Australian Tips Hints and links to better CouchSurfing

Welcome to the Australian Tips Hints and links wiki page that will hopefully provide a few hints and ideas to enhance your Couch Surfing experience.

DID YOU KNOW?

The Last login address

http://www.couchsurfing.com/last_login.html

The nearby travellers is based on the "last log in" function that you can read about [http://www.couchsurfing.com/last_login.html here.

There isn't much CS can do about the fact that the last login location is defined by the ISP provider of the computer you sit at. It is just an unfortunate thing for people that live in remote areas or use providers that channel their internet from somewhere else that their last login address can be thousands of kilometres Wrong !!.

I need a Calendar - why doesn't CS provide one?

One way to get around a calendar thing would be to use a google calendar and link it in your profile. There are many members effectively doing that. Contact your Ambassador if you would like advice on how to set one up.

My photos won't upload in the order i want

For the photos to upload in the order you want the best solution is to upload them in the order you want and set the photo as "last" each time you upload a new one.

What defines the order of your "Friends"

"The friends list order is based on the strngth of the links that you (and your friend) both put into the site when you first registered the friends link with each other. You should be able to test that by editing the strength of one of your friends links and seeing where they move to."

An Icon key

Members have asked if there is a symbol "Key" that is easy to find for new people? Simply by clicking on the symbols you will be taken to a link that explains that symbol.

so....what then is the Purple Horseshoe? - now that is a rare symbol indeed and you can read more here

The 3 groups that show up in your Profile

are the last 3 groups you visited, so you can easily see, by their profile who is checking out what groups.

You can Add a Language translator to your Profile.

Simply follow the instructions here. To see what it looks like check out This Profile or this one

You can find other members that are in the same groups as you by selecting advanced search and saying yes in the field "In My Groups .... Search for members who are in groups I am in? - give it a try !!

You can edit your group settings on the fly - especially useful for when you are travelling - try it here - Note you need to be logged into [http://www.couchsurfing.com CS first]

that CouchSurfing has a shop that sells a variety of interesting stuff to the CouchSurfing Addictee - and if there is anything you would like that isn't in their range maybe you might like to drop them a line.

You too can leave a testimonial that will randomly appear like all those others you see on the main Couchsurfing front page by visiting this page

Ever wondered who is Travelling nearby

The Travellers nearby tool is a handy thing for those outside of the city area to know who is travelling nearbay based on the ISP address of the last computer they logged in on. Keep in mind that they may well have been and gone if they happened to log in a few days ago. An interesting tool but with limited uses other than to show you those who might still be around - take for example if you had been to a local meetup on the weekend and wanted to contact someone you met but couldn't remember their name - now the tool might work for you.

What is the current Status of your Couch?

As you know you can edit the status of your couch from Available to Coffee to Travelling and to Not Available.

Did you know that if you have your Couch unavailable the "request to Couchsurf with" button is removed?

So as not to be pestered with CouchSurfing request whilst you are Travelling or presently unable to Host make sure the Status of your Couch is what you want it to be. It will solve a lot of unwanted emails. Just on that did you know that for every "CouchSurf Request" you don't answer it decreases you Replied to % percentage which then places you towards the back of the queue when someone does a CouchSearch of your town/city.. so easy peasy, if your couch isn't available change the icon !!

A Couch Calendar

Some members have recently been discussing how to show a Calendar in their profiles that would allow potential Surfers to see if there is a "vacancy" before emailing off a request.

If you are interested in attempting something like this have a read of this Posting as well as further discussion here

also what you need to do is edit the google button code, remove the render url and replace it with the embeded url, ie the normal "read only" address for your calendar

this is what i replaced the normal source code with for mine

a target="_blank"href="http://www.google.com/calendar/embed?src=livewire6904%40gmail.com"

Everything you wanted to know about the % CouchSurf Requests replied to field:

"When the reply rate was developed it was for all emails and now it is just for couch requests... back then there where discussions about how to change it and it was agreed to just take the requests in the last six months.... Marcus" from the discussion [1]

the percentage only takes in account the Couchrequests and if you do not have the couch available icon on the other mails will not change it...

