London CS Newsletter
The CouchSurfing Wiki, an informal workspace which anyone can edit.
(This page updated 07/07/08)
Contents |
London Weekly Meet
Following a 3 week trial at "The Couch" in Dean Street, Soho the London CS Community established a weekly meeting every Tuesday. Sadly, after 27 weeks our aptly named 1st home was forced to close down due to CrossRail building work.
Our weekly meeting is now hosted by The Square Pig in Holborn. Exit the side exit at Holborn, turn left, cross over to GymBox/Pizza Express and continue under the building. The Square Pig is on the right. Every Tuesday from 7pm. Salsa for Beginners (£4) from 6:30pm. We also have a number of after party offers for members - please see the Sub Meets!
http://www.couchsurfing.org/meetings.html?mid=34464
London Host Recruitment
We are always on the look out for new hosts!
If you are a London Host - join the London Hosts Group. Please email one of the Mods/Ambs to be added!
Sharing Public Information From Vienna
Presentations from the leadership team are publicly available but can be hard to find. You want to know where we are going and why ambs and moderators deal with things they way they do? Take a look at these:
Casey's Presentation on "CS - WHERE WE CAME FROM AND WHERE WE ARE GOING"
Gadget's Presentaiton on "AMBASSADORS MANAGEMENT"
Matthew's Presentation on "GOALS AND STRATEGY"
Weston's Presentation on "BEHIND THE SCENES - CS TECHNOLOGY"
Anick-Marie's Presentation on "SAFETY AND GROUP MODERATION"
As Ambs we have just as limited feedback to CS as other members. We also share many of your frustruations. If you want to feedback To CS or learn more about what the Leadership are doing, please try these...
Whilst discussing issues in the London (or any other city board) is useful for seeing opinions from us all nothing will get solved until the Leadership are aware - share your thoughts with them.
Post to All London Members (06/2009)
Apologies for the SPAM email to all London Registered Users - but this is the only way we can reach everyone easily – and we promise to keep these type of emails to a minimum.
London is currently the second biggest CS City (after Paris) with almost 18,000 surfers including 800 new sign-ups in the last month (although I think we all know not all of these are still in London)! Whilst we try to greet everyone who joins with relevant information to help them get the most out of CS, many are missed. Surveys from our now weekly meetings have shown that many members are unaware of the events going on, the groups available and how to find information. We would just like to remind/advise London Registered users of a few links to help you keep in touch with the London Community and let you know about our events weekend on the 12th June.
London CS Event Weekend 12th to 14th June 2009 Various events including Bowling, Drinks, Free Hugs, Local Meets around London and a Big Picnic - join in, help out, host an event - check the meet page for the various sub-meetings! http://www.couchsurfing.org/meetings.html?mid=35609
Weekly Meeting Every Tuesday 7-11pm at The Couch, Dean Street, Soho. Please see Sub-Events for each meeting. Sign-up, pop-in and meet up with CS Members from home and abroad. http://www.couchsurfing.org/meetings.html?mid=34464
The London Group Keep up with news, questions, events and discussions in the main group and also the large number of sub-groups covering various subjects / languages / sports / meetings etc - take a look and join in! http://www.couchsurfing.org/group.html?gid=618
The London CS Events Calendar Keep in touch with all the CS London Events - join a few and meet some other CS members. http://tinyurl.com/CS-London-Events (Google Calendar) http://www.couchsurfing.org/feeds/event_rss.php?ctid=2379959
The London Hosts Group Intended to provide support, discussion and organisation amongst London based hosts. Please contact one of the group moderators to be added. http://www.couchsurfing.org/group.html?gid=5254
London CS Wiki Providing Hints & Tips to travellers and hosts including information on living in London and providing a portal for advice and resources for hosts. Take a look, contribute and update! http://wiki.couchsurfing.com/en/London
Hope to see you at an event soon!
The London City Ambassador Team
What are Ambassadors? http://www.couchsurfing.com/amb_ethics.html
Post to All London Members (06/2008)
First of all it is great to see so many active members of the London Group and the large number of events going on almost every day organised by a large number of different individuals - keep it up!
We now have over 9000 users registered in London, up from 3000 less than 2 years ago! London now has the 2nd largest membership after Paris with Montreal just behind us. The London Group itself currently has 3243 Members!
