
Show HN: HackerCouch - captn3m0
https://hackercouch.com/
======
hitekker
Interesting.

I've hosted over 40 couchsurfers in Manhattan so I have a few concerns.

My largest one is that HackerCouch lacks a reference system so that people
"know" who is a good or bad host or guest. Googling every one who messages me,
the host, may not yield as much info as I would like, since most folks aren't
1000-twitter-followers, ten-thousand-github-commits, Forbes-interviewed,
rockstars (Like Me![1]). Accordingly, HackerCouch needs some faculty to
indicate and ensure the trustworthiness of its listings: perhaps like the
kinds founds in Couchsurfing.org, BeWelcome or AirBnb. Otherwise, all hosts
ought to have and to link their listings to at least one other platforms so
guests can see their pictures, reviews, and other metadata, to make an
informed decision to stay with someone who is, essentially, a stranger.

On this note of having to use another platform: I know I would also have to
create a staging email address for managing requests. Having received 400+
requests in 4 months, I can safely say that 1% of people will go to... creepy
lengths if they feel like they aren't getting the attention they deserve.
Clearly showing off all my contact info is fine on my marketing site, but not
fine when I'm offering something up for free that people can take free
advantage of. AirBnB and Couchsurfing offer a comforting layer of messaging
for the host: allowing me to interact cordially with most potential guests
without fear of the crazies.

Please note I'm not saying this to discourage you; I would just like this
promising idea to avoid the many painful lessons Couchsurfing.org has learned.
(... and then ignored.)

[1] This is sarcasm. But if we meet in real life, I'll be sure to scream about
it with conviction[2].

[2] This is not sarcasm.

~~~
tedmiston
Slightly off topic but... I've never couchsurfed but have Airbnb'd quite a
bit. I've held the unfounded assumption that couchsurfing accommodations would
be questionable, in unsafe locations, have issues with scams or theft, etc.

Can you comment on how this compares to reality in a place like Manhattan
where short-term housing rentals can be pricy?

And also, philosophically why you choose to host couchsurfers vs paid guests?

~~~
bemmu
We've hosted both in Japan. It's a very different atmosphere, couchsurfers
tend to be long time world traveling hippie types that are interesting to host
just to hear their stories and help them out. They often arrive by hitch
hiking and we've even had some who are walking hundreds of km across Japan.

Surfers have low expectations for accommodation and usually the day is spent
chatting and going to places together.

AirBnB is for example couples and people who expect something closer to a
hotel and more privacy, they may be busier and prefer to pay for convenience.
Say career people who only have a week or two to spend in Japan, so they pay
to make things go as smoothly as possible.

------
s3nnyy
I love the implicit filtering mechanism through allowing people to post
couches only via pull-request.

~~~
captn3m0
The other option was to have something like a wiki, but that brings its own
problems. Plus, I really love using Jekyll. Made perfect sense to just have
people fork it and file a PR instead.

~~~
toyg
What about filtering couch requests? I can see how people might abuse well-
intentioned hosts...

~~~
captn3m0
Its completely upto you to use what identity you want. Just specify a
different contact detail/email address if you want it to be that way.

------
dheera
This website should really use CouchDB ...

~~~
captn3m0
Any specific reason? Its a simple static website that doesn't really need a
database. If it grows to a point where I need filtering, I might think about
it. But plain-old HTML is really powerful.

~~~
Fomite
All back-end infrastructure should reduce to a good pun. This is a known
design pattern.

~~~
captn3m0
Its 6am in the morning here, and that went straight over my sleepyhead.

------
HillaryBriss
I know that I am not worthy to surf on anybody's couch. Even my own. Call me
an idiot but I don't understand this site. At all.

Whom do I contact to get a spot on one of these WiFi enabled couches? Are they
available over the New Year's Eve time frame? Can I bring a bag of Doritos?

What the hell is this?!

~~~
captn3m0
The idea is this: Hackers like meeting hackers. People have couches they are
willing to share. If you are are in both the groups, you add yourself and
people send you a request to ask you if you are free.

------
jancborchardt
Original Hackercouch dude here
[https://github.com/jancborchardt/hackercouch](https://github.com/jancborchardt/hackercouch)
– thanks for taking my concept and driving it forward! :)

~~~
captn3m0
Hola! Thanks for making it. Did you register hackercouch.com, btw? I just saw
your project and checked whois and it was free.

------
hunvreus
I like that, but it could use some CSS love. Will you accept a PR if I clean
things up a tad?

~~~
captn3m0
Sure. A friend of mine is working on a redesign (#7), but a bit of CSS love
would go a long way. This is just the basic Jekyll theme with a few changes.

------
jacquesm
Github as a federated database engine. That's super clever.

~~~
captn3m0
To be fair, I stole the idea from [http://remy.mit-
license.org/](http://remy.mit-license.org/)

~~~
jacquesm
I love these repurposing hacks. No matter where you stole it, realizing that
you could use this mechanism for your problem is imo just as neat as the
project itself.

------
orthoganol
I've been waiting for a solution like this specifically for digital nomads.
(It's also on my own to-build list so I might punch it out one of these days.)

My unsolicited advice: Market it to digital nomads exclusively.

I get that it's open sourced, but I don't like that and don't think it makes
sense for the nature of the project... I'd prefer someone treating it like a
startup and maintaining the product, making a nicer design, growing it, etc.

~~~
captn3m0
One of the main reasons behind the death of Couchsurfing was that they pivoted
to a company and became a startup[0]. I, on the other hand, don't want to make
money on this.

There is also the issue of privacy. Would you be fine giving your travel
information to a central third-party? I would like to keep HC to a minimum
listing site and let people take conversations to a side-channel instead.

[0]: [http://kernelmag.dailydot.com/issue-sections/features-
issue-...](http://kernelmag.dailydot.com/issue-sections/features-issue-
sections/13124/life-and-death-couchsurfing/)

~~~
orthoganol
It's mostly a problem that resolves itself. The digital nomad community is on
average made up of professionals who are savvy and financially OK, who are all
pretty similar and generally on the same page about things. It doesn't have
all the variables of couch surfing, so I don't think you can meaningfully
compare the two platforms.

If someone manages to find the site, they're probably there for the right
reasons. It might be as little as getting it sidebar'd on r/digitalnomad to
get the right crowd on it.

100% agree with having conversations off the platform, I don't think it needs
to be dramatically different than what you have now.

------
Danilka
Really great idea. There is a long way to go here, but please keep doing this!

------
drewmeyers24
I'm one of the co-founders of http:/ww.horizonapp.co - which is hospitality
exchange (aka couchsurfing) for groups. Think Peace Corps, Teach for America,
Stanford alum, Kiva Fellows...but it could be any existing group/community --
such as members of HackerCouch, or Hacker News even.

Unlock code for the "Hacker News" group on Horizon: hn2015#$

I'm happy to create a private unlock code for Hacker Couch if there is any
interest.

*Note most of our effort thus far has been on iOS version -- the web version is still basic (we're currently working on adding a few pieces of functionality). Recently started development on a native android version.

