When I abandoned my ‘‘other’’ account, I had decided to ignore certain ‘‘issues’’ (wikiVid and WRM) so I could enjoy wikiHow from time to time. Still, when something catches my eye, like this FA http://www.wikihow.com/Make-a-Wooden-Basket-for-Bikes
, it is difficult to not comment, so here goes. The page doesn’t describe ‘‘making a basket’’, it is about ‘‘buying a box’’, two entirely different things. A box is not a basket in ordinary terms, and buying one at a thrift store isn’t making one. The box shown looks like a flimsy stapled together piece of junk, that would probably not survive carrying any kind of cargo on a rough bike ride. The box shown also will splinter if the cyclist crashes, and mounted on the handle bars is a significant safety consideration. The fact that this is a WRM piece doesn’t transcend the issues I am raising here, but it does magnify them to me, since WRM is supposed to be a professional source of material, although it has been often proven they are not.
FA? Seriously? Best on the web? What is to keep the lid from flying away and, potentially, the contents too? What about shifting weight and reduced turn radius, those safety concerns @Bobbyfrank
mentioned? This provides opportunity to highlight additional problems with the feedback system for paid content. I have observed many cases where preferential treatment is given to paid content. Some examples:
- editing fellows write over the top of excellently crafted and serviceable content, then are backed by staff
- well-considered and carefully selected images are supplanted by mass-created, deficient cartoons
- WRM articles are featured with deficient screening and ahead of more complete and accurate existing articles on the same subject
Again, the feedback burden is placed on volunteers to undo the wrong that should never have been done in the first place. An additional problem arises that there are really two issues to feedback on:
- the article concerns have a feedback mechanism
- the inappropriate selection of FAs does not
Case in point: I brought up the matter of an incomplete and inaccurate article on growing squash which was soon to be featured. I fixed the most glaring errors and let @Krystle
know about other deficiencies. Her response was to put it on WRM feedback. I had already gone out of my way to fix what I could and let her know the details. Now what? I am supposed to go over the same thing in more detail, essentially do more work than actually rewriting an article that someone else was paid to write and in which I had no real interest? The thing that struck me is that what was wrong with the article was not that bad, but putting it in the featured spotlight was. How was I to address the latter? Dumping this additional burden on me when I had gone out of my way to call out and document the issue seemed inappropriate. Why couldn’t Krystle thank me and transfer the appropriate concerns to the appropriate places? Anyway, Grow Squash
was chosen to be featured over Grow Butternut Squash
and others. I am painfully aware that, once again, I am not following the “If it’s broken, fix it mantra,” but my point is: “Please stop breaking good articles so they have to be fixed.” It is an unnecessary burden on the community, one which is unfairly dumped upon altruistic contributors who are trying to help the people of the world.
system
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Hey there-- I am offline right now typing this from my phone while getting ready for my best friend’s wedding, but I wanted to stop in and apologize for featuring this bike basket article. I made a mistake; I don’t ride bikes often but thought this was a cute, nifty project. I’m happy to un-FA this when I get back online if others agree that it’s terrible. Regarding the squash FA, maybe I’m remembering this incorrectly, but I’m pretty sure that when I got this feedback, the article had already been featured. I’ll double check when I get back. I’ve never had a problem pulling a title from the RSS feed before the feature date and I apologize if I failed to do that in this case.
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I’ll put myself under the bus for this… but guys, here’s an awesome link to click on: http://www.wikihow.com/index.php?title=wikiHow:RSS-feed&action=watch
So when the list comes out (it could be that day… it could be updated for 2 weeks in advance), double check through the list & give Krystle a head’s up from there.
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Sorry Krystle… I"m a cyclist… and I’m not at all impressed by the “nifty” side of that particular article. *hugs* I like you just the same though! It’s just the article that is… um… less than stellar.
@Maluniu
Great idea–doing that would be tremendously helpful. Krystle already has a lot of people and responsibilities to deal with in her current job, so we definitely don’t want to make things any harder for her. We, as a community, can make things a lot easier by giving feedback before the article is featured, rather than doing so after the fact. I don’t know much about bikes, so it’s hard to say about that article. It looks very well written with screenshots, but I am neither proficient at biking nor do I know much about the topic. Thus, I highly appreciate and value the opinions of others.
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Hm… Perhaps a title change? Add a handlebar basket/box to a kids bike? Something to modify the meaning to be a youth project? Just an idea.
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The article itself doesn’t exude even a semblance of professionalism. The intro feels like something a reluctant kid would write. It’s just kind of weird that wikiHow is paying someone for writing this. Maybe one of wikiHow’s expert cyclists *cough* @Loiswade42
*cough* could rework this to make it more helpful?
Lojjik
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@Mrappbrain
I’m not sure the article should have even been written, although there is not an article dedicated to this exact topic, I think http://www.wikihow.com/Transport-Objects-on-a-Bike
does have a good method in “Option 2” (attaching a basket with zip ties)
Quite apart from the safety issues, a box is a box, it’s not a wooden basket even if you strap it where a bicycle basket usually goes…
Just added title change suggestion to article: Attach a Wooden Box to a Bike. I came across this in RC Patrol yesterday. Someone had added to the discussion page a comment similar to some of the ones everyone’s made above.
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/me hands Mrappbrain a tissue and some cough syrup.
I would change the title right now, but would the rename disrupt the main page?
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Thank you so much for the feedback, everyone. I removed this article from the RSS feed (so it’s not on the home page anymore), removed the FA status templates, and changed the title to “How to Attach a Wooden Box to a Bike”. Like @Maluniu
said, it’s best to try and catch these before they’re featured. I do my best to pick out good featured articles, but I’m not perfect and I do occasionally have an “epic fail”. I really am sorry about that. Lately the FAs have been scheduled around 2 weeks ahead of time. Shout out to @IsabelleZita
who’s been awesome about double checking FAs on the RSS feed and letting me know when I’ve let a bad one slip through the cracks.
Kudos for staying cool and professional @Krystle
, and also for being mature about this. I know that selecting and managing featured articles can be a difficult task, but as a community we can all pitch in and try to make it easier.
