JayneG
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Hi all, I wanted to drop in to give you a heads-up about an experiment that you might happen to see over the next week. With the ever-changing internet landscape, and continual innovations that wikiHow is testing to support our mission in an era of Google challenges and a difficult advertising environment, the wikiHaus team is currently looking to experiment with the option of some paid membership features.
Although there isn’t actually any program created or available yet, the experiment will start by adding a test link and landing page on some pages of the site (logged out) to test the viability and popularity of this idea with our readers. It’s possible that this may not take off, and this is the last we hear of it, but it’s also a possibility that it could take off!
The main components of the membership include having downloadable PDFs and other printables available, having access to all courses that are created, getting access to interview transcripts and other additional expert content, and long-term, could potentially even have consultations with experts available.
The membership options will not affect access to the primary how-to content of wikiHow, which will remain free. The memberships are geared towards alternative formats and special interest topics, and if successful, will serve as resources for building all kinds of content on wikiHow.
Even as we find ways to work around the GoogleMonster, our volunteer community is still at the heart of wikiHow, so on the test landing page there will be an option to become a volunteer editor in addition to information about the paid memberships for those who would like to be involved in a hands-on manner. I personally like seeing the addition of links where people can learn about becoming a volunteer, because the more wikiHowians, the better
If this membership idea does take off, we will ensure that active members have access to the membership perks. Of course we don’t know what that looks like yet because it’s imaginary right now(!), but it will be a priority to establish that if it does come to life.
So a paid membership? I’m listening, this certainly sounds cool! I do believe, however, that because wikiHow is meant to help anyone
do anything, even those who cannot afford paid memberships to the site, that the existing PDFs, courses, and articles should be free along with some others, and saving only the absolute best-of-the-best “bells and whistles,” per se, of wikiHow, for the membership, like the expert consultations. I also think that the paying format should be less expensive than some paid sites, like maybe $1 a month of something. I don’t know, though. This is merely an idea at this point, so not everything is set in stone yet!
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If we offer some content in the paid membership only, expect some of us to run away from this site. We are not all rich like most companies expect their viewers to be!
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I have to be honest in that I’m not completely sold (no pun intended) on this idea. I know we need to make money, and giving active members access to these things is great, but I’m not a fan of blocking alternative learning resources behind a paywall - some people learn differently and I also really hate the idea of people who could really benefit from some of the things mentioned in the membership (like the printable PDFs) being potentially walled off from these because they cost money. Good example: printable PDFs could be really useful for teachers for a variety of things, but the majority of teachers are incredibly underpaid and they shouldn’t need to decide whether to have access to teaching resources at the cost of not being able to eat for a week. And we don’t even know how much this would cost, so there’s no real way for us to judge whether or not the membership fee would be reasonable.
And if I can be honest, I’m a little dubious on the idea of putting a lot of emphasis on the experts… It’s entirely possible what I saw was a one-off, but I somewhat recently saw several of our autism articles (which we have historically focused on encouraging self-advocacy, identity-first language, and presuming competence) have language changed by an expert from “autistic person” or “autistic children” to “person/children with autism”, which isn’t in line with the Autistic community’s preferences and I’m pretty sure even SE has guidelines on person-first vs. identity-first language. Someone might theoretically be an expert on the subject and still be terribly misinformed, especially on subjects like helping those with disabilities. (I cannot tell you how many
“expert sources” I’ve seen on other websites that describe people with ADHD as defiant and lawless and in need of harsh discipline, and that’s one condition out of thousands.)
I’m sure there’s ways to solve these issues and/or come to a compromise, but without much information I’m really hesitant to back something like this. Like I said, I know we need to make money and I don’t want to fault you guys for that - I just also don’t want to see a downward spiral of more and more things becoming paywalled like many other sites have done in the past.
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JayneG
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Thanks for the feedback @EpcotMagic
& @anon74718567
. There are some really valid concerns here, especially because we don’t really know what this could potentially look like. I do know that we would never want to withhold content from those that need it most, though. We would always be happy to share content with teachers for free, for example. As an ex-teacher, I know the importance of this for sure.
The other thing that I do know is that any membership would primarily be intended to be supplemental. It wouldn’t be about making it harder for particular learning styles - we still have the articles, videos, and printable pdfs as usual. I believe the membership may just offer pdfs that are formatted a little better.
