A long time ago, I typed up a revision to www.wikihow.com/refresh-windows-8
. It has been sitting in my drafts ever since. The article has undergone a huge overhaul since I began writing my draft and it appears to be fine now. The only problem I see with this new version is that it’s too complicated and strays away from the original topic, covering unrelated things like backing up your computer, troubleshooting if problems with your PC don’t go away after the refresh, how to reset which is a COMPLETELY different topic, and how to do a system restore which is also a completely different topic (backing up and troubleshooting are loosely related to refreshing). Users visiting this article are most likely looking just to refresh their PC, and they have probably already backed up any info on their computer (if they wanted to) and researched what it means, so there’s really no need for the extra information. I’m not saying that the extra tips and stuff in there aren’t helpful. They’d just be more appropriate in a completely different article. For example, we could remove the part about troubleshooting problems that didn’t go away after a refresh and create a completely new article entitled “How to Troubleshoot Problems with Windows 8 If a Refresh Didn’t Help” or something like that, then paste the same information there. Anyway, the point of this post is to ask you guys which version would be best for this article - my old edit or this new one? Don’t be afraid to voice your opinion or anything. The current edit is the target of the aforementioned link, and my edit’s this: http://s15.postimg.org/f6p3fc9sr/canvas.png
Lojjik
2
Hey, What are your recommendations for fixing the existing article? Instead of replacing it completely, would it be feasible to replace the relevant parts of the article? Are you able to edit it so that it’s less complicated to follow and stays on topic? I would go with whatever you think is in wikiHow’s best interest - which may be splitting these up into different topics with links in related wikihows & tips at the end. Moved to Collab Corner
I would take out the unrelated parts of the article like creating recovery images, troubleshooting, resetting Windows 8, and doing a System Restore, then create completely different articles to cover them.
Just want to write a quick defense for my edit, but feel free to make any changes you see fit: There are a couple of different reasons I included the other two methods (System Restore and Factory Reset). First, I figured a lot of people coming to this article are looking for ways to troubleshoot their computer that’s not working properly, and having multiple related solutions on one page is more helpful in my opinion. Secondly, the Refresh command is new to Windows 8, so not all readers may be familiar with what it does and what their other options are. The Troubleshooting section has been shown to be very helpful to readers, especially with technical topics, and I think a lot of the impact would be lost if it was linked to another page. The “Backup your data” step isn’t expressly necessary (at least in the Refresh section), though from my experience most computer users need to be reminded to make backups as often as possible. Step 3 of the first section (“Create a custom recovery image”) is admittedly on the technical side, and likely a bit too technical for this article, at least in its current location. It is incredibly useful though, especially for users who refresh often, so I’d hate to see that information go. Having said all of that, please feel free to make any changes to it, I just wanted to give a quick insight on how I approached the edit.
