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-as of [24 AUGUST 2024]–
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*styled as ‘wikiHow’*
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-[wiki-how] is an ‘online wiki-style community’ consisting of an extensive database of [how-to guides]-
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Founded in 2005 by Internet entrepreneur Jack Herrick, wikiHow is a hybrid organization, a for-profit company run for a social mission
wikiHow software is ‘open source’
and its text content is released under a Creative Commons (BY-NC-SA) license
wikiHow states that it was inspired by Wikipedia,
but it is not related to Wikimedia/Wikipedia in any way
Both organizations use the free and open-source MediaWiki software
The website aims to create the world’s most helpful how-to instructions to enable everyone in the world to learn how to do anything
In February, 2005, wikiHow had over 35.5 million unique visitors
As of January 2020, wikiHow contains more than 212,000 free how-to articles and over 2.1 million registered users
On April 11, 2010, a wikiHow article titled “How to Lose Weight Fast” reached 5 million page views, a first for the site.
“How to Take a Screenshot in Microsoft Windows” is the site’s most popular article
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History
wikiHow was founded by Jack Herrick on January 15, 2005, with the goal of creating an extensive how-to manual with accurate, up-to-date instructions for multiple tasks in many languages.[13]
January 15 was selected as its launch date to honor Wikipedia, which was launched on January 15, 2001.[14]
Herrick drew inspiration for wikiHow from eHow, a how-to website he and Josh Hannah purchased in 2004.
After running eHow, Herrick concluded that its business model prevented it from becoming the extensive, high quality how-to site he wanted to create
Herrick and Hannah sold eHow in 2006, allowing Herrick to focus on wikiHow full-time
In 2006, the non-profit foundation One Laptop per Child chose wikiHow as one of the content sources for the educational laptops it distributed around the world
On September 21, 2007, the website’s 25,000th article was published
In 2009, it surpassed 20 million monthly visitors and completed a redesign
In 2014, Google chose wikiHow as one of the launch partners for Google Contributor, an ad-free Internet product
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Guidecentral acquisition
It was announced on March 24, 2016 that wikiHow acquired Guidecentral,[20] a website focused on instructions for “hands-on” projects.[21]
The acquisition’s terms were not released;
however, Guidecentral raised over $1 million from investors including NXTP Labs, Enterprise Ireland, and South Ventures
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Operations
wikiHow provides how-to content on the Internet by allowing anyone to edit pages
As of February, 2015, it contains over 180,000 articles.
Most follow a similar format with steps, tips, warnings, and a list of required things, and are complemented with illustrations
wikiHow uses the wiki method of continuous improvement, allowing editors to add, delete, and otherwise modify content.
Once an article is created, community members collaborate on it to improve its quality.
Each edit is scrutinized during “Recent Changes Patrol”, where volunteers review it according to wikiHow’s standards, discarding bad edits (e.g. vandalism, test edits) and keeping improvements
Typically, images are created by wikiHow staff, usually under Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike-Noncommercial license;
registered users may also contribute images.
The central hub for contribution tools is the Community Dashboard,[26] with several dynamic applets linking users to editing tools such as
the Spell Checker;
the Categorizer
(where articles are assigned categories according to topic)
and the Cleanup Greenhouse,
(where low-quality articles are copyedited and revised for style and format)
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Quality review process
By default, newly created articles are de-indexed from search engines, blurred to obscure their content, and hidden with a notice that they are in “quality review”.
Logged-in users can dismiss the warning to view the new article.
“New Article Boost” allows certain users with the “New Article Booster” right to review the articles and bring them up to standards if possible
Articles meeting these standards are “promoted”, removing the notice and blurring effect and making the article publicly visible and searchable.
