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Post by fleur on Oct 6, 2015 22:41:40 GMT
OMG Deb I can't believe how much work you have done on this! The more I look the more I'm shocked. Well done, you need a medal ?
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Post by High Priestess on Oct 6, 2015 22:54:21 GMT
Thanks FLeur -- yes it has been QUITE a lot of work, I think I have spent about 100+ hours on setting this up and getting word out, over the last 2 weeks. I have posted 775 posts myself, and others have added about another 100, so we're rolling out at running speed. However it has been a LOT of fun. Really I have been itching to organize some of the post material that is on here for quite a long time -- amusing posts, very helpful posts, great stories, and finally I get the chance to create some organizational structure for all of this. It feels very good --- like cleaning house after a long delay. Plus I love any chance to be creative and there is more opportunity for that here than on the old forum site.
So one of my intentions has definitely been to address the crying need so many have spoken of, to have a working search function and an ability to find material by topic or keyword. I believe that Airbnb will be providing groups with a working search function too, but I was eager to organize the material I already had, as well as new material to come.
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Post by fleur on Oct 7, 2015 8:29:21 GMT
Do you think they will keep the forums still?
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Post by Alice on Oct 7, 2015 15:04:35 GMT
Well, what I have heard, but only second hand, is this --- see here: www.airbnb.com/groups/content/content-176759I have heard some similar things second hand from another group organizer as well. I believe Andrew has heard more, and I have asked him to share what he can, but so far he has not shared anything, so perhaps he was told to keep the matter confidential. Anyone who has any information to share on this subject would be welcome to post about it here or on the other thread where we are discussing this issue: globalhosting.freeforums.net/thread/452/scroll-thread-discussion-group-site
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Post by High Priestess on Oct 7, 2015 16:28:28 GMT
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Post by Till on Oct 8, 2015 12:54:37 GMT
Great work, Deborah (and others?) do! Together with my co-organizers - I ( Till) m moderating the so-called Airbnb DACH group (plus two other groups, Hosts4Hosts and Stuttgart), which is dedicated to D-A-CH = Germany - Austria - Switzerland. A German-speaking community, building a vivid group with valuable discussions about factual issues as well as emotional matters (like host fatigue). As we are very concerned about the future of the Airbnb groups, where until now we see no place for D-A-CH discussions, but only city-based forums without the chance to speak about more "global" matters, we are looking for a Plan B. Thus, I really appreciate this new platform! I will follow the discussions here carefully and will think about if and how to transfer the Airbnb D-A-CH to here. Two weeks ago I already startet to draft a structure for a new forum. My idea is to have a sub-forum here, with general German-speaking topics on top, plus some special folders like e.g. German taxes, German internet issue, Austria-specials, Switzerland-specials, special big cities/regions... I'm still learning how this new platform works and how we can build such a structure. Would be great if all could be integrated here, so our members are encouraged to read and to contribute to the English section as well. I still wish that the new Airbnb forums will make such a step unnecessary, as my wife Jutta already complains about the lot of time I spend in the groups... So I will also follow Airbnb's new way with great attention. And let the members decide what they prefer.
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Post by High Priestess on Oct 8, 2015 15:49:07 GMT
Till, I also believe it can be very valuable to have many of the existing Airbnb groups, which will be lost with the changes planned by AIrbnb in November, to have a new home in one place, as it can help build a cohesive independent commmunity. So your German speaking groups would be welcomed here and I could set up a forum section just for those groups. Once you have a clear idea of how you would like to structure that, let me know and I can set it up for you, and assign you as moderator of those groups.
A team of about 5 of us is actually now reaching out to all the existing group organizers of all the 440 Airbnb groups which are reasonably active and do not simply have a group full of advertisements. If you would like to be part of this effort, let me know. Our intention is to welcome others to use this forum, or at least to dialogue here while they think about what they want to do. Some groups may change to a Facebook format, and if so we would still like them to come here if only to post a link to their group, so that others know how to find them. It's my hope that this forum can be a place where hosts from around the world go to either participate in a global host community here, or find their own regional group here (eg German-speaking, or Swedish- speaking, or Mandarin-speaking hosts) or else at least find resources and links that help direct them to groups of hosts in their own region or a region they are interested in. Even if we dont' live in a certain region, we may, for instance, want to know what is the news as far as regulations about short term rentals in various parts of the world. Hence it is helpful to have people from around the world to come to post those things here.
