Historical version 15 of FAQ (view current version)

General questions

What's this all about, anyway?
  The Open Guide to London is a website that you can edit and contribute to. See How To Get Started for an overview.
Is there an index?
  There are lots. If you're on a page whose title starts with "Category", for example Category Tube, you can click on the title to see an automatic list of all pages in that category. The top-level category is Category Category, from which you can click on the title as with any other category, or browse the hand-built list of categories (this may, however, be slightly out of date).
Can I add a new page?
  That's the whole point! We invite your contribution. Read Adding New Pages and Templating Conventions and you'll be ready to go.
Can I edit/correct/update/comment on a page by someone else?
  Yes, you can. Please be mindful of Wiki Etiquette and our Templating Conventions, though.
It's so easy to modify this site, as I have just done. Why don't you do something about it???? Or is this just some sort of open source free for all? If so, it's a rather naive way of thinking no one's going to wreak havoc onto your pages.
  Yes, it's easy to modify the site. This is the point; anyone with something useful to say can easily add knowledge to the site. Conversely, anyone can remove useless or outdated information in order to keep the site up to date; and if someone vandalises a page, the next visitor can easily restore the previous page from the revision history. See WhyWikiWorks (on WikiWiki) and SoftSecurity (on MeatBallWiki) for more.

Using site features

I'm scared to add something in case I do it wrong!
  Don't worry; someone will fix it if you do. Adding new and useful content is rarely bad, even if you do make a few style errors.
Can I practice using the site?
  Yes, you can. Use the Sandbox.
Oops! I just created a page, and on second thoughts it shouldn't be there. How do I get rid of it?
  Users can't delete pages. If you made a mistake in creating a page, remove the page from any locales or categories, and the contents with the word 'delete'. A site administrator will sort this out when they have time.
How do I format my text?
  Have a look at Text Formatting Examples.
How do I put in a picture?
  Have a look at Using Images.
Can I use HTML? And if so, which tags can I use?
  Yes you can. These tags are allowed: b i font small sub sup code em s strike strong var div center blockquote ul li table tr td th caption br p hr
How do locales work?
  For information on this, see Using Locales.
How does your system deal with things with synonyms?
  If something has a synonym - for example, 'Tube' and 'Underground', you can make the synonym redirect to the real page for convenience. You do this by:

  • Making a page with the name of the synonym, and putting as its content the single line:
#REDIRECT [[The Name Of The Page You Want To Redirect To]]

Site conventions

Do I have to name everything with a postcode at the end? It gets kind of tedious reading it every time there's a link to it.
  Not everything - there's only one Oxford Circus for example, so no postcode is required. Things like pubs, or members of restaurant chains, however, may have the same names in several locations, or there may be two different places with the same name. For example, there's more than one pub called the "Windsor Castle". So, name your page with the postcode at the end, like Windsor Castle, W8 7AR to avoid ambiguity.

However, wiki links can be just like normal web links; the text of the link doesn't have to be the name of the page it refers to. Use this technique: [[Windsor Castle, W8 7AR | like this]] and your link to the page will end up looking like this, so you won't have to break up the flow of your pages with ugly postcodes.

Is there a convention for naming pages about tube stops?
  Yes — follow the name of the stop with “Station”, for example, Hammersmith Station. Ditto for overground stations, for example, Clapham Junction Station.

You may be interested in other travel wiki such as http://wikitravel.org/en/article/London .

This is version 15 (as of 2004-01-28 01:05:40). View current version. List all versions.