Updated on June 5, 2020
How is Trustroots different from Couchsurfing?
The elephant in the room
Couchsurfing, the largest hospitality exchange network has announced on the 14th of May, that they will be requiring many of their users to pay a monthly subscription. Since Trustroots is also enabling hospitality exchange, this is very relevant to us.
While Couchsurfing hasn’t claimed to be a charity or a non-profit since 2011, this move has angered many members of the community. When Couchsurfing turned into a for-profit, there were claims that it would also remain free. So the questions that are being asked about Couchsurfing are also relevant to other networks.
While we aren’t taking any particular action in the wake of Couchsurfing’s decision, we’re putting this post out as a “state of Trustroots in 2020” in the topics of transparency, non-profit status, community ownership and what kind of legal backing stands behind our good word to never sell out to venture capitalists.
Updated on May 17, 2020
Covered in covids
Dear friend,
you are looking at the first letter from the Trustroots community to itself. I hope it finds you in good health during this time of plague and forced sedentariness.
This letter, and the ones that will hopefully follow every two or three months, is about stories. I want to tell you of some pretty incredible adventures that some of us in the family have gone through, and you know we’re an adventurous bunch. Hey, maybe your story needs to be told too. And it will if you allow it.
Today, you’ll read about how some of the most nomadic of us are dealing with the lockdown. I’ll tell you about Ibby, who became homeless (and penniless) in the coldest and most expensive country on Earth, about how Nick managed to salvage a Trustroot volunteer gathering, how Sara had to hide from angry mobs in India, how Tajana had to rush hitchhiking across two borders before finding sanctuary, and of Hillel’s daring escape from Paris.
I hope you enjoy reading about them and that it will inspire you in one way or another.
Posted on April 11, 2020
Spring Hackweek
With a pandemic rolling over Europe and borders being closed, it might not be the time for traveling right now. But we think it’s a good time for working on a traveler’s network and pushing it to the next level.
So, we didn’t cancel our hackweek that we were looking forward to. Instead, we’re doing it online. While a lot of people are currently struggling with the challenges of remote collaboration, we’re already used to it.
Today, we started the hackweek and we’re happy some new faces joined the gang! There are a lot of different ways anyone can contribute to Trustroots. If you want to be a part of that, get in touch! You don’t have to be a hacker to join the hackweek ;)
That all being said, we all value in-person contact very much and we’re looking forward to have a hackweek in the physical world once that is possible again.