Wiki-based how-to website
wikiHow
![](//upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/c/c1/WikiHow_logo_2014.svg/220px-WikiHow_logo_2014.svg.png) |
![](//upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/b/b6/WikiHow_Homepage_Screenshot_December_2019.png/300px-WikiHow_Homepage_Screenshot_December_2019.png) Main page of wikiHow as of December 2019
[update]
|
Type of business
| Private
|
---|
Type of site
| Online how-to website
|
---|
Available in
| 19
[1]
languages
|
---|
List of languages
English, Spanish, Dutch, Portuguese, French, German, Italian, Chinese, Russian, Czech, Japanese, Indonesian, Arabic, Thai, Korean, Vietnamese, Hindi, Turkish, Persian
|
Headquarters
| ,
United States
|
---|
Area served
| Worldwide
|
---|
Created by
| Jack Herrick
|
---|
Key people
| - Elizabeth Douglas (CEO)
- Jack Herrick (founder)
|
---|
URL
| www
.wikihow
.com
![Edit this at Wikidata](//upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/8/8a/OOjs_UI_icon_edit-ltr-progressive.svg/10px-OOjs_UI_icon_edit-ltr-progressive.svg.png) |
---|
Commercial
| Yes ("
hybrid organization
")
|
---|
Registration
| Optional, but necessary for certain tasks
|
---|
Launched
| January 15, 2005
; 19 years ago
(
2005-01-15
)
|
---|
Current status
| Active
|
---|
Content license
| Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported
(user-generated content)
[2]
|
---|
wikiHow
is an online
wiki
-style publication featuring how-to articles and quizzes on a variety of topics. Founded in 2005 by Internet entrepreneur Jack Herrick, its aim is to create an extensive database of instructional content, using the wiki model of
open collaboration
to allow users to add, create, and modify content. It is a
hybrid organization
, a for-profit company run for a social mission. wikiHow uses a
forked
version of the
free and open-source
MediaWiki
software; these modifications made by wikiHow were freely available to the general public via a self-serve download site from 2010 to late 2020, when wikiHow chose to discontinue the self-serve portal, citing vague "
DoS
attacks", as well as noting that publishing the source code is "not part of our core mission".
[3]
[4]
[5]
The site's text content is released under a
Creative Commons NonCommercial license
.
In February 2005, wikiHow had over 35.5 million unique visitors. As of December 2021
[update]
, wikiHow contains more than 235,000 how-to articles and over 2.5 million registered users.
History
[
edit
]
wikiHow was founded by Jack Herrick on January 15, 2005, with the goal of creating "the how-to guide for everything."
[6]
January 15 was selected as its launch date to honor
Wikipedia
, which was launched on January 15, 2001.
[7]
Herrick drew inspiration for wikiHow from
eHow
, a how-to website he and business partner 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.
[8]
Deciding that the wiki method of content creation would ultimately produce higher-quality work, both of them sold eHow in 2006 to Demand Media.
[9]
Herrick described the difference between eHow and wikiHow as "eating a
McDonald's
burger vs. a wonderful, home cooked meal."
[10]
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.
[11]
On September 21, 2007, the website's 25,000th article was published.
[12]
In 2009, after completing a redesign the site surpassed 20 million monthly visitors with 25 million page views.
[13]
In 2014,
Google
chose wikiHow as one of the launch partners for
Google Contributor
, an ad-free Internet product.
[14]
In 2016, wikiHow reached 100 million monthly visitors.
[15]
[16]
On March 24, 2016, wikiHow
acquired
Guidecentral, a website focused on instructions for "hands-on" projects.
[15]
The acquisition's terms were not released; however, Guidecentral raised over $1 million from investors, including NXTP Labs, Enterprise Ireland, and South Ventures.
[17]
Operations
[
edit
]
Workshop on women on wikiHow at
Wikimania 2012
.
wikiHow provides instructional content on a wide range of topics.
[18]
As of December 2021, it contains over 235,000 articles. Articles typically follow a standardized format to detail the step-by-step process of completing a task or accomplishing a specific outcome. Images serve as visual aids and may be created by users or contracted staff.
[
citation needed
]
The MediaWiki software allows users to add, delete, and otherwise modify content. Like other wikis, quality control is achieved by reviewing edits via the "
Recent Changes
" page and using a
diff
feature to compare revisions of an article and highlight changes in the content.
