Veganwiki.info:Community portal

'''Veganwiki.info''': community project to create the biggest resource for and by vegans and vegetarians under a free license.
Revision as of 16:27, 18 May 2013 by Guaka (talk | contribs) (:Thanks :) I'm actually considering one article per restaurant, that would make it quite easy to leave reviews and it would also make it possible (easier) to show places on a map in a city. What do you think? ~~~~)

Feel free to ask any questions or leave comments related to veganism, vegetarianism or Veganwiki.

Articles in other languages

I wrote some articles in french but don't know how to deal with different langages Peace --Gilgamesh67 (talk) 12:47, 17 March 2013 (CET)

For now it's okay to just add [[Category:Français]] to all articles with text in French. We can probably make an overview page with all of these. A {{français}} template could also come in handy. If at some point we have enough in French I can look into setting up a separate wiki but it's too early for that now. Guaka (talk) 16:42, 17 March 2013 (CET)

To list veg restaurants or not to list?

Linking to other places is great but why remove all the info here? I wanna create a free and adfree Veganwiki Android app for offline use. And it would be nice to have this information on it. Maybe we should add "last checked" dates such as on Trashwiki? Guaka (talk) 21:41, 17 April 2013 (CEST)

I agree. It would be really helpful for some people to have a list of vegan friendly places already in this wiki without the need to go to happycow or somewhere else. Also, that's the only wiki as far as I know where such information is collected, and anyone can improve it. The problem with happycow is that you have to register, fill all kinds of forms, your additions are reviewed (which takes time) and only then appear on the page. I would really like to see this getting more open, and vegan wiki could be one of the platforms where that happens.
To improve our lists, as Guaka suggested, we can add "last checked" information. If a list of a certain city becomes too long, we can create a new page "List of vegan friendly places in ______". Some users might also want to create individual pages of some vegan restaurants with their history, photos, reviews, etc.--Linas (talk) 01:41, 18 April 2013 (CEST)
You guys might be right. However, there are some clear advantages of HappyCow listings when it comes to veg.restaurants. We can try to put all the pros and cons on the table:
HappyCow listings are better because:
* they have integrated maps
* there are personal reviews, with rating possibility
* they are more precise and up-to-date
* there is an Android app with integrated maps showing the nearest veg.places to your chosen location.
Cons:
* registration
* not so open (additions have to be reviewed)
* confusing with all the non-vegan-related adds around.
The history and realities of internet marketing show that if some project has some original features that no one else has, it can get big and successfull while other projects fade away (for example, Facebook right now barely has any serious competitors, not even Google+). Unless we implement all or most of the above mentioned "pros" there is a big chance our listings of veg.places will never come close to be usefull for anyone as HappyCow offers much better service of that kind of information. Nonetheless, I am ready to continue listing veg restaurants on Veganwiki if you can explain me your VISION how Veganwiki can make its veg restaruants listings successful. (For example, is there any possibility to implement rating system on Veganwiki, with users rating veg.places from one to five stars, or similar?) --Sigurdas (talk) 12:52, 18 April 2013 (CEST)
I agree that happycow has more features, and it is naive to think that a bunch of enthusiasts here at veganwiki can make something better at this moment. Nevertheless I don't see any harm if we provide a list of vegan friendly places here, too. As our project grows, we might add ratings, comments, maps, etc. latter. --Linas (talk) 09:44, 20 April 2013 (CEST)
Of course we can do that. The question rather is (for me personally) would it be worth spending lots of time doing that instead of focusing on other things, both here on Veganwiki (like on general descriptions of vegan-friendliness in localities, activism, history, concepts, etc) and in "real life". I think first we should define a clear vision for Veganwiki and have a plan how to implement everything we want, so that Veganwiki in the future could become a valuable source of information for world vegans. --Sigurdas (talk) 10:01, 20 April 2013 (CEST)
I've often found myself in front of a closed restaurant because of Happy Cow listings. If I see "wiki" I'd probably check before going somewhere.
I'm really not a fan of Happy Cow's Android app or website. I think it's good it's there but I personally hardly ever use it (even though there's some good information on it). I will be using Veganwiki however.
I see this as a Hitchbase "vs" Hitchwiki thing, I think Hitchbase was there when Hitchwiki started and had some information. And this was no reason not to start Hitchwiki :)
We shouldn't simply copy all listings from Happy Cow for a city, but if I'm in a city myself (like Berlin) and I know about a place I'll add it here.
If Veganwiki can actually make money advertising 100% vegan products I'll be very tempted to spend time working out maps and ratings (or pay Mikael to do so :) And this is more likely to happen if we simply start by adding restaurants already. It might even be feasible to use the code for maps.hitchwiki.org (written by Mikael) and make that more generic. Guaka (talk) 15:04, 27 April 2013 (CEST)

I've actually gained some experience working with Semantic MediaWiki and this could be a good way for adding restaurants and even reviews. Guaka (talk) 15:06, 27 April 2013 (CEST)

Forms

moved from User talk:Guaka

Nicely done with these forms (City, etc.). I like the semantic touch on this wiki. I wonder though how are we going to do with reviews: reviews are personal and the one you left for example on Vöner in Berlin is something that can depend visit to visit, and something that others can disagree with. Therefore if we leave reviews, we should make it clear who left them, and give a technical possibility for someone else to make another review. Right now it is impossible. --Sigurdas (talk) 16:18, 18 May 2013 (CEST)

Thanks :) I'm actually considering one article per restaurant, that would make it quite easy to leave reviews and it would also make it possible (easier) to show places on a map in a city. What do you think? Guaka (talk) 17:27, 18 May 2013 (CEST)