The answer to that might be apparent in the 118-page draft study the planning commission released on Jan. 19. The document painstakingly breaks down the varieties of short-term rentals and suggests solutions like restrictions by neighborhood density (preservationists favor a total ban in the French Quarter) or other factors (restricting year-round, non-owner-occupied rentals, of the sort that Mr. Galvin operates, in residential areas). It will take months to sort out the details. The latest twist is the consideration of a state bill to require short-term rental services to collect the same taxes as hotels and motels. But if the third-party data on short-term rentals is remotely accurate, and something like the planning commission’s preliminary recommendations became enforceable laws, listings and bookings for these sharing platforms would probably decline.

Despite the polarization around the issue, many, including lawyers for the Alliance for Neighborhood Prosperity, have endorsed a simple-sounding idea: require short-term rentals to obtain some sort of official license or permit number (for a fee) and enter it in a field on the web. Enter your license number, or you are not permitted to list. Mr. Goodman, the planning activist, agreed that the platform databases were “the choke point in the system,” and tweaking them to function only with a municipal license would amount to a genuine partnership with cities. “It requires the city to keep a good database, and these listing companies to honor that database,” he said.

For the home-sharing services, however, this appears to be a nonstarter. According to Mr. Rivers, Airbnb and VRBO told his staff that it would be too onerous to adjust their software to accommodate every regulatory arrangement for thousands of municipalities around the world. Spokesmen for Airbnb and VRBO confirm that rewriting their platforms in this way is not practical.

The planning commission seems to have accepted that argument, and its study recommends instead that license information, with the address of an advertised property, should be included in the “narrative” section of a listing. To critics, that means people without licenses could still rent, and it would still be up to the city to ferret out those who do not follow the rules. In the few cities that have enacted analogous policies, compliance has been estimated at less than 15 percent.

Mr. Berni, the deputy mayor, while emphasizing that the planning commission report is merely a starting point, says this recommended strategy has potential. Compliant users paying for licenses could generate revenue to begin funding enforcement. Going after a “bad operator” is a complaint-driven process, he says, and a listing that lacks a license number could give the city cleaner legal leverage.

Perhaps that will work. Even Mr. Goodman expresses optimism. He notes that Airbnb in particular seems to be moving toward accepting that it is not just a responsibility-free enabler — adding more robust insurance options and, increasingly, tax-collection tools. So maybe all the local contention will lead to a productive resolution after all. “I just want to have New Orleans win on this,” Mr. Goodman says.