how do we plan to classify, someone doesn’t accept any of the requests and someone doesn’t receive any request? Two people one hasn’t received any request for 5 months so they seem like inactive/not hosting but there is another one receives requests but rejecting them all. Second group look like the same as the first group. Last 5 months inactive/not hosting.
Is there any methodology considered to make this classification ?
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Good points Husso! I think it’s best if we classify them according to what percentage of requests they have actually accepted. But then again, we all know that sometimes you could get like 20 requests per week and only accept one, right?
I guess we’d have to blend the two, but mainly nowadays in the search you see tons of host who haven’t logged in months and obviously aren’t active. We could start there.
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yeap you got the point 
IT should not be how often they host , it should be based on their activities, log in time etc…
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Still, I hate the way some people say “accepting guests” and literally have never accepted a guest. I wish we could have a way of actually verifying that the person is hosting, like they should have recent references to get that status, or something to that effect.
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It’s a little bit of an art vs a science. When I was working in public media we would try all sorts of messaging to find what resonated the most with our audience, and get them to become “members” (donating on recurring basis). This involved segmenting the audience and doing some basic multivariate testing where we would change the copy, graphics, and CTAs. It was trial and error for a bit until you recognize patterns.
Here are some examples from HubSpot:
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Yup, to give a better picture, it’s a bit like those ‘abandoned cart’ emails 
Perhaps rather than offering them something, we can remind them of activities in their vicinity. Something like…
SUBJECT: Hey Keni, we haven’t seen you in a while!
CONTENT: [List of recent events nearby]
CTA: See More/ RSVP
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I love this and think it would work well!
Do you think, “Hey Emily, here are some people you missed!” is too sad? They could be people who requested their couch or messaged them? And it could trigger after, say, three missed messages?
Also, I’d like to provide another perspective regarding not having enough active users/hosters.
Please take a look at this: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1%_rule_(Internet_culture)
In marketing for platforms based on community contributions, there is always an understanding that only a VERY SMALL percentage of users will contribute valuable content. Even for LinkedIn, which is a huge and very established platform, only 1% of users post content weekly (this is an actual statistic).
That’s not saying I disagree with providing an option to filter by activity level, but other than it being a feature, I don’t think that’s the solution to this ‘problem’. The solution is to get more users and grow a userbase of quality. Of course, that’s easier said that done, but I’m just providing my two cents’ worth here 
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That’s a very good idea and should definitely be on the roster of re-engagement emails!!
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I agree it’s annoying when people seem available but then all their references come from being a surfer, however I don’t think it’s necessary to verify if people are hosting because a lot of people (myself included) host arbitrarily based on availability and less hosting references = less requests. And a search system that just favours people who host a LOT (who are still obviously great) will push the “super host” effect and keep directing requests just to those people in each city.
Also as there’s no tangible benefit to having “accepting guests” on your profile I think most people with it are willing to accept guests (at least on very particular dates) and I think this is where a personalised calendar of availability (mentioned by @Emily on another thread) comes in, which people would be more inclined to update if the app, um, worked 
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It’s an issue I haven’t found so detrimental; the last login filter pretty much solved it for me.
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I agree with the 2 month setting. I often used CS to find pen pals to send/receive postcard to/from, so I was messaging folks pretty often. And I never had anyone that whose “last login” was more than one month.
I agree with Marlies here. Often, the more hosting experience someone has, the less likely they would be to host me- because they’re probably booked solid. And most of the people that hosted me over the years, I ended up being their first guest. And people (like me) move around a lot, so I think the last guest I had was maybe three years ago, because I’ve been doing work trade for a couple years.
just agree with all your suggestions @Emily
- delete people who didnt log in at all for maybe 1 year or 1,5 year?
