from Google's cache,[4] though in the end this was not necessary.

[edit] References

  1. ^  CouchSurfing - Project Statistics
  2. ^  Casey Fenton asking help to recover from accidental DATABASE DROP on MySQL forum
  3. ^  New Hampshire non-profits, also available from Google Cache
  4. ^  CouchSurfing.com homepage from 15 July 2005 showing that CouchSurfing claims to be a registered 501(c)(3)
  5. ^  Public mailing list message in which Casey Fenton reveals that CouchSurfing is not a registered 501(c)(3) and that he is the only member of the board until the process of moving to 501c3 is completed[http://india.smashits.com/wikipedia/CouchSurfing#endnote_board.]
  6. ^  Policy FAQs at CouchSurfing.com
  7. ^  List of charities in New Hampshire
  8. ^  Search for charities at the IRS
  9. ^  Wanderlust 5
  10. ^  DNS registry information about couchsurfing.com at WHOIS.
  11. ^  New Hampshire Secretary of State Corporations System Search showing no result for "Casey Fenton Consulting"
  12. ^  CouchSurfing 2.0 Mission
  13. ^  CouchSurfing Donate page
  14. ^  CouchSurfing Finances
  15. ^  CouchSurfing Project Team Founding
  16. ^  CouchSurfing Collectives
  17. ^  Techcrunch comment about marketing the "crash and rebirth"
  18. ^  New Hampshire Web site showing CouchSurfing International is a Non-Profit Corporation
  19. ^  CouchSurfing disclosing member support after the crash
  1. ^ ref
  2. ^ The email is reproduced in full at CouchSurfing Deletes Itself, Shuts Down on TechCrunch.
  3. ^ e.g. at the CouchSurfing forum
  4. ^ PROPER cached profile recovery: important for retrieving all your friends!

[edit] External links

Hospitality services
Agritourism | Amikeca Reto | Catholic Worker Movement | CouchSurfing | Guest ranch | Hospitality Club | LGHEI | Pasporta Servo | Servas Open Doors

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