If a New Article Booster finds a newly written high-quality article, they can mark it as a Rising Star
By default, RS-marked articles are promoted and placed on a main page for an unspecified period of time
Below-standards articles, and those that need work before publication, are “demoted”, removing them from the New Article Boost list, retaining the blurring and notice, and moving them to the “Articles in Quality Review” category
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Deletion system
Articles with content that conflicts with the site’s deletion policy (such as those submitted as jokes, concerning sexually explicit or hate-based topics, or significantly inaccurate or incomplete) are also demoted
Titles identified as duplicates per wikiHow’s Merge Policy are merged
Similarly to Wikipedia’s Articles for deletion discussions, wikiHow lets users nominate articles that meet deletion criteria;
other users and administrators then discuss whether or not to delete them.[33]
Like most wiki sites, wikiHow also has a speedy deletion system for pages that are obviously nonsensical, spam, or otherwise inappropriate
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Registration and user rights
Like many other wikis, registration on wikiHow is optional, and privileges such as creating and editing articles are available to those without an account.
In compliance with the Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act (COPPA), wikiHow users are required to be at least 13 years old to register.
COPPA is regularly enforced and site administrators are expected to block anyone confirmed to be underage, though editing privileges may be restored if the company receives a consent form signed by the user’s parents or legal guardian
Underage users can still edit anonymously, but they are advised not to post their personal information.
Over 1 million people have created accounts, and over 15,000 people contribute to and edit wikiHow per month
Volunteer contributors call themselves “wikiHowians”.
The most active, experienced and trusted wikiHowians may gain additional editing privileges to help them administer and protect the website.
New Article Boost rights are granted to users with at least 300 edits, and who pass a three-part test on wikiHow policies
People with NAB rights can use a special tool that lets them edit recently written articles to ensure their quality meets wikiHow’s standards before they are made visible to all readers.
Experienced users who are considered competent and “level-headed” may be considered for adminship, allowing them to use more powerful maintenance tools
At least once a year, wikiHow organizes a conference where active community members are invited to gather for an extended weekend to get to know one another.
Each conference is held in a different city, and is known as a “meetup”
wikiHow’s headquarters are located in a house in Palo Alto, California, dubbed the “wikiHaus”.
wikiHow’s staff consists of a small group of employees with various specialties including
engineering,
marketing
and community management
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Business model
wikiHow’s initial startup costs were, to some extent, financed from Herrick’s sale of eHow.
It is now funded from advertising on its pages
It does not seek contributions, and it is run as a “hybrid organization”—a “for-profit company focused on creating a global public good in accordance with our mission”
As of mid-2020, wikiHow was soliciting contributions during the COVID-19 pandemic
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In late 2020, wikiHow added a subscription service called “wikiHow Pro” which
unlocks some locked expert answers,
enables more custom PDF downloads,
and allows access to expert authored courses
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Licensing
wikiHow’s text content is published under the Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-Share Alike 3.0 (by-nc-sa 3.0) license, allowing it to be modified and reused for non-commercial purposes as long as the original authors are attributed and the license is not substantially changed.
Authors retain full copyright to their content, may publish it elsewhere under different licenses, and grant wikiHow an irrevocable license to use it for any purpose
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Opt-out ads
wikiHow lets readers control whether advertising appears alongside content.
Registered, logged-in users do not see ads except those from external video providers
In November, 2014, it was announced that wikiHow would participate in Google Contributor, a service allowing website users to make monthly donations to support their favorite websites and not be required to see ads on them
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Reception
wikiHow has won multiple awards, including a Webby Award for Community in 2009,[48] and the Co-Creation award in the Open Innovation competition, organized by The Guardian and Nesta in 2010
Mashable selected wikiHow as runner-up for best wiki in its Open Web Awards in 2008
In October, 2018, Gizmodo included wikiHow in its list of “100 Websites That Shaped the Internet as We Know It”, referring to it as “a consistently useful resource.”
More recently, Forbes recognized wikiHow in its list of “The Best Small Companies Of 2019”
A PBS journalist reported that the “wikiHow app has an excellent set of articles to help you in just about any situation, from helping someone who is choking to handling vehicle emergencies, to natural disasters.”
