I think it would be good if you were able to add friends and all. Let me know what you think!
wikiHow is not a social network. There have been many discussions in the past pertaining to this, and community consensus has agreed that wikiHow is geared towards being a free how-to manual that anybody can edit; not a website for people to be able to solely network. It’s fine to have friends, but it’s not an aspect that calls for listing friends and creating cliques. That’s where the drama comes in, and wikiHow is not the middle school cafeteria.
system
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Editors are encouraged to create a customized “friend’s list” on their userpages. “Guestbooks” have been pretty popular on wikiHow in the past, where you have random people “sign” it as they visit your userpage. Bokehmon’s post pretty much sums it up the answer. There are a lot of websites out there geared towards social networking and “friends” type. By applying this on wikiHow, it distracts the mission and concept of the site.
Great thinking guys! I see both sides of the promblem,but i have to agree with Bokehmon, and Maluniu. Wikihow is very, very social compared to how.com
and wikipedia.
system
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I think if we were to ever go in this direction, it’d be more about following someone’s contributions, rather than adding them as a friend. I could see it being useful to see what certain people on wikiHow are up to, whether you want to learn from them, or coach them, or just know what they’re working on on wikiHow. But the ability to “add friends” in general doesn’t really have a place in this project.
Krystle, I actually think that is a good idea. It’d also make it easier to keep track of specific users with a list of questionable edits, don’t you think?
I agree Krystle and ZeldaGirl…
Bor
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Why do we need to keep track of people on here? It’s just as easy to go in RC and find the edits that are questionable or maybe add that editor to the Admin Notice Board and leave a note saying “Please keep an eye on this user. His/her edits are questionable etc. Don’t block atm.” It’s been done many times in the past. Also, adding friends is out of the question. Sure, I have a bit of wikiHowians I am very fond of and think of them as friends, but that’s all I need. I don’t need to show the world who my “friends” are on here. What’s the point? And also, if you absolutely must list them, that’s what the “friends list” is for. Is that not enough?
system
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I dunno, for me it’d be cool to have a few “lists” like on Twitter. For example, I come across a lot of borderline spammers via NAB. After coaching them, I’d like to have an easy to follow up to see if they got it, or if they’re being spammy. Instead of going and individually checking each page history, it’d be cool if there was a spot where all their contributions were bundled up in one place, and I could scan them easily. I’d also love the ability to look make a list of people who write awesome articles. For example I really like Dvortygirl’s articles, but I never see whether she published or rewrote a new one unless I go to her page regularly and check her contributions or something. Which is inconvenient and, well, a little weird? But if I had a “favorite authors” list I could check that regularly and see any new writings by the people whose articles I really dig
I like the idea! (Of following contributions, not of having a friends list.)
we should have “followers” not “a friends list”
just my opinion
Watching “otherWatchlists”; or “otherContribs”, interesting, if it’s reasonably done, ie: “______ wants to ‘Follow Your Contributions’, okay? – If so click here.” and be able to “Click to remove permission”.
Hmm…Following contributions? I like that idea.As for the friend-adding feature, I agree that it could be a bit of a distraction from the real purpose of wikiHow: a free how-to manual. While most of the people on here are friendly and likable, is it really necessary to have a feature to declare yourself friends with someone? Don’t we have Facebook for that? Plus, there are enough chatters on here anyway; why promote the idea that wikiHow is a social network?
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I agree with KatyBliss. ‘Friending’ someone distracts from the purpose, but following someone would be a whole 'nother ballpark: Useful and a good way to track contributions.
system
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There’s also the friend user template, and that by itself is fine for me.
Bor
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Tell me why we are bumping old threads again?
There have been many threads like this. But I think adding friends will distract people from what wikiHow really is, a free how-to manual. Adding friends is for more Facebook and other social network sites.
system
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I think everyone here has come to an agreement. If it’s something that the wikiHow engineers can do or a futuristic thing, then someone can bring it up later. Thread closed.
