User:Bruce

The CouchSurfing Wiki, an informal workspace which anyone can edit.

Welcome to the CouchSurfing Organization.

Welcome to the CouchSurfing Organization!

Your Newly created CouchSurfing (CS) Profile

You have signed up and now have a profile. No doubt you have read the http://www.couchsurfing.com/terms.html Terms of Use and the Guidelines. Most likely the profile is pretty empty so let's start by filling it with some descriptions and maybe a photo or two. Why ... because you need to tell the other members who you are so that they can work out if they want you to stay with them or if they want to stay with you. In Couch Surfing they refer to a "complete profile". Some members request to only be contacted by someone with a complete profile.
So, there is your starting point - register and develop a "complete" Profile".

Receiving your first CS Greeting Email

Most likely by now you should have received a greeting from one of the many CouchSurfing Greeters around the planet. Hopefully you will have also received a Greeting from one of your own local United States Ambassadors as well. If not then something like the following Greeting is probably what they would have sent ... (the links in the following greeting will provide you with an even greater knowledge of how CS works..) and yes, it is long but if you go through it bit by bit you will come out the other end knowing a whole lot more than you do now.

Welcome to CouchSurfing !!!

Most people join CouchSurfing as they begin their preparations to travel, day-dreaming of exotic destinations and the opportunities of meetinglike minded CouchSurfing Friends. Others join whilst on the road having met other CouchSurfing members. And there are others, like myself who enjoy offering my home up to travellers, proud to show them my own small corner of this wonderful planet. For what ever reason you joined you have now become a member of a very unique family. As you start to explore the CouchSurfing site you will begin to notice that the more Active members have provided a photo of themselves and have completed their Profiles. They have done this so that you can learn a little more about them before requesting their Couch.

A completed profile

Tells you a lot about someone! An uploaded photo helps as well in providing the essential info you need if you are going to be met by your host at a train station, a cafe or even in their own doorway. Their completed Profile gives you an insight into their interests and the References and Friends comments they have also provides a greater revelation of your Host through the comments of those they have met. Tell the world who you are by uploading some photos and by editing each of the Elements in your profile. By letting people learn a little more about yourself you will dramatically improve your invitations to be hosted and the requests for others to come surf your own Couch when it is available. Note that you can upload any photo to represent yourself if you are shy - maybe something that doesn't infringe copyright that might describe you.... such as a photo of your favorite tattoo - but a photo of yourself is handy for when you are being met by your host at a railway station in the bustle of somewhere like Rome or Paris. On the subject of photos you can upload as many as you want putting them into individual folders. Unlike other online Photo albums all photos are visable to the public so be aware of the content and read the Terms of Use Section 5.
Most hosts set in their Privacy preferences to be contacted by "Complete profile only" which filters out anyone sending a surf request with an incomplete profile so do yourself a favour and endeavour to complete your profile. Would you want to host someone with an incomplete profile with No photo??? Many people on CouchSurfing have a policy to host Members Only. This is due to a number of potential problematic issues with non-members. Also consider the same if you want to host - no photo or an incomplete profile equals your Couch not being listed in the CouchSearch results if someone is looking for a couch to stay. We consider the Safety of your Guest and your own safety as a host and future Surfer highly and as such we have developed Links to many safty issues to be read in conjunction with Safety for surfers and Safety for Hosts

Couchsurfing safety links

For more generic information you can check out the general couchsurfing safety links below:

Couchsurfing requests and references

So, now you begin looking at other profiles to get an idea as to how to improve your own!

Finding other people

Most new members like to find themselves once they have put a bit into their profiles. So the best way to explain finding others is to find yourself. The Location you put in to your profile is linked to a database. If you said you live in New York City then when CouchSurfers look for a Couch in "New York City" your couch will appear in the CouchSearch results. However if you do live in New York City but said your locality was "Newark, New Jersey" you won't appear in the CouchSearch results unless they added a radius to search as well.
Try finding yourself now using the Advanced CouchSearch tool and then try to find yourself within a radius from your nearest town. You will see that you can use the mapping tool as well to see who else is around you. Find your own Marker and click on it - it should open up your own Profile. In the example above you would be far better off to say that you lived in New York City to get more Couch Requests. One thing you can do is edit your Marker so that you can say you live in New York City but your Marker is in Newark, New Jersey. All those others that you found are CouchSurfers like yourself, some with experience already and others with empty profiles. The experienced ones most likely have Friends and References. If you knew any of them you could request being a friend by pressing the "+ add to my Friends" button. A screen will come up asking how you know your friend. This same screen is the one that you use to give someone a Reference. You can only give Friends a Reference.

