I know a lot of good writers, and I have a lot of friends that support our
effort with <a href="http://www.wikitravel.org/">Wikitravel</a>. Many have
offered to "submit something", or "help out", but I've noticed a tendency on
their parts to think of wiki pages as magazine articles. In their mind, the
page must be complete and exquisitely crafted on initial posting.
This is a daunting task, and most people just don't have the time or energy
for it. Some folks have, in fact, come through in this way: Johnny Royale
wrote up the hilarious <a
href="http://www.wikitravel.org/article/Walnut_Creek">Walnut Creek
guide</a>, and Siduri started <a
href="http://www.wikitravel.org/article/San_Francisco/Tenderloin">a guide to
the Tenderloin</a>. Tjames made <a
href="http://www.wikitravel.org/article/Santa_Barbara">Santa Barbara</a>,
which is such a great professional page. I love it.
But most people don't, or can't, and then they get intimidated and guilty
and they don't want to talk to me about Wikitravel anymore. Which is kind of
a bummer for me, because I never wanted a magazine article in the first
place. It's like if your Dad promises you some expensive gift for Christmas,
and then he can't afford it, so he doesn't get you anything and feels guilty
and goes and gets schnockered at the pub on Christmas Eve instead.
The thing I'm starting to grok about wiki -- and I'm not a
wiki expert by any means -- is that <a
href="http://www.jwz.org/doc/worse-is-better.html">Worse is Better</a>. You
don't have to create something beautiful the first time around. In fact,
great initial postings may actually be counterproductive. They kind of
discourage editing by readers, meaning that community knowledge doesn't get
included. It's the <a
href="http://www.wikitravel.org/article/Wikitravel:stub_articles">stub
articles</a> that seem to really grow into something information-rich.
I love my friends and I appreciate their goodwill. I know some of the best
people in the world. But I wish I could think of an easy way to tell friends
who offer to create a new article for Wikitravel that that's not what I
really want. Just come over and help out. Create a stub for something that's
not there. Expand a stub that is there. Correct someone else's spelling.
Look up the phone number for a restaurant listing. Just, y'know, <a
href="http://www.wikitravel.org/article/Wikitravel:plunge_forward">plunge
forward</a>. It's more fun that way, anyways.
So, Nick, if you really want to help out, check out the pages for <a
href="http://www.wikitravel.org/article/Bay_Area_(California)">the Bay
Area</a>, for <a href="http://www.wikitravel.org/article/San_Francisco">San
Francisco</a>, or for <a
href="http://www.wikitravel.org/article/East_Bay_(Bay_Area)">the East
Bay</a> and <a href="http://www.wikitravel.org/article/Oakland">Oakland</a>,
and just start dribbling in bits and pieces of transit info. You know plenty
more about <a href="http://www.wikitravel.org/article/Seattle">Seattle</a>
and the <a
href="http://www.wikitravel.org/article/Pacific_Northwest_(United_States_of_America)">the
Pacific Northwest</a> than is on those stub pages. That's really what I
want.