The New York Times reported:
“Type in a few key words about the problem into the app’s Search page and the guide will return some advice.
Its information pages are clear and well laid out.
They begin with an introductory description, then offer a list of steps to follow.
The app displays the necessary tools and items, and includes tips and warnings.
Lifehacker has described wikiHow as the “ever-handy guide site.”
wikiHow has been positively described in many other media, including
Inc. Magazine
Cosmopolitan
TechRepublic
Condé Nast Traveler
PC Magazine
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wikiHow has also been the target of satire and criticism for its notable abundance of arguably eccentric articles.
For example, American Public Radio show Wits has a segment called “wikiHow theater”, where actors read obvious or ludicrous wikiHow topics, such as “How to Make People Respect Your Pet”, for comic effect
Two accomplished poets published a book called “How To Feel Confident with Your Special Talents”, where each poem’s title is taken directly from a wikiHow article.
Vice parodied wikiHow’s article “How to Break Up with Your Boyfriend”
The Huffington Post created a list of bizarre life skills, such as “How to React to an Ugly Baby”, that “you could only learn from wikiHow”
Illustrations are often criticized for being strange or eccentric
Other publishers have criticized wikiHow for hosting instructions on topics of questionable social value, such as…
“How to get a thigh gap”
“How to stop a wedding”
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Other websites have created “worst of wikiHow” lists to highlight topics that are
“deranged”
“brilliantly bizarre”
and otherwise controversial
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References
^ “wikiHow:Language Projects – wikiHow”. www.wikihow.com. Archived from the original on August 16, 2017. Retrieved August 15, 2017.
^ “wikiHow:Hybrid Organization”. wikiHow. Retrieved February 21, 2015.[permanent dead link]
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^ “Jack Herrick, wikiHow founder interviewed by Wikinews”. Wikinews. Archived from the original on February 21, 2015. Retrieved February 21, 2015.
^ Jump up to: a b Rojer, Rebecca. “wikiHow Reaches 25,000 Articles”. Creative Commons. Archived from the original on November 10, 2015. Retrieved February 21, 2015.
^ “wikiHow:Creative Commons”. wikiHow. Archived from the original on February 20, 2015. Retrieved February 21, 2015.
^ Jump up to: a b “wikiHow:Powered and Inspired by MediaWiki”. wikiHow. Archived from the original on March 26, 2020. Retrieved April 6, 2020.
^ de Leon, Pamella. “The Weird (And Sometimes Wonderful) World Of WikiHow: Crowdsourcing Online Info On Everything”. Entrepreneur Middle East. Archived from the original on February 21, 2015. Retrieved February 21, 2015.
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^ “wikiHow:History of wikiHow – wikiHow”. www.wikihow.com. Archived from the original on August 14, 2017. Retrieved August 13, 2017.
^ “2019: The Year in Review”. wikiHow.
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^ “wikiHow:History of wikiHow”. wikiHow. Archived from the original on February 13, 2015. Retrieved February 21, 2016.
^ Herrick, Jack. “Post on Herrick’s Google+ page”. Google+. Archived from the original on April 10, 2015. Retrieved February 21, 2015.
^ Levine, Robert. “New Web Sites Seeking Profit in Wiki Model”. The New York Times. Archived from the original on July 1, 2017. Retrieved February 21, 2015.
^ Jump up to: a b Roush, Wade. “How To Build a “Lifestyle Business” with 30 Million Visitors Per Month: The wikiHow Story”. Xconomy. Archived from the original on February 21, 2015. Retrieved February 21, 2015.
^ “2B1: “WikiHow” Content Comes Preloaded”. OLPC News. Archived from the original on February 21, 2015. Retrieved February 21, 2015.
^ Schonfeld, Erick. “WikiHow Gets Pretty, And Hits 20 Million Monthly Visitors”. TechCrunch. Archived from the original on July 8, 2017. Retrieved February 21, 2015.