How did they get their Friends and References?

They have met face to face with other CouchSurfers. Most likely by travelling, emailing ahead asking for a Couch. There is some great advice here on how to write a CouchRequest and if you are travelling how to be a good Guest. For those staying at home you can make Friends and gain references by being a Good Host Everyone has to start somewhere. If you're a new member, perhaps try meeting up with other CSers in your city first for coffee and a chat. They'd also be able to give you some advice and I'm sure they'd have some interesting stories to tell. With some luck, you'll also make a new friend and maybe get a reference. People can be hesitant to host someone with absolutely no contacts or references.

What are all the icons in my Profile?

If you put your mouse over any of the icons and Click they should then go off to a screen that tells you what they are (except the Couch Status icon). If you want to see for yourself try it on this profile

So then what is a Vouched person?

A Vouched person is someone who has been met by a Trusted CS member. It is a Pyramisd that started with the Leadership Team. They met CS members and spent enough time with them to know that they were genuine and could be trusted. They gave them a Trust Vouch. Over a period of time more and more people were met and given Trust Vouches and those who may have met three of the leadership Team had three Trust Vouches. Once you have three vouches (and only then) you can vouch for someone else. And so it grew... so you may meet someone, become a Friend, have a reference given and, if they know you well enough and if they have three vouches or more they may well vouch for you. and when you have three vouches...who will you vouch for? ..... if you have to think about whether or not you should vouch for someone...don't! You can always vouch later anyway, but you can't take away your vouch, ever unlessyou UnFriend that person.

What is Verification

A profile goes towards developing a statement of trust. In addition to the Profile details you will see their Verification level and see if they have been Vouched for. Put simply, Verification is the process that FORMALLY and officially proves that the person is actually who they say they are. A non-verified person could actually claim to be anyone they wanted to be. With a Verified and Vouched for CS member you can be assured a greater security when staying with them, which is great, and just what you need as you set out on a new journey, to new lands meeting new people. It is all about trust. Your trust of them and their trust of you. At the same time that you email them looking for a Couch they will be looking at your profile for as much similar assurity of trustworthiness along with the Profile information of who you are. So please consider becoming a Verified member (at least to Level 1 which proves that you live where you live. Level 1 verification is free. Level 2 Verification proves further that you are who you say you are via a credit card identification check initiated by a transaction (whilst at the same time making a Donation of approx $US25 to CouchSurfing to cover its ongoing admin costs). If you can't afford Level 2 then just consider a Level 1 Verification as well as building Friendships and References in your profile. You will find that that is more than adequate to begin surfing the couches of the world !!! Keep in mind that if you do acheive Level 3 Verification and are happy to Donate but can't afford the $25 then Fully Complete your Profile (this will be required) and then write a request to the Contact Us team requesting consideration for a discount telling them of your circumstance.
VERIFICATION DOES NOT VERIFY IF THE PERSON YOU ARE GONNA TRUST AND STAY WITH IS NOT CRAZY, SANE OR MENTALLY STABLE. ITS JUST GONNA VERIFY THAT THE CRAZY, INSANE PERSON STAYS THERE.! VOUCHING: THE PERSON WHO VOUCHES PERSONALLY INTERACTS WITH PERSON BEING VOUCHED AND TALKS TO THEM. EVERY ONE HAS A POWER TO JUDGE A PERSON BUT IT WONT BE 100% BUT AT LEAST IT WILL BE CLOSE..!
You can see who vouched for someone and can then drill down to see if that person has good references and so on...

Who and what are CouchSurfing Ambassadors?

As you will begin to discover, CouchSurfing is a vibrant community. There are members from all over the world. Each Country has its own Ambassadors, being Global, Country, Nomadic and City Ambassadors. These Ambassadors are there to help you if you have any questions. See http://www.couchsurfing.com/ambassador.html for a full list and http://wiki.couchsurfing.com/en/United_States_Ambassadors this list for your United States Ambassadors]
In addition to each country having its own Ambassadors you will find that each country also has set up their own Groups, most of which you are most of which you are able to join.

Groups - What are they and why should I join one?

The groups can be for the City or Region in which you live or for other interest groups. As a starting point have a look at the United States Group.

Once you join the United States Group you will see it has State subgroups. Go to the State SubGroup and you will then see there are City, Regional and State interest groups. Join the one for your nearest City as you will then be notified if there are any meetups or get-togethers where you can meet other CSer's, develop Friendships and even gain References or Vouches.