Re:The Death of Couchsurfing?
by namdnay on Monday May 18, 2020 @04:27AM
(#23219810)
I had some really good experiences on couchsurfing (hosting and surfing) about 10 years ago, then I moved to a very touristic part of the world, and started getting 90% of requests from couples who were basically looking to get free accommodation for their holidays. I accepted the first 3 times, and each time they would arrive in the evening, unpack, drive to a restaurant they had already booked, come back to sleep and then leave first thing in the morning.
[ Parent
| on HN ]
A key technique to avoid those situations was the "poisoned pill": buried in your profile there is some keyword they must include in their request.
With that (which I copied once I was reading a full descriptive profile) you get a great filter. I have done a good share of CS, both as host and guest, over the last ~10 years, having either good or amazing experiences.
That’s a “brown M&M”, not a “poison pill”.
Re:The Death of Couchsurfing?
by blaser-waffle on Monday May 18, 2020 @09:17AM
(#23221932)
Yeah phrasing it that way -- poison pill -- is a good way to make people feel uneasy when you're staying with them.
It would explain why they kept going out to restaurants instead of eating anything at the house...
> ading a full descriptive profile) you get a great filter. I have done a good
can you explain? what keywords do you have to put to avoid this?
It's a way to check if someone read your entire profile, so you can filter out people who are just looking for a free place to stay. For example, you could hide the word "pineapple" two paragraphs in and ask that people mention it in their first message to you.