Ask away!
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on businesses and the wiki:
2009-11-09 21:55:58 It isn't just about favorable reviews. There are some editors that have come to represent a business in which they have an interest and participated in the collaborative editing process. They may be business owners, or just employees, but they have demonstrated good customer service by how they interacted with other editors who sometimes left anonymous and acerbic comments. There are also those who came here and didn't get the idea that this is a community resource and treated it like just another advertising venue that they felt entitled to control. —JasonAller
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And one of the reasons I mentioned Aaron was that he's not only done what you said, but he's also contributed to other pages on the wiki as a member of the Davis community. Like many business owners, things were a little rough with his introduction to the wiki, but eventually it worked out (imo). —CovertProfessor
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I think you hit the nail on the head. I didn't have time to speak to the reporter before his deadline, so hopefully he got this. —PhilipNeustrom
2009-11-10 11:22:04 The Davis Wiki is not about helping (or harming!) local businesses. It's for the community. That's everyone who lives, works, goes to school, or just visits Davis. In that way I believe it benefits all local businesses. It helps by bringing exposure, by sharing customers' experences, and by simply giving hours, address/map info. that saves them having to answer the phone. We are not anti-business by any stretch. I've encouraged them to get involved. —SteveDavison
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Did somebody say that it was?
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I think I have to disagree. By giving a soapbox to oftentimes irresponsible anonymous criticism, daviswiki could and probably does harm some local businesses. It's not the intent and maybe we don't know how to fix it, but we should not deny it.
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I think this critique applies to almost anything on the internet. The contextual difference is intent. The wiki is what Steve above described. "Soapbox" is difficult to judge, and I don't think anyone here really has the standing to decide who gets to contribute. IMO, the bulk of criticisms seen tend to go along with other comments. I think "irresponsible" is actually exceedingly rare. Out of the thousands and thousands of relatively anonymous edits/critiques/comments, probably only several dozen are contentious and even less are so irresponsible as to cause an uproar and discussion. But back to my point, the intent of this site is the difference between here and everywhere else on the internet. Gazillions of people routinely use Yelp, Metromix, Chowhound and other review-based websites to discuss their love/hates. On those sites, everybody knows that every single comment should be taken with a grain of salt. A lot of people just ignore reviewers with a low post count. If I'm finding a place to eat at from Yelp, I care more about the guy who's left 500 reviews than I do the guy that only left 7. The difference is, on Yelp that info is right under your username, and here it isn't: because we're not meant to be simply a review-aggregate. This is what Steve means by we're not here to help or harm businesses. That's not our focus. But it absolutely is for many of these other popular websites (doesn't Yelp boast over 10 million reviews?). The wiki is supposed to be community based, so people here tend not to like single-edit accounts. But, again, it's not abnormal at all for these other types of websites out there. The problem we have, or not problem per se but issue we face, is that a lot of people simply see DavisWiki as another review-based website. If you really hate a place, you go 1-star it on yelp, and now maybe make a quick account at the wiki to hate it again. It's getting people to cross-over and be involved, and not just zoom straight in to to look up the reviews on some cafe, that's something people here have tried to work on for years. Fundamentally, it comes down to thousands and thousands of "outsiders" not learning how this wiki works, because it's most popular features (restaurant listings) are a local version of Yelp/Chowhound/Metromix, etc. I think concern over harming local businesses is actually underrating the average local internet-user who's reading DavisWiki. These people use all these other websites, they understand that soapboxing is inevitable, and just like on every other website they use, it's up to them to decide how much weight to give which comments. No single comment should ever make or break a business, no matter which website it's left on. Concern over anonymous criticism isn't unfounded at all, I'm simply saying I think in context to everything else out there people use as a similar resource, I think most people are smart or experienced enough to judge the overall gist and vibe of a place as a whole, rather than at the individual comment level. -ES
