*I used the spelling Couch$urfing instead of CouchSurfing since I realized that, now that they are a B-Corporation and no longer a NGO, it seems they’re now only about the money…*
After a (public) exchange on Twitter with @gotravel during which I mentioned my Indian epic adventures that included being kicked out by our Couch$urfing (C$) host in Goa, India (they were not “tagged” as you can see, just mentioned), they suggested I should write a reference, a thing I was reluctant to do up to now in order to maintain a certain “peace” and avoid a public fight and unnecessary retaliation.
@ps_backpacker Don’t forget to leave a reference for your host. And get in touch with Trust & Safety if need be: bit.ly/11rz362
— Couchsurfing (@Couchsurfing) April 19, 2013
Over 6 months after our C$ misadventure, I decided to go ahead and write a negative but honest reference on our host. Not animated with anger or desire of revenge, but in order to help maintain the integrity of the system. I have been vouched for by 3 experienced users and as a C$’er that was now granted the right to vouch for others, I thought it was the responsible thing to do.
(FYI: Sue is the friend I was traveling with)
As you can see, that wasn’t a success! After reviewing C$ References guidelines* (see note below) in general and section 9 in particular (the part about “profanity, abusive or discriminatory language”), I went ahead and sent them this first email, considering that being called “fat and lazy” had no purpose but a discriminatory one. (You can click on the image to get a larger and easier to read version).
*March 2016 update : please note that the original policy is not there anymore, but has been replaced by a similar one that you can find here. Section 1 of “Content policy” is very similar.)
NOTE: click on images to see larger text version
Answer I received from C$…
I decided to give them another chance…
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