I believe that one of our newest FA’s
may be turning a few users and visitors off. In the past I have remained silent as a few how to’s regarding my least favorite beverages (the alcoholic variety, not that I’ve ever had any) have come and gone. But the unusual title this one possesses has a few commenters ranting. Here are a few examples of comments:_“Blow job” as in oral sex performed on a man? Inappropriate for a general info site. My immediate though also was that some prankster had hacked the system and is having a jolly laugh for successfully yanking the chains of the community guidelines. I was offended to see the name of this article not that it was about alcohol. Remember that there should be such a thing as DECORUM when putting something on what is essentially the equivalent of the front page of the paper where everyone can see. Shame on your lack of common sense.Don’t have an issue with the article itself, but with it’s title, featuring it is offensive. In addition, as a featured article, it will be appearing on people’s main page when they have the Wikihow gadget. In an office environment, it’s way out of place. I would say whomever put this as a featured article is a poor editor._As you can see, this can’t really stand. Must we continue to provoke our more squeamish readers? Thoughts?
Originally I didn’t really have an objection to it. However, as commenter #2
said, this isn’t great decorum for the site… I would support it being removed from the front page.
Also, I would like to point out that I do not mean offense to any editors involved with this page, whether having written it, chosen it, or otherwise. Though, as you can see, a few others might not share my respect for fellow users. We must be quite careful - everyone is counting on us to be professional, and this is making us look the opposite.
Anyone, anywhere, at any time, can be offended by any thing. We have the right to be offended, but we do not have the right to stop people from offending us. How many people being offended does it take to deem an article inappropriate? Is one person any less important than a group of people? If you don’t like an article, don’t read it. Plenty of people that enjoy a variety of alcoholic drinks will find this article useful.
Thanks for the feedback on this. This is definitely a borderline topic and I appreciate the opinions being given, and will keep them in mind when selecting FAs in the future that have provocative names. I would like to remind everyone that this kind of feedback is always more useful to me *before* the article ends up on the home page. I can’t do much after the article is featured. FAs are scheduled at least a week in advance, usually on Fridays. You can check this page to see upcoming FAs: http://www.wikihow.com/wikiHow:RSS-feed
And you can even get notified by e-mail when I update the page with new titles by adding it your watchlist and following these instructions: http://www.wikihow.com/Get-Emailed-Whenever-a-wikiHow-Page-is-Edited
I suppose I’d better take a look at this feed. Considering our forum discussions the comment backlash on this article is already (at least) the third strike against our good name. Someone’s got to do it, right? I understand that some people are easy to offend. But I see no sense in making it easy for them to get offended.
I’ve seen a lot more displeasure over the “filler” articles that constantly show up. Articles that are collections of tips rather than step by step instructions, articles written simply for the sake of being written. If anything has damaged wikiHow’s reputation, it’s that.
I’ve noticed those too - truly enough, they do get a lot of negative backlash ( this one
, for example). There are plenty of articles with substance. We just have to find them. (And make sure they aren’t the kind that inspire commenters to call us “Wikihow idiots”.)
I honestly have no problem with this specific article. I logged on today and saw “Blow Job” and I was like “What the hell…?” Then I read on and discovered what it was. I don’t see how this is different than a slippery nipple article or sixty nine (drink) article. Drinks are usually named creatively.
^ Yeah, like a “Mixed suicide shot” or something like that.
June Days
The criticisms are certainly understandable. But I think what matters most is the actual content of the article, not the title. Reading the article, it looks well-written and follows wikiHow’s format guidelines. Heck, it looks so good, I’d try it if I was of legal ageIMO it seems like an overreaction.
system
12
[2012-05-09 14:56:50] Maluniu How to Make a Bitchin' Cocktail: 5 Steps (with Pictures) - wikiHow Life
by yours truly I’m not even going into my defense, asked or not.
system
13
From the conservative angle… I can see the argument of “Hey! wH doesn’t do articles of a sexual nature… but it will post an article about how to make a drink with a name that is a name for a sexual act… and that article will mention how fun it is for bachelorette parties…” From that point of view, it seems as if we’re skirting as close as we can to the edges of our policies without falling off. On the other hand… there’s NO law in the world which forces anyone to read anything… so <shrugs> you are very free to stop reading the article if it bothers you.
