(WT-en) Brescian

Welcome

To help get you started contributing, we've created a tips for new contributors page, full of helpful links about policies and guidelines and style, as well as some important information on copyleft and basic stuff like how to edit a page. If you need help, check out Project:Help, or post a message in the travellers' pub.

Thanks for your contributions, but you may want to take a look at Project:Don't tout and Project:Welcome, business owners. Adding a listing for your business to a single article is fine, but copying that listing to multiple articles is considered spamming, which is why those listings have mostly been reverted. Hopefully this won't discourage you from continuing to contribute. -- (WT-en) Ryan • (talk) • 22:21, 6 December 2008 (EST)

In the interest of keeping discussion open it is best to communicate on the wiki rather than via wiki email - most editors are looking at Special:Recentchanges on a regular basis, so if you post a question on this page, on a user's talk page, or on an article's talk page then people will likely see it. Regarding the "Don't tout" policy, when a new contributor posts listings in many articles for a business it raises a lot of red flags, and in your case a couple of us had concerns about so many listings being added for a business that is based in Bar Harbor - the goal of this site is to produce guides for travelers so there is a very strong feeling among editors that the site not become an advertising brochure for businesses. With regards to your business, the listing in Bar Harbor seems fine since that's where you are based. If your company (and others) arrange tours to other places then by all means update the "Do" or "Get In" section of articles for those places to say something like "Tour operators in Bar Harbor such as Bar Harbor Kayaks and Princess Boat Cruises offer transport/tours to/from this location", but please don't add full-fledged listings as it makes the article less readable and more "spammy". If the reasoning behind this approach is unclear, consider an article like Yosemite National Park - there are literally hundreds of hotels and restaurants in towns surrounding the park, and each and every one of them wants to be listed in the Yosemite article; however, doing so would make the article almost useless for travelers. As a result we list those hotels and restaurants that are physically located in the park within the park article, and then provide pointers to the articles about the surrounding towns with notes that lodging may be cheaper and more plentiful in those locations (see the "Sleep" section of that article for the clearest example). Hopefully that's clear, and thanks again for contributing. -- (WT-en) Ryan • (talk) • 23:41, 6 December 2008 (EST)

Thanks for your recent updates! One suggestion is that rather than saying "listings can be seen on the Bar Harbor wikivoyage page", we usually would write something like "companies offering equipment and guides for trips to XYZ can be found in Bar Harbor". The latter phrasing makes it clear not only that information is available on a specific page, but also that the actual companies are located in that town. -- (WT-en) Ryan • (talk) • 10:23, 8 December 2008 (EST)

Misc. Questions

From a Wikivoyage email:

How do I use the wiki instead of the email? When i click on your name and see your talk page there is no place for me to type in any talk as i have seen on others talk pages. It is just a viewable archive for me. By the way I would like to leave in the line about not venturing out onto Maine's coastal waters without a guide unless you are an experienced kayaker because it is an important point that many people don't understand. This past summer alone on three separate occasions I rescued or guided people out of potentially life threatening situations they had gotten themselves into because they went out onto the water without the proper experience or equipment. —The preceding comment was added by (WT-en) Brescian (talk • contribs)

If you don't see "edit" links on my talk page it is possible that the software that runs this site is mis-behaving, otherwise see Project:Using talk pages for details. The warning about not venturing out without experience is great, especially given some of the tides that you guys get out there - feel free to include that info as you've been doing, or even to add a "Stay Safe" section to the article with more detailed information. You can do so by clicking the "edit" tab at the top of the page and then adding the text ==Stay safe== after the "Sleep" section of the article, followed by appropriate information. Don't worry too much if the formatting isn't right as someone will always be able to fix that later on. Hope that's helpful! -- (WT-en) Ryan • (talk) • 11:12, 8 December 2008 (EST)

Your changes look great so far - the only concern would be whether your business actually has an office or similar setup in Northeast Harbor and Southwest Harbor. If not then someone will probably remove the listings in the "Do" section of those articles at some point (people periodically review articles to make sure that everything is in accordance with policies). The updates to the Acadia "Stay Safe" section that you made are great, and very much appreciated. In addition, you may want to consider listing some information about your business on your (WT-en) user page - it helps identify you as a business owner, and has the side benefit of giving readers of Wikivoyage another way of contacting you if they want to plan a kayak trip in your area, potentially garnering you a bit more business. There are a number of business owners with user pages that are informative without overdoing it on the advertising - if you need an example to follow, User:(WT-en) HotelsCombined is a pretty good one. -- (WT-en) Ryan • (talk) • 12:01, 8 December 2008 (EST)

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