Help:FAQ
From General
Here are some Fearfully Anticipated Questions that Wikivoyagers have heard, or think they may hear, or wonder about themselves.
If you don't see your question answered here, ask it at the Lounge, and someone will answer it as soon as possible (probably).
[edit] General questions
[edit] What is Wikivoyage?
Wikivoyage is a project to create a free, complete, up-to-date and reliable world-wide travel guide. It is built in collaboration by Wikivoyagers from around the globe. You can read more about Wikivoyage on the About page.
(Phew! That was an easy one.)
[edit] Who are you people?
We are Wikivoyagers. People from all over the world who are dedicated to making Wikivoyage the best darn travel guide around. Most of us are people who stumbled across the site, just like you, and decided to share our knowledge.
[edit] Who edits and organizes all this, though?
We do. Wikivoyagers. We create articles and then edit them, and we organize the articles into hierarchies and make links between them and have navigational pages, and things like that. There are also a few more pages similar to this one.
[edit] So, anyone can just drift in off the Internet and start writing travel articles?
That's the idea, yes. We use a technique called Wiki which lets any reader edit any page, instantly.
[edit] Well, that's never going to work.
Bzzzt. Not a question.
[edit] How is that supposed to ever work?
Doesn't seem like it ever could, does it? With anyone able to edit any page, things should just descend into terrible chaos, shouldn't they? Madness, mayhem, and a horrible bog of unusable drivel.
Strangely enough, it doesn't. People who care about having well-written travel articles on this site are the majority. People who just want to vandalize or delete things eventually get bored with it -- and, you have to admit, it's not that much of a challenge -- and the rest of us come in and clean up.
The other great part is that wikis converge. One Wikivoyager adds as much as he/she knows about a topic, and others start adding more information. Other people come through and condense it all so it reads well. As the topic changes -- new hotels open in a city, new bus routes start between regions -- more Wikivoyagers can add that in.
It's strange, and it doesn't make a lot of sense, but it just happens. It's really cool.
[edit] I still don't believe it.
Bzzt.
[edit] Do you have any proof that this works?
Well, we have the existence proof of other projects that create references collaboratively. Probably the most famous one is Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. Most of our policies and guidelines are borrowed from that project.
[edit] OK, so, there's all this hippy-dippy love stuff about working together, but who's really in charge?
You are. Any Wikivoyager can change articles, rewrite navigation areas, even overwrite information about the site itself. We try to make decisions about policy and guidelines collaboratively, but if you have a good idea for how we should work, plunge forward and let us know.
That all said, there are certain Wikivoyagers who've been working on the site for a while, and they can become Administrators. Administrators generally get some higher access -- like really deleting pages instead of blanking them -- but not much. It's more of a burden than a privilege.
The general meeting of members is highest decision-making body of the association Wikivoyage e.V. Every Wikivoyager can join the association Wikivoyage e.V. and thus additionally support the project. Wikivoyage e.V. finances our server and takes decisions that exceed the editorial work.
[edit] What is this nifty software you're running?
We use MediaWiki, the software developed by Wikipedia, with some totally tiny changes for Wikivoyage. You can get it from http://www.mediawiki.org/ .
[edit] How do I spell "Wikivoyage"?
Capital W, eye, kay, eye, vee, o, wy, a, gee, ee. The "v" in the middle is not capitalized -- try to avoid the temptation.
[edit] How do I pronounce "Wikivoyage"?
People vary on the "Wiki" part. It's either "WEE-kee-VOA-yaash" or "WIH-kee-VOA-yaash."
[edit] Where's the contact information?
There isn't any. If you have a question about an article in particular, post it on the talk page for that article. If you have a question about Wikivoyage in general, try posting in the Lounge.
[edit] Questions about content
[edit] This article is all wrong! You have to fix it!
This is Wiki -- you can fix it yourself! Click the edit this page link, and change the parts that bug you. That's the whole idea.
[edit] I am trying to find Topic X, and there's no article about it!
We're still a new project, and there are huge parts of the globe we haven't even thought about writing about yet. Feel free to plunge forward and start the outline of an article. Maybe other Wikivoyagers will contribute to it.
You can also add a request for an article on that topic.
[edit] I am trying to find Topic X, and all that's on the page is one sentence!
