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I suggested to Krystle a few weeks ago that she should do an AMA on Reddit . So, as a way convincing them to do one, I’m hereby submitting my questions as per the rules of an AMA. For those unfamiliar, AMA stands for “Ask Me Anything”. The subjects of AMAs should be people who have experienced something unique (e.g. climbed Mt. Everest) or themselves are a unique person (e.g. Aaron Paul of Breaking Bad). I think Jack and Krystle both qualify as founder of wikiHow and community liaison, respectively.

  1. Where did you come up with the idea to combine wikipedia and eHow?
  2. What is something that you wish would have transpired differently? For example, did you at one point want to not allow a certain kind of content, but it’s now there?
  3. I seem to recall you saying at some point that the best founders, once the idea gets rolling, let go of the idea and let it flourish on it’s own. If you said this, how do you react to changes that you disagree with? If you didn’t say this, do you agree with the statement?
  4. What is the wildest idea that you’ve had and said “man, that’s never going to happen” but did? What idea do you have now that you think will never happen but secretly hope it will (e.g. light sabers)?
  5. Where do you think wikiHow will be 30 years from now? Where do you HOPE it will be?
    For the initiated, I’m aware that there is a request process on Reddit but figured since I can actually e-mail Jack and Krystle, I’d be a bit more efficient to go directly to them. And yes, I’ve already e-mailed both Krystle and Jack.:slight_smile:This thread is to give the wH community to ask questions. When the thread on reddit goes live, you’ll have to ask your questions again there. But I figured this would be a fun way to get people excited about it.:slight_smile:
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Ask me anything…about bacon and beer. And wikiHow.:stuck_out_tongue:

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Ha:slight_smile:Someone besides Linus must have some questions:slight_smile:

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  1. The growth of mobile users is rising, and I have seen Jack’s tweet on Twitter about it the other day. Many of us volunteer editors also use wikiHow via mobile when we’re not able to have access to the site for advice on PCs/laptops. If either of you were in that situation, what was something you needed, thought, “Let’s take a shot at this”, and it worked to your surprise? 2. wikiHow has a handful of international sites, from Russian, French, Spanish, Chinese, etc. What are some world languages that you would love to see in the potential future? 3. Beer is an obvious one, for just about anyone that loves it. But where did Krystle’s unique obsession with bacon actually begin?
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For Jack: 1. How long do you think wikiHow will go on for? 2. Where did you get the idea for wikiHow? For Krystle 1. Why are you so obsessed with bacon?:stuck_out_tongue:2. Have you ever actually made chocolate bacon before?

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  1. How did you feel when wikiHow was mentioned in a film? (should we ask questions only regarding wikihow?)
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  1. Did you actually have any fails when opening the site? 2.Did you think that you were going to fail? 3.Do you think wikiHow will have over a million articles?
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What inspires you to create wikiHow? What did you do before promoting into a community facilitator thingy (sorry I am not sure about the name) and how did you feel in becoming one? Are you confident that wikiHow will be a very succesful website? What will you do in case (again, just in case) it didnt became that succesful? What would you be doing right now in case wikiHow wasn’t invented?

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For Jack: 1. Being the “steward” of wikiHow, this is pretty much your all day job. Is there any stress in maintaining a website like this? 2. What do you hope for in the years to come, community wise? 3. The growth of wikiHow has increased dramatically. In the two years that I’ve been here, we’ve already gotten over 60,000 articles - What are you planning to do, to keep up with the increase of traffic, articles, community editors, etc.? Any new tools or bots we should be expecting in the near future? *As in, making wikiHow fit in with the “times”? =P For Krystle: 1. What did you say when Jack asked you to be the community manager? Were you excited, scared, nervous, etc.? 2. How hard is it to keep a whole community of editors, admins and New Article Boosters organized, and actually sane, while at the same time, editing the site? 3. Have you programmed any of the site, like helping with bugs or making new tools? 4. Your bacon obsession; like Maluniu said, I’m quite curious as to how that originated. =P For Krystle and Jack: 1. What are your two’s personal goals for the site? The obvious one, to build a how-to manual, but more like, having it grow to a specific group of people, making it exceptional in one language, and build in other languages, showing off to your friends saying “We built the best site in the world!”?.. XD 2. Is it easy to deal with the occasionally bad criticism? I’m sure I’ll have more questions when I think of them, but yeah…This. (: June Days

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For @JackHerrick 1. You receive a big offer from a multi-national internet giant to takeover wikiHow. What will you do? 2. Where do you see wikiHow 10 years later? 3. Is there a plan in the back of your mind to start any more wiki projects (like how the WikiMedia has multiple wiki projects like Wikipedia, Wikitravel, etc)? 4. As community members, what are the few interesting changes that we can expect in the coming months, apart from a redesign? 5. Do you see bots playing a much more important role in wikiHow’s success(in the coming years, maybe) ? (We know that wikipedia has so many bots!) 6. How confident do you feel as the steward of this project considering the fact that the community members even have the right to fork if they find you incapable of leading wikiHow (I am sure this won’t happen, but still.)…?

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For both, who drinks the most beers? For Mr. Herrick, does Chris have to answer, “Yes, your highness” or “Yes, your majesty”? For Krystle, Why do you think everyone is obsessing over your (rumored) bacon obsession, is it jealousy, or just friendly teasing?

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Jack: 1. If you didn’t start wikiHow, where do you think you would be now? 2. Do you consider yourself the “owner” of wikiHow? 3. Are you thinking about opening a new wikiHaus somewhere on the east coast or Midwest? 4. Do you know any programming? Krystle: 1. How many NAB tests do you normally score every week? 2. Where would you be if you didn’t work at wikiHow? 3. Do you get paid?:stuck_out_tongue:4. Is the wikiHaus fridge full of bacon?:stuck_out_tongue:

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Do the denizens of the wikiHaus exchange Christmas gifts? Is wikiHow a full time occupation for both of you? Ever been arrested? If so, why? Who made all of the art at the wikiHaus?

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I think we’re supposed to wait to answer these in the reddit thread itself, but since my obsession with bacon is a bit of an inside joke, I can’t resist answering that one… I always enjoyed bacon but I think it became more of an “obsession” when I tasted chocolate-covered bacon at a seafood and wine festival in 2011. My friend bought some and gave me a piece. It was surprisingly delicious, and I was thinking, I could make this at home! So I actually did, and I started this article (those are my pictures): http://www.wikihow.com/Make-Chocolate-Bacon I’ve also made candied bacon, bacon infused Jack Daniels, and bacon chocolate chip cookies:slight_smile:

Maybe they’re hoping I’ll make them chocolate covered bacon?:slight_smile: