Newsletter

We needed it, and here it is: big thanks to Mikky for putting up this newsletter together. Hopefully YOU will make good use of it.

We are a community, a global community, a travelling community, a community that wants to build a better world. Collectively. By cooperating with each other we have been able to improve the website and to create this newsletter. Working together inspires us, it fosters new ideas and allows us to make our dreams come true. The example of this newsletter might inspire YOU to work in a collective way too!

A collective work means the absence of individual ownership. We must let go our aspirations to controlling everything in order to leave room for others to express themselves and realize their projects. Slowly, we, at CouchSurfing, are getting to a mind-set that allows us to work in such a manner. There are so many people wanting to volunteer that haven't been heard so far. We are decentralizing CouchSurfing to make sure that everyone can participate if they want to. We look forward to working with all of you: it is so exciting!

...We are a bunch of drastically different people, all learning how to cooperate, get along and understand each other. Every time we don't communicate effectively, we are one step farthur from the CS mission.. every time we find a way to understand each ot"her, we are one step closer. CS is a mini-world...

Suggestions

A newsletter is not about personality or about individuals. It is about showing that we are all part of this beautiful world of constructing community, via effective communication. Education and awareness are important. This is not only about request features, but working on features, participating in making the community stronger. Let's ask ourselves what is that we need to accomplish with this collective effort: What is the audience of this newsletter? Do we want feedback? Do we want more people participating?A simplification is very important. a newsletter with mostly technical info to every user on the web site is very difficult to read. News about the community, like what are the most active groups, fun threads, things that people are doing around the world to help, featured CouchSurfer, or how much the CS Magazine idea is blooming.

Improving the website

Ever since the Crash in July there has been a huge effort going on to attract more programmers and technically inclined people to the CouchSurfing Tech Team. John Bates has started creating a Polling system, and started fixing a lot of bugs on the side. The website can now be viewed in other languages than English again, and all problems locations will probably be fixed very soon. Joining Groups is possible again and to lower the threshold for participating we'll make it easier to join Moderated Groups (for both Moderators and people interested).

There have been some problems with the web servers. We now have a page that will be up when there is a problem with the database, where you can find some more information about what the problem could be.

Workarounds for bugs

If you lost your password is not working, you can ask a Contact Us question for a CouchSurfing Admin.

Verified Members Level 3: It happend for some reason that some members who have been verified level 3 before the crash are now downgraded to Level 2, no worries please this will be corrected as soon as possible, please don´t hesitate to Contact Us if there is any question about it

Workarounds for bugs

If you lost your password is not working, you can ask a Contact Us question for a CouchSurfing Admin.

Major bugs and workarounds=

• Not staying logged in: check the "keep me logged in" option below the password field.
• Password retrieval is sometimes not working. If this happens, you need to let an Admin know.
• Server Downs. Did you know that CouchSurfing has now 5 Webservers on the run? If www.couchsurfing.com is down for maintenance don´t hesitate to try either www1, www2, www3, www4 or www5.
• Some locations are missing or cities are mapped to wrong states. Problems with Western Australia, Spain and several other locations will be hopefully fixed by the end of the year.

Recently fixed bugs

You can now join most Groups again: the "join" button on Groups is back. There will also be a button for joining moderated Groups, and an easier way for Group moderators to keep track of people who want to join.

• Message Counter: Big up to Matrixpoint who made it able to let his feature count right
• Disabled Expanding of Groups and Friends:
• This has been solved as well
• Friends on MAP:
• They are appearing correctly again
• More here

Bugs to be worked on next

• Verified Members Level 3: It happend for some reason that some members who have been verified level 3 before the crash are now downgraded to Level 2, no worries please this will be corrected as soon as possible, please don´t hesitate to Contact Us if there is any question about it

* Group Postings:

1. "ONLY email it to the person I am replying to" is currently not working
2. Please take care, as on each post of you all group members will get your posts
3. Matrixpoint has worked on fixing a bug that prevents reset passwords to be sent
4. Many minor issues coming up in the Cockroach group

New features

New features that have passed the beta-test phase and have been released recently

• Nearby travellers on your homepage
• Username
• Now You are able to Change your Username by yourself, but you only could change your username once every three months. If you need to modify it more often, please contact an CouchSurfing admin via the Contact Us area. For Security Reasons the Original Username will be archived in the Database.

Features in beta-testing

Features currently in beta-testing and to be released soon.

• Very Soon the long requested POLL´s will be available, the Betatests are done so far and soon you will find this feature available
• You might want to take a preview of it in the CockRoach Group
• Stay tuned and get more info about it, in the NEWS – soooooon!.
• Second round of beta-testing (to improve usability) is now mostly complete

Upcoming features

• Translations:They are available again, Translation Volunteers have started just now to translate the site into your language!

Are you an Expert in Translating? Want to Volunteer? check the Translation Groups Beta test server: early on during the NZ Collective - Should help to prevent things like sudden layout changes not to be seen on site as often as during the past few weeks.

Updated features

What features are currently being worked on and have changed in functionality or style

• Credit Card Verification/Donation Gateway:This has been updated a couple of days ago.That brought us even more High Security. You are more than welcome to test this feature as much as you can.
• Seven new languages were added to the system (Mooré, Sibe, Limburgish, Luxembourgish...). If you speak any of these, feel welcome to add them to your list of languages.
• Did you recognize that Daily Digest and Weekly Digest are working now for Group Communication?

1. Try and get all posts per day or per week at once
2. Just edit your group settings
3. Click on the Button “My Group Settings”

FAQ of the month

Frequently asked Question of the Month:

• Situation: You want to get verified but your address says "xx" and your Credit Card address says "zz"

1. To get Verified Level 3, please make sure to insert the address in your Profile where you could receive the verification Letter, you don´t have to insert the address from your Credit Card!
2. Only your Name must match exactly!
3. The Credit Cart payment verifies your name and the receiving of the Verification letter verifies the address

Further resources

Want to keep even more up to date with what's happening with bugs and new features? Check out the Bugs and Brainstorm groups and brandnew we have the CS TechNews

• Hey, let us know what YOUR mind is busy with related on topic CouchSurfing, lately.
• What is your most beloved feature of the CouchSurfing Project?
• Which feature are you requesting?
• What is YOUR turn away? (is there one even?)
• Which is the hottest group currently?
• The most interesting?
• The most intellectual?
• The loveliest?
• The most helpful one?

In which group are YOU most active and why? Let us know!

What are YOU missing in this Newsletter? Is there anything what you would add/remove? Please let us have your

What is your plan for the upcoming months?

• Seems like humans from every corner of Mama Earth are on the way to get united during the next CouchSurfing Collective which started recently in NEW ZEALAND
• Need more info?
• Want to participate?
• Maybe it is YOU who gonna be around and contribute the Project?