With regard to the autism articles - if it’s the same expert, I do know that the editors and expert team have clarified that wikiHow style is to follow the Autistic community’s preferences, and the person-first language should be fixed. We aren’t perfect, but we do correct and educate wherever possiblePlease let me know if you’ve seen any that have been left incorrect, because we can update them. But I definitely hear your point about the emphasis on ‘experts’ with this example.
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I have to say - this does sound pretty nice, but I think it would hurt wikiHow’s reputation and on “how to do anything.” Think about it: everyone knows that wikiHow is free, and is probably a source readers might want to look at. But what if they heard about this “membership” idea? I have a feeling that this’ll change their thoughts on us.
Another thing to note is that if this works well, we might offer more premium content that will make wikiHow lesser and lesser like “a place where anyone can learn anything.”
Although all this is going to be supplemental as Jayne mentioned, but why not add it to our existing content to make wikiHow a better site, and perhaps more contributions (as in money) will come. I’ve always thought this “supplemental” stuff we referred to were like DIY kits and etc.
Has wikiHow considered a different tactic towards earning money? I know about the ads and the new section, but what about another idea? Again, like I mentioned, I think this new membership thing will have an impact to readers and might cause some to think “oh no, you need to pay to learn on wikihow now!” although that might be false.
Another very
majorthing - if this does become something readers want, won’t illegal copies of these content start to come out? Instead of paying for this membership, readers can just find copies on illegal sites. Won’t this be a challenge?
Just my thoughts.
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I won’t offer a firm “this is a terrible idea” on the idea of membership now that there’s been some clarification, but I can’t say I support it as of right now, either. There’s just way too little information, and I think the whole idea of “formerly completely-free site now offering paid memberships” puts a very bad taste in people’s mouths (especially looking at the general community reaction to this thread so far). There’s been way too many sites that have done that and then gotten progressively worse about what’s been paywalled or what kind of benefits members vs. non-members receive. I want to trust you guys on staff that you’ll do and continue to do the right thing in terms of making sure that we adhere to the Mission, but money has a very powerful influence.
@WikiaWang
I believe that if paywalled content started getting posted to free sites, Chris H or another staff member could issue a takedown request to whoever’s hosting it. It wouldn’t offer 100% protection, considering how rampant piracy is, but there’d be legal recourse if the content did get leaked.
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I wasn’t thinking about some of that stuff. As always, well said.
And as many other people have said in this thread, just because someone can barely put food on the table as is, doesn’t mean the expert consultations and stuff like that should be behind a paywall. It would be great having these features completely for free, as the features themselves are fine, but looking down the path we could end up just like the New York Times, a US site where everything is behind a paywall.
Of course, I thought about maybe the premium being optional, but we don’t want to end up like Wikipedia.
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@That21PilotsFan
Paywalling a news site is completely different from paywalling wikiHow content. The news sites need some way to pay their reporters and writers (and I’d argue that it’s even more justifiable for the New York Times to need a subscription considering its reputability and notoriety). In wikiHow’s case, the people getting paid are mainly staff and contractors (and I’d guess probably the experts too). If something by volunteers was paywalled, that’d be a massive problem.
I’d even argue that in many cases, it could be justified to pay to consult with an expert. I can’t have a full consultation with a doctor or lawyer for free, for instance, and as much as I’d love to, I can’t attend a college class for free either. If someone’s spent the time and money to go to school for something, they’re going to want some form of compensation for their work, and it’s not fair to tell these people to do all of their work for free. “I’ll pay you in exposure” is a running joke (and frustration) in the online marketing world because it means you get nothing.
Honestly, the main reason I’m not completely against this is because I know we need a way to make money. Without money, wikiHow would shut down. It’s been mentioned in the past at meetups that ads aren’t sufficient because so many people are using adblockers nowadays, and from what I’ve heard in the past, the advertisers themselves can be trouble to work with. If paywalling content isn’t a good solution, then we need another way to pay for the site costs and not just “no, paying money for a formerly free site is bad”. As much as I hate the idea of any wikiHow content being paywalled, I hate the idea of wikiHow shutting down more.
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We need to come up with a solution that EVERYONE can agree on - not a solution only the wikiHaus deems is right because they can MAKE MONEY while depriving those of money because they are forcing other methods to make money while they become filthy rich - which isn’t fair to everyone on this site. This isn’t the way to do it!
