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 of the hosts I stayed with this summer expressed their disappoval of hitchhiking, considering it ‘freeloading’.”
Chris also puts forward the question: “what experiences have you had as the Couchsurfing hosting community is shifting from a bunch of freespirited wanderers to everyday people with strict schedules and expectations?” And subsequently he concludes: “It feels like we are being forced out of our own community.”
This might be a very valid point. Couchsurfing, Bewelcome or Hospitality Club for that matter, are these still the networks of travelers supporting fellow-travelers? There are still lots of great hosts and travelers around, but somehow – due to the popularity of the network – it is also becoming more and more a network of people that are just looking for entertainment, other people to ‘party’ and get drunk with. Further to that, it does not necessarily has to be a coincidence either that the news-wire of CS has been full with party-events in the past couple of months.
But then again – on the others hand – CS still provides you a pool of lots of different people, which means you just have to be selective in picking the right host. Or like Sanne says in the same forum, “I guess my conclusion is: it’s not bad that ‘normal’ people are hosting, it’s just different. I think it’s a good thing that couchsurfing is turning into a thing for everyone. And yes, that means that you do have to put some more effort in selecting the right host for you.”
Poster “Truth”, rage all you want. My references are there for all to see, including the ones down at the bottom where people describe me as a host back in 2006. You can also see references I’ve left for other guests where they never reciprocated (mostly because they chose not to use CS much and stopped logging in). Two more guests I wanted to learn a reference for will unfortunately never get one (“This profile has been deleted”), but the site administration can clearly see from our correspondence that they surfed at my place.
And while you seem to think the unflattering references matter, they’ve made my friends just laugh (in fact, notice that the first references from Almaty are spoofs of one), and my CS friends have used much harsher language to describe some of those members than me. And why are you looking at friendship links? Are you one of those people who adds every person you meet as a friend, and therefore think that’s the only section that matter?
I don’t care so much about my “credibility”. CS served me well for a while, but nowadays I’m trying to learn more from the Academy of Free Travel about how to see the world. I still get a place to stay everywhere I go, through Couchsurfing or not, so I win. And I think you all lose, because a campaign like yours based at this site is not going to make the Leadership Team listen. In fact, their silence to you should show that you clearly don’t have the vibe that Casey intended in mind.
And by the way, Kay was 49 when I left that reference. That’s hardly elderly. At the Riga HC/Couchsurfing Winter Camp where I was encouraged to sign up for Couchsurfing, there were people there in their 50s and 60s who could keep up just fine. Why does a 49 year-old need to be treated like some kind of protected caste?
Yeah, I thought I would be stuck in Helsinki again, so I thought about hosting. But that turned out not to be the case, so I traveled some more. You know, mobility, the activity that used to link everyone on CS together. My friendships with those dear to me depends mainly on whether I can travel anywhere near as much as they do, and if I stop traveling I lose their esteem, which is worth more to me than the opinion of a few people who take CS way too seriously.
“But when a female guest feels so uncomfortable around you thar she avoids talking to you for the entirety of her stay wirh you, you somehow fail to comprehend that your whizz-bang theory of couchsurfing may not be of interest to everyone?”
The entirety of her stay for something like 6 hours. She only came to my place to have a free place to stay, slept, briefly used the Internet, and left. For the handful of greetings we exchanged, she seemed happy with the accomodation. If I were to follow the recommendations of people who post in the CS forums, that would demand a negative reference, but I don’t see a problem.
“CS served me well for a while, but nowadays I’m trying to learn more from the Academy of Free Travel about how to see the world. I still get a place to stay everywhere I go, through Couchsurfing or not, so I win.”
Thank you for openly admitting your only interest in Couchsurfing! No mention of enlightening people, repaying people’s hospitality or making anyone else’s experience of travel any richer. Nope, just a simple “I still get a place to stay everywhere I go, through Couchsurfing or not, so I win.” It is a shame you are not so open about your self-centred approach on your couchsurfing profile, but I guess that would make it a lot harder to find hosts to leech off (and steal from, and abuse …).
“Yeah, I thought I would be stuck in Helsinki again, so I thought about hosting. But that turned out not to be the case, so I traveled some more.”
Chistopher Culver, May 2008:
“…when I return in the Fall I’m considering lodgings where even when I am away traveling, I can leave keys so that guests can let themselves in”
I repeat, is that the sound of your credibility flying out the window?