What Qualifies in CouchSurfing as a Completed profile?

"A complete profile is Mission Statement, language, profile photo, description and couch info. So exactly 5 things have to be filled out. Oh Donna" from the discussion [2]

and from this discussion;[3]

"And here is the current criteria for a complete profile: - at least one photo - at least one language set (I think everyone gets US English by default, so failing this one would require some active work...) - the current mission defined - the preferences defined - the couch description defined While saving profile changes, users are warned if any of these criteria is not met. Maija"

What happens if i don't login to CouchSurfing for some time?

"as far as I know those profiles where the user has not logged in for half a year the user will get a e-mail telling him to log in or he will be taken off the search... if he does not react he will be taken off the search and you will not find him with a couchsearch anymore... This system is working already since the beginning of CS or at least since three years and that's nearly the beginning.... If you do find a profile via the couchsearch where the user has not logged in for a year please let me know and I will talk to the tech team to fix that.... Cheers, Marcus"

CouchSurfing Zones:

CS has set up a facilty that enables CS Members to establish CouchSurfing Zones - CouchSurfing Zone Tuross is an example. From now on, as you travel, you will benefit from knowing about these Zones as more come on line. Basically they are a venue set up for CS Members by CS Members to encourage greater interaction of CS'ers in larger cities and a place that encourages local members to hang making it easier for travelling CS Members to hook up. Have a read of the CouchSurfing Zones Wiki page for more info and a list of Zones as they come on line.

Editing Your Location marker in Google Maps

When you first registered with CouchSurfing you told them the name of your town. From that point on whenever anyone goes looking for a couch the Mapping tool shows your location using a small red flag that sticks up from the map. Fortunately most of us live spread out along the coast in smaller towns however for 63 Wollongong members it appears that they all live in a group house on the corner of South and Jutland Streets, Coniston.

As a CouchSurfer you might be interested in staying in North Wollongong - sadly if you were looking for members up there you won't find any using the map and when doing a CouchSurf by listing members in Wollongong you will only get the 79 living, supposedly, in the same group house.

A FixIt tool has been developed to help those larger city members move their flag to somewhere a little closer to where they live. Presently Sydney members are being encouraged and soon you will find the same in Melbourne which should make it easier for us when we head to the City.

The Location Fixit tooland its description of use can be found here.

How to improve your Profile.

If you have an empty profile with only the very basics on it.

With an empty profile it is difficult to imagine a CS member who would want to host you or be your guest. If you get 3 requests and 2 of them are from people with a totally empty profile and a mail that tells nothing about them.... who would you choose if you were that host.

You may not be big on writing and may not like talking about yourself.... but if your profile says nothing about you...???

The length and/or quality of text is up to you, totally. How are the rest CS members supposed to know what a cool and wonderful person you may be if you give nothing away to demonstrate that?

Photos are not be a must if you don't want to (even though they do help! Always good for a host to know what face to expect knocking on their door!). If you are coy load a photo that might describe you via its quirkiness, its love of the sea, your love of your car... anything to offer a hint of your personality..

A Photo rich in information would balance the lack of info in the text of yor profile.

It's essential for new members particularly, who have not yet had the chance to interract with other CS's and gain trust, friend links & references and to take the time and make the effort to complete in their profile so that the rest of us can know a little more about you. This way you will be able to use the Couch Surfing network to its full potential, as a host and as a Surfer.

If you would like to go beyond the Normal Profile then try Customising Your Profile

When i am looking for a Couch what order are the results shown in?

When you search for a couch the order of profiles that come up are based on the following Algorythm.... If you find that you aren't getting many Couch Requests you might like to have a closer look at what the system is looking for...

