This is a copy of a rather rhetoric email I sent this morning to Couchsurfing (and simultaneously the first post in English) asking Casey to opensource the CS code:

Hello Casey and everyone,

I can't express what the loss of Couchsurfing means to me and probably
to lots of other people. I will not cry here for the great times I
enjoyed and people I met through CS, I can only thank everyone for their
hard work. This is not the time to look into the past, but into the future.

The end of one era can be a beginning of another. You invested large
amounts of time, money and energy into Couchsurfing – we should not
throw that away. There is a great chance before us, the chance to start
over and do it 100% right this time. Couchsurfing got most of the things
right in the first place, but there are key concepts which were not
thought possible or plausible before.

Couchsurfing was very open from the start, it was open for everyone to
join and use. What we need now is more openness for the machines –
opening the code, the database and the data it will contain. More eyes
see more faults and more computers can store data redundantly, so that
disasters like this cannot happen.

This is not fan fiction or ravings of an open-source fanatic. These
things actually work. What is most important is to get the design and
architecture right and act fast, while many users are still hooked on
the idea.

There still is a chance. Open the source to the Couchsurfing code, open
the data and let the idea live on. I understand you don't have the
energy, but many people do. There can be a lot of work done if we catch
the initial wave of enthusiasm.

That's it. Thanks again for everything and greetings from Slovakia,

Peter
CS Ambassador

Update: There are various discussions, forums and wikis starting all over the place. I hope there won’t be too much duplicate effort. Check out Hospitality Guide, Save Couchsurfing, Couchsurfing-Phoenix and also the CS Chat is still up!