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So I saw a page created today - /wikiHow:Pro - that I’m guessing is probably the test page in question. The plans suggested are currently a monthly subscription (originally 10 bucks a month, currently discounted to seven a month) and an annual subscription (99 bucks a year, currently slashed to 59 a year). The monthly subscription is about the same as a typical Spotify Premium subscription, and there’s also a full money-back guarantee.
I’m curious as to whether this will gain traction with readers… as someone who’s a bit hesitant to use subscription-based services, there’d really need to be something truly
useful to me in order to compel me to purchase a subscription if I was just an ordinary reader. (As-is, the main reason I have a Spotify subscription is just because of the offline capabilities and the fact that it’s cheaper than buying every album I like on iTunes.)
@EpcotMagic
What are your suggestions for how the wikiHaus can make money? Just saying “this isn’t the way to do it” isn’t enough.
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That’s a very good question, that I’m pondering myself. There’s gotta be more ways than going about it this way. I just haven’t been able to figure out one other way. Someone else who isn’t speaking up might have other ideas - and I wish they opened their minds to let us know.
#justsoangry
#thissucks
!
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Eric
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I really don’t want to derail the topic of this thread, but I noticed that wikiHow also recently began soliciting donations from readers with a prominent contribute link in the footer of each page: https://www.wikihow.com/wikiHow:Contribute
@JayneG
, perhaps you could include a short blurb about this in a future post about what’s happening in the wikiHaus labs? Specifically addressing whether this is an experiment, long-term plan, etc. And perhaps addressing whether this experiment is proving successful?
Thanks!
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I saw the landing page, as well as the new wikihow.pro site. Not bad, but the premium seems overpriced. Just my opinion though.
Honestly, I don’t believe putting certain features behind a paywall is the only option. I think it would be a lot less hassle just to implement these features for free.
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@That21PilotsFan
I’m sure the staff would love to make these kinds of things free to access, but if we don’t have a viable source of income, there’s no way we can even have those options available for readers (much less keep the site online). Do you have any other suggestions as to what we can do to earn money? Just saying “it should be free” doesn’t resolve the problem.
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I mean, I share the same apprehension as my peers. The idea of attaching paywalls on an educational resource is something that lies out of my comfort zone. But at the same time I absolutely understand the need to pay the bills. Especially considering the global impact of covid. I’m glad that wikiHow is thinking of innovative ways to keep the company afloat financially. As this is still a super experimental thing which may not even happen, I can’t give a more thorough opinion based on the limited information. But if this experiment is projected to be implemented as a sure thing, I think transparency between the Haus and the volunteers is incredibly important here. Just my two cents so far.
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Oh boy. I’m not sure exactly what to think about this ‘experiment’ being proposed. I can’t say I support it but I also can’t say I oppose it either. With so few details I’d need some big clarifications and a set of terms and conditions before I could even consider what I thought about this. I will say that paywalling content is a very slippery slope to slide on. If anyone could do it I’m sure wikiHow could but it’s still something to be mindful of moving forward.
There’s also the public perception thing to consider as well. A lot of people look down on paywall/paywall content. Will this hurt our public image more than it might help?
I am hopeful though. The fact that the main article/content will remain free, and you’d offer it free to active users and teachers is a good sign. But again I’d need a bunch more information before weighing down on either side. Look forward to hearing about this in the future.
Have to ask though Jayne. How desperate are we to have to resort to this though? Should we be worried or is this just a possible preemptive strike to try and help/offset the damage the Google is doing? What’s the threat level?
Also agree with Eric in that I’d like to know more about the donating to wikiHow bit. I’m not rich in any sense of the word but I’d sub/donate to wikiHow on a regular basis if I could.
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Hmm… I’m pretty much at a loss, but… maybe the premium is necessary. Maybe showcasing the premium version on the logged out version like a normal advertisement, and for IPs and users that regularly view wikiHow, maybe we can give them like a “try free for 2 days” and then at the end of the trial they can choose to keep the premium or continue browsing with the free version. Not sure if that’s possible, but if it is maybe it’d be worth a try. Also, if you’ve seen at the end of articles where it says: “sign up for the newsletter,” instead we could make that a “sign up for premium” and a “learn more” link to find out a bit about the paid membership. Just an idea. And maybe on the current wikiHow adverts around the internet, transforming those into ads for premium wikiHow. Again, just an idea. This could, however, possibly draw some attention to the premium wikiHow.
Oops, that was a lot of ideas in the same breath.
