User talk:Mathguin

Netley Abbey - opening times
Interesting dilemma regarding the opening times for Netley Abbey. I understand it is only a temporary change, due to yobs misbehaving.

If the opening times are variable, do you put them in the encyclopedia and have to change it every time they alter, or just provide a link to the tourist website that lists the opening times - thus keeping the page stable and letting somebody else do the work on keeping the opening times up to date.

I think I would go for the latter, as Wikipedia isn't really supposed to be a tourist guide.

I won't change anything on that page, but will leave it as an open question for you to ponder.

Cheers.Hethurs (talk) 17:51, 7 July 2008 (UTC)

Re: the Netley Abbey opening times, I you are right and I'm going to amend the page to say simply that it is open to the public (there's already a link to the official visitor information page in the external links page) but not when and leave it to English Heritage to sort themselves out. I'll put a note on the article's talk page about the subject. I must say that I am very sad that EH have had to take such harsh measures in order to protect the ruins and I hope that you are right that it is only temporary. Soph (talk) 17:38, 7 July 2008 (UTC)

Re: the Netley Abbey opening times - you're probably right, it isn't Wikipedia's responibility to make sure that English Heritage have their opening times correct. I don't have a lot of faith in them though - I did some research and found that the site has been shut like that since 2004 (not so temporary), and I've had no response to my request that they update their website. So sadly I'm not sure that the site will be open again any time soon. I also thought it was quite a harsh measure to take initially, but in the course of my research discovered that Netley Abbey village has been suffering quite badly from intimidation and vandalism. I added the correct opening times to the page in the hope of preventing others from being disappointed... but I guess most people would take the English Heritage word for it that it's open. Mathguin (talk) 15:38, 14 July 2008 (UTC)


 * Sorry for the delay in replying. It looks like your email did have an effect, EH have now corrected the opening times on their website to match the situation you discovered. The whole thing is very sad. On a personal note, you certainly saved me from disappointment at least. I was planning to pop over there while I'm in Hampshire to visit family in August and you've saved me from turning up to find it shut, so thanks! BTW, Netley Abbey is going for the Good Article review process shortly, so you might like to have a look at it to see what you think of the current state. Best wishes Soph (talk) 14:56, 31 July 2008 (UTC)