Couchsurfing data transfer tool

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Hello all, I was thinking it may be helpful for us to build a tool that would easily let couchers transfer data from couchsurfing and potentially other similar platforms to their coucher profile. Ideally the tool would take downloaded data (about, profile photo, interests, gender, address etc…) from couchsurfing and automatically fill the relevant data fields on couchers. This data is currently available for download in a json file.

I think it would decrease a lot of the friction that comes with completing profiles on a new account. I’m sure many of us have profile completion fatigue. At least I do :smile:, so a tool that could reduce this friction as much as possible would not only be useful but could become key in gaining more users from the couchsurfing platform. Convertkit used this strategy to gain users from mailchimp although it was done manually. This seems a lot simpler to implement. Just a thought

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There is Couchspinner, a small tool to directly visualize couchsurfing’s export archive. It also offers a nice interface to go through the raw data fields.

I don’t know how much effort it would involve, but it could be a fun feature to have a similar drag & drop filed on new, empty profiles that reads something like: “Coming from Couchsurfing? Drop your data export and jump start your profile!”

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That’s what I had in mind as well. I exported my couchsurfing data using couchspinner but didn’t feel like copying and pasting it all over when I signed up for couchers :).

A drag and drop tool would indeed reduce a lot of that friction. It remains to determine how much effort would go into building something like that.