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:::Yep, maybe a special page for, for example, the [[E30]], and there you can link to the specific parts of the highways, like on [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/European_route_E30 wikipedia]. Just link on that page to the [[A1 (Netherlands)]], [[A30 (Germany)]] and so one :-) [[User:platschi|platschi]]<small><sup>[http://hoerstel.travelblog.ch site], [[user talk:platschi|wikitalk]]</sup></small> 19:43, 5 December 2007 (CET)
== Hitchhiking (ad-hoc-carpooling) in the Netherlands website ==
Dear all! For my website Hitchhiking (ad-hoc-carpooling) in the Netherlands I've recently done two things:
- start of a version in Dutch
- registered the URL www.liftennederland.tk to replace the current URL www.franknature.nl/hitchhike/hitchhike.htm
Now I throw up a few points for your welcome feedback.
1. Which should be the initial language on the site?
I've set it for now to Dutch. Site statistics show that about 65% of visitors use a provider in the Netherlands (62%) or Belgium (4%). Then USA providers have a share of about 10%, and we all know that these might be for a bigger part also Dutchies, at least partially. However, Dutch provider obviously does not mean that this user knows the Dutch language. And users in other countries might just as well be able to read Dutch... at least some!
Besides this, I think Dutch as first language is good to popularize hitchhiking in the Netherlands among the natives. Dutch (mobility) orginizations might be easier inclined to establish links to the site in Dutch.
How do you look upon it?
2. What is a good shorter URL for the site? The .TK domain is registered in Tokelau Islands and is given at no cost, which is its main advantage. All the .TK domain does is forward every visitor to the site at its current URL. I've found www.liftennederland.tk (Dutch for www.hitchhikingnetherlands.tk). This latter one was not available. What kind of .TK URL would be better? Note that many may not be available. And how much negatively affects the current "long and bad" URL...
3. Does it make any sense anyway? (This is supposed to be a very general and slightly ironic, perhaps metaphoric, question...).
4. Do you think hitchhiking will get more common again within the society as a way of travelling?
Finally, my site has shown an incredible increase by number of visitor for november: plus 60% compared to Nov '07, while the other months were in a range between +10% and -10% per month compared to the same month last year. Also December is making a kick start. Site has some 5.750 hits per year, as an average for 2006-2008.
Thanks for any feedback.
--[[User:Fverhart|Fverhart]] 09:18, 4 December 2008 (UTC)
: Alright. First of all, a "real" domain should not be expensive. For .de I pay about 43 cents per month, I guess .nl is similar. For the language: You can make a start page where the user can chose his language. Also, it is techincally possible to "guess" the users language, by checking the language of the browser. Let me know if you need help for that. About the sense: Have you considered starting a dutch hitchwiki instead? It has shown, that this leads to very great content in the long term. It would also bring much more visitors as the site is already very well known internationally. Think about it ;) --[[User:MrTweek|MrTweek]] 09:34, 4 December 2008 (UTC)
:: Didn't know, so I could spider for a low cost .nl domain. About guessing by browser, I have no clue how that works, so help :p I haven't considered Dutch hitchwiki, but I'm thinking about that (and women ;) day and night. Thanks so far. --[[User:Fverhart|Fverhart]] 13:32, 4 December 2008 (UTC)
::: Can you use any scripting language (like PHP) on the server? --[[User:MrTweek|MrTweek]] 13:37, 4 December 2008 (UTC)
:::: I'm using the WYSIWYG program Dreamweaver CS, have no knowledge of any other tools! --[[User:Fverhart|Fverhart]] 19:10, 4 December 2008 (UTC)
::::: That doesn't matter. The question is, if your webserver/webhoster supports that. --[[User:MrTweek|MrTweek]] 22:02, 4 December 2008 (UTC)
:::::: Seems so, checking the site, with these standard settings: register_globals = Off
:::::: allow_url_fopen = Off. However, they can change these on request. Is this needed? --[[User:Fverhart|Fverhart]] 23:41, 4 December 2008 (UTC)
::::::: Nope, that's not needed. I'll do that for you, as soon as I find the time. --[[User:MrTweek|MrTweek]] 00:16, 5 December 2008 (UTC)
:::::::: Thank you Philip for offering this help. However, I'm making a sidenote: such assisting makes me as the editor of my website more dependent of others, which has some disadvantages too... do you get my point? --[[User:Fverhart|Fverhart]] 09:19, 5 December 2008 (UTC)
::::::::: No, not really. How would that make you depend on me?
