I am not representing this forum in any way.
I am a host for the last 10 years; I am on this forum to learn, interact, and offer insight. I am not interested in sparring with new members here.
That said, I am concerned that some new members (or old members who resurface) have misunderstood how the forum works for us. If someone comes with an issue looking for validation, for example, they may be told very directly that they are in the wrong. The learned members here have ‘heard it all before’ - the host who thinks they are due money from a guest who forgot to do the dishes or wipe down the counter, the host venting because their third party booking went ‘south’, the host who wants to rage here about a policy that airbnb has that makes that host liable to return money to a guest.
Some answers can be very disturbing to a host who ‘assumes’ that their vision of how a cancellation policy works is at odds with the actual one they are bound to; a quick response asking ‘why do you not have a way of seeing who arrived at your airbnb’ when a host complains that ‘extra’ guests somehow are in the airbnb; an immediate offer of ‘a better way to set up entry locks’ when a host vents that a key they gave a guest was not returned. Many times of course the answers to these issues have been discussed innumerable times here and can easily be found by simply studying the forum. - but I am talking about folks who come here and become argumentative when told they are in the wrong, or are told to research this forum.
The trolls who have lots of time on their hands and are happy to use an AI chatbox to give generic responses to discussions; the trolls who ‘insist’ that the ‘bnb’ in airbnb is literal; the trolls who spread their rant to multiple outlets like reddit - these are not only annoying but ‘suck the air out’ of a place that has folks earnestly trying to help.
This needs to stop. Admins here are very graciously donating their time to running this group - they are not here 24/7 to be policing the forum. The active participants here are also here trying to help - we get dismayed when folks get on here and just think that arguing a point will somehow change airbnb policy. Healthy discussion, of course, can become heated and polarizing, but it certainly should not become hateful, etc.
Again, I am simply a long term member here - I have been an ‘ambassador’, a 'superhost (lol)" and of course was once a newbie here and on the platform. But I have never thought that giving a simple accurate response to a query would be considered ‘rude’, or ‘condescending’, or ‘meanspirited’. Recently, folks have gotten on here and said all this when they join in on a discussion and are told they are wrong or misinformed. This needs to stop, please.
I suggest that when folks come and tell the forum that their 45 day guest has decided that they are going to squat; that their ‘third party’ guest left the place a mess, that their mom’s good china was broken, reconsider the answers they are given here. They come from a good place, and a simple reply without ‘sugarcoating’ is very valuable - after all, you’re not getting insight from airbnb when your laundry gets stains, or pet hairs magically appear when your ‘petless’ guest leave. PLEASE act like adults and respect the folks who are taking time from their own hosting duties to tell someone (for the 100th time) that no, airbnb does not have a “SWAT” team to swoop in and tell your guests to close the front door when they leave, or that not leaving a review for a guest somehow ‘signals’ to other hosts that the guest was poor.