- show only active users altho frankly i may be taking a break and forget to log in for 3 months, this doesnt mean i want not to meet a traveller or a local with an interesting meet up idea. So maybe send email newsletters to inform inactive members of what is going on next week and if nothing is going on, still send newsletter about what is going on in other countries/cities nearby just to give new members ideas about making events/getting engaged. Warn people on sign up if they dont log in for a full year their account will be put to a state of dormant and they wil be contacted about keeping it or not (give them a chance?). SOmething like that. IN couchsurfing i found profiles 10 or 13 years old with log in for all those years. No idea why the person didnt bother deleting their profile and sorry for sounding '‘negative’ but many of those dormant profiles have a reference of their LAST experience that person had being very bad.
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CS has actually already implemented this system of ‘Joe is missing you. Do you want send a message?’, when it’s been a while you haven’t logged in.
I like the idea of deactivating the profiles, not deleting them. They can just be reactivated on next login.
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I’ve had a few couchsurfer friends pause hosting when their priorities shifted (jobs, school, family) but came back after a couple year hiatus. I second the idea of deactivating versus delete.
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Yes, altho thats weird. I understand heavy workload not allowing someone to do anything else but i met couchsurfers who started singles and when they married they didnt pause and just continued but adding to their profiles that now they are not single anymore but married evenw ith children. I trust these more than those who pause and use it and pause. Unless they have workload or a safety reason for pausing completely. There are some nutters out there who will not leave you even after you hosted them. We all met those type of person even outside hospex but it makes me very sad when someone i gave care for a few days turns out to be someone who sends weird messages long after i hsoted. For this reason for a while i was hosting only women. (Im a woman) and then i started hosting men again after taking a ‘break’ from hosting men travelling alone. But i never really took a long break enough to call it quits. When i dont host i still meet up but then my meet ups in a new country/city were attacked for reasons unknown to me yet and so i could not go on. In fact the hospex community is small cause its a very particular lifestyle that most people dont share. Its in its base maybe a bit ideological, like ‘‘non-consumerist’’ or '‘anti-consumerist’ (correct me if im wrong). Im not trying to make it ‘political’ here just saying what I think from meeting many couchsurfers. Many of them are very political actually and love couchsurfing for this aspect, of non-consuming/sharing economy and they are conscious about it. I was not so conscious I just go crazy for language learning and cultural information from the people themselves not from academics… I was myself (and my family for a while when i was hosting with elderly relatives living near me) a ‘‘specimen’’ of culture for my guests.Thats actually what airbnb claims its different from booking.com or hotels.
I never understood the feature ‘‘wants to meet up’’ in couchsurfing until it was explained to me very recently. When you dont want to host/ cannot host but still have the time to show a traveller around your town or co-host an event.
This feature it is said allowed people to be contacted even when they say they dont host. I avoided contacting them thinking ‘‘yes they want to meet up but this doesnt mean i can message them’’. BUt when it was explained to me this is a feature that means they welcome meet up messaging (not for hosting), then I felt sad i never used it, cause in some occasiosn i didnt find a host, but i found interesting locals who said ‘‘want to meet up’’ but i didnt send a message thinking they dont want arbitrary messages.
RIght now i cannot host at all as im travelling. I can meet up and want to meet up even as im traveling solo. I dont need hospex for just a drink, i can just go drink or go with someeone i met in the aeroplane or waiting long hours in some bus stations etc. What i miss is meeting up with people for specific hobbies of mine. SOmething that trustroots.org is focusing on. BRinging people together not just for hosting and ‘share economy’ but because they have a strong interesting in building with earth, veganism, etc. There are even platforms for renting a room that allows you to write if you are vegan or vegetarian or omnivore, because for some people ideological overlapping is improving their comfort levels with a stranger.
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Absolutely do not display profiles that have not logged in over the past 90 days.
Send an email warning on day 85 to inactive users that their profiles will not be displayed in search if they do not log in over the next 5 days.
Deleting inactive users isn’t as effective as simply making them invisible in search. In certain countries I’ve noticed people do not log in for months or even years due to connectivity issues — a bunch of West African and East African nations stand out here — and then create new profiles after 1 or 2 years because they can’t remember the password and/or lost their old email account and/or can’t remember. Having the inactive profile still in the database can help Trust & Safety cut down on user fraud and abuse.
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