Frequently Asked Questions
This page is created to help you with some frequently asked questions about contributing content, privacy and the team behind flashpacker.org.
About flashpacker.org
What is flashpacker.org?
flashpacker.org is an open collaborative travel guide that anyone with an OpenID account can contribute to by adding and updating information about cities, countries, restaurants, hotels etc. The users can also add articles, show their photographs and write personal reviews while the database automatically connects the different kinds of entries. This makes it one of the most complete, interesting and fastest growing travel information websites available.
We hope that by connecting photographers, journalists and explorers we will create an environment where no subject is too narrow, no discovery is too small and where we can benefit from each others skills. Write an article and find other persons photos to use in it, find features and destinations in the travel guide without photos and upload your best ones. The rewards for adding photos and articles will come in the form of a completely new model for compensation for user generated content once flashpacker.org goes to full production status. Together we will find the the best that the world has to offer and make it available to our fellow flashpackers in ways never before seen.
Contributing Content
Who may change or add content?
Anyone with an OpenID account! You are free to update and add content to the general information of any object and collaborative articles even if it isn't you who created and wrote the first version of the entry. In fact, we encourage you to update every single entry where you have something to add, the previous information is out of date, the objective impressions have changed or the old information was plainly wrong. This is what makes flashpacker.org the best travel guide there is.
Why do I need an OpenID account?
In order to create the best experience possible we need some way of keeping record of user contributions. By using OpenID you can use your exising account and don't need to keep track of yet another online account.
How do I change or add content?
As soon as you have logged in you can change and update content on all objects except non-public articles and photos added by others. Just go to the page for the object via links, the quick search box or a regular search and then click on a text field to edit and add information. When you click outside the text it is automatically saved. To add information to an empty field you use selection box and text field at the bottom of the page which otherwise work in the same way.
How do I add new entries?
You need to be logged in to change or update content so get a Facebook account if you don't already have one. Then just press the "Add" link at the top to reveal the controls for adding a new entry. Choose the type (restaurant, photo or city for example) and fill in the title and parent. The title will scroll through existing titles with similar names to keep us from adding duplicates. The parent is important to organize the content in the database, Washington would belong to United States of America and The Eiffel tower to Paris for example. When a new object has been created you will be taken to a new page were you can start to fill in information. Start with Information and Introduction for destinations and features since they are the fields shown in listings and compilations.
How do I name objects?
In order to faciliate searches an object name which starts with "The", such as "The Name", is only named as "Name". For example "The Soap Bar" would be filed as "Soap Bar" and the Bahamas would be called "Bahamas".
Destinations: For well known cities and destinations, just the name. When there's the possibility for confusion, add the state or country after. For example, Paris in France would be named "Paris" while Paris in Illinois would be named "Paris, Illinois".
Features: Unless it's obvious that the name is unique for a single feature, it should be named with the name and then the destination after. For example, the restaurant Pontus! in Stockholm would be named "Pontus!" while Grill in Stockholm would be named "Grill, Stockholm".
Articles: Any descriptive name will do, just stick to normal letters and avoid naming them so that they can be confused with features or destinations. "Barcelona" is a bad name while "Finding the best Cava in Barcelona" is a good one. Try to find a suitable parent for your article, if you can't your own hometown will do fine.
Photos: Any descriptive name is good, photos won't interfere with the other kinds of entries (they are directly connected in the database, not by name) so they will show up where they are supposed to anyway.
How should I write a restaurant review?
*Keep it centered on the food - Describe it with detail, use adjectives, mention the dishes original name but explain them if it isn't obvious
*Other details to note:
Surroundings - Location, view from window, neighborhood
Atmosphere - Interior design, décor, cleanliness, other guests, sound volume, mood
Menu - Menu and Wine list contents broadly described
Service - Speed, presentation and demeanor
Exclusives - What makes this restaurant stand out
*Make notes - Mental or in a notebook, if possible take pictures
*No novels - don't work in yourself in the story, keep it factual and objective
*Don't go too hard on failures - think of the possible reasons for the failure, is it just an "off" night
*Ask for information - make the staff tell you about the establishment, the food, the menu and so on
*Diverse opinions - preferably more than one person during the dinner who can give input
*Sample the courses - If you can't sample the whole menu, try to sample a few dishes with the help of your friend
*Extras - You can nick (or ask for) press material, menus and so on to use as reference later
How do I describe average price?
Fill in the price describing a typical activity at the object in question in the value field and then a description and the currency in the description field. For example, at a bar you could fill in "7" in the first box and then "Beer, $" in the second, at a hotel "90" in the first and "Double room, $" in the second.
How do I add links?
For the web and wiki fields of entries just enter the normal web adress in plain text, for example "http://www.wikipedia.org/Las_Vegas" for Las Vegas. If you want to add inline links in text boxes, for example an airline carrier in the Getting There And Away box, you need to make a link using a normal BBcode tag. This looks the following way:
[url=adress]Link Text[/url]
So, to make a link to Ryan Air you would type:
[url=http://www.ryanair.com]Ryan Air[/url]
Internal links to other pages on flashpacker.org is made with double square brackets. To link to Paris in an article about the paitings of Leonardo da Vinci you would type [[Paris]].
How do I add photos in articles?
Find the id of the image you want to use on your home page by selecting the image in the drop down list and reading from the id-field. Make sure that the image you want to use have both a web and print file attached to it so that it can be printed well as well as working good online. Then add the id between BBcode image tags on a new line, like this:
some text here...
[image]25[/image]
some more text here...
How do I find GPS coordinates?
You can use Google Maps to find the GPS coordinates of an adress. Just center the screen (or enter the adress) at the position you want and zoom all the way in, then click "Link to this page" and in the URL there will a section that looks something like: "&ll=59.197466,17.627006", that is the latitude and longitude respectively.
General Questions
Who is behind flashpacker.org?
flashpacker.org is created and maintained by Kvasir Innovations AB out of Stockholm, Sweden.
Can I advertise on flashpacker.org?
Please send an email to flashpacker@kvasir.eu with questions regarding advertizing, becoming a partner or investing in flashpacker.org