Talk:San Pedro Sula

Undoing of good copy-editing and un-detouting

User 190.92.46.133, why did you un-detout and restore erroneous copy that I edited? You don't understand what touting is in the context of Wikivoyage. Read this: http://en.wikivoyage.org/wiki/Don't_tout In particular, consider this:

"Wikivoyage specifically strives to avoid being an `advertising brochure' for any business, city, or service. Business employees, like everyone, are welcome to add information to Wikivoyage, but we're making a travel guide, not a business brochure. Our tone should reflect this, so please don't tout in your writing, and don't use Wikivoyage as a tool for advertising."

But at least if you're going to restore advertising copy to this page - which has to be redeleted - would you please refrain from restoring misspelled words, uncapitalized beginnings of sentences, etc.?

I will endeavor to restore my good edits. Do not revert them without coming to this page and giving a good explanation for why you are doing so. (WT-en) Ikan Kekek 23:15, 7 February 2011 (EST)

Reply

Hi, (WT-en) Ikan Kekek. I appreciate your concerns and I also thank you for helping to copy-edit and de-tout the listing I added. We're not all endowed with your uncanny level of speaking the english language; most people on earth actually don't consider English to be their mother-tongue. We need people like you to fix what we write (hence, the beauty of a wiki!).

As for touting, that wasn't meant to be the intention, and that guest house is run by a lovely couple, some friends of mine who really don't have any sense of advertising outside of Honduras. I took some initiative to try to get them listed here because their guesthouse should be visited by more foreigners. Is that not the idea of Wikivoyage, to collectively expand the world's shared travel knowledge?

Thanks, Ikan. 190.92.46.245 14:50, 10 February 2011 (EST)

Hi. I'm guessing you also used the IP 190.92.46.133? Anyway, yes, I certainly agree that collectively expanding shared knowledge that's useful to travelers is what this site is all about, and I appreciate your reply. But I'll give you examples of language that I consider to be at least relatively uninformative or unnecessary and to constitute advertising. Some are more obvious than others.

"[Name] is a new concept in boutique hotels in Honduras" [No further explanation of what that would mean]

"You would enjoy comfort, peace, and all your senses will be overwhelmed." [Pretty extreme claims about how everyone you don't know would react. Better to tone it down and just mention that the setting is very peaceful and pleasant, etc.]

"You are not a guest, but a friend." [No, you are a paying guest. If the management is very friendly, though, that can be mentioned.]

"The friendly staff will make sure your stay is an enjoyable one." [Maybe they will, but that reads too much like ad copy, so it's better to merely state that the staff is friendly and helpful.]

"A central location and are yet removed from the city center." [What does that mean? It sounds contradictory.]

"The hotels central location makes it a good choice when visiting San Pedro Sula." [Just mention the location and let readers make up their minds accordingly.]

Another problem is that any listing that includes "we" is not OK, because aside from reading like advertising, it takes unwarranted ownership of the article, and all of these articles are subject to collective authorship, as you state. "We" would have to constitute a consensus of all past, current, and future authors, and since that's not possible, first-person language should never be used in these types of articles. So you can see why I deleted an entry that included all of this:

"We're a small, new, relaxing guesthouse in San Pedro Sula, Honduras. We're dedicated to showing you a completely different side of San Pedro Sula: clean, fresh, safe, and with a view to write home about! Come have a drink on our terrace facing the Merendon mountain range, home of Cusuco national park, and enjoy the best Honduras has to offer."

Does that not read like a brochure from the guesthouse? It may be a great guesthouse, but an entry in a guidebook has to read quite differently from a brochure.

All the best,

(WT-en) Ikan Kekek 01:05, 11 February 2011 (EST)

Hi (WT-en) Ikan Kekek,

I'm not 100% sure which IP address was logged, and when...I don't have an account on WikiTravel, although I should make one.

Actually, I agree with you 100% on all of those items you've listed above. You might have me confused with another editor; the only one of those listed I placed in the San Pedro Sula page was the "We're a small" guesthouse...and after seeing your comments, I agree: it shouldn't include "We," and that does read like a brochure.

Those other comments were likely just hotel owners here in San Pedro Sula; the properties are definitely relevant to the listing but should be cleaned up...as you've said, "...is a new concept in boutique hotels in Honduras" is one of the most generic marketing terms I've ever heard of. That other comment, "A central location and are yet removed from the city center" is again most likely a native Spanish speaker's attempts here in Honduras to speak English in an advanced way.

Keep up your good work and let me know if there's any way I can help; the articles on Honduras are not particularly thorough outside of San Pedro Sula and could definitely use some work.

--Bobby 190.92.46.184 10:46, 16 February 2011 (EST)

Time allowing, just plunge forward! Whatever you post is subject to editing, anyway, so don't worry too much about things not being perfect. The important thing is putting the content out there.

All the best,

(WT-en) Ikan Kekek 01:03, 17 February 2011 (EST)