comes from a very generous thought, but I don't think it's practical. Having two Kievs, or two Novgorods (even if you name them differently, they are still the same cities) - people are supposed to live in these cities. For one, dividing them will divide potential citizens, and two, it's awefully confusing. In fact, even to *me* it's confusing, and I'm supposed to know about the history of the region :s

I really don't understand why we can't talk about the history of Kiev as a whole in the Kievan hood as it is, and that's including pre-,early and later middle age history. I really don't mean to offense, and am asking in earnest - I just don't get why. This is how I understood how things were supposed to work - please anyone let me know where I got something wrong:

-write-ups limited to general considerations on the city for the Kiev page proper (btw, what I was doing was just a summed-up history of Kiev, as opposed to a history of Kievan Rus, which was never my intent - you have to mention it, but deeper considerations were, in my mind, reserved for articles);

-details about the different parts of the city, their buildings, the kind of people who lived there, etc, in the districts - just facts, architectural illustrations, etc, since districts are, from what I understand, supposed to explain to people about where they are living

-discussions/debates would be taken to the boards

-and in-depth write-ups about a particular aspect, be it the various Kievan Rus principalities or the role of the Viking in the political developments in the region and the debate that surrounds it, in articles.

There are no limits there - we can have debates about just any issue related to Kiev, and that includes the whole Normanist/anti-Normanist debate, Principalities, etc. I didn't want to imply that the role of the Vikings should take a step back to focus on the principalities, or anything else. I wouldn't be interested in that either. It was always my understanding that their should be an equal place for all historical aspects of a given city.

At least, that's the way I understood it and the way I worked. I apologize if I got it wrong and that actually everything written in this hood should revolve solely around the Vikings and their activities in the region - I had, for some reason, always thought that the Varangian Way was to explore the rich history of the region as a whole.

Bottom line is - my vote would go against creating a new hood, even if, like I said in introduction, I think it comes from a generous idea. I'd rather throw away what I have already done and do whatever I can to help Norv in his approach if this is also what the scribes prefer - it would be far more practical and far less confusing at any rate!

Please just let me know what in which direction you want to go :-)