Here is version 1.0 of the algorithm:

The sort order priority value is the sum of 9 contributions:

• picture: (yes => 1, no => 0) * 2
• vouches: ( > 9 => 3, > 2 => 2, > 0 => 1) * 2
• references: ( > 15 => 3, > 7 => 2, > 2 => 1) * 2
• verification level: ( > 2 => 3, == 2 => 2) * 2
• couch available: ('D' => 3, 'Y' or 'M' => 2, 'C' or 'CM' => 1) * 3
• surf requests: ( < 3 => 3, < 8 => 2, < 16 => 1) * 3
• % email replies to requests: ( == -1 (no requests) => 3, >= 90% => 3, >= 75% => 2, >= 50% => 1) * 3
• last login: ( <= 3 days => 3, <= 7 => 2, <= 14 => 1, <= 30 => 0, <= 60 => -1, <= 120 => -2, > 120 => -3) * 3

• If 'couch available' = 0 * 3, '% email replies' and 'surf requests' are set to minimum(1, initial value) * 3
• If 'couch available' = 1 * 3, '% email replies' and 'surf requests' are set to minimum(2, initial value) * 3

Maximum sort order priority total = 62

See the Birth Dates of Friends

Casey has added a new Birth Date Feature [4]. He writes... "Many people have asked for it and it now exists. Today I converted the site from recording user age to birth dates instead. This is better because it will calculate your age automatically (no need to update it). Additionally, you can specify who can see your birthday too (Nobody, Friends or Everyone). Your friends will be able to see your birthday in the "My Friends Recently Logged In" bar on the home page.

You can update yours here

And now you can keep tabs of your friends birthdays. Then use this handy tool - yes, presently there is a glitch where it is out by one day however the trusty IT team are on to it.

When someone wants you as a Friend but you don't know them

Just a quick note on "Friends". Occasionally you might be asked by a random member to become a Friend. If you don't know them consider sending the following email to them (whilst also declining their Friend request)

Hey there %first_name%!

I noticed you added me as your friend, unfortunately I have to decline your request. The friends on CouchSurfing are very important for the safety of us all, as it is one of the features that can tell you if a certain member is known by some people that you can trust or you think can be trusted. You should only add, as friends, members you really trust, people you've met in real life or (only certain members do this) people you have a long lasting online connection.

If you need to contact me in the future and want to remember me, you can add me to your contact list. You can do so by pressing a button on my profile on top of my main picture that says "++ Contact List".

Your contact list will be at: www.couchsurfing.com/contactlist.html

Hope you understand the importance of this feature and thus my decision!

Thanks again for joining in!

What should i know about Safety?

We have set up a very good wiki page to hopefully best inform you of Australian CouchSurfing Safety

Leaving a negative Reference for someone who has a Hidden profile?

If for any reason you have a Negative Experience and want to leave a Negative reference but find that the person has made their Profile Hidden then: from OKIJIBAWA

"This comes up often, and I have provided this technique to members in the past. But I decided that if members can hide their profile to avoid a legitimate negative reference, then it can’t be bad to publish this information.

Because the profile is hidden, this does require that you have received and email from the person previously in order for this to work. Of course, this makes sense usually because you shouldn’t leave a reference unless you have meet the person. If you are unsure how to do it, just try it with an already referenced friend and I think it will be clear.

1. Open the CS email from this person, move the curser over their name in the email (like this example “From JoeTraveller”) and right-click with the mouse, and select “Properties”. You should see something similar as this here www.couchsurfing.com/profile.html?id=2328LV5

2.Take the last digits (from this example above, “2328LV5”) and replace the XXXXs below with “2328LV5”.

www.couchsurfing.com/leave_reference.html?id=XXXXXX

3. Put this new link in your browser and you will be presented with the normal reference screen you normally see, and you can complete the reference information and it will be attached to the hidden profile.

4. Once completed, you can go to “My Profile”, and then select “My References”. This will show you all the people you have exchanged references with. And here you will see the person’s reference which you left for them."

Remember to always be more than cautious of Surfers with a Negative Reference and feel free to make contact directly with the person who gave them that reference.

for some more CouchSurfing Tips