And I thought Couchsurfing was one of the last platforms staying true to themselves. Sad to hear they implement changes. BUT anyways, so happy you made some great connections anyways. That abandoned village looks amazing!!! I wonder what the drone laws are there.
They did what most platforms do once they have grown an established user base - trying to make a lot of money out of their users.. They are doing it in a particulary sneaky way by asking to verify your identity by providing your credit card details and only mention in the fine print that you are signing up for a monthly subscription.. Without the subscription you can only send out 10 requests, which is mostly enough, but not if many hosts don't reply.
The abandoned kasbahs in Morocco are really amazing! And I'm pretty sure there are no drone restrictions here :D