Today, January 15, 2015 is wikiHow’s 10th birthday. It’s hard to believe it’s been 10 years since wikiHow began. It’s difficult to imagine my life without wikiHow, and I hope you and many of our readers can say the same. I’d like to take this opportunity to celebrate what an amazing job we’ve done over the past decade, sharing knowledge and education freely throughout the world. Together we’ve made more than 18 million contributions culminating in over 180,000 how-to articles that help people accomplish all kinds of tasks, from skydiving to origami to loving yourself. All that knowledge has been read by over 1 billion people in 13 languages around the world. Think about that for a minute. There are 7 billion people in the world. There are very few things you can do that might help over a billion of them. Cheers to you for spending your time on a project that’s reached so, so many. wikiHow would not be possible without you. Our community of volunteers is full of heroes who are generous, kind, and humble. I would like to honor them today, even though I know some of them are shy
To begin with, there are three people who come to mind who’ve poured their heart and soul into wikiHow and made over 100,000 contributions through the years. Those people are @Maluniu
, @Ttrimm
, and @BobbyFrank
. I really can’t tell you what wikiHow would be like without their impact. They have shaped the wonderful project and community we have today. The three of you, in your own way, define what it means to be a wikiHowian. @Maluniu
is the ultimate wikignome, working quietly behind the scenes. You might never know she’s there but I can tell you that you’d notice very quickly if she wasn’t. She’s like the invisible stitch that holds this fabric together. @Ttrimm
with her incredible work ethic has touched and improve almost every article that’s ever been published on wikiHow. But she’s more than a boosting phenomenon. She’s an amazing person who I’ve had a chance to meet many times through meetups, and many more to come I hope. @BobbyFrank
has been our project’s greatest defender, having patrolled over one million edits. He knows wikiHow inside and out, and he has an incredible talent for spotting spammers and malicious sockpuppets. Then there are our veterans, people who’ve been here for more than half of wikiHow’s history and contribute to this day. They may not be here all the time, but they never go far, and I’m grateful for the time and effort they’ve put in through the years: Since 2005 or 2006: @Zack
@Elocina
@Melissaganus
@Flickety
@Davecrosby
@Dvortygirl
@KnowItSome
@Choicefresh
@Lady-Cloud
Since 2007: @Loiswade42
@MartynP
@Whimaway
@Stevecon
@Melwade
@Lojjik
@Davjohn
@KommaH
@Elyne
@Lewis-Collard
Since 2008: @Garshepp
Since 2009: @Caidoz
@IngeborgK
@Sanssheriff
@Carolyn-Barratt
@Helpersz
@Harri
@Pj-Min
Since 2010: @Jordan
@IsabelleZita
@Grahamster
@Vir_nominatus_Trenton
@JirachiQueen
@Mkperry99
@WildRoseBeef
This celebration would not be complete, though, without highlighting the people who’ve joined us more recently, but feel like they’ve been around as long as wikiHow has because they just “get it” so naturally. People like: @Alabaster
@AndrewG1999
@Anniemp
@Byankno1
@Chrisramaz
@Donagan
@GeekySonic
@Grahamster
@Hailey
@Iliveunderawesomerock
@Illneedasaviour
@Laura7491
@Adelaide
@Lugia2453
@Lutherus-Shyrilser
@Isorhythmic
@MissLunaRose
@Deniseke
@LeahlovesGod
@Tiagoroth
@GeGeGeLL
@Hibou8
@HelperT2895
@MushyKetchup
@Amna_35
@MoonDust
@SarahB
@Gaurangprasad
@Hinni
@Kanhu
@CQinPDX
@Gloster-Flyer
@Lewis-Collard
@Pj-Min
@Xhohx
@Isorythmic
@HumanBeing
I know for sure there are many people I have missed, I’m so sorry about that. If you can think of anyone who should be mentioned here, please give them a shout out in this forum thread! It’s been an amazing 10 years. What’s next for wikiHow? We are going to keep pushing. Keep getting better. Keep finding more and better ways to give everyone on the planet a practical education. Let’s figure out how we can help the next billion people. It’s been nothing short of inspiring and incredible to work with you all: to collaborate with you on articles, laugh over dinner at meetups, and share in this important mission. I cannot thank you enough. I’m excited to spend another decade and beyond accomplishing our mission with you. wikiHow has changed my life for the better and I hope it’s done the same for you. If it has, please share how being a part of this project has affected you!
