Sunday, 23 September 2007

Wiki What?

St Constant
Yesterday's weather: dull but dry and warm

I was about do search on Google this morning when I discovered a new (to me anyway) item on my home page: wikiHow. This 'collaborative writing project' is asking people to contribute their know-how on all manner of different subjects from craft to philosophy and religion to home matters, relationships and so on.

I thought I'd have a browse, well, it kills time you know. I found all sorts of 'interesting' things. How to make a denim handbag for example and denim socks - very useful if you have lots of pairs of jeans that no longer fit. Ahem.

On the same page as 'How to shave your legs if you're a guy' and 'How to shave your mustache (sp) if you're a girl' is 'How to give yourself a Brazilian Wax'. I assume this page is for masochists. As someone once said to me; 'No-one is going near MY fanny with hot wax!' Including myself.

In the 'Cars and other vehicles' category is an item on 'How to identify a car'. Now call me dumb but isn't a car a box with a wheel in each corner and an engine?

There are very practical articles on life skills, parenting and relationships, organising a wedding, understanding religions, the list is endless and I am sure will grow as other people discover this project. Naturally, something that is open to contributions from anyone and anywhere will attract some oddballs too. I found 'How to take over the world (Plan A)' - this one apparently requires editing, 'How to survive a night being arrested and in the precinct' ('Excuse me, Officer, while I just check out how to cope with this on wikiHow)'; 'How to appreciate William Jefferson Clinton' (?). Added to this are a list of requested 'How to' to be written. I would dearly love to answer one of these so I trawled down the list of pet requests looking for a nice easy one to answer. However I think I know which I want to write, it would be fun trying no matter what.

'How to train a walrus'

The mind boggles.

6 comments:

SusieK said...

Oh pother - another fascinating website to waste time on! Great idea, isn't it, although some of the how to's do strike me as a little odd - for example, http://www.wikihow.com/Sneak-Around-at-Night

I couldn't find the list of requested how to's, though.

Good luck with the walrus!

La Vie en Rose said...

I have a bit of a problem with the walrus. No-one has actually posted a 'How to catch your walrus', so I can't get one to try out the training.

Try this, Susie http://www.wikihow.com/Category:Pets-Requests

I'm also concerned that under Arts - Books, there is http://www.wikihow.com/Build-Strategy-and-Win-a-War. I wonder if George Dubblya wrote it???

SusieK said...

Thanks for the link. I can't decide between building a shark lagoon or an emu incubator. :-(

Unknown said...

Thanks for the heads-up on the Build Strategy and Win a War article. As a wikiHow contributor/admin (who found her way here via Google Alerts), I'm not too thrilled about it myself. I don't know if it'd qualify for deletion, but I did recategorize it.

Good luck with the Walrus article :). There is also a Weekly Improvement Project for pet articles that's quite active. I'm sure the people running it would be happy to have your help.

If you need any help on wikiHow, just send me a message on my talkpage: http://www.wikiHow.com/User_talk:Elocina

Anonymous said...

I think I've got a walrus in my garden. Oh no hang on - it's a toad. Easy mistake to make I suppose

La Vie en Rose said...

A bit like the walrus and the carpenter....