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One of the things I dig about our community is seeing how diverse the people are and how varied their interests are. After exploring the different options around here, many wikiHowians seem to find “niches” they really thrive in - and those niches can be really different. But if you “zoom out” to see the big picture, it can be neat to see how all the different parts of the wiki work together…

For example, say someone who really likes adding videos adds a good one. Then it gets reviewed in Quality Guardian by someone who likes that tool. That edit also goes through RCP, and there the article quite often gets Quick Edited as well, if something catches the patroller’s eye, and then another patroller might edit on top of that or tag it for further work by a Greenhouse editor, and so forth… Even when something goes “wrong,” like an editor accidentally breaks the image code, an eagle-eyed wikiGnome comes along to fix it, and in the process might improve some other parts of the article, too. Different people thrive in different niches, but all their efforts come together, on particular articles and across the site - it’s teamwork, even when you’re deep in the weeds of a particular queue and it may feel like a solo act! 

I often ask new people if they’ve found a favorite tool yet… but I realized I don’t know all of your favorites. I thought it might be fun to ask… Anyone want to share their favorite tool or favorite niche of wikiHow?  

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RC Patrol, review tech feedback and picture patrol!

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Also started using video adder…I like that one!

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Mine are RC patrol, Copyediting, and Editing By Topic. 

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My favorite tool is definitely RC patrol. I also enjoy fixing intros, merging articles, and properly sourcing articles that need it, as well as editing in general for a variety of categories.

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RC Patrol has the top spot, but I also like copyediting and formatting.

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I like RC Patrol and I like to categorize articles

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My favorite one is RC Patrol. I also like the Picture Patrol, the Categorize Articles Tool, the Review Tech Feedback Tool, the Quality Guardian, and sometimes the Spell Checker tool.

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Wow, lots of RC Patrol - no wonder we have a ton of great patrollers on this list ! I’m a fan of that myself, too.

Outside of RC, it’s pretty interesting to see how much diversity there is already in these answers… including some tools I barely ever use, to be honest. Glad you guys do:wink:- but you guys are inspiring me to go do some picture patrol and tech feedback review… I rarely get to those ones! 

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Does Tips Patrol make anyone’s fav list? Or is it the loner out there?:stuck_out_tongue:

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I actually love tips patrol! For 3 weeks I was the leader. Then @Ccan took over.

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My favorite tools are the categorizer, NFD Guardian, and RC Patrol in no particular order. I usually check out the title/merge section too, to see if any articles need help. Otherwise, I’ll just lurk around on RC Patrol for article editing ideas.

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My Links.  It’s the most powerful tool I use.  It gives me fast access to the categories and tools I work with.

How To Create Mylinks on wikiHow

Here’s mine: www.wikihow.com/User:Davecrosby/Mylinks

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There is no specific tool but I like it when I feel connected to a topic and get to discuss it with like-minded editors. These I find while patrolling, sending kudos or coaching messages, answering questions in the articles etc. I thoroughly enjoyed the categorizing project which Anna started because it progressed so fast and there were regular updates, discussion, appreciation, and learning alongside it. I feel especially happy when I get to save an edit from a contributor or an anon which would otherwise be rolled back for grammatical issues etc. Thanks for taking time to bring this up Anna. I loved sharing it.:slight_smile:

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Categorize Articles, Review Tech Feedback and Answer Questions tool! 

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My fav’s are mostly RC patrol, Picture patrol, and Spell Checker.

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Early on in my time here, I was the Community Dashboard King (using just about every tool on the list), but now I’ve come to realize my main niche is really limited to a few places such as the Tech Feedback and Video Adder tools, as well as starting articles, and later adding screenshots to articles. I can sometimes be found patrolling (through the older traditional patrolling tool (because I check edit-by-edit as I go through my Watchlist) and can SOMETIMES be found in RCP too! Once and awhile I’m in the Copyedit Greenhouse and sometimes in Format Greenhouse (but both aren’t all that often anymore…)

Not too fond of the Answer Questions tool, so I"m rarely found in there; I prefer answering questions directly through topics I’ve started or have come across manually. That tool does also seem buggy but am still learning it’s ins and outs.

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Same here! This are mine.   https://www.wikihow.com/User:Ruah/Mylinks

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@Ruah Ah, glad someone likes it and digs working through that queue as needed!:slight_smile:

@Davecrosby and @Ruah - Ooh Mylinks - an outside-the-box “tool”.  I’ve never been that into using it… but then, my entire browser bookmarks bar and folder are packed with wH links instead, hah. So I get it, if you’re not willing to sacrifice all your browser space to the wiki gods the way I am:wink:- At some point, we’ll have to do another thread on wiki efficiency hacks, including how you guys use MyLinks and any other ideas… I bet we all have a few tricks up our sleeves to share! 

@Byankno1 I love what you said about finding your niche. I think it’s okay, even sometimes preferable, to find a niche and get super duper good at it, rather than spreading yourself thin. Plus, at the end of the day, you should be doing what you enjoy doing, and if those are the tools where you can really hit your stride, they’re a good corner to hang out in. It’s a win-win to use a tool you know very well and enjoy using!

@Vishshua - “I feel especially happy when I get to save an edit from a contributor or an anon which would otherwise be rolled back for grammatical issues etc.” - Yesss, I love that attitude. Fixing and keeping where possible, rather than knee-jerk undoing… I have to catch myself on that sometimes. It goes hand in hand with that “quality over quantity” approach to RCP, for sure:slight_smile:

I just tried doing a rough count to see what tool was in “second place” after RCP… I think Tech Feedback and Categorizer tie for second, so far? That actually surprises me - I’m glad I asked! I should start recommending Tech Feedback to more newbies, if a fun one.

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Thank you so much @Anna .:slight_smile:That really means a lot. I reckon an anon might join if they see their edit remain because they seem to keep a tab on it. Sometimes I read their messages while patrolling, they ask why their edits were removed. I use MyLinks too. I think Garshepp, Sarah or Alabaster introduced me to it. And @Alabaster added a sidebar full of amazing topics and links. I don’t know what it’s called but it has the welcomer link, link to important forum discussions and much more. I can’t thank them enough for their support and guidance.