Talk:Gaborone

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I have removed the stub tag and nominated this article for the Article Improvement Drive. NatusRoma 9 July 2005 06:36 (UTC)

[edit] NPOV?

Does anyone else question this article's NPOV?

Having spent two months in Gaborone, I can attest to the fact that it is not nearly as idyllic as the article makes it sound.

For instance, the statement in regards to "low-cost housing" is somewhat questionable. According to Botswana's Constitution, Batswana are entitled to land. Thus, the government assigns plots of land to citizens, in a process that can take years. The limited amounts of freehold plots, including those of Phakhalane, tend to be affordable to only the most affluent Batswana. As for expats, the committee in charge of the Fulbright Scholarship contends that "Housing is tight in Gaborone and can be quite expensive." http://us.fulbrightonline.org/program_country.html?id=15

Another statement that I would recommend clarifying is: "the rapid development has necessitated construction of a larger city dam to provide an adequate water supply." The truth of the matter is that Gaborone is in a severely drought-prone area. I am not sure when the NASA photograph was taken, but during May 2005 the water behind dam was at a much lower level and the reservoir was completely exhausted during the last months of 2005. I have no idea as to its current level, but some clarifications seem to be in order.

Does anyone else agree?

I generally agree, though I don't know much about the city. I removed a big chunk of text that was cut-and-pasted from the Botswana tourist department website. Not only was it a copyright violation, it wasn't appropriate for an encyclopedia anyway, so maybe removing it will help some. Of course, feel free to make changes to make this a more realistic, balanced portrait of the city. CDC (talk) 21:20, 2 August 2006 (UTC)

I don't know... I think it was better with the stuff from the Botswana tourism web-site. We could have made it a citation. But the article just has no substance anymore. I figure official information is better than no information. I suggest we bring it back, and edit / cite it or flag the neutrality as required. 15:17, 13 October 2006 (UTC)

There's a couple of factors in addition neutrality and tone: we just can't copy and paste in copyright text without permission, and a tourist website doesn't rank highly as a reliable source, which it really needs to if we're going to use it as a citation. — Matt Crypto 19:23, 13 October 2006 (UTC)

Hmmm... that was quick. I suggest we rebuild this page, from a more neutral standpoint. Its just that, Having lived in Botswana, I know that pretty much everything there was quite true. Though I guess I may be influenced by Bias. This page looks pathetic now. There's nothing remotely useful on this page. Iyer 19:33, 13 October 2006 (UTC)