Newsletter

Hi %anonymous%,

These are the latest news about BeWelcome!

Improvements on the website

Our development volunteers have been very active in the last few months. They released three new versions of the BeWelcome website, which included many improvements for all of us! While many of these changes centered on fixing bugs and website stability, among the more notable changes were:

• The introduction of an activities feature: Are you planning a city/countryside tour, a language exchange meeting, a day out hiking, a games evening or a pub crawl? You can now create an activity on BeWelcome and invite other members to join you. If you need additional information about how to create or join an activity, please read our FAQ about activities.
• Separation of the BeWelcome Forum and groups: Many members told us that the forum structure on BeWelcome was confusing. Discussions in both groups and the general forum used to be displayed in the same list on the forum page. Our development volunteers have now created a landing page called Discussions (in the Community menu). On this page, you can now see posts to the groups and BeWelcome Forum on separate lists. The Community menu also contains a direct link to the groups page where you can search for existing groups and create new ones. If you are still not sure about the difference between the forum and groups or how to use them, you can find information on our FAQ pages.
• Privacy improvements: Visitors to your profile could previously see a list of all your forum posts. You can now decide whether to show this list to other members or not. To change your privacy settings, go to My account > My preferences.
• Complete overhaul of the language lists: There are many places and pages on BeWelcome where you can choose a language. In the past, language selection was rather confusing because selection lists were not sorted alphabetically. The development volunteers have now changed the sorting to make it easier to find the language you are searching for. They have also added a few languages that were missing before (including sign languages).

Future plans and initiatives

• BeWelcome Unconferences: A BeWelcome unconference (Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Unconference) took place in Bamberg, Germany between April 6th and 7th, 2013. It was kindly organized by the BeWelcome member LeopoldR. The participants discussed the introduction of a "New Member BeWelcome Team", how to activate inactive members, and many other topics. The meeting minutes have been published here: Bamberg Unconference April 2013 Meeting Minutes. Another unconference will take place between October 4th and 6th, 2013 in Florence, Italy. More details can be found in the BeWelcome volunteers group.
• Decision making: BeWelcome gives its members the opportunity to democratically decide on future developments and fundamental changes. The process of decision making and prioritizing suggestions has been intensely discussed in the past few months and you can now vote among two suggested processes: Vote here.
• Complete redevelopment of the website: The volunteer development team has started to work on a complete redevelopment of the website. This will bring massive improvements to usability, user experience, and scalability. To proceed effectively and efficiently, BeWelcome urgently needs additional volunteers in development and design. Read more: Welen - The next generation hospitality exchange engine.

Get active and update your profile

• Update your profile: Would you like to meet other BeWelcome members? If so, you should provide them with a first impression by adding a profile picture and fleshing out your profile.
• Invite friends to BeWelcome
• Join or start a BeWelcome group: If no group for your region or interests exists on BeWelcome, you can create your own and invite others to join.
• Spread the word: If you want to promote BeWelcome among your contacts and also get updates about the website, you can follow our Facebook and Twitter accounts.