2010-02-03 08:03:20 Can anyone tell me how I might add a hotlink that goes to a specific paragraph or comment on a page? I just know how to add a link that goes to that page but not a specific section of it. —DagonJones
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It has to be a web link (like an outside link). There's no way to do a markup link to a anchor reference. Sorry. -jw
The wiki can utilize anchors on the same page, such as on ![[WWW]](http://wikispot.org/wiki/eggheadbeta/img/sycamore-www.png){kind=small}
this page. ie, [Anchor(Staff) in front of the appropriate paragraph, and [#Staff See Our Staff] at the top of the page for the link to it. Not sure about cross-page linking to an anchor though. -ES
2010-02-23 21:46:51 Does anyone know how to upload video? —DagonJones
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link to it elsewhere for now —JasonAller
2010-05-19 16:24:48 Is there a community orchestra in Davis? —superamazing123
2010-05-19 17:12:21 la crepe would be a good candidate —StevenDaubert
2011-03-28 12:47:35 I'm ordering new business cards, and am considering using a Google Voice number to have a local (530) phone number on them (my cell/main line is a Fresno number). So, my question: is it unprofessional or awkward to have calls to my work number pick up with a recorded message saying, "Hello! Please state your name after the tone, and Google Voice will try to reach (recording of my voice) Tom Garberson"? After the caller does so, it dials through to me and states the name they gave. This would be in addition to the cell number on the business card. —TomGarberson
I just dealt with that earlier today. I thought it was reasonable: the automated form of an assistant answering the phone. It was a little grating in terms of having to mentally shift gears when I had prepared for the call. Also, if you can record a replacement message, I'd recommend that. Something about "try to reach" sounds like you're not routinely available during business hours. -jw
2011-04-29 22:09:46 Is there any place in town to get Turkish coffee? Or any place that can powder coffee finely enough to make it at home? I'm running low :( —TomGarberson
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I've heard that Turkish Coffee can occasionally be obtained at Sam's on 3rd St. I do not know if this is true, but you might ask them. —JoshLawson
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The finest grind on the two grinders at Trader Joe's is "Turkish", as well as for the two identical grinders at the Davis Food Coop —BruceHansen
Nice, thanks Josh!
2011-06-29 12:44:31 Anyone know which venues in town are showing Women's World Cup coverage? Next game is 8:30am on ESPN. I'm assuming The Graduate will be open and showing it. Anything else? —TomGarberson
To partially answer my own question, The Grad will be opening around 9 to show most or all of the game. Lamppost is open at 8 daily. Beer Shoppe doesn't open early. If you know about other places showing the games, you can add them to the list at World Cup! —tg
2011-07-13 23:51:37 Anyone know a band that does weddings and covers recent songs? I am getting married in late August (in the Bay Area) and really want to have live music. Quite a trip if the band is in Sac area, but I figured someone might have some ideas. —MikeIvanov
2011-09-08 23:10:30 Is there a place in Davis to fill a 5# CO2 cannister? I know there's an Airgas in Woodland, although I hear it's closed on weekends (not ideal). I've heard there's a place in Sacramento that'll fill on weekends, but that's kind of a pain. —TomGarberson Somewhere on campus? Daubert
2011-09-10 22:05:02 I'm looking for a yoga studio; primarily I'm running for my cardiovascular fitness so I'm not interested in anything super intense like bikram for example; I'd like to find a couple classes a week that aren't too packed with people and also isn't 99% female because I hate feeling out of place. Thanks! —AndrewPotter
2011-12-13 12:48:51 Anybody know a good place in the area to buy bongo drums? —ScottMeehleib
Have you checked out Watermelon Music? They don't sell them, you might need to go to Sacramento. —TomGarberson
2012-01-03 09:25:12 Does anyone know the best deal in town for a smog check? (does NOT need to be a test only/ gold shield center) EZ smog quoted me $55 out the door with their coupon. —DagonJones
There's a comparison of some of the places in town laid out here. It's not exhaustive, and, as it notes just below the table, those prices don't include the $8.25 smog certificate. —TomGarberson
