There are many articles titled “Jailbreak —” and almost all of them have the same instructions. Should we merge all of these into one?
In case you didn’t know, jailbreaking is the process of removing software restrictions imposed by Apple to allow for third-party software that has not landed in the App Store to be installed. Jailbreaking installs Cydia (except for iOS 11), so that the user can install tweaks.
Anna
2
We wouldn’t want to merge all jailbreak topics, since readers are likely to be searching for specifics on different devices. That being said, some of the older titles that reflect a very specific, outdated iOS can probably be merged into the main canonical article for that device. An example would be merging https://www.wikihow.com/Jailbreak-a-iPod-Touch-6.1.6
to https://www.wikihow.com/Jailbreak-an-iPod-Touch
Anyone doing this, however, needs to take great care about what they merge because some of these articles have a very established readership and are helping people. We wouldn’t want to do away with a helpful page… If you have questions about an individual topic, feel free to email me or send me a talk page message, and I can have a look.
Okay. I can maybe do a draft of what the article would look like if it was all merged together, if it looks good, then maybe you can move it? I don’t know.
Anna
4
@UpsandDowns1234
In a case like that, we probably don’t need a new draft - we’re okay just redirecting the 6.1.6 article to the main one. I’ll do that now
Yeah, some articles are on huge topics, but they’re not always very detailed or specific. That’s why the more specific articles are allowed to pass quality review and not get tagged for merging. For example, my newest (not too new) article about downloading Google Drive files to your PC is not merged with another article on using Google Drive. Too broad, too specific.
Truth is: jailbreaking is the same on all devices, and only differ by versions. I am thinking have the proposed article have different sections for the different versions, and have each article after the merge redirect to that specific section. I.e. ‘Jailbreak an iOS 11 device’ redirects to ‘Jailbreak an iOS Device#iOS 11’
Maybe you should write a new article on that instead of merging the articles. Keep the articles, but make a new one that’s more broad.
Anna
8
Refer to my message above - it’s often okay to merge very specific version numbers to main canonical articles in an instance like this, because the old ones are outdated now. What we \ * don’t* want to do is merge these topics all into one for iOS devices. That’s a no-go because readers are out there searching for help with their iPhones, help with their iPods, help with their iPads… even if the content is the same, the topics are distinct. Per our Merge Policy, we don’t merge those, which is what Thehelper101 is getting at here, I think
@Thehelper101
: That may work. Good idea. Let me start writing. And I do not get why “Jailbreak an iOS Device” redirects to “Jailbreak an iPhone”. iOS implies it is either an iPhone, iPad, or iPod Touch.
Anna
10
@UpsandDowns1234
Please see my above message. It’s not common for readers to search for ‘iOS’ so our approach generally is to create articles each for iPad, iPod, iPhone, etc. This is a deliberate approach and not something we are looking to change.
Okay, I get your point. You can close it if you want, or leave it open to get other’s input.
