This might be a bad idea, but hear me out. Also, I couldn’t decide which forum category to put this in, feel free to move it if you think it should be somewhere else. We all know about the COVID-19 by now, and is spreading. It is great that wikiHow has articles on it, because it is a trusted website which a lot of people will turn to during this time. It is important to have up-to-date information as we keep getting updates on what is going on. For example, the NHS has said a few days ago to not bother seeking out a diagnosis anymore and go straight to self-isolating unless symptoms are severe. I am glad we have medical professionals here editing articles, but we have to keep updated, some Q&As were relevant days ago, but not anymore. I guess I have three main suggestions, it is okay if you disagree with any of these or if they are impractical:
- We usually have seasonal articles featured on the main page. I don’t mean the ones that constantly change, I mean the ones at the top of the page. I don’t know how to describe them, apart from that the current ones include Make Scented Pine Cones
, Unfreeze Water Pipes
and Bake an Apple Pie from Scratch
. Understandably, the coronavirus isn’t fun, but I do think it would be a good idea to have an article about the coronavirus on there, perhaps as the first one, because it is a big thing going on, like it or not. Although it doesn’t follow instrustional format, I think Deal with the Coronavirus Outbreak: Your Most Common Questions Answered is a good one. On mobile site, they are featured as expert co-authored, but that’s not the same.
- I think we could benefit from a “Coronavirus” category. I understand that category requests are on hold, but seeing as it is a current thing, I think it would be a good thing to have. Now they are currently in the Infectious Diseases
category. It’s actually contagious, not infectious. I think it would be good to have all coronavirus articles in one place. We have quite a few now.
Prevent Coronavirus
Identify Coronavirus
Treat Coronavirus
Prepare for Coronavirus
Treat Canine Corinavirus
Prevent Canine Coronavirus
Diagnose Canine Coronavirus
Deal with Coronavirus Anxiety
Get Tested for Coronavirus in the U.S
Talk to Kids About Coronavirus
Deal with the Coronavirus Outbreak: Your Most Common Questions Answered
- We have articles that are related somewhat to the coronavirus, such as Manage As a Family During Unexpected School Closures
and Wash Your Hands
which don’t belong categorised with the articles listed above, but would be useful to have all in a similar place. I remember we had these “packages”, such as High School Hacks
. It would be useful if we had something similar for the coronavirus so people could find relevant information easily all in one place.
Tell me what you think. Some of these ideas might be bad, but seeing as the coronavirus is happening now
, I feel wikiHow, as a site could be of help.
Just realised Luna has mentioned about a COVID-19 category already. The post is here
. I do think such a category would be a good idea.
Hm… let me see.
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Don’t really get what you’re saying. Do you mean the FAs or trending articles?
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Yep, great suggestion.
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Good one too.
I also agree that wikiHow should help. It’s not like SARS, which didn’t transfer from person to person easily…
I mean the articles at the top of the page.
In this image, I am referring to the place where the article [Get Rid of a Headache]( https://www.wikihow.com/Get
Rid of a Headache) is. I am not sure if we have a word for it.
Oh, those. Yes, good idea :). I was just confused because that was the old design for wikiHow.
As I said In Luna’s post, a new category is a good idea.
Some of these COVID-19 articles you mentioned could be temporary. Unless the word ‘Coronavirus’ in the titles of these articles is meant for the family of viruses instead of just COVID-19, articles like ‘Prepare for Coronavirus’ and ‘Get Tested for Coronavirus in the US’ would be temporary. Once we get test kits available and vaccines, those articles won’t be needed. I don’t know why I brought that up, but I thought it was important for ya’ll to know.
Yes, those are all good ideas.
Yes, I still use the old design for wikiHow. You can find the link here
.
Yes. I noticed some of the articles, such as the ones about canine coronavirus were made before the pandemic. I don’t know if those articles will be made historical after some time. After its peak, which they are hoping will be in summer, it will die down, and hopefully by the time a vaccine is developed, it won’t be a concern anymore. I think some articles are specifically for the COVID-19, some are for the coronavirus in general, but mainly focusing on the COVID-19, I guess they can be updated when needed. I was thinking as a temporary thing as we still have some time before the virus declines, the articles at the top usually are relevant to what’s up now
, I remember there was one about the flu some time ago. I think because people right now are worried about it and it is a big thing around the globe, it would be handy. Thanks for mentioning that. You raise a good point.