^ Ingraham, Nathan. “Google Contributor will let you pay a monthly fee to see select websites without ads”. The Verge. Archived from the original on July 8, 2017. Retrieved February 21, 2015.
^ “wikiHow / Guidecentral”. crunchbase. Archived from the original on December 21, 2016. Retrieved December 15, 2016.
^ Anders, George. “Can WikiHow Rule Mobile? Watch This Acquisition Closely”. Forbes. Archived from the original on September 1, 2017. Retrieved December 15, 2016.
^ Newenham, Pamela. “WikiHow acquires Dublin start-up Guidecentral”. The Irish Times. Archived from the original on December 20, 2016. Retrieved December 15, 2016.
^ Huang, Keira. “How-to site wikiHow builds Chinese-language presence”. South China Morning Post. Archived from the original on February 21, 2015. Retrieved February 21, 2015.
^ “How to Patrol Recent Changes on wikiHow”. wikiHow. Archived from the original on February 21, 2015. Retrieved February 21, 2015.
^ “wikihow vs ehow is the wiki way better than content farms”. ReadWrite. Archived from the original on March 6, 2015. Retrieved February 21, 2015.
^ “How to Access the wikiHow Community Dashboard”. wikiHow. Archived from the original on August 14, 2017. Retrieved August 13, 2017.
^ “How to Get an Article Approved in wikiHow’s Quality Review”. wikiHow. Archived from the original on February 21, 2015. Retrieved February 21, 2015.
^ “wikiHow:Rising Star – wikiHow”. www.wikihow.com. Archived from the original on August 16, 2017. Retrieved July 23, 2017.
^ “How to Write a Rising Star Quality Article on wikiHow”. wikiHow. Archived from the original on August 16, 2017. Retrieved July 23, 2017.
^ “How to Use the wikiHow New Article Boost App”. wikiHow. Archived from the original on July 24, 2017. Retrieved July 23, 2017.
^ “wikiHow:Deletion Policy”. wikiHow. Archived from the original on February 21, 2015. Retrieved February 21, 2015.
^ “wikiHow:Merge Policy – wikiHow”. www.wikihow.com. Archived from the original on August 16, 2017. Retrieved August 15, 2017.
^ “How to Nominate an Article for Deletion on wikiHow”. wikiHow. Archived from the original on November 30, 2018. Retrieved November 1, 2018.
^ “How to Tag an Article for Speedy Deletion on wikiHow”. wikiHow. Archived from the original on November 30, 2018. Retrieved November 1, 2018.
^ “wikiHow:COPPA”. wikiHow. Archived from the original on February 21, 2015. Retrieved February 21, 2015.
^ “Special:Statistics”. wikiHow. Archived from the original on July 18, 2011. Retrieved February 21, 2015.
^ “How to Become a New Article Booster on wikiHow”. wikiHow. Archived from the original on February 26, 2015. Retrieved February 21, 2015.
^ “How to Become a wikiHow Admin”. wikiHow. Archived from the original on February 22, 2015. Retrieved February 21, 2015.
^ “wikiHow:Meetups – wikiHow”. www.wikihow.com. Archived from the original on August 14, 2017. Retrieved August 13, 2017.
^ “wikiHow:Hybrid Organization”. wikiHow.[permanent dead link]
^ “Hybrid Organization”. wikiHow. October 5, 2010. Archived from the original on July 4, 2007. Retrieved January 27, 2012.
^ “Contribute”. www.wikihow.com. Retrieved August 1, 2020.
^ Terms of Use Archived January 13, 2010, at the Wayback Machine, wikihow.com. The licensing section links to Creative Commons – Attribution-Noncommercial-Share Alike 2.5 Generic Archived January 30, 2018, at the Wayback Machine.
^ wikiHow:Why Hide Ads – wikiHow Archived April 21, 2009, at the Wayback Machine.
