Hey folks,
First of all, I don't want to offend anyone or force my personal views onto people. I merely would like to ENCOURAGE people to fill out their profiles for the benefit of the entire community. So if you feel that this post is not relevant to you, please simply ignore it! I don't really want to spark off a huge discussion.
I'm getting a bit tired of an increasing number of profiles of people on CS who apparently don't find it necessary to provide other community members with some kind of information about themselves or some helpful advice about their city anymore.
When I joined CS in 2009, the community was still relatively small and people seemed to be eager to create interesting profiles and share advice and information about themselves to create a tight-knit and thriving community. Ever since CS has gone corporate, the flood gates have been opened to many people to join the website, who either don't seem to understand that it is vital to put some effort into their profiles and the community to make the community work, or who simply don't want to put any effort into it ... probably for tons of reasons. Because they just expect a cheap place to crash without ever giving anything back in return, or because they want to use the website for their commercial purposes, or because they are lazy, or ... well, you name it. There are probably millions of reasons. Don't get me wrong. There are still many, many profiles out there which are interesting, and helpful, and many, many members who put a lot of effort into building up trust with other community members, but there also those other profiles...
I've heard the argument "yeah, but I don't know what to say about myself" a million times, but ... seriously? I find it kinda saddening that there is such a lack of inventiveness. Everybody is unique and even my kids at school, some of who are only 8 years old, always have something interesting to tell about themselves after their summer holidays. So please ... dig a little deeper. I'm sure everybody can tell an interesting story about themselves, as long as you are willing to make an effort :)
Sharing some information about yourself and sharing advice about your city is important for several reasons. Here are just two:
a) The security reason: From a hosting perspective, it is exceedingly difficult to determine whether or not to host someone if there is little information in their profile. This is especially true for those of you without a significant number of references. If you - a total stranger - are asking me to stay in my home, I don't think it is unreasonable for you to put some time/effort into your profile.
No offence but if your profile is not filled out properly, in other words if you are not willing to share some personal information with me, I do not know why I should consider hosting you. Of course, if you are new at Couchsurfing, you won't have any references yet and nobody will have vouched for you yet - that is perfectly fine! But I will not host people who send me requests with profiles where I even have to guess what gender they are since they do not provide me with any information whatsoever.
b) On my profile you can see a big orange box, in which I have compiled a long list of interesting places to visit, where to eat, how to get around by public transport, etc in Cologne (where I used to live for a long time). I would like to ENCOURAGE everybody to take this opportunity to compile a list about your fav places, food, public transport (yes, I sometimes ride the bus :D) in Saigon (what are your favourite places, maybe you can add a weblink and address and how to get there as well, etc). It's awesome if people can see the city through YOUR eyes. Share your tips and favourite places with the community. It's simply a nice thing to do. It only takes up a little time :) And it shows that you CARE :)
Of course, it's always better and more interesting if people can actually meet with you and get to know you in person, but ... that's not always possible...
Well, .......... I'm having a hard time today finding the right words. I hope you can forgive me :D But I think your getting my drift, why it is important to put some information onto your profile. This community depends on you. If you don't put some effort into this community, the community can not work. :) Okay, enough blabla ;)
Quantity can cultivate quality.
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