Remember CaptainWiki and ActiveCaptain? No?
I’m not surprised.
We wrote about them a couple times last year, here and here. We expressed enthusiasm and support for them both, and may the best Wiki win.
Both show signs of progress, and I continue to believe that at some point in the future we’ll wonder how we got along without this kind of reference.
But so far, this is not the case. Since we wrote last, they’ve both failed to
gain the “critical mass” necessary to really sustain the content organically. It’s unfortunate, but perhaps not surprising.
It just takes time for the word to spread, and for people to try it out, learn their way around the site, and engage with the experience.
So consider this another “heads up” to our readers: Take a look, and take a moment, if you would, to add a review or note about some place you are personally familiar with. If you find yourself frustrated with some aspect of the interface or presentation, let the site owners know…feedback from real users can be valuable.
{ 2 comments… read them below or add one }
I am a big fan and top 10 contributor to Active Captain.
Compare to the 2004 Guide Book to Long Island Marina’s I last used, I found:
* 1 in 3 Restaurants that appeared in the guide didn’t exist any more. Not an issue with Active Captain.
* One of the fuel docks I visited was misprinted as having diesel, when it only had gas. Not an issue with Active Captain, and Active Captain will provide current fuel costs if updated by local boaters.
* The restaurant’s listed in the guide as being in walking distance to the Marina’s was wildly exaggerated in nearly every case. (With google earth / active captain, I can actually see the locations and communicate accurately to my crew how long they have to walk)
* Marina services information was entirely inaccurate. (pricing, depth of slips, working showers, etc.)
* Local attactions are incorrect also. An attraction that was the focus of visiting Old Saybrook in 2005 had since been closed for six years at the time of our visit.
* Every location was listed as beautiful, even if it was dilapidated. For example a marina on City Island. (incidentally that marina was fixed up, and the info about it was posted by another captain in ActiveCaptain, something that wouldn’t appear in the guide even if they originally printed that it was dilapidated.
Please contribute your reviews to Active Captain. If they are on Long Island Sound, I especially look forward to reading them.
b393capt
The “new” kid on the block is being well supported by world cruisers. The “World Cruising Wiki” is still new but well on the way in development and is truly a worldwide project. It concentrates more on world cruising as opposed to “what is the best cafe up the road from a marina”. It covers details of world ports, check-in procedures, immigration & customs, marinas, anchorages, ocean passages, world cruisers’ HF nets, etc.
http://www.cruiserlog.com/wiki/
{ 1 trackback }