THis week so far I have sent out messages in Spanish,Portugese, Catalan, Bosnian, French, Greek and Swedish, to reach various groups around the world. ( I don't speak all those languages -- am using Google Translate).
Till, if you would like, I invite you to use this forum also to preserve many of the valuable posts from your groups. Anything really valuable is worth saving as a WORD document on your computer, but also, because the Airbnb groups will be closed up (and right now the older material is hard to access as posts get buried and there is no working search function) it could help to preserve a history of your group or valuable posts on a site like this which has a working search function and where one can scroll down and search by thread title. I have preserved about 300 posts from two groups in my area, Home Sharers of San Francisco and Home Sharers of the East Bay, for instance. See those groups here:
globalhosting.freeforums.net/board/16/home-sharers-regional-chapters
I saved pretty much all but the personal posts of the East Bay group, since the beginning of its existence, and was able to save all the San Francisco posts from 6 months back. I left names of those who were fine with me leaving their name in, and used pseudonyms or intials for those who I had been unable to reach, and removed all personally identifying information.
It's my thought that regional groups from around the world would fit into this upper section of the forum -- I would add your German groups there.
Let me know your thoughts on how you would like to structure your groups here.
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Post by helgaparis on Oct 9, 2015 19:59:18 GMT
Deborah, what an incredible work you have done in so short a time. From an empty structure to a working forum with lots of contents in what? two weeks? Very impressive. Keep up the good work. Helga
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Post by High Priestess on Oct 10, 2015 5:38:52 GMT
Yes, Helga , it is a lot of work but it is fun. A team of us is also reaching out to a lot of hosts who are group organizers around the world, and just today I sent a message in Portugese (thank you Google Translate!) to a group organizer in Brazil. I noticed that she had already posted on her group about the changes in Airbnb groups to come in November. So I joined her group and posted a reply in Portugese. I hope Google Translate works okay because I don't know a lick of Portugese! HEre is the thread: www.airbnb.com/groups/content/content-178930Here's what was said; Rosana posted in Oct 2015 Nova plataforma de GRUPOS do AirBnbBom dia anfitriões!!!! Recebi pela Natalay/AirBnb, esta informação... O lançamento da nova plataforma será em novembro e nós adoraríamos que você fosse um dos primeiros a participar. Neste momento, a plataforma atual "Grupos" ficará disponível apenas para consulta -- isso significa que os membros ainda poderão ler o conteúdo publicado anteriormente, mas não conseguirão mais postar, curtir, responder ou iniciar novas discussões. Caso não consigam postar, este poderá ser o motivo, ok? Abraços a todos e bom domingo! Rosana Deborah: Olá, Rosana, enviei-lhe uma mensagem de hoje sobre este tema que você está postando sobre aqui. Vários de nós, em um desejo de preservar as comunidades de acolhimento que se desenvolveram em muitos fóruns Airbnb, tanto a nível mundial e local, criaram um novo fórum para uso por qualquer um que gostaria de preservar as suas comunidades de acolhimento e / ou participar de um mundial comunidade de hosts. Você pode ver que o novo fórum que criamos aqui: www.globalhostingforum.comSinta-se livre para dar uma olhada e deixe-me saber se você tiver quaisquer perguntas. Você pode me encontrar no fórum também. Eu sou um organizador grupo de dois grupos Airbnb, "New Hosts Forum" (junto com Andrew) e "Home Sharers of the East Bay".
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Post by High Priestess on Oct 12, 2015 17:24:41 GMT
I just found out a little more about AIrbnb's plans for the new groups, and the fate of the old groups. I posted that here www.airbnb.com/groups/content/content-181292and here is the content of what I found: I found a couple threads on other groups about the upcoming Airbnb group changes
As I mentioned before I actually didn't hear directly about any of the upcoming changes in groups, but I have found a couple other posts on other groups that go into some details. Here is the most recent one I found which gives a lot of info I had no idea about: THis is the post: www.airbnb.com/groups/content/content-180589On the MOntreal and Quebec group, this one: www.airbnb.com/groups/963THis is the post, translated from French into English using Google Translate: "Read this Q & A about where will the groups Airbnb ...What change? We're evolving our Groups platform to improve the way the members of our community get to link and learn from each other. The new community platform will more easily find valuable content submitted by guests as well as proximity worldwide. Instead of being organized into "groups", the new platform will be organized by subject categories that are popular among Groupes.
When comes this change? The new platform will be launched in November. As of November 23, 2015, the group members will no longer publish new content in Groups. Current posts will remain visible until February 25, 2016. After February 25, 2015, this information will not be récupérables. (recoverable)
What Will happen for the content in Groups? The content in Groups will not migrate to the new platform Platform. If you have content you want to keep, please record the content that you created and post it again in the new platform will communautaire.Y he group organizers on the new platform? The new platform will grow from groups organized by forum members on the basis of selected topics. Therefore, instead of group organizers there will be active contributors. All guests are invited to publish, to welcome new members to pay their contributions to the conversations and to come together to build a support network for its members. We will recognize members based on their level of participation on the new (email hidden) ment to inspire members of our current group to go to the new platform?
Did I can post an explanation of this change to inform the members of my group? You can share with members of your group's information in our FAQ. WHich languages will be supported on the new platform? To launch in November, the community platform will support English, French, Italian, German, Spanish and Brazilian Portuguese. These languages include the majority of the members of our community currently using Groups. We plan to support more languages in successive bearings. Korean and Japanese will come out at the beginning of 2016. All members will still be able to participate in the platform anglais.Est do I can always stay in touch with the guests in my area? And how it goes for those around the world? The new platform will facilitate linking with your guests in your region but also worldwide. We will launch areas depending on location criteria forums in several cities in November. You can also browse other areas to cities chat with other guests in the régions.
Who will run the new community platform? The community is largely self-moderate, but we will put in place tools and a charter moderation to sustain and grow the healthy way to become the community and prospère.Que Meetups? The possibility of organizing meetups will not be available at launch in November. We know how meetups are enjoyed by members of our community to meet off site, so we strive to find ways to incorporate this feature on the new platform." As you can see, Meetups will no longer be possible, which seems a quite serious problem for local hosts needing/wanting to meet each other, for instance to do local organizing for political advocacy work on obtaining favorable regulations in their city or region. I just can't believe they would get rid of meetups! Hence it seems all the more important that we have this new site for groups, available for REGIONAL groups to use as well, so that Meetups CAN be organized by those regional groups. Our forum allows announcements to be made and there is a board for posting meetups. Also, as you can see, the content currently in groups will not be recoverable or viewable after Feb 2016. So I encourage all of you, if you have favorite threads or links, to not only save the link but save the content of those threads too in a WORD document. THe links will not work after Feb 2016.
I found another thread in a Brooklyn group which also has some info about the proposed changes to groups: www.airbnb.com/groups/content/content-176759
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Post by carolyn on Oct 14, 2015 17:28:18 GMT
Hey everyone, I see this forum is now on its 4th page of members. Yay! Shout out to Deborah for making it happen. Glad we're all here!
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Post by High Priestess on Oct 14, 2015 22:38:46 GMT
Yes, we have over 150 members now. Peter Kwan, founder of Home Sharers incorporated, and of Home Sharers of San Francisco (a group of about 2400 members) is planning to bring that whole group to this forum (this forum is intended to be for all the Home Sharers group chapters), but he is still working on some Home Sharers website setup issues, so he wants to wait until that is done before he starts directing those members to come to this forum. Jordie and I who run Home SHarers of the East Bay,a 430 member group which is a chpater of HOme Sharers, also are waiting to do group emails to notify everyone of that group, until Peter gets his website work finished. As with every Airbnb community group, not all those members are active (some people join a group and then don't really participate) but I do expect that the activity on this forum, particularly on Peter's board, will increase when those members start using this forum, which is likely to happen between now and November 23rd, the last day the existing Airbnb forums will still be fully functional. I actually have been invited by Chip Conley to take part in a small leadership group for group leaders, regarding the new rollout of Airbnb Groups. I am happy that they contacted me about this because up until recently not only was I not directly told about any of the planned changes in groups, but I also couldn't find who to contact regarding feedback about the things I had heard second hand. I will be meeting with Laura Hughes at Airbnb Headquarters in San Francisco in a couple hours, this evening. I hope to find out more about what the new Airbnb groups will be about and how they will be structured, which will help us all see where we could both participate in those, and how this GLobal Hosting forum could offer something different, to whom, and in what ways. I really believe it could be a great thing to have both options for people, a good strong offsite independent host community, and a good onsite Airbnb host community.