Like we said, we're still a new project, and there are huge parts of the globe we've only begun to work on. Some topics only have stubs covering them. If you don't think there's enough information on a topic, feel free to plunge forward and add more.
[edit] I am trying to find Topic X, and all that's there is "asdfkjadflkjfd EAT MY BUTT"!
This is typical vandalism. Feel free to plunge forward and delete the vandal's garbage and replace it with a full article, or at least a stub.
Make sure to check the article's history (there will be a "history" link at the top of the page) and look at the second or third revision listed to make sure there wasn't content that was blanked. You can edit, add to, and save that version to preserve the original content.
[edit] I have an idea for an article, but I don't know exactly how to get started.
Check out how to start a new page.
[edit] I have some information I want to share, but I don't know what to do with it.
We have some article templates that tell how we like articles laid out. If you have info you want to share, we have a page that tells you where you can stick it.
[edit] Questions about editing
[edit] This all looks like gobbledygook! How do I edit these pages?
Pages on Wikivoyage are formatted using Wiki markup. It looks funny at first, but after a while it seems like second nature. You should read about how to edit a page.
[edit] How do I upload an image to use in an article?
You should follow the instructions on how to upload files.
[edit] How do I put an image I uploaded into an article?
You should follow the instructions on how to add an image.
[edit] Hey! I wrote this long nice article on Topic X, and it got changed! What gives?
Any Wikivoyager can edit any page. When you submit an article, it's subject to ruthless editing for style, subject matter, spelling, factual information, and just generally fitting into the Wikivoyage scheme of things. If you don't like that, you shouldn't work on Wikivoyage.
[edit] Hey! I changed my nice long article on Topic X back to the way it was before, and it got changed again! What gives?
You're in an edit war. You need to go to the talk page for the topic you're writing about and work out your differences with the other article editors.
[edit] How do I delete a whole page?
You can't delete a page directly. The procedure is somewhat more complicated: Go to Votes for deletion and add a link to the page together with a reason for deletion. After fourteen days of discussion the page will be deleted unless there is a consensus to keep it.
[edit] How do I sign a posting?
When posting a message on a talk page it is customary to sign the posting with your user name and the posting date so that everyone knows who you are (for example: "(WT/en) User 15:35, 6 May 2005 (EDT)"). To get that text to appear automatically, simply type four tildes ("~~~~"), and they will be replaced with your user name and the current date when the edit is submitted.
[edit] Language Questions
[edit] Ash blash g'nash foosh manoosh?
Huh?
[edit] Sorry, I don't speak English very well. Can I put articles in my own language in Wikivoyage?
Yes, if there is a separate Wikivoyage version for your language. See Language versions of Wikivoyage for the current list.
If Wikivoyage in your language does not exist yet, you can start your own language version! To find out more, see our language version policy.
[edit] But my English sounds terrible. I'm embarrassed.
Don't worry too much about the level of your English. Your spelling errors will be corrected by other people. We really want you to share your knowledge!
[edit] Questions related to the fork of Wikitravel
[edit] Was the fork really necessary?
What would be the alternatives? There have been and there will be always Wikitravellers who are disappointed and leave the project because after some time they discovered, that they didn't go along with the organisation of the project. Wikivoyage offers an alternative. It would be a shame that especially critical authors and sharp thinkers would get lost to our common goal.
[edit] Do you consider Wikitravel as an hostile project?
How could we? Almost all the founders of Wikivoyage e.V. have a close connection to Wikitravel and share lots of common memories of their work, especially in the German language version of Wikitravel.
[edit] Did you invent the wheel a second time? What is different at Wikivoyage compared to Wikitravel?
While forking we have taken over the complete inventory of articles and the corresponding images from Wikitravel. The meta articles (name space Wikivoyage: respectively Wikitravel:) have been taken over as well where it seemed to make sense, but here there has been quite some work to do to review the articles. This explains why there are so many similarities between Wikivoyage and Wikitravel.
However, we are convinced that the organizational structure of Wikitravel can be improved, as well the content. The formulation of new concepts for Wikivoyage has already started; several innovations can be expected in the near future. The following points show already (or will soon show) differences with Wikitravel:
- Images exclusively on shared:
- General interlingual discussions and decisions take place on general:.
