gegenglueck

... noone will hear you. Here someone gives a loud shout and it seemed to work out at least for now. From my point of view BeWelcome is the best of all hospitality exchange networks in terms of organisational values and definetely right now the only one I'd contribute to. And contributions are necessary right now: money is (or thanks to a lot of people: was) running out, the chairman left frustrated, the webpage felt quite dead ... but within a short time after the letter to all members the donations bar exploded"[1], a lot of people show up online and more. Hopefully this momentum lasts and in consequence the networks becomes more usable for actually making contacts, finding hosts/guests and making a difference.

Being part of hospitality networks for nearly four years now, I can only recommend using them, I've met many people from / at different places and enjoyed it a lot. Off course: sometimes it's just a short meetup and a place to sleep, but even that is much more than sitting in a random hostel or hotel. And countless experiences went far beyond simple traveller's gossip. My warmest regards from here to Hongkong, Lahore, Kopenhagen, Helsinki, Kassel, Amsterdam, Hamburg, Viktoria, Funchal and many more places: You've made a difference.

I would really like to get rid of the bad run commercial network of couchsurfing. It's the biggest network and also the most usable one, as most of the people hangout there. But the problem aren't the people, it's the system and at couchsurfing we can't change the system. We could only beg and pray it continues working. So an alternative network is needed, that is run by the people who are the network, where everyone can have an impact on how things are done. And if we really want to, we will make a difference.

[1]We're not talking about really much money here, nevertheless it's necessary to raise it or the servers go offline / domains expire / bank account is closed.