@JackHerrick
@Krystle
and @Anna
wikiHow wouldn’t be the same without you
Happy 10th birthday, wikiHow! Here’s to 10 more great years!
@JackHerrick
- I think you got the Hall of Fame trio right with: @Maluniu
@Bobbyfrank
/ @BR
, and @Ttrimm
. I know you have intentionally steered clear of recognizing staff, but it is difficult to imagine where wikiHow would be without the other members of the team whom I consider Hall-of-Famers: @Anna
@Davecrosby
@Flickety
@Isorhythmic
@JackHerrick
@Krystle
@TravisDerouin
I am sure that there are many whose efforts I have failed to notice or appreciate (being so new to wikiHow), but I have noticed and appreciated efforts by: @CQinPDX
@Gloster-Flyer
@JacquelineK
@Little_Birdy
@Xhohx
. They have made extensive, quality contributions and exhibited exemplary deportment (LC word choices excepted).
Even so, I feel it important to express my view that the accumulated contributions of all those who are unmentioned in this thread far outweigh the contributions of the individuals who _ are_ mentioned. Thus the wikiHow vision is fulfilled: The collaborative stands taller than the individuals.—That is the essence and the beauty of wikiHow. *edit to format and add the trailing observation *edit to add two obvious members to my personal wikiHow Hall of Fame
Great additions @Alabaster
. I knew I had forgotten lots of great folks in that list! Thanks for the reminder!
system
6
I’d like to personally add the entire wikiHaus - from the ol’ Travis to the new faces of today. These are the unmentionable (aside from the staff page) whom should be noted =P Speaking about the ‘unmentionable’, without the essence and true meaning of “open editing”, wikiHow really wouldn’t be what it is today without the sheer countless anonymous people. At least at one time or another, whether it’d be on wikiHow, Wikia, Wikipedia, all of us has (more or less all), edited as anon at one point or another.
Happy birthday to wikiHow!
And thanks to everyone on here for making it such a welcoming place ever since I started contributing as a nervous secondary school student over 7 years ago… the place is almost unrecognisable now - the quality of the content just gets better and better and I’m proud to have been a part of it. I can’t wait to see what it looks like in another 10 years!
Happy 10th Anniversary everyone!
A very happy birthday to wikiHow and my heartiest congratulations and highest respect to all the contributors whose dedication and hard work has created a history. Thanks to all of you for inspiring me to be a part of this global community.
Just goes to show that no matter when you join, everything you do makes a huge impact to the project. Feels so great to be a part of this amazing community.
wiki How’s such a great place to be in your spare time. Don’t know where I’ll be without it!
system
12
Happy Birthday!!! Great job @jackherrick
!
SarahB
14
Wow, thanks for the mention, I have really enjoyed being able to contribute to this wonderful community!
Happy 10th Birthday wikiHow! I love being able to contribute to this awesome site and being able to improve the lives of thousands of others each day! Thank-you Jack for creating this awesome site that has helped me the past few years! And thanks for the mention!!!
Hibou8
16
Happy birthday! Thanks for the mention… means a lot.
Happy tenth Birthday, wikihow! Here’s to another 10 years!
Ceeg
18
Wow. Just WOW! Jack, those numbers are just so staggering! And to think wikiHow has 25 million viewers per day! I just love working with TTrimm, Krystle, Anna, Garshepp, BR/BobbyFrank, Sarah, Leah, Adelaide and so many others!! I was at first quite alarmed to find my articles pop up in Google searches! I’m in a fairly unique line of endeavor I suppose, and teaching math and art to the young adults and other viewers is one small way I can repay the community who has so generously supported me, for wikiHow is therapy for me. I took a couple of long breaks, so as not to become too fastened to it all but could I stay away? Noper!I have LOTS of new article ideas and will get to them right after I finish a promise I made to Krystle to trim my Relateds – I’m working on it today in a macro-driven spreadsheet, that I may just write an article about … sure, of course, why not? This is Such Grand Fun!! I LOVE what you’ve done with the place, Jack, et a; – thanks so very much for the mention. I do hope to be useful, sharing and learn a bit more!
Ceeg
19
Oh yes, Happy Birthday! And for those of you who may not know, I am Xhohx as well.
Happy 10th birthday to this amazing project! I love this place and have gotten a lot from it; for example, it made me a lot more mature and improved my communication/interpersonal skills heavily. I’d like to applaud all community members for their awesome excellence, mentioned and not, making wikiHow what it is today. I enjoyed meeting a lot of you at my first meetup in 2014!