- We want to give more place for particular interest groups and we attach importance to a concise layout.
- Hard facts concerning locations (e.g. climate, geo. coordinates, geo. hierarchy) shall be saved in a so-called location database, on which all language versions have transparent access.
- Bureaucrats (more rights then sysops/administrators, on Wikitravel the role is filled exclusively by Evan) are elected by the community.
- Database dumps are not only promised, they are made publicly available.
[edit] Why should I write on Wikivoyage, when there is Wikitravel?
You are free to contribute at Wikitravel. However, there are some reasons why Wikivoyage is so attractive:
- We do have a living Community
- We are really democratically organised
- We do not have a superior boss
- Our content is well structured
- We are totally independent to any commercial interest
- Our content is not only freely licenced, but freely available
- You might even meet old friends that worked together with you at Wikitravel
[edit] Do you think that Wikivoyage has a chance in the long-term?
Definitly, otherwise we would not have put that moch effort into the foundation of the association and creation of this fork. We are convinced that we will soon become the biggest German community, devoted to creating and maintaing free travel information. And we hope to achieve that on an international level as well. We strive to create more language versions, as soon as there are enough users speaking that particular language.
Financing this project for the first one and a half years is secured. We need about 30 paying association members or donations to cover the cost of approximately €40 a month for the server. That is not much for each individual and we are sure that we can back up the projects financing in this way in the future.
[edit] Questions about the Wikivoyage association
[edit] Why did you found an association?
We have taken long to decide that an association is the best way of organising this project. None of us was fighting for a certain position. But in the end it showed that an association is the only kind of organisation that meets our criteria of democracy, independency and judicial security. That was important to us.
[edit] How can I get to know more about the Wikivoyage association?
At the Association Wiki.
[edit] Who can become a member of this association?
Everyone, who is willing to pay their contributions. Knowledge of the German language or a German citizenship is not a requirement.
[edit] Why should I become a member?
If one of the below objectives matches your own, you should consider becoming an association member:
- You want to participate in decisions concerning the whole project
- You would like to support the project financially
[edit] What does a membership cost me?
The normal one-year contribution is €25 and a reduced contribution €12.50
[edit] Questions about licencing
[edit] Can I copy Wikipedia articles to Wikivoyage?
No!
Wikipedia and Wikivoyage each have different goals and the articles are therefore not alike. Wikipedia on the one hand is an encyclopedia, Wikivoyage on the other hand a travel guide that keeps facts about economy or history rather short, but highlights sights and gives advice for travel planning in a more extensive way.
Copying articles from Wikipedia is also impossible due to licence requirements. The licence we use (CC-by-SA 1.0) is incompatible with Wikipedias GFDL licence. GFDL does not allow GFDL licenced content to be used under another licence, unless you are the copyright owner of this content. So please, do not copy any Wikipedia articles or parts thereof to Wikivoyage.
If it does however occur to you that using parts of the Wikipedia would benefit our project, follow the correct way. Please ask the copyright owner to paste the text or image into Wikivoyage by him/herself. This can be difficult when it comes to text passages, due to a number of different authors, but is quite realistic when talking about pictures.
[edit] Can I transfer images from Wikipedia to Wikivoyage?
Yes, if an image is licenced under CC-by-SA, or public domain.
If an image is not licenced under CC-by-SA, you can ask the copyright owner to change the "GNU-FDL" licence to a dual licence ("GNU-FDL and CC-by-SA"). Wikipedia provides a template that can be easily included in the file data. Once this is done, you only have to put a link to the respective Wikipedia in the image info template, when uploading the file to Wikivoyage. There are some Wikipedians that already do dual licensing.
Many images used on Wikipedia are taken directly from Wikimedia Commons. The copyright owner of the image should use the {{self2|GFDL|cc-by-sa-2.5,2.0,1.0}} template in this case.
[edit] Can I copy Wikitravel articles to Wikivoyage?
Yes, but...
We use the same licence as Wikitravel and it is therefore possible to transfer text or images from Wikitravel to our site. But due to the requirements of the CC by-sa 1.0, all authors must be named and this can obviously not be done by simply copying the content. Please check How to import content from other wikis to find out how to transfer this content easy and fast.
Here you can find an index of all articles on general:
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