How do we offer documentation?

I like this idea - on that note, we can also urge hosts to (IF AND ONLY IF they have the mental capacity and patience at the time) optionally provide constructive feedback to surfers who had a bad request, that way users could gradually and organically educate each other and build a better community. We could even urge users to have some “template replies” that point surfers towards the FAQ page, if they did not provide a quality request. I know @Jesse did that on Couchsurfing a lot. :slight_smile:

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Maybe it’s better if the system does that? If that’s possible. Like if don’t get accepted, you get a note - we see your requests don’t get accepted, the possible reasons are … (empty profile, bad request, etc), see more in the FAQ (link). It’s very sweet of Jesse and other people to explain this stuff to people, but I don’t think the platform should urge you to do that.

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Been there, tried that on CouchSurfing! Sometimes it worked and people were grateful for constructive feedback, sometimes it didn’t work at all- a lot of people do not like unsolicited advices.

I usually only gave feedback if people specifically asked for it and when I felt that they are not going to get upset about it. But sometimes it’s difficult to predict that. Like when I got a generic copy and paste request on CS that I ended up declining and the guy asked me (very friendly) why am I declining etc. so I wanted to be helpful and replied that the message I got from him was copy and paste and that I unfortunately do not accept those, I gave him recommendations on what to improve and wished him a nice stay in my city. He followed up with a message explaining that copy and paste requests always worked for him so he sees no reason to write personalized requests… moreover I got a negative reference “Too rude too blunt too self absorbed”. No good deeds go unpunished :smiley:

I don’t think I will be the one educating surfers anymore (even if I have the mental capacity and patience) simply for the fact that not every surfer appreciates it. Now, when people ask me for the reasons why I decline or ask for feedback I simply do not reply at all. Sadly, it’s easier for me this way than sending link to “How to write a couch request etc.” and other written advices I used to give in the past.

I agree with Phaula, I would rather if the constructive feedback came from the system. There could be YES NO option coming with the request: “Do you find this message/profile to be in the spirit of Couchers?”. If the person gets a lot of NO feedbacks, they could get a system message with possible reasons that @phaula suggested that would in the end help them figure out what to improve- fill out profile, add profile picture, read other people’s profiles, write better requests etc. so hosts do not have to deal with it.

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i’ve just got a template decline message for copypastes hehe, but yeah i referece the “Howto write a couch request site” although the link is now offline, haven’t bothered to change fix it yet

this is an automated response designed for those that didn't state any good reason 
as to why they wanted to surf at my place instead of somewhere else that or just 
didn't follow any of my guidelines, read my profile (again) and if you really want to 
surf at my place try writing something different (read the IMPORTANT lines at the 
top of my profile)

if you still don't know what to write or think you did well and don't understand why 
i decline you, try reading this page:
http://couchwiki.org/en/How_to_write_a_couch_request
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This actually awakened something in my mind when it comes to profiles/requests. It’s very possible that these kinds of information can be something that contributes to the reference or community score. One sentence requests, whether declined or not, can reflect a lot in how communication is of the host/surfer. Just a thought.

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Interesting but where is the guarantee it won’t backfire on you? Imagine the situation that you: a host have power to lower surfer’s community score because you didn’t like their request. Now imagine that surfers can do the same- lower your community score because you rejected them.

Whatever the score is going to be about I hope it will only reflect real life- hosted/surfed/met experiences.

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