I support these changes as well. As for Q&A being outdated, I certainly see your point there. I’m doing my best to keep any answers non-date-specific so if more information is provided, they’re still accurate, but with the disease updates coming in constantly, it’s hard to keep every answer up-to-date! I don’t think we should really flag all the answers as inaccurate, but would there possibly be some way where we could maybe update old answers to be more current?
You can flag them and then a Q&A patroller can update them, or delete them if they are no longer relevant at all. When you flag a question as “inaccurate” or “other”, you can give information, so I guess if you copy and paste the answer into that box with the amendments. It makes things easier for those patrolling them. I agree flagging so many would be hard work for those fixing them. A little bird
told me, SyemourEdits does most of the fixing of flagged answers. I am not a Q&A patroller so I don’t really know how the systems works, or if you can only edit flagged answers.
@HelperOnWikihow
@RubyRoseRain
I work in healthcare so I’m up-to-date on the pandemic. I’m also a Q&A patroller so feel free to flag or even ping me if you see any that’s inaccurate and I’ll try my best to edit them.
Great idea! Hope this works well…!
JayneG
14
Hi @RubyRoseRain
, I think it’s great that you and others are thinking about readers and how we can best help people understand and cope with COVID-19 and the effects it’s having on the world right now. This is definitely an unprecedented situation, and we appreciate all ideas and suggestions.
With regard to the homepage, we do have a range of Coronavirus/COVID-19 articles on the current homepage, including How to Prevent Coronavirus and How to Identify Coronavirus, along with other useful articles like How to Make Hand Sanitizer and How to Get Children to Stop Touching Their Faces. The old version of the homepage that you’re referencing isn’t actually readily available, supported, or updated anymore. Although you can still access it by adding a particular URL parameter, it’s not something that’s easily accessible to the public, and actually will likely stop working within the next week or so (you can see my post here
about that). I would recommend opening wikihow.com
in a private/incognito window to see the current version that all visitors and logged in users now see :)
The idea of a category is something that I’ve taken to the team and is being considered, and having all relevant articles in one place or as a package could be a great help. Thanks for taking the time to put this all into a post!
Thanks for that. I have used a link to access the old version of the site because I prefer it. I actually do see the new version when I first go on the site. I didn’t know what the new homepage looked like as I never stay on it for long. Thanks for taking my suggestions into account.
“Unless the word ‘Coronavirus’ in the titles of these articles is meant for the family of viruses instead of just COVID-19, articles like ‘Prepare for Coronavirus’ and ‘Get Tested for Coronavirus in the US’ would be temporary.”
“I noticed some of the articles, such as the ones about canine coronavirus were made before the pandemic. I don’t know if those articles will be made historical after some time. […] I think some articles are specifically for the COVID-19, some are for the coronavirus in general, but mainly focusing on the COVID-19, I guess they can be updated when needed.”
It seems there’s a preference for using “Coronavirus” rather than “COVID-19” in article titles, news headlines, and everyday conversation. I wonder if it would be beneficial and worthwhile to create redirects substituting the COVID-19**/COVID19/COVID 19 terms for ease of search?
<small>** fyi: <a href=“ https://www.wikihow.com/Insert-a-Hyphen-into-a-wikiHow-Title
”> https://www.wikihow.com/Insert-a-Hyphen-into-a-wikiHow-Title
</a></small>
I think that could work. “Coronavirus” is more commonly searched than “COVID-19” but it would make things much easier. It would also prevent people making duplicates.
If we’re talking names I’ll throw this into the mix, more interesting than useful: Naming the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) and the virus that causes it
I’m trying to stay up-to-date on COVID-19 and how to prevent and treat it. If I were to try and answer some questions in Q&As about it, what category should I start looking in to answer questions? Thanks!
-Reep