With the large growth in membership and a huge increase in events and in response to some recent posts, feedback and to generaly try and tidy up the boards a bit we would like to re-establish a few changes to group usage that were in place a few years ago The aim being to try and return the group to a more helpful forum for people in and visiting London.
The London Group exists primarily to help visitors and Londoners to: > Discuss issues within London > Advertise meetings, trips and gatherings > Ask for help about visiting London > Ask if people are around for a coffee/meal/drink/tour etc
Additionaly two main Sub-Groups exists to cater for Requests for Hosting and for arranging & discussing Pubs/Parties/Clubbing and General Debauchery.
London - Requests for Hosts (http://www.couchsurfing.com/group.html?gid=5179) This group exists to allow visitors to post for last minute & emergency host requests and for London Hosts who are able/willing to help out stranded surfers. Any posts asking for a couch in the main London group should be politely directed to this group by one person. The post should then quickly move down the list as new posts are added and older ones updated.
London - Pubs/Parties/Clubs and General Debauchery (http://www.couchsurfing.com/group.html?gid=3533) This group exists as a forum for the large number of exactly what it says! Please try to restrict discussions about these events and after party discussions to this group. This helps to prevent events that have past from coming back to the top of the list. Of course you can still post a "Headline" post to the Main Board with a link to the discussion and meeting pages. Especially if you are trying to reach more members or if it is a major CS Community Event (although most people are members of both groups and all events should be in the Google calendar anyway).
Hopefully, in the not too distant future, we will be able to organsise the other sub-groups a little better into sub-categories to make it easier to navigate through the groups.
There has also been some concern about inappropriate posts, lengthy arguments, and personal attacks. Please think about your post before clicking the send button. Think about it from the other persons perspective, think about it as a person who does not have English as a first language. Also bear in mind that sarcasm does not translate well into text! Please, as a group can we try to avoid these situations and avoid the London Group looking like a Facebook Wall full of angry Londoners(Facebook is there for that!). It doesn't make the group look good to visitors and it doesnt demonstrate the Mission and Values of CS - and of course does not reflect the group! On a related issue, if you see an inappropriate post, please ignore it. As tempting as it might be to reply, the result is to keep the post live and at the top of our list! If you feel very strongly, take it offline with the person in a chat, an email or in person at a meet.
When organising events, please also avoid SPAM emails to the whole London Membership to advertise it. Posting to the Events page, to the London Groups and getting your event in the Google Calendar should reach most people that are interested. Emails to all will only be used for major CS meetings, information updates and safety information. Group membership is encouraged in welcome emails sent to new London Members.
We would also like to take this oportunity to encourage all members to remind themselves of the Couchsurfing Guidelines and Terms that you agreed to when you signed up and to ensure that you bear these in mind when posting to this and any other Couchsurfing Group:
http://www.couchsurfing.com/guidelines.html
http://www.couchsurfing.com/terms.html
In particular Section 5 which refers directly to members posting content:
5.2 Content Restrictions. You are solely responsible for any content that you submit, post or transmit via our Services. You may not post or submit any content that: (a) is defamatory; (b) contains nudity or sexually explicit content; (c) may disparage any ethnic, racial, sexual or religious group by stereotypical depiction or otherwise; (d) exploits images or the likeness of individuals under 18 years of age; (e) depicts use of illicit drugs; (f) makes use of offensive language or images; (g) characterizes violence as acceptable, glamorous or desirable; (h) provides a link to any commercial websites; or (i) contains any of your personal contact information, except as specifically required or requested as part of your registration on this site.
Thanks in advance for your co-operation and we hope you can see why these changes are relevant. If you have any feedback, concerns, questions or anything else you want to discuss about Couchsurfing, please email us at: cs-london@googlegroups.com.
We hope to see many of you at the International CouchSurfing Day meet on Thursday. 7pm. The Glasshouse Stores, Brewer Street, Soho.
(http://www.couchsurfing.com/meetings.html?mid=12234)
Thank you for you time!
The London City Ambassador Team
What are Ambassadors? http://www.couchsurfing.com/amb_ethics.html
London Statistics
Weekly Meet
London Groups
London Group - Top 15 Member Home Countries
