1

I just wanted to know what people would think about this suggestion. The idea is that there is a job for people to approve of forums for them to be posted. This is because (as I have learnt first hand) many of the forums people including me so I have been told are either creating problems or just not necessary.

2

One time I suggested something kind of like this. I didn’t take on.

3

The Admins patrol the forums and deal with any issues.

4

@ OoT2D

I think its a bit silly that you suggest something and people like us who put effort into improving wikihow and then we jus get treated like trash.

5

@ SarahB

I know that and another reason why I put this suggestion forward was because we have 10.7k forums and at lease half of them are games or closed. I think that the closed forums should at least be removed.

6

Please take it easy with the language. With so many users and editors on wikiHow, we try our best to answer and brainstorm ides. Not all of them are accepted. 

This idea has already been discussed and we agreed not to do for a good reason: We already have admins who can easily control threads. They aren’t struggling to do it and are doing just fine. The forums are not rocket science; they are pretty simple and easy. 

And again, please double check your posts before you send them as they do seem to be a little cruel. Saying we treat you like ‘trash’ is unacceptable on all levels. 

7

Hi @Zachariah05 , thanks for taking the time to suggest a new idea for wikiHow. It’s always great to see new contributors eager to help improve the site. I think there are a few misconceptions in this thread and, as an admin, I’d like to try to explain some things.

One of the jobs we do as admins is moderate the forums. In addition to answering questions and proving input on discussions, we also look for spam, abusive posts and threads, and anything else that might not be appropriate for wikiHow. If certain discussions start to become heated and out of control, admins step in and intervene. We have the ability to delete or edit content, close threads (preventing other people from posting on it), and sink threads (leaving a thread open but preventing it from being pushed to the top of the list when a new comment is posted), as well as blocking disruptive people from making posts.

In order to have the technical ability to moderate the forums, editors must have admin rights on the main wikiHow site. The process of becoming an admin involves having experience for a number of months, knowledge of wikiHow’s policies, and personal attributes like trustworthiness, maturity, and civility. Candidates are selected to undergo a three-month trial period where they practice using the admin tools. More information can be found at http://wikihow.com/Become-a-wikiHow-Admin

Because everyone on the admin team are all experienced editors, this job of forum moderation is easy and straightforward. We have extensive knowledge on wikiHow’s policies and how the site operates. Admins are present in many different time zones so there is always at least one admin online at any given time of the day. The system works perfectly, so therefore I don’t really see a reason in having additional users take on this job. Of course, anyone on wikiHow is eligible to become an admin as long as they thoroughly read and follow the above article.

In regards to this, the forums are often used as a kind of archive for past discussions. Some discussions are closed because they were bumped by a spammer. If these discussions are already closed in the first place, then there’s no harm in allowing them to stay on the site.

There are a few eager non-admins who do their part in helping to moderate the forums. If you would like to request a thread or post to be deleted or closed, simply @-ping one of us (I’m an active forum moderator) or feel free to report the issue on the admin notice board wikiHow:Administrator Notice Board - wikiHow :slight_smile: