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Author Archive for Callum

Page 4 of 5

What do the LT actually do?

Published by Callum on 02 October 2007 at 16:00 in 501c3, Board of Directors, Casey Fenton, employees, Finances, general director, Jim Stone, Leadership Circle, Matthew Brauer, NDA, Transparency and Volunteer coordinator. 7 Comments Tags: , , , , .

We used to get the excuse “Casey is too busy”. Now we get the excuse “The LT is too busy“. This begs the question, too busy doing what?

CouchSurfing now has 4 full time, paid members of staff. That’s a 300% increase in professional resources within the organisation. What exactly are all these professionals doing?

Here’s a few things they’re not doing which they could be doing.

  • Publishing finances, up to the minute (it’s really not hard)
  • Getting 501(c)(3) status (again, really not hard)
  • Publishing LT meeting minutes (extremely easy)
  • Getting a new NDA sorted (seriously, it doesn’t take 15 months)

Perhaps they’re too busy partying, having threesomes, burning da man, banning people from the wiki, spreading the verification disease, etc. Who knows eh? ;-)

Jim Stone on the CouchSurfing Wiki

Published by Callum on 02 October 2007 at 10:10 in CouchSurfing Wiki and Jim Stone. Closed Tags: , , , .

I just found this gem of a quote from Jim Stone on Wikis:

The Wiki is meant for EVERYONE to edit and not a place where permission is needed. I loved this kind of info and was glad to see more discussion about what needs to be understood by more people and then actually seeing it going somewhere. The Wiki is the end-all destination but it certainly is a step in the right direction.

Casey’s Magic

Published by Callum on 22 September 2007 at 16:30 in Casey Fenton, couchsurfing, history, Leadership Circle and Participation. 32 Comments Tags: , , , , , , .

While reading an NY Times article about CouchSurfing (thanks Mary) I was reminded of the magic that Casey created in the CouchSurfing project. I’ve definitely lost track of the magic over the last few months since becoming involved in the inner workings of the CouchSurfing organisation.

There’s a great sense of community, a great PR image, a wonderful “feeling” when reading about CouchSurfing. It’s a feeling that Hospitality Club and BeWelcome definitely don’t have. It’s more bohemian, more offbeat and quirky, yet somehow more mainstream.

Casey struck a great balance between the hitch hiking “true” traveller and the mainstream. CouchSurfing appeals to people from all walks of life, and that’s undoubtedly because of Casey’s ability to pitch it well.

In many ways, this makes it even more tragic that Casey chooses to run the organisation in the way he does. There’s such a huge opportunity to do something really, trully exceptional here. Unfortunately, it’s being stifled by the closed door, backroom politics style of leadership.

So here’s my question. Can we create the same magic in another network? Can we recreate that wonderful bohemian feeling in BeWelcome? Or CrashAtMine? Or a whole new network? Or is it something uniquely Casey that can’t easily be copied? Is it a quality that can’t be replicated?

So What?

Published by Callum on 20 September 2007 at 23:45 in Campaigns, couchsurfing and Participation. 10 Comments Tags: , , .

When discussing the reasons behind OpenCouchSurfing with people, I’m regularly faced with the reply “So what?” I’d like to use this blog post and this wiki page to compile some answers to that response.

Personally, the campaign for a more open and accountable CouchSurfing organisation makes perfect sense. But to many members, it seems irrelevant. I think if we can find ways to relate the message to the average CouchSurfer, we’ll be able to take the campaign to the next level.

I warmly invite you to share your suggestions here or on the wiki.

Jim Stone on Refunds

Published by Callum on 13 September 2007 at 17:22 in couchsurfing, Donations, employees, Leadership Circle and Volunteer coordinator. 34 Comments Tags: , , , , .

In this thread on member verifications, Jim had some interesting things to say about refunding verification money. However, the last three posts have now been removed by an “administrator”. Here’s what they said (I have the full HTML of the page saved if anyone would like a copy).

Mikky:

found a member recently who sent the money but when i verified her, she had her profile already deleted, guess we should refund her the money.
right?

Mikky

Jim:

We only refund when asked to do so.

Jim

Mikky:

 would you (“we”?) qualify this as fair, serious and professional behaviour?

i would call it a second class behaviour

+ it doesn´t fit to all the wannabee speech…

“we” might wanna reconsider this

Mikky

Jim:

As far as I know this person has not asked for a refund. It’s not up to us to decide that they suddenly want their money back unless they ask for it. What do you not get about that?

I don’t appreciate your tone here, Mikky. If you have a problem with me please try to learn to be respectful of your other teammates and take this out of this group where we can deal with this privately.

Jim

Mikky:

well i asked a simple question if CS will follow a professional well will spirit of fair trade

you gave a simple answer

easy as that

i don´t think that your privat appreciations are a topic here.
feel free to email me and i would gladly inform you what RESPECT is all about.

Mikky

Steady Stream of Petition Signatures

Published by Callum on 07 September 2007 at 15:24 in Uncategorized. 6 Comments Tags: , , , , .

I subscribe to the OpenCS comments feed and I’m pleasantly surprised by the slow by steady stream of new supporters on the petition. Today Jonas Riise Hamre added their support. So the list continues to grow.

Can CouchSurfing International Inc ignore this movement forever?

CouchSurfing NDA Lessons

Published by Callum on 23 August 2007 at 13:49 in Casey Fenton and NDA. 7 Comments Tags: , , , .

Reading recent posts on this blog I realise that a number of people signed the CouchSurfing NDA under the impression “it was going to be fixed”.

I think there’s an important lesson for volunteers to learn here. Don’t sign unless you’re happy with what you’re signing.

It’s impossible to say how things could have happened if people had made different choices, that’s not my purpose here. I’m looking forward, both to new CouchSurfing volunteers and to other NDAs. If you’re not happy with the terms, don’t sign them. A verbal agreement to change the terms later simply doesn’t cut it.

I held off signing the NDA on the basis that it would interfere with future businesses I might be involved in. Now, I’m glad I made that choice, because it seems clear that CouchSurfing (Casey) have no intention of producing an NDA I would be willing to sign.

More CouchSurfing Censorship

Published by Callum on 06 August 2007 at 19:32 in CouchSurfing Wiki, employees and Volunteer coordinator. 10 Comments Tags: , , , , .

Not content with blocking Kasper from the Wiki for a week, Jim Stone has now made the block indefinite. Furthermore, he has removed sysop (admin) rights from myself, Phauly, Tgoorden, and Calum (not me, another one!).

It seems that Jim wants to keep all the power for himself. No longer will he be sharing his Wiki admin rights with us mere CouchSurfing Corporation Customers, no, no, no. He’s a paid member of staff now, he’s special… :)

It’s a little ironic, I was thinking about unblocking Kasper from the Wiki, but I decided it would be better to try and talk it out with Jim. With hindsight, perhaps that was a mistake. Jim apparently ain’t one for talking.

CouchSurfing – An Equal Opportunities Employer

Published by Callum on 03 August 2007 at 13:22 in Donations and employees. 8 Comments Tags: , .

According to the job spec for the new CouchSurfing Lead Software Architect, CouchSurfing is an equal opportunities employer. Yeah right.

The position is “contract at-will” under US law apparently. This means either party can terminate the arrangement, at any time, for any reason. In other words, this means absolutely zero job security. If the verification propaganda starts to fail, and members stop donating money, you can bet the paid developer will be the first person to get fired.

The person is expected to work 40+ hours per week, 6 days per week. According to the spec, the position will be “an amazing opportunity for adventure”. Of course the unlucky candidate won’t have any time for such adventures as they’ll be on their computer 6 days a week working for CouchSurfing.

My condolences to whomever is unfortunate enough to be given this job.

CouchSurfing is Hiring

Published by Callum on 03 August 2007 at 13:11 in Casey Fenton, Donations, employees, general director and Volunteer coordinator. 26 Comments Tags: , , , , .

It was announced yesterday that CouchSurfing is seeking to hire a full time developer. They’ve just hired two core volunteers (Jim Stone and Mattthew Brauer). Where are they getting all this cash from? If they’re each paid $2’000 USD a month, between those three and Casey, that makes $96’000 a year.

So the CouchSurfing Corporation is finally starting to pay off…