I’m a teetotaler, monogamous, and reasonably conservative… but that doesn’t make this article any less informative, accurate, or of interest to the general public.</shrugs>
While it is true that I am not required to “read” the article, unless I delete the gadget from my iGoogle home page, I WILL read all the titles. There’s a difference between “displeasing” and “objectionable.” While it may damage credibility to post fluff articles, whose morality or religion does that offend? Are people really “offended” by silly articles? If the editorial consensus is that more of this type of terminology is in the WikiHow future, I will probably still participate as an editor but will remove the gadget from my home page. Goodness knows I don’t want a phrase such as, hypothetically, “How to Draw ‘Penis In Your Anus’ Style Manga” stuck on my home page. In comparison to Loiswade42, I’m (seriously) a non-monogamous drinker in my 50s, and so liberal that I would be shot as a communist outside of California – but I was offended by having a blow job shot show up on my home page, even if there was an implied “wink, wink” disclaimer attached to it – “Ha ha, see, it’s a DRINK, not a paid prostitutorial service or porno movie ‘money shot’ of ‘whipped cream’ in her face. Gotcha!”
I will phrase it this way: Would you like to see a top-of-the-fold article newspaper headline stating Blow Job Shot? I don’t think so. I was a bit mortified as I thought wikiHow was a family friendly site and the title was a tad bit sexual in nature. This title was sent to the RSS feeds and placed on the front page of wikiHow. There was no escaping this sexual title. If I had seen this article was up for FA status, I would have most certainly made these same comments. We all live and learn but I hope next time someone can figure out a politer way of stating something when it comes to FA articles.
system
16
So should every take include the phrase “Cocktail” or “Alcoholic” to inform the readers that it isa drink? How many sections of wikiHow are going to be barred from being featured or shunned by everyone out of nowhere? We already have bongs, cheating in school, hacking, etc & now drinks with flowery names? How far is this definition of “family-friendly” are we talking about? We going to start post rage in the forums every time it comes up after it’s shown on the main page ---- even after the watchlist notification suggestion has come up multiple times? I’ll just leave this list for you all to enjoy just in case there’s community rage in the futureMake a Screaming Orgasm Layered Shooter Make a Sixty Nine Layered Shooter Make a Slippery Nipple Layered Shooter Make an Orgasm Layered Shooter Make a Lesbian Joy Cocktail Make a Bitchin’ Cocktail Make an Orgasm Martini Make a Sex on the Beach Cocktail Make a Duck Fart Make a Blow Job Shot Make a Buttery Nipple Shot Make a Red Headed Slut Shot Make a Surfer on Acid Make an AMF Cocktail ( I’ll just let you read the intro to that one & why I chose abbreviations)
Or stop reading wikiHow regularly, which some people will, and is actually a problem
.
It’s not a matter of reading wikiHow it was the direct placement of a sexually oriented title. I’ve always believed in being able to change the channel when watching TV, if you saw something you did not like. Unfortunately there is no way to change the channel when the article was placed on the RSS feed and on the wikiHow front page. Featured Article stories should have titles that are not potentially offensive. The last you thing you want to do is drive your readers away as they are afraid of what they might read on the RSS feed or on the front page.
That’s right - we actually want to hook our readers, not drive them away. Who knows how much controversy was stirred over it before I even noticed?
My point exactly. Having read what is coming up for featured articles on the RSS feed, I don’t see anything with quite as severe a title; however, there might be one or two articles in there that might cause need for concern…I’m not sure, though.
system
20
I got the wrong idea when I first saw that article. Its a matter of loosing the title or loosing the visitors. I honestly think an article will do better with a better title. Its only my opinion but say a teen was on wikihow and an article with a easily missinterpreted title is shown. Then, their parent/guardian walks by. I dont think the adult will be happy about it. Again, just my opinion.