As for your reliance on your whopping two references from 2006 (as opposed to the hundreds of imaginary guests that you have hosted), I think the couchsurfing community probably is more likely to base their opinions on threads such as these:
http://www.couchsurfing.com/group_read.html?gid=1075&post=1023217
“they’ve made my friends just laugh”
Are these the same imaginary Kazakhstan friends who supported your harassment of an elderly woman?
“My references are there for all to see, including the ones down at the bottom where people describe me as a host back in 2006.”
Yes, the whopping two references left in 2006, which shows that your claims of having hosted numerous couchsurfers to be a lie.
“You can also see references I’ve left for other guests where they never reciprocated”
And one can only imagine what an incredibly unpleasant experience being hosted by you was that they would refuse to leave you a reference.
“Two more guests I wanted to learn a reference for will unfortunately never get one (”This profile has been deleted”)”
See above. I can only imagine how unpleasant you must be in person to make people want to leave the Couchsurfing community altogether after being hosted by you. But hey, you still get a free place to stay so you win, right? And that is all that ever mattered to Mr Christoper Culver.
“Thank you for openly admitting your only interest in Couchsurfing! No mention of enlightening people, repaying people’s hospitality or making anyone else’s experience of travel any richer.”
As a student who can’t travel much more than half the year, and whose travel so far has mainly lacked the amazing experiences, attendance of festivals and trendy clubs, and living on the edge of my peers, it’s hard to see how I could enlighten any guests. Though I’ve made friends through CS and in some cases we are now very close, I’m sure they’d openly admit that I’m not very hip or with it. Let’s see, you could stay with a Russian hitchhiker and hear about smoking opium with mountain men in Tajikstan, or you could stay with a Hungarian hippie and hear him talk about walking barefoot across India for a year. Meanwhile, the majority of the conversation you’d get with me is etymologies.
I’d still like to host, if I’m forced to settle down somewhere. But that’s certainly not obligatory. Most of the hosts I’ve stayed with wish they could travel more, and they host travelers for their own self-interest of keeping their dreams alive. A very similar situation with hitchhiking, perhaps, where the drivers sometimes feel they get more from you than you get from them.
“And one can only imagine what an incredibly unpleasant experience being hosted by you was that they would refuse to leave you a reference.”
Right, as if most active members’ profiles didn’t have some unreciprocated references.
“Are these the same imaginary Kazakhstan friends who supported your harassment of an elderly woman?”
Again “elderly”. Do you live in a place where 49 year-olds are decripit and housebound? But if you don’t think from the references of Inanc, Abel and Luis that they were playing on other references, then you lack any sense of humour.
“See above. I can only imagine how unpleasant you must be in person to make people want to leave the Couchsurfing community altogether after being hosted by you.”
Someone deletes their profile because they got a negative reference from a subsequent host, and it’s somehow again my fault?
“Yes, the whopping two references left in 2006, which shows that your claims of having hosted numerous couchsurfers to be a lie.”
Three references, which involved altogether 5 guests. Not bad in the space of about about two months in a non-touristy part of town. Those were the only requests I got that spring, and I said yes to them all. Coming into Spring 2008, I had through Couchsurfing Andrew, Kris, Vaija, Vaija’s husband, two American academics, five Erasmus students, another three Erasmus students, a Romanian student and her brother, and a Peruvian hitchhiker. Through other hospex groups there was a French girl and two students from Mari El. All in about five weeks. That’s much higher activity than the average Helsinki host. And nowhere did I make angry pronouncements against “more than one (‘me and my friend’ is more than one”), smokers, active travelers, or drug users. If I had, very few would have gotten my couch. So how again am I somehow less generous than people here on their high horses?
“I can only imagine how unpleasant you must be in person to make people want to leave the Couchsurfing community altogether after being hosted by you.”
If a person joins Couchsurfing just because they need a free place to stay at short notice, as several of my guests have, and they don’t travel so much to need it again soon, then it’s understandable they don’t become more active on the site. If you don’t want people to leave, then you need remarkable hosts who will inspire them to travel more and create an appropriate chillout vibe in their own flats if they settle somewhere. Some of the people I’ve met on CS can do that, and I think they should justly remain the elite. I, on the other hand, for my interest in hosting, am a fairly dull person, so why are you claiming I have a responsiblity to host again? And why do you fail to pay due hommage towards those hosts who do inspire people to travel more?