::::::::: Well, whatever. Check this: [http://yoshi.mega2000.de/~philipp/checklang.phps]. Just copy it to your webdir and call it index.php or something. It will redirect dutch and belgian users to index-nl.html and all others to index-en.html. You can change these filenames of course. Let me know if that works :) --[[User:MrTweek|MrTweek]] 09:49, 5 December 2008 (UTC)
:::::::::: Look! http://www.franknature.nl/hitchhike/hitchhike.php I get Dutch, what do you get Philipp? What do you get if you go to http://www.franknature.nl/hitchhike/hitchhike.htm. Coz that's the site where all link partners and Google sends visitors to. Does it take care of the PHP script? And last question: how does that affect my visitor statistics, now only the Dutch page (normally the opening page) has a counter!! So the stats might go and miss out the foreigners. --[[User:Fverhart|Fverhart]] 19:37, 5 December 2008 (UTC)
::::::::::: It sends me to the English page. Google will probably know both of them. You will have to add the counter to the dutch AND to the english pages. --[[User:MrTweek|MrTweek]] 16:23, 6 December 2008 (UTC)
:::I proposed a Dutch hitchwiki before, but I don't think I will be very active there myself. Nor will Prino I think, but it could be good. I guesstimate it takes MrTweek about 5 minutes to set up the Dutch version of Hitchwiki.
:::Anyway, it would be great if you'd place any text under a free license. Hitchwiki will be under the Creative Commons Attribution ShareAlike license.
:::At [http://transip.nl/ transip] it's 5 or 6 euro (ex. VAT) per year for <tt>.nl</tt> and so far their service has been excellent. [[User:Guaka|guaka]] 19:37, 6 December 2008 (UTC)
::::...which throws the question back to Frank again: Frank, do you want to be admin for a Dutch hitchwiki? --[[User:MrTweek|MrTweek]] 19:58, 6 December 2008 (UTC)
== HH allowed in NL? ==
Hi,
I am hitch-hiking through NL at the moment, and some people already told me that it is illegal to do this! They told me, the only place where you are allowed to hh is on gas stations or parking lots. Does somebody know for sure if this is correct?
Also, it happened already twice to me that at a gas station the owner told me to leave his area, i should go some where else. So I recommend everybody to first ask at the gas station if they are ok with you standing at their property.
Hitch-hiking is not illegal in NL, it is however illegal to walk on the highway and illegal to stop on the highway (and the highway starts at the sign on the ramp!). You're quite likely to be fined when caught walking past the highway sign and drivers might be unwilling to stop on the ramp. The hard shoulder is called 'emergency lane' in dutch and treated as such... Personally, I won't break the rules or annoy other drivers just to pick a hitch-hiker and I reckon this is a common attitude in NL.
Gas stations (along highways) shouldn't be an issue though, they are generally public space rented from the state anyway. As long as you behave I can't think of a reason to be send away.
Hitchhiking in the Netherlands is allowed everywhere. However, people without vehicles or in or on vehicles not built for driving over a certain speed, 60 or 80 kmh, are not allowed to enter motorways and to a certain extent, also on national roads which are marked with the blue rectangular sign with a car on it. So in practice, you are allowed to hitchhike everywhere, but you cannot do it on motorways and most national road as enforced laws prohibit you to be there; you are considered to be a pedestrian. This is pretty much the same all over Europe in regards to motorways. Apart from those places where there is a prohibition for pedestrians, there are other situations where police might disagree with thumbing. The main concern should always be traffic safety.
Hitchhiking at petrol stations is perfectly allright as well. In NL I've used them around 100-150 times and have never been sent away. On one occassion staff brought me a cardboard and marker, several times they offered me a snack or a cup of tea, once I was asked to only ask for rides at the entrance of the shop for safety reasons. Usual approach is handle the workers with due respect, don't walk around the entrance too much. I prefer to stand at the "front court" of the station, that is the side where the cars are entering. Close to the shop front entrance I always move around with care... --[[User:Fverhart|Fverhart]] ([[User talk:Fverhart|talk]]) 22:12, 16 July 2013 (CEST)
