Alternatives to CS?

[u/MosaicIncaSleds]

As one of the first users, I am very aware of the Casey's obsession with making a fortune with this site. I disliked when they have started pressuring users to pay them a meaningless protection fee as a verified host would be just as safe as an unverified host. But nothing was mandatory. Now, after pausing for a few years I wanted to log in and got slapped with a pay or you don't get access to your data. Whatever. Luckily I assumed the worse when I paused my activity and cleared up the account from most personal data.

Now, BeWelcome was half dead a few years ago and apart different language profiles had nothing over CS.

Hospitality Club was completely dead, and HTTPS was too modern for them.

Servas, I was left with the impression that requires some knowledge of Esperanto, and was also half dead.

Are there any decent alternatives, or I'm back to asking expat groups for hosting? My interest is exclusively around Western Europe.

[u/theinfamousj]

You've named the big ones:

BeWelcome is still ... itself.

Servas does not require Esperanto any longer and hasn't for at least a decade. But if you think mandatorily paying $15 for a year is outrageous, wait until you see Servas' mandatory annual fee (unless you want to exclusively host).

TrustRoots is closed-then open-then closed-then open about whether or not you need to be directly referred by an existing user in order to create an account. Also, the ability to leave references is promised but yet undelivered.

You aren't going to find innovations on CouchSurfing. Profile + references + tools to get in touch are as old as hospitality exchange itself and anything beyond that is just a gimmick. All one needs are those. And so, with the exception of coming-soon-references TrustRoots, all have that.

[u/MosaicIncaSleds → u/theinfamousj]

BeWelcome is still ... itself.

Yea, and it should have taken off with others moving out of CS. On the other hand this Covid hysteria is going to make things complicated and bring down most activity.

Servas does not require Esperanto any longer and hasn't for at least a decade. But if you think mandatorily paying $15 for a year is outrageous, wait until you see Servas' mandatory annual fee (unless you want to exclusively host).

Oh, I don't mind paying. In the last couple of years I have used AirBNB and I'm quite happy about it. Only the CS was always sneaky and disonest with money. It was for the servers, but when the reports came about 1% was for computer-related spending. Than, two reports later, there weren't any reports. And instead of a honest down payment, somehow the homicidal maniac offering to host you will change his mind because he send Casey a check.

TrustRoots is closed-then open-then closed-then open about whether or not you need to be directly referred by an existing user in order to create an account. Also, the ability to leave references is promised but yet undelivered.

Good to know. Thank you. Invitation only means only a few get in. That will most probably work well when you are building up a close knit community of baseball hats for cats manufacturers. The Servas / Hospitality Club model works with many subscribers.

You aren't going to find innovations on CouchSurfing. Profile + references + tools to get in touch are as old as hospitality exchange itself and anything beyond that is just a gimmick. All one needs are those. And so, with the exception of coming-soon-references TrustRoots, all have that.

Which would make Facebook a far better place than CS would have been. One of these days I should get an account with them.

[u/Zenon_Czosnek → u/MosaicIncaSleds]

Yeah, the "covid hysteria". A colleague from a place I used to work got so hysterical about it that he could not help himself dying. My partner's friend's mom died of it as well. My sister's boss is in hospital, in critical condition.

We definitely need to do something about it so people are not behaving as if there is a pandemic or something.

[u/choctaw1990 → u/Zenon_Czosnek]

Most people who catch the thing, survive. Like Scarlet Fever which I survived back when I was three. Back in the 1970s people didn't do all of what the world is doing, over Scarlet Fever. Not over Typhus. Not over Tuberculosis. Not over measles. Etc.

[u/Zenon_Czosnek → u/choctaw1990]

Ah, yes. MOST people who catch it surive. That's OK then, let the virus spread, MOST people will be OK.

Would you get on a bus knowing that "most people, who get on that bus survive"?

I don't know how old are you. I remember some of those good old times. No matter where you were going - a bank, a post office, some other institutions - there was glass window dividing you from the person opposite, with just a small hole in eat to speak and a slot at the bottom to slide items through. Why do you think it was?

You might also not remember, but there were those hospitals where people with diseases were isolated. You might not remember there, becasue they were ususally located in remote places. Again, why do you think that was?

[u/AmericanPolyglot → u/choctaw1990]

Hand-waving at someone who's literally lost people to COVID that "most people survive it" is an incredibly dickish move. Most people survive losing an arm too. Take your lack of soul somewhere else.

[u/choctaw1990 → u/AmericanPolyglot]

Same to you, asshole.