“CS served me well for a while, but nowadays I’m trying to learn more from the Academy of Free Travel about how to see the world. I still get a place to stay everywhere I go, through Couchsurfing or not, so I win.” – Christopher Culver, 2008.
I think I will start all my responses to you with this quote from you from now on, as it reveals with stark clarity your parasitical self-centred world view.
“I’d still like to host, if I’m forced to settle down somewhere. But that’s certainly not obligatory.”
“why are you claiming I have a responsiblity to host again?”
Your hypocrisy takes my breath away. So after badgering genuine hosts both on various forums, and in harassing e-mails, attempting to claim that all hosts should meet your ridiculous mandatory requirements including “No limit to the length of stay, No limit to the number of guests, Some entertainment, e.g. good music and a bottle of wine” you turn around and wail about how you shouldn’t be made to feel like you should contribute yourself. So all other hosts have to meet your standards in order to facilitate your freeloading lifetyle, but you yourself do not? You have given everyone who reads this an invaluable insight into your sociopathic, passive-aggressive mind set.
I also like you how have shown you see nothing wrong with browbeating a woman almost twice your age and close to retirement age (50-55 is the standrd retirement age for women in China) for the crime of not hosting you when you demanded to be hosted. I also like you have completely failed to provide any evidence of this imaginary overwhelming support for your bullying behaviour within the Kazakhstan community. Of course, since you have still failed to respond to Adalia’s question of why Kay was wrong in giving you 18 days notice that she was not giving to your demands for a couch, but you see no problem with cancelling on a host the evening before (apart from your expected “It is so inconvenient when someone does it to me, but no inconvenience at all when I do it to others”) I am not going to hold my breath waiting for any response.
“Three references, which involved altogether 5 guests. Not bad in the space of about about two months”
But quite pathetic for a four year period, over which you freeloaded and stole from scores of hosts.
“Coming into Spring 2008, I had through Couchsurfing Andrew, Kris, Vaija, Vaija’s husband, two American academics, five Erasmus students, another three Erasmus students, a Romanian student and her brother, and a Peruvian hitchhiker. Through other hospex groups there was a French girl and two students from Mari El. All in about five weeks.”
Back to the imaginary, completely unverified guests? I am surprised you did not claim to host 10,000 refugees from the Grza Strip as well; such a claim would hold just as much weight. I do like the fact that you openly admit that your couch is only available for a few weeks every two years – Just enough to desperately stave off all the genuine hosts who point out the hypocrisy of your “every other host should be a super-host, but not me” bleatings.
Now why don’t you go back to mocking people who have not come from the same privildeged educational background as yourself as “illiterates”? Or harassing women twice your age with the backing of your imaginary friends?
“Some entertainment, e.g. good music and a bottle of wine” you turn around and wail about how you shouldn’t be made to feel like you should contribute yourself.”
Not at all. As I said, I’d like to host when settled down. The point I raise, however, is that I won’t be making much of a contribution to the community when I cannot inspire guests like so many people I encountered in the beginning.
“I also like you how have shown you see nothing wrong with browbeating a woman almost twice your age and close to retirement age (50-55 is the standrd retirement age for women in China) for the crime of not hosting you when you demanded to be hosted.”
Actually Kay’s crime was not so much canceling at short notice as insulting typical Definitely hosts of the era.
“But quite pathetic for a four year period, over which you freeloaded and stole from scores of hosts.”
This statement may be considered libelous and I’d advise you to be careful. I have stolen from no one. With one host I had a mix up involving iPod headphones, you know, the ones that are manufactured by the millions and all look alike.
But back to hosting track records, there are CSers who have never hosted, or hosted but exceedingly rarely, because they have been traveling the entire time they were members of the site, with no plans to ever settle down really. And yet, they often have a long, long list of (what were once) Extremely Positive references, and the people who host them consider them remarkable indeed and continue to express their admiration of them long after they leave. While I, again, wish I were only half so charismatic, the existence of this class serves again to make me ask, why do you think hosting should be obligatory?
“Back to the imaginary, completely unverified guests?”
Except for the Romanians, who deleted their profile after getting a negative reference from a later host, there are CS references left for all of those I named above as being my CS guests. I consider that appropriate verification. The French girl left me a reference on her hospex site, and perhaps the people from Mari El will also leave a reference (though they have no English, just Russian and Mari).