[19]
[10]
Other users review these changes and may accept or reject the edits based on guidelines regarding content and style.
To provide an authoritative review and ensure reliability of the content, staff writers also consult with
subject-matter experts
, particularly in topics such as health and medicine, law, finance, and psychology.
[20]
[21]
In 2021, wikiHow partnered with the
United Nations
to launch a campaign against
COVID-19 misinformation
.
[22]
Among the volunteer editing community, a number of trusted users, known as administrators, may be tasked with responsibilities pertaining to the maintenance and smooth operation of the website. Functionally similar to
administrators on Wikipedia
and
internet forum moderators
, these users have elevated account privileges used to delete articles,
block
other users from editing, and perform various maintenance tasks.
[23]
Business model
[
edit
]
At the time of launch, wikiHow's startup costs were, to some extent, financed from Herrick's sale of eHow. The website has since relied on
advertising
on its pages for revenue. wikiHow is run as a "hybrid organization"?a "for-profit company focused on creating a global public good in accordance with [the] mission".
[24]
Initially and throughout its history, Herrick has declined financial donations to wikiHow.
[25]
However, in mid-2020 as a response to the
economic impact of the COVID-19 pandemic
, the company began soliciting contributions to support wikiHow.
[26]
Later that year, wikiHow released a subscription service called "wikiHow Pro", which allows access to paywalled features such as custom PDF downloads of articles and email-based courses created by subject-matter experts.
Licensing
[
edit
]
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.
[27]
Opt-out ads
[
edit
]
wikiHow lets readers control whether advertising appears alongside content. Registered, logged-in users do not see ads,
[28]
[29]
except those from external video providers.
[30]
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.
[31]
Reception
[
edit
]
wikiHow has won multiple awards, including a
Webby Award
for Community in 2009,
[32]
and the Co-Creation award in the Open Innovation competition, organized by
The Guardian
and
Nesta
in 2010.
[33]
Mashable
selected wikiHow as runner-up for best wiki in its Open Web Awards in 2008.
[34]
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."
[35]
More recently,
Forbes
recognized wikiHow in its list of "The Best Small Companies Of 2019".
[36]
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
."
[37]
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."
[38]
Lifehacker
has described wikiHow as the "ever-handy guide site."
[39]
wikiHow has been positively described in many other media, including
Inc. Magazine
,
[40]
Cosmopolitan
,
[41]
TechRepublic
,
[42]
Conde Nast Traveler
[43]
and
PC Magazine
.
[44]
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.
[45]
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.
[46]
Vice
parodied wikiHow's article "How to Break Up with Your Boyfriend".
[47]
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".
[48]
Other publishers have criticized wikiHow for hosting instructions on topics of questionable social value, such as "How to get a
thigh gap
"
[49]
and "How to stop a wedding".
[50]
Other websites have created "worst of wikiHow" lists to highlight topics that are "deranged",
[51]
"brilliantly bizarre"
[52]
and otherwise controversial.
The artwork of wikiHow’s illustrations has received mixed reception among internet users, with some
[
who?
]
praising the representation of various
minority groups
, while others
[
who?
]
ridicule the bizarre and uncanny depictions. In an interview with
OneZero
, Chris Hadley, Vice President of Operations, stated that the illustrations are created by freelance artists typically outside of the US.
[53]
References
[
edit
]
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.
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- ^
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.
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.
- ^
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.
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.
- ^
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.
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.
- ^
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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- ^
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.
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.
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.
- ^
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.
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. Digits (blogs.wsj.com).
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from the original on June 12, 2018
. Retrieved
August 4,
2017
.
- ^
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- ^
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.
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.
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from the original on March 4, 2017
. Retrieved
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.
- ^
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.
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.
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from the original on February 21, 2015
. Retrieved
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.
- ^
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.
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.
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. Retrieved
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2015
.
- ^
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.
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.
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from the original on April 20, 2012
. Retrieved
February 21,
2015
.
- ^
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.
Gizmodo
. October 19, 2018.
Archived
from the original on July 9, 2019
. Retrieved
June 23,
2019
.
- ^
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.
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.
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from the original on June 24, 2019
. Retrieved
June 23,
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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February 21,
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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- ^
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.
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.
- ^
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.
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2021
.
External links
[
edit
]