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Post by carolyn on Oct 15, 2015 2:28:23 GMT
Hi Deborah, you're probably at the meeting right now, but I look forward to hearing how it goes. I agree: we need the independent host community. Nice of Chip to contact you -- and appropriate! They spring too many surprises on us....
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Post by High Priestess on Oct 15, 2015 5:01:33 GMT
Carolyn, so I met with Laura Hughes, Director of Hospitality, today at Airbnb Headquarters, but I have not yet been told what I am permitted to disclose to others, and what I can't disclose. She says that within a day or two I should know a little more about what I can tell others.
I can share that in general I am quite impressed with what I heard about the plans for the new AIrbnb groups. As you know and as we all know, the current AIrbnb groups have had many problems and "glitches" for quite some time, and so there was a need to do something to fix all that.
Since one of the primary motivations for me in setting up this new forum was the news I had heard that the existing groups were going to entirely "cease to exist" and I had concern that we would not be able to preserve existing host communities, my setting up of an offsite forum could be viewed in one sense as an enterprise which could succeed in reverse proportion to the success of the new Airbnb groups. That is to say, if the new Airbnb groups aren't good or don't fit host's needs, and dont' continue the community, this forum could succeed more to fill those needs, whereas, if the new groups are marvelous and fit ALL hosts' needs, and help build and preserve community, this forum could struggle more to attract those whose needs are being very well met elsewhere.
So that feels a little of an awkward position to be in, except that I can sincerely say that I would not want to be in the position of hoping to gain from someone else's loss, and I certainly would like to see Airbnb groups enjoy great success, since those groups will always be easier to find and access for most hosts, than any offsite forum. I do think that there are unique aspects to each -- the Airbnb community group, and an offsite host community group -- and each is capable of offering things that the other can't quite do as well or as completely. So it remains to be seen how this new Global Hosting Forum could "fit" as a sort of "partner" to the upcoming new Airbnb groups. One function that does seem clear is that this forum is intended to be the forum for the Home Sharers organization, an incorporated, independent organization, which is not part of Airbnb the corporation. THis may prove to be a valuable distinction and purpose.
I think we can remain flexible and see how things pan out, and adapt to whatever situations next arise. The unique aspect to this offsite forum is that it is being set up and run by people (myself, Andrew, Peter, Jordie, Queenie, Carolyn and others) who have heavy host community and leadership involvement in the Airbnb community, which I don't think is as true of any of the other offsite forums.
So -- stay tuned for more news!!
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Post by High Priestess on Oct 15, 2015 19:43:41 GMT
Results of meeting with Laura Hughes:
I am being invited to be part of what Laura and Chip Conley call the "Community Launch Pad Hosts", a small team of hosts they have selected or will select (not all are chosen yet) to help work with Airbnb on its new community groups. I can't say much about what I am being shown/told, since it is confidential for now, but I was told that I can at least say that. I will report more just as soon as they give me the green light.
It's amusing to me because first I helped, with Glenn and Andrew, and all of you regular forum members who have contributed so much, to create the New Hosts Forum community/culture. THen, when it appeared that would be no more, then I went to work with a few others among you to start building this Globalhosting Forum and community. Now, Airbnb is asking me to help with their creation of their new Host Community Groups. So I didn't really expect to be doing so much community building, but I really enjoy it and am glad to help out.
Now, I just hope that I can still have enough time to welcome my guests and chat with them, go do my yoga, go hiking in the hills, study Astrology, and write my novel!!
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