Anyway, “Truth”, if you want to attack my contributions to the site, let me ask you, what have *you* done to inspire your guests? How many guests have decided to attempt traveling full-time because of an example you provided? How many guests have started attending Burning Man or Rainbow Gatherings because of your stories? How many guests discovered appropriate music because of what you had playing in your flat the party of the night that they arrived? If you have done none of those things, then your impact on the lives of people surfing couches doesn’t amount to much more than mine.
As always, the statement that defines Mr Christopher Culver’s parasitical, leeching attitude to couchsurfing and life:
“CS served me well for a while, but nowadays I’m trying to learn more from the Academy of Free Travel about how to see the world. I still get a place to stay everywhere I go, through Couchsurfing or not, so I win.” – Christopher Culver, 2008.
“Anyway, “Truth”, if you want to attack my contributions to the site, let me ask you, what have *you* done to inspire your guests? How many … (pretentious rambling deleted for sake of brevity)”
Well, I could adopt your tactics and claim legions of imaginary guests that I inspired, but that would make me the same dishonest liar you have revealed yourself to be.
Besides which, Chris, you are the only person who needs to defend his contribution to the site, because you are the only person running around on multiple forums attempting to shame any other hosts if they do not meet his ridiculous, self-arbited standards of what makes a good host. Most of the grownups who populate CS realise that hosts are entitled to contribute in their own way, and do not attempt to impose their own standards on the,. On the other hand, you wail about any hosts who refuse to accept such rules as “no limit to the length of stay, No limit to the number of guests, Some entertainment, e.g. good music and a bottle of wine” but plainly fail to meet any standard of hosting yourself.
“I’d like to host when settled down”
“when I return in the Fall I’m considering lodgings where even when I am away traveling, I can leave keys so that guests can let themselves in”
“No couch currently available for surfing.”
You obviously don’t mind revealing yourself as a liar in public, do you?
“Kay’s crime was not so much canceling at short notice as insulting typical Definitely hosts of the era.”
Hmm, yet the only person who has stated by her actions is you. On the other hand, numerous people have stated that they find your freeloading, sanctimonious, leeching actions insulting, yet you seem ok with that. I suppose if it gives you an excuse to feel superior by harassing and belittling a woman twice your age who is close to retirement …
“But quite pathetic for a four year period, over which you freeloaded and stole from scores of hosts.”
This statement may be considered libelous and I’d advise you to be careful. I have stolen from no one. With one host I had a mix up involving iPod headphones, you know, the ones that are manufactured by the millions and all look alike.
But back to hosting track records, there are CSers who have never hosted, or hosted but exceedingly rarely, because they have been traveling the entire time they were members of the site, with no plans to ever settle down really. And yet, they often have a long, long list of (what were once) Extremely Positive references, and the people who host them consider them remarkable indeed and continue to express their admiration of them long after they leave. While I, again, wish I were only half so charismatic, the existence of this class serves again to make me ask, why do you think hosting should be obligatory?
58 CRCulver
December 29, 2008 at 8:48 am
“Back to the imaginary, completely unverified guests?”
Except for the Romanians, who deleted their profile after getting a negative reference from a later host, there are CS references left for all of those I named above as being my CS guests. I consider that appropriate verification. The French girl left me a reference on her hospex site, and perhaps the people from Mari El will also leave a reference (though they have no English, just Russian and Mari).
59 CRCulver
December 29, 2008 at 8:57 am
Anyway, “Truth”, if you want to attack my contributions to the site, let me ask you, what have *you* done to inspire your guests? How many guests have decided to attempt traveling full-time because of an example you provided? How many guests have started attending Burning Man or Rainbow Gatherings because of your stories? How many guests discovered appropriate music because of what you had playing in your flat the party of the night that they arrived? If you have done none of those things, then your impact on the lives of people surfing couches doesn’t amount to much more than mine.
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Welcome back Truth (Change)
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As always, the statement that defines Mr Christopher Culver’s parasitical, leeching attitude to couchsurfing and life:
“CS served me well for a while, but nowadays I’m trying to learn more from the Academy of Free Travel about how to see the world. I still get a place to stay everywhere I go, through Couchsurfing or not, so I win.” – Christopher Culver, 2008.
“Anyway, “Truth”, if you want to attack my contributions to the site, let me ask you, what have *you* done to inspire your guests? How many … (pretentious rambling deleted for sake of brevity)”
Well, I could adopt your tactics and claim legions of imaginary guests that I inspired, but that would make me the same dishonest liar you have revealed yourself to be.
