Yaroslav,
 
thanks for your thoughts! We have had a couple of WP users, acting the way you describe, but it is my firm belief that they won't stay for long. Actually, I'd say thay are probably gone already. We see it as a temporary problem, something we really do not have to worry about, but it is necessary to monitor whatever they decide to put in.
 
Furthermore, we have seen the same kind of anonymous edits you mention regarding lists of cities, etc etc. It is not easy to decide what's good or bad, but we console ourselves with the fact WV does not have a deadline. So, we remove the most dreadful contributions, leave what seems fine, and generally try to act according to the "when in doubt..." theory.
 
Prior to launch (actually, on the same day of the launch...), I wrote to our local chapter of Wikimedia and asked their press contact to have a look at the press release on meta, which I had translated into Swedish. He was really happy to hear about the project and posted the press release on some... hm... press release site. One of the national newspapers wrote an article about WV. I have been asked to write something for a blogger and net activist who seems to be in demand, even though I have never heard of him... I also maintain contact with known Wikipedians who contribute to Wikivoyage, relying on word of mouth and their positive attitude to facilitate the project.
 
So, keep up the good work, Yaroslav! I am sure that this will turn out fine, even if it might take some time. Rome wasn't built in a day...
 
 
Regards,
 
Riggwelter/Mattias

2013/1/18 Yaroslav M. Blanter <putevod@mccme.ru>
On Fri, 18 Jan 2013 17:59:22 +0100, Mattias Sweden wrote:
Hello all,
 
a few reflections from the swedish horizon, after a few days under the
WMF umbrella:
 
...
 
Riggwelter/Mattias

Links:
------
[1] http://wikitravel.org/shared/How_to_re-use_Wikipedia_content

Thanks for your thoughtful post and your impressions.

Unfortunately we on Russian Wikivoyage see the situation quite differently:

- We have a huge influx of users who intend to write the second Wikipedia. They go to the articles on their hometown or create articles on their hometown, and start filling them by stuff like the complete list of bus lines or at best a numbered list of sights, or even plain copyying Wikipedia articles. Most of them do not react even on a talk page message.
- We have a bunch of Russian Wikipedia users who are unhappy with everything, they do not like the name "Traveller Pub", they want online links to Wikipedia, and they generally fail to appreciate the fact that the project already exists for quite some time. One of them even went as far as writing on an external site that he will never ever contribute to Wikivoyage and leaving a link on the Traveller Pub. Most of them did not bother contributing to the project in any other way.
- We have a lot of people, mostly IPs, who believe that what is written in the articles is wrong and should be corrected, for instance they amend the regions so that they strictly reflect administrative divisions, they add cities to the list endlessly, and so on.
- We have a lot of random changes adding and removing hotels, amending prices etc, which are probably correct but impossible to check;.
- 95% of edits are done by IPs who never return.
- And finally we had three or four articles written by new users which are really good. If the users stay that would be a great addition to the project, since we are currently five of six active contributors, and three of us are constantly monitoring recent changes and can not do anything else. However, I recognize all of these contributors also as active users in Russian Wikipedia, and this is why I believe they are not going to stay, they just came to complete one or two articles.

Cheers
Yaroslav


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