Comments on: Slate’s Wikitravel Hit Piece

By: Zach Copley » Blog Archive » Congrats Wikitravel

Zach Copley » Blog Archive » Congrats Wikitravel — Sat, 05 May 2007 00:05:36 +0000

[...] Wikitravellers for winning Wikitravel wining a 2007 Webby Award. I guess Wikitravel can’t be all that bad, after all. Tags: LicenseThis work is published under a Creative Commons [...]

By: Unwrapped travel » Wiki don’t travel, but Travelfish does

Unwrapped travel » Wiki don’t travel, but Travelfish does — Sat, 14 Apr 2007 01:17:38 +0000

[...] Travelfish, at least Meta Filter had a good yarn about some of the issues. There’s also a conspiracy theory and a few words from Evan Prodromou, one of the founders of WikiTravel — who takes Wu’s [...]

By: Zach

Zach — Wed, 11 Apr 2007 08:24:19 +0000

Tim, like I said, I doubt you were aware of any conflict of interest. I just wonder about your editor(s). Have you ever considered that maybe they publish/ed your writing because it fulfills some ulterior motive? Even if I’m just being completely paranoid (not a bad bet), don’t you think they should have been aware your article could potentially damage Frommer’s competition? And that’s what Wikitravel and the other travel Websites represent — a challenge to the established top-down, dead tree publishing model.

I think constructive criticism of Wikitravel is just fine. But it seemed like you were essentially telling people to avoid Wikitravel (Can Wikitravel!) based on a straw man that you built up and then tore down. Why did you think you could ditch all of your other travel advice resources and rely solely on Wikitravel? Did someone tell you, Wikitravel is the end all be all? Wikitravel is still spotty. Some locations have great coverage (e.g.: Paris), some places have absolutely nothing, yet.

What did you contribute inre Thailand?

By: Tim Wu

Tim Wu — Wed, 11 Apr 2007 05:57:35 +0000

Come on — surely a little criticism of wikitravel doesn’t turn one into part of some kind of conspiracy?

And, by the way, I DO contribute to wikitravel, and will probably do more in the future. Wikitravel is a great idea — it just isn’t quite there yet.

By: Andrew H. (Sapphire)

Andrew H. (Sapphire) — Wed, 11 Apr 2007 01:05:08 +0000

Zach, this is a terrific blog. I’m one of the most addicted contributors to Wikitravel and I found Mr. Wu’s piece astounding, especially since he failed to understand a lot of the concepts and policies we’ve developed.

I’m not sure how much, or if there was any bias in lampooning Wikitravel, especially since, as you note Slate’s parent company also owns Frommer’s. He does say he bought a Lonely Plant guide, however, Frommer’s a while back did publish an opinion that basically said ‘Wikitravel is an interesting idea, but Frommer’s is and will forever be better.’ Yeah, well at least Wikitravel didn’t direct me to look for a jazz club for well over an hour, before I finally gave up since it wasn’t located on the street the guide book told me it was.