Style Manual

From WikiVoyager

Language

The standard language, spelling and choice of grammatical syntax for WikiVoyager is American English.

General Editorial Policy

WikiVoyager has a two-fold mission:

1. To develop a set of travel and destination guides created by Travel Professionals.
2. To make WikiVoyager content freely available to travel writers and travel agents as a marketing and research tool.

In keeping with the above mission, WikiVoyager seeks to provide a resource that is interesting and useful to Travel Professionals in their research and marketing. Secondarily, WikiVoyager seeks to allow Travel Professionals to contribute to its content in an effort to enrich its quality and quantity of information.

Please observe the following guidelines:

• With the exceptions noted directly below, please do not link out to tour operators, local ground operators or other third party sites unless those sites are related to a governmental or quasi-governmental tourism authority. Thus, linking to the Hawaii Tourism Board is permissible. Linking to any tour operator or travel agency is not.
  • It is permissible in the context of a review to link to a hotel property or a restaurant. However, only third parties may do so and then only in the context of a legitimate, objective review. Do not review properties in which you have either a financial or a competitive relationship.
• Do not create links to yourself, your travel agency or tour company. Please submit information that will be useful to your peers.
• You may create promotions on your own User Page. However the promotions must directly promote you in the context of your travel writing or tour or agency business. In no circumstance may any contributor promote a multi-level or referral travel company or business.

Use the Discussion Pages

Any article that can be edited will also have a Discussion Page. You can read the Discussion Page by clicking on the Discussion tab at the top of any page. Use this great device to discuss the article...to agree or disagree...to suggest revisions. Try to arrive at a consensus if at any point you disagree with another contributor on a review or a way of handling a topic. Always assume good faith on the part of any participant and seek to combine your perspectives into a harmonious topic.

Voice and Point of View

The preferred editorial "voice" is objective, friendly, chatty, third person. Please avoid the use of "I" or "we". The voice should be that of a guide, not that of a personal travel log. It is quite proper to use the second person pronoun "you" in the article.

When refering to a city name, use the American English standard for the name. For example "Prague" instead of "Praha". In other instances, however, you might want to give the English first with the foreign equivalent in parenthesis. For example Rome (Roma).

Do not worry about linking every reference in an article. The typical instinct is to link every proper noun and point of interest. This is not necessary, especially in the early life cycle of an article. Over time, the links will appear, both yours and others.

For a review here is a summary of editing markup.

Destinations

In general, avoid negative reviews of destinations. Indicating that a place is not worth going to is stictly a matter of personal taste.

Hotels, Restaurants and Cruise Ships

Maintain your objectivity. In particular resist the temptation to use WikiVoyager as a way of expressing personal grievances.

How to create a new Hotel Review

WikiVoyager mixes "Stars" with the price range . Together the reader should get a sense of what the real value of the hotel might be. The Star should be true for the price range of the hotel. You can learn more about the rating system in the Hotel Key.

1. Create a new page by typing the name of the hotel followed by the IATA City Code for that hotel's location into the search box like this: Name of Hotel (LAX) and click the search button.

2. Click the "create this page" link.

3. You will be taken to a page in the system named "Name of Hotel (LAX)"

4. Place the Hotel Template into the Edit page by typing {{subst:Hotel}}

5. Save the page. The Hotel Template now appears on the page. Re-open the Edit tab and type in your review.

6. Save the page again!

Confused? Probably... let us know if you need assistance.

A good example is the review of The Carlyle.

How to create a new Restaurant Review

WikiVoyager mixes "Forks" with the price range . Together the reader should get a sense of what the real value of the dining experience might be. The Forks should be independent of the price range of the Restaurant, unlike hotel reviews where the two are linked. You can learn more about the restaurant ratings system in the Dining Key.

1. Create a new page by typing the name of the restaurant followed by the IATA City Code for that restaurant's location into the search box like this: Name of Restaurant (LAX) and click the search button.

2. Click the "create this page" link.

3. You will be taken to a page in the system named "Name of Restaurant (LAX)"

4. Place the Restaurant Template into the Edit page by typing {{subst:Restaurant}}

5. Save the page. The Restaurant Template now appears on the page. Re-open the Edit tab and type in your review.

6. Save the page again!

A good example is the review of Otto in Manhattan.

Other Formatting

• Measurements -
• Currency -
• Time and date formats
• Phone numbers -
• Trademarks -