User talk:MichaelXXLF

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Hello Michael,

I have tried on several occassions to add to the Royal Gorge page with information on our historic train ride, the Historic Royal Gorge Route Rairoad. Each time, my information has been removed, although last time, our image was saved. For some reason, the Royal Gorge Bridge - a commercial operation can have content and links to their site, but not ours.

Tourism is a huge industry in Colorado and we have carried well over a million passengers on this historic line. Why can't we have any information or links to this historic line? Why is the bridge favored?

Thank you for your consideration,

Mark Greksa Owner - Historic Royal Gorge Route Rairoad - www.royalgorgeroute.com

Dear Mark!

Forgive me for being so blunt: Royal Gorge Brige does it in a much smarter way! They keep to Wikipedias rules.

The problem with your contributions, which I edited away, was that all links, even such that did not belong to the topic itself, suddenly pointed to commercial sites. Plus you put all of your information into the article about Royal Gorge and the Scenic Train is but an aspect here. And it sounded like an advertisment.

I would advise you as follows: Start an entirely new Wikipedia article about the Scenic Railroad as topic. But do not put in the original parts of the article I deleted in which you mention your selection of fine wines and foods (Which I do not doubt!). That is commercial, Wikipedia is an encyclopedia not a TV interruption.

Write a new article, write about how your company came into being, about the legal struggles and the struggles with the railroad companies you've certainly had. Write about the engines and the carriages you use, where you got them from and how you restored them; That can all be nicely linked to other articles.

You might want to have a look at the articles about other museum or scenic railroads that already exist for inspiration.

Then, at the bottom of the page, under "Links", feel free to add a link to your commercial site. Just as RGB does it ;-)

You can put a lot of media, including video footage, onto Wikimedia and also link to that.

Please, do not get me wrong, I do not have any personal problems with you or your railroad. On the contrary! I'd *love* to ride the RGR! Only I am about 5000 miles away ...

I've read a lot about the route, including RGR's fine site, and I must say, I was rather disappointed to see your contribution to Wikipedia in such a way.

Feel free to come back to me for help and I will do my best to help you with an article.

michael

MichaelXXLF 09:58, 11 May 2007 (UTC)

Thanks Michael.

Mark