CIRCLE WITH A DOT

@straphanger absolute cinema.

@glyph @hpincket holy shit. Need to rinse my brain off after that one.

@kkarhan yes. Did a little more digging. Apparently they’re hemorrhaging money & have become intensely hostile toward any mention of any “competitor” platforms. This I guess explains why my 20 year old hospitality club group was deleted. It may also explain the hostile reaction to my support request. I also checked with some folks I know & apparently a ton of newer policies & the pay-to-use model drove most folks away. Yike.

@ArcMother yeah. I’ve not been active on there since like 2014, but I always encouraged folks to use it. I even gave them an early days startup donation (was like $300 toward their internet hosting expenses) & bought a box of CS pins to hand out to travelers I met up with. Had an “early supporter” badge on my profile after the site crashed & relaunched. I joined shortly after it launched in 2004. Oh well!

@kkarhan it’s equally messed up & amusing. They must really be struggling. I single handedly launched the free NYC tour offering which I did myself paid for out of my own money. Everyone I gave a tour to was thrilled with it. Each tour was 100% customized to the traveller and all the info was my own researched knowledge. I met at least 200 travelers this way & helped make some real memories. Ah well. They can’t have me back.

(To clarify, their response to my support message was to delete my account with no warning or explanation & no mention of my actual initial query)

First I was upset by this. Then I discovered a few hours ago that CS is private equity driven & none of the founders are still there. Now I’m glad to be removed. Just sucks that I’ll never be able to reconnect with any of the cool folks I met. Bunch of pe techbro dickbags . //

Woah. I sent couchsurfing support a message asking why a group I created in like 2009 was deleted. Their reply? “Your account has been removed/we can’t tell you why” (paraphrasing). Not only did they not answer my question, but they literally erased my 20 year old account with no explanation. 1/

@ProPublica for those struggling to understand the logic behind these actions taken by this regime, it is important to remember that their goal is to destabilize things and make people suffer.

@donni it’s a lot, the other things. But call the things you’re feeling love.

Just remember that you caring and speaking out is an act of revolution. Silence in the face of injustice is the death of justice.

All else being equal, would you be more likely to get around (assume accessibility is addressed appropriately) using