Besides which, Chris, you are the only person who needs to defend his contribution to the site, because you are the only person running around on multiple forums attempting to shame any other hosts if they do not meet his ridiculous, self-arbited standards of what makes a good host. Most of the grownups who populate CS realise that hosts are entitled to contribute in their own way, and do not attempt to impose their own standards on the,. On the other hand, you wail about any hosts who refuse to accept such rules as “no limit to the length of stay, No limit to the number of guests, Some entertainment, e.g. good music and a bottle of wine” but plainly fail to meet any standard of hosting yourself.
“I’d like to host when settled down”
“when I return in the Fall I’m considering lodgings where even when I am away traveling, I can leave keys so that guests can let themselves in”
“No couch currently available for surfing.”
You obviously don’t mind revealing yourself as a liar in public, do you?
“Kay’s crime was not so much canceling at short notice as insulting typical Definitely hosts of the era.”
Hmm, yet the only person who has stated by her actions is you. On the other hand, numerous people have stated that they find your freeloading, sanctimonious, leeching actions insulting, yet you seem ok with that. I suppose if it gives you an excuse to feel superior by harassing and belittling a woman twice your age who is close to retirement …
“But quite pathetic for a four year period, over which you freeloaded and stole from scores of hosts.”
This statement may be considered libelous and I’d advise you to be careful. I have stolen from no one. With one host I had a mix up involving iPod headphones, you know, the ones that are manufactured by the millions and all look alike.
But back to hosting track records, there are CSers who have never hosted, or hosted but exceedingly rarely, because they have been traveling the entire time they were members of the site, with no plans to ever settle down really. And yet, they often have a long, long list of (what were once) Extremely Positive references, and the people who host them consider them remarkable indeed and continue to express their admiration of them long after they leave. While I, again, wish I were only half so charismatic, the existence of this class serves again to make me ask, why do you think hosting should be obligatory?
58 CRCulver
December 29, 2008 at 8:48 am
“Back to the imaginary, completely unverified guests?”
Except for the Romanians, who deleted their profile after getting a negative reference from a later host, there are CS references left for all of those I named above as being my CS guests. I consider that appropriate verification. The French girl left me a reference on her hospex site, and perhaps the people from Mari El will also leave a reference (though they have no English, just Russian and Mari).
59 CRCulver
December 29, 2008 at 8:57 am
Anyway, “Truth”, if you want to attack my contributions to the site, let me ask you, what have *you* done to inspire your guests? How many guests have decided to attempt traveling full-time because of an example you provided? How many guests have started attending Burning Man or Rainbow Gatherings because of your stories? How many guests discovered appropriate music because of what you had playing in your flat the party of the night that they arrived? If you have done none of those things, then your impact on the lives of people surfing couches doesn’t amount to much more than mine.
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Welcome back Truth (Change)
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As always, the statement that defines Mr Christopher Culver’s parasitical, leeching attitude to couchsurfing and life:
“CS served me well for a while, but nowadays I’m trying to learn more from the Academy of Free Travel about how to see the world. I still get a place to stay everywhere I go, through Couchsurfing or not, so I win.” – Christopher Culver, 2008.
“Anyway, “Truth”, if you want to attack my contributions to the site, let me ask you, what have *you* done to inspire your guests? How many … (pretentious rambling deleted for sake of brevity)”
Well, I could adopt your tactics and claim legions of imaginary guests that I inspired, but that would make me the same dishonest liar you have revealed yourself to be.
Besides which, Chris, you are the only person who needs to defend his contribution to the site, because you are the only person running around on multiple forums attempting to shame any other hosts if they do not meet his ridiculous, self-arbited standards of what makes a good host. Most of the grownups who populate CS realise that hosts are entitled to contribute in their own way, and do not attempt to impose their own standards on the,. On the other hand, you wail about any hosts who refuse to accept such rules as “no limit to the length of stay, No limit to the number of guests, Some entertainment, e.g. good music and a bottle of wine” but plainly fail to meet any standard of hosting yourself.
“I’d like to host when settled down”
“when I return in the Fall I’m considering lodgings where even when I am away traveling, I can leave keys so that guests can let themselves in”
“No couch currently available for surfing.”
You obviously don’t mind revealing yourself as a liar in public, do you?
“Kay’s crime was not so much canceling at short notice as insulting typical Definitely hosts of the era.”