^ Taylor, Marisa (January 30, 2009). “Turning the Ads Off”. The Wall Street Journal. Digits (blogs.wsj.com). Archived from the original on June 12, 2018. Retrieved August 4, 2017.
^ wikiHow:Video Curation#Video Curation Tips
^ Gibbs, Samuel. “Google Contributor: can I really pay to remove ads?”. The Guardian. Archived from the original on March 4, 2017. Retrieved February 21, 2015.
^ “wikiHow”. The Webby Awards. Archived from the original on February 21, 2015. Retrieved February 21, 2015.
^ Keegan, Victor. “Open innovation is coming of age”. The Guardian. Archived from the original on February 18, 2017. Retrieved February 21, 2015.
^ “The 2nd Annual Open Web Awards”. Mashable. Archived from the original on April 11, 2012. Retrieved February 21, 2015.
^ “100 Websites That Shaped the Internet as We Know It”. Gizmodo. Archived from the original on July 9, 2019. Retrieved June 23, 2019.
^ “Forbes Small Giants: The Best Small Companies Of 2019”. Forbes. Archived from the original on June 24, 2019. Retrieved June 23, 2019.
^ Clarke, Michael. “How to Stay Safe While Reporting from Hostile (and Not So Hostile) Environments”. PBS. Archived from the original on March 18, 2015. Retrieved February 21, 2015.
^ Eaton, Kit. “Guiding D.I.Y. Home Repairs, or Summoning the Pros”. The New York Times. Archived from the original on July 1, 2017. Retrieved February 21, 2015.
^ Fitzpatrick, Jason. “Get Spray Paint Off Your Car”. Lifehacker. Archived from the original on February 21, 2015. Retrieved February 21, 2015.
^ “Las mejores apps DIY (Do It Yourself)”. Cosmopolitan (Spanish website). Archived from the original on February 21, 2015. Retrieved February 21, 2015.
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^ Kotsoni, Elektra. “How to Break Up with Your Boyfriend”. Vice. Archived from the original on November 4, 2016. Retrieved February 21, 2015.
^ Scherker, Amanda. “11 Bizarre Life Skills You Could Only Learn From Wikihow”. The Huffington Post. Archived from the original on February 21, 2015. Retrieved February 21, 2015.
^ Pillow, Ted (December 8, 2017). “Another 25 Strange, Insanely Beautiful WikiHow Images”. Medium. Archived from the original on November 4, 2018. Retrieved November 3, 2018.
^ “r/disneyvacation”. reddit. Archived from the original on October 31, 2018. Retrieved November 3, 2018.
^ Kotz, Deborah. “Weekly challenge: Stop striving for a “thigh gap” or six-pack abs”. The Boston Globe. Archived from the original on June 29, 2017. Retrieved February 21, 2015.
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^ Beusman, Callie. “15 Utterly Deranged Wikihow How-To Guides”. Jezebel. Archived from the original on February 21, 2015. Retrieved February 21, 2015.
^ Hyde, Fiona. “9 brilliantly bizarre WikiHow articles that will fix all your life problems”. The Daily Edge. Archived from the original on February 21, 2015. Retrieved February 21, 2015
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external links
Official website
Edit this at Wikidata
en.wikipedia.org /wiki/WikiHow
WikiHow
Contributors to Wikimedia projects
20-25 minutes
wikiHow
WikiHow logo 2014.png
WikiHow Homepage Screenshot December 2019.png
wikiHow Main Page in December, 2019
Type of business Private
Type of site
Wiki-format how-to manual
Available in 19[1] languages
show
List of languages
Headquarters
Palo Alto, California
,
United States
Area served Worldwide
Created by Jack Herrick and Josh Hannah
Key people Elizabeth Douglas (CEO)
Jack Herrick (Founder)
URL www.wikihow.com/Main-Page
Commercial Yes (“hybrid organization”)
Registration Optional, but required for certain tasks
Launched January 15, 2005;
16 years ago
Current status Active
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