Wikitravel:19 February 2006
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[edit] Docents
We get two kinds of talk page comments on Wikitravel that are kind of interesting.
- An experienced Wikitraveller who's worked particularly hard on a single destination writes, "I've added all I can think of to this page. If anyone can think of information that should be here, let me know, and I'll add it."
- A new reader writes something like, "I'm going to Montreal with my cat and need to find a pet-friendly hotel. Does anyone know one?" or "Is there a good Web site for discount airlines in Australia?"
Maj had the idea that we should close the circuit for these kind of questions. She created the Wikitravel:Docents feature, which lets users who are really familiar with a destination advertize on the page that they're open to questions or comments about the place. Readers can contact that volunteer directly with any destination-related questions.
I think this is going to be pretty cool if it takes off. Our hope is that it will keep experienced Wikitravellers involved with the project and get questions re-cycled into destination guides keeping them fresh and appropriate for travellers. --Evan 14:45, 19 Feb 2006 (EST)
[edit] Site upgrade
I've been making good progress converting Wikitravel's codebase to use the new (OK, 6-month-old) database schema for MediaWiki 1.5. With that in mind, I think it makes sense to set a date for the switchover. I'm going to try to get us upgraded on Thursday, February 23 2006 at 6AM UTC. That's about 1AM EST, and about 10 PM PST.... and 3-6PM in Eastern Asia, New Zealand, and Australia. (Sorry, but with a world-wide user base there just isn't any good downtime. For fairness, next time I'll try to use a time that straddles the Pacific rather than the Atlantic.)
My guess is that the database changes are going to require a couple of hours of downtime; I'm going to try en: on a test database to get some firmer ideas on the time. --Evan 21:18, 19 Feb 2006 (EST)