Hmm, yet the only person who has stated by her actions is you. On the other hand, numerous people have stated that they find your freeloading, sanctimonious, leeching actions insulting, yet you seem ok with that. I suppose if it gives you an excuse to feel superior by harassing and belittling a woman twice your age who is close to retirement …
As always, the statement that defines Mr Christopher Culver’s parasitical, leeching attitude to couchsurfing and life:
“CS served me well for a while, but nowadays I’m trying to learn more from the Academy of Free Travel about how to see the world. I still get a place to stay everywhere I go, through Couchsurfing or not, so I win.” – Christopher Culver, 2008.
“Anyway, “Truth”, if you want to attack my contributions to the site, let me ask you, what have *you* done to inspire your guests? How many … (pretentious rambling deleted for sake of brevity)”
Well, I could adopt your tactics and claim legions of imaginary guests that I inspired, but that would make me the same dishonest liar you have revealed yourself to be.
Besides which, Chris, you are the only person who needs to defend his contribution to the site, because you are the only person running around on multiple forums attempting to shame any other hosts if they do not meet his ridiculous, self-arbited standards of what makes a good host. Most of the grownups who populate CS realise that hosts are entitled to contribute in their own way, and do not attempt to impose their own standards on the,. On the other hand, you wail about any hosts who refuse to accept such rules as “no limit to the length of stay, No limit to the number of guests, Some entertainment, e.g. good music and a bottle of wine” but plainly fail to meet any standard of hosting yourself.
“I’d like to host when settled down”
“when I return in the Fall I’m considering lodgings where even when I am away traveling, I can leave keys so that guests can let themselves in”
“No couch currently available for surfing.”
You obviously don’t mind revealing yourself as a liar in public, do you?
“Kay’s crime was not so much canceling at short notice as insulting typical Definitely hosts of the era.”
Hmm, yet the only person who has stated by her actions is you. On the other hand, numerous people have stated that they find your freeloading, sanctimonious, leeching actions insulting, yet you seem ok with that. I suppose if it gives you an excuse to feel superior by harassing and belittling a woman twice your age who is close to retirement …
“But quite pathetic for a four year period, over which you freeloaded and stole from scores of hosts.”
“This statement may be considered libelous”
Really, you don’t think that hosting for a few weeks while leeching off the goodwill of others is pathetic? Surprising given your documented “Hosts should host everyone who asks all the time for an indefinite period (except for me)” position.
“I’d advise you to be careful.”
Why? Obtaining actual damages in libel requires evidence of damage to reputation, and loss occuring as a result. The scores of comments about you throughout Couchsurfing would show that it would be impossible for your reputation to be tarnished any more then it has by your own statements and actions.
“With one host I had a mix up involving iPod headphones …”
Where somehow your host’s property ended up in your bag?
“While I, again, wish I were only half so charismatic, the existence of this class serves again to make me ask, why do you think hosting should be obligatory?”
It again worried me that you think this argument makes any sense. Do your mummy and daddy realise how much money they are wasting on supporting you on your little extended “educational” holiday in Europe?
Truth, you seem to be writing from some other dimension. Most of the people I’ve encountered through Couchsurfing, hosts, guests, and random meetings alike, think travel is wonderful, and the longer one can hold out doing it, the better. The argument “don’t travel because you have to host” is ridiculous. If this viewpoint, which is so prevalent, is not represented much in the CS forums, it is clearly because the forums are dominated by a relative handful of people with very different ideas about CS than the norm, and obviously people who live for travel rarely participate in Internet communicaties (with the exception of Internet addicts like myself).
Besides my own friends on CS, I can look to the Riga Winter Camp, where the 400 participants made it clear that CS is about travel with loud rambunctious, and for better or worse boozing, smoking, and sex. And I can look as well at the powerful example the Leadership Team provide. The purpose of CS is set by them, not by a handful of people on the forums complaining about young people these days.
When I watch people I respect leave the network because they increasingly find the hosts they encounter while traveling boring or tiresome, obviously I should be concerned. The CS community is gravely weakened by their departure, because they change their guests’ lives completely when they are somewhere hosting, even if that might only be once in a great while. You need them more than they need you, so you might want to start thinking about ensuring retention.
