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From OpenCouchSurfing.org, do not believe everything you read here as "the facts"!
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| Welcome to OpenCouchSurfing.org. Don't panic. Our Mission: |
We believe in the spirit of CouchSurfing, of creating a better world through understanding. We still believe this purpose is best served by a truly Open Organization, one that is representative of the CouchSurfing community as a whole. We believe information should flow freely through an Open Organization. We don't believe in a Corporatization of a volunteer effort. We have realized that this Freedom will not come from within the CouchSurfing core itself. We believed in being able to help CouchSurfing by opening the organization from the outside. But we have learned that our efforts were in vain. Now we stick around
Are you confused? Maybe the One page OpenCS can give you an overview. We are already working on 196 pages! |
How can you help?
- Sign our petition.
- Support our Campaigns
- Spread the Word
- Think of other good ways to Open and Free CouchSurfing and put them on this site.
- Get Involved
Special note: Please remember our Modus Operandi.
How openCS Works
CallumTalk CS describes openCS as: A loosely formed group of people who share a similar desire to effect change within CouchSurfing. A wiki-like thing. OpenCS is not an organisation, it has no members, no board, no directors, no chairman. It's simply a web site and a whole lot of energy.
This means, if you'd like something to change, all you have to do is make it happen. It's a good idea to discuss things (see how we communicate), but in general, we're each free to do as we see appropriate. Nobody can be fired from openCS, but likewise nobody can speak on behalf of openCS.
How we communicate
We communicate in a few different ways:
Why are we doing this?
We love CouchSurfing. CouchSurfing.com has over 200.000 members now. It has grown from Casey Fenton's enormous personal efforts, through the contributions of thousands of people into the enormous worldwide network of volunteers it is today. However, this history is holding the organization back. The core of the CouchSurfing organization has evolved into a closed group that has a strong reluctance to share internal information and is not representative of the community at large. Even though we do not judge the fact that it evolved this way and recognize the efforts of that core group as valuable, it is not right to let this situation continue to exist indefinitely. We do not believe a community of 200.000 people (the size of a small city!) can be "owned" by anyone, it should be allowed to govern itself.
Why this way?
Many of us have tried to Open CouchSurfing by communicating through the available channels, by posting in groups, emailing core CouchSurfing members, partaking in conference calls. These efforts have generally been met with:
- A long and resounding silence. Most critical questions are simply ignored.
- Calls for "positivity" instead of "negativity". This technique effectively suppresses the willingness of CouchSurfing volunteers to express dissatisfaction because of the risk at being labeled "a complainer".
- Censorship. Attempts at publishing "sensitive" information can and will be suppressed on the CS site and on the Wiki. However, there is no guideline as to what is deemed "sensitive" information, which makes it an arbitrary call of the core CS group.
Or, as a man once stated (under much worse circumstances):
You may well ask: "Why direct action? Why sit-ins, marches and so forth? Isn't negotiation a better path?" You are quite right in calling, for negotiation. Indeed, this is the very purpose of direct action. Nonviolent direct action seeks to create such a crisis and foster such a tension that a community which has constantly refused to negotiate is forced to confront the issue. It seeks so to dramatize the issue that it can no longer be ignored. My citing the creation of tension as part of the work of the nonviolent-resister may sound rather shocking. But I must confess that I am not afraid of the word "tension." I have earnestly opposed violent tension, but there is a type of constructive, nonviolent tension which is necessary for growth. Just as Socrates felt that it was necessary to create a tension in the mind so that individuals could rise from the bondage of myths and half-truths to the unfettered realm of creative analysis and objective appraisal, we must we see the need for nonviolent gadflies to create the kind of tension in society that will help men rise from the dark depths of prejudice and racism to the majestic heights of understanding and brotherhood.
- Martin Luther King: "Letter from Birmingham"