As for bandying about words like “freeloading”, you’ve got the wrong guy. Except for a place to sleep and a decent atmosphere, I don’t expect much from my hosts. I prefer they don’t cook for me, because I eat very little and normally can’t clear a plate like they’d want. While I suggest a bottle of wine or some exotic coffee, that’s only from witnessing over the year that the hosts who inspired almost slavish devotion in their guests had such customs.
You’ve got for example a nomadic ambassador who demands all meals from his hosts, ciggies from the shop, and even occasional garment repair. He gets nothing but gushing positive references because people admire his freespirited wandering (as one other ambassador recently wrote (“if people like them didn’t exist, we’d be forced to invent them”), but if you really want to rage against “freeloading”, there’s plenty of such people to go attack instead.
Against better knowledge I still get the feed from here, so I at least scan messages, but dropping everything from Christopher (and most replies) to the trash in a second … anyway this sentence caught my eyes and made me laught out loud:
Midsch,
“And I can look as well at the powerful example the Leadership Team provide.”
Yeah, that made me laugh as well. I think it is pathetically obvious that whenever Chris Culver, self-proclaimed genius, is challenged by someone who is not a woman old enough to be his mother, he pathetically begs for backup from others, whether it be from the CS Leadership Team or his imaginary Kazakhstan friends. I guess Chris only feels up to standing on his own feet when he is bullying a woman from China close to retirement age.
To bring, the one statement that defines Mr Christopher Culver’s parasitical, leeching attitude to couchsurfing and life:
“CS served me well for a while, but nowadays I’m trying to learn more from the Academy of Free Travel about how to see the world. I still get a place to stay everywhere I go, through Couchsurfing or not, so I win.” – Christopher Culver, 2008.
“The argument “don’t travel because you have to host” is ridiculous.”
Nice Straw Man argument, Chris! I guess you can’t defend your own hypocritical position so now you are now fabricating arguments that you do have a chance of winning. Nowhere did I state that Couchsurfers should not travel because they have to host. I merely pointed out the hypocrisy of you demanding that every other host meet such onerous standards as ““No limit to the length of stay, No limit to the number of guests, Some entertainment, e.g. good music and a bottle of wine” when you yourself has shown yourself to only host when it is at your convenience i.e A handful times in 2006 when you first began to freeload off CS and needed positive references to increase your chances, and again in 2008 when your reputation for thieving and freeloading became so widespread that you had to host for a scant few weeks in order to sucker people into hosting you again.
“When I watch people I respect leave the network because they increasingly find the hosts they encounter while traveling boring or tiresome”
Yet, surprisingly there is no evidence of any wave of couchsurfing departures. In fact, Couchsurfing has grown to 800,000+ by now. On the other hand, there is direct evidence that quite a few couchsurfers elected to delete their profiles after being “hosted” by you. It is also quite obvious that your manipulative rantings about how all other hosts should meet such standards as “No limit to the length of stay, No limit to the number of guests, Some entertainment, e.g. good music and a bottle of wine” would be an obvious deterrant to others thinking of hosting until they realise that all this ranting is simply a self-centred exercise designed to manipulate others into supporting your freeloading lifestyle while not contributing anything back to CS.
“As for bandying about words like “freeloading”, you’ve got the wrong guy. ”
Hmmm, let’s take a sample of comments from people who have hosted you:
“I have felt my home to be kind of a hotel for Chris…”
“For people like Chris, it’s a way to have free overnight accommodation.”
“But Christopher wrote to me: “Personally, when I see ‘Definitely’ in search results, I imagine someone like some of those legendary CS hosts I’ve had the pleasure of staying with, who have large flats that they’ve turned into CS centres for many guests at a time, meaning that there’d never be a reason for them to turn down a guest.” In other words a hostel…WRONG
“we had a small problem with him. A pair of iPod headphones went missing from my home.”
I think people can judge from themselves who is a freeloader, now Chris?
“there’s plenty of such people to go attack instead”
Thank you being so honest about your passive-aggresive “everyone is picking on me!” view on life. You seem to think that you are somehow targeted because other couchsurfers are more “charismatic” then you. It seems to have completely escaped your attention that while others may not be able to host as much as they are hosted, they also do not attempt to prescribe ridiculous standards of hosting that they themselves fail to meet in a cynical attempt to facilitate their freeloading ways. Nor do they run around berating women almost twice their age for not providing them with a couch while providing them three weeks notice, when they themselves have a history of cancelling with less then 24 hours notice. They also do not have a history of being discovered with their host’s property “accidentally” in their bags.