eHow sucks

[SavannahLion]

While researching various bits of information in the last year relating to my DIY habits, I've come across an inordinate amount of eHow articles.

I have never liked eHow, ever. Instructables has far more valuable (albeit sometimes dangerously incorrect) information than eHow.

I never really understood why. It was something I could never really place my finger on until I tried Googling for a decent Nacho Cheese sauce recipe. The one at eHow seems to be a variation on a base recipe. If you're a cook, you can see the problem right away. The recipe itself is valid, but the formatting sucks ass. There is a reason why the same cooking format has been used for the past... .what? sixty years? I have recipe books from the early 50's that have the standard recipe format.

That's the problem with eHow. It gives you just enough information to hang yourself but rarely gives you enough information to avoid pitfalls. That, on top of a format that every bit of information has to be shoehorned into and you just have a, excuse the pun, recipe for disaster.

So as a test, I looked up How to use a table saw.

Wow, that's bad.

Check the blade guard. Is it in good shape and functioning properly?

So... for someone who actually knows what a blade guard is, would they even be searching eHow? And for someone who needs to look this kind of information up, would they even know what part of the table saw is the blade guard?

Yeah, a dangerous website. Offers just enough info to hang yourself.

Am I the only one annoyed by eHow's ineffectiveness?

[RayB]

They are pretty much all like that. It's like a big open forum featuring answers from bored housewives and teenagers. Just looking at the QUESTIONS is an eye opener. "How the babby made?" is one clue you're not dealing with pros, but just random people who are bored enough to actually try answering these things.

I know I am the pot calling the kettle black to some extent, but at least we here are in a specialized forum, with a somewhat more knowledgeable crowd than the randomness that seems to answer those questions.

I recently looked up how far apart rain gutter downspouts should be. The answer was "Depends on the size". Yeah, thanks for that brilliant insight buddy.

[hypernova]

So as a test, I looked up How to use a table saw.

Wow, that's bad.

Check the blade guard. Is it in good shape and functioning properly?

So... for someone who actually knows what a blade guard is, would they even be searching eHow? And for someone who needs to look this kind of information up, would they even know what part of the table saw is the blade guard?

If you can't even figure out what a blade guard is by the two words that comprise the phrase, you shouldn't be operating a table saw.

I don't necessarily agree with you guys.  These are supposed to be quick guides on the web.  If people need every single tiny detail explained in full paragraphs, then they need to go buy a Dummies book or something similar in their hardware store.

There needs to be some understanding that people searching these terms have at least a minimally basic comprehension of what they're doing in the first place, otherwise the people writing the webguides are spending hours writing information that a large majority of people already know, and thus turn them off because they don't want to wade through 20 steps that they already know about just to get to the two that they aren't quite sure of.

[RayB]

There needs to be some understanding that people searching these terms have at least a minimally basic comprehension of what they're doing in the first place, otherwise the people writing the webguides are spending hours writing information that a large majority of people already know, and thus turn them off because they don't want to wade through 20 steps that they already know about just to get to the two that they aren't quite sure of.

Except that a lot of this content is actually written by volunteers and whoever feels like posting an answer. Often no more qualified than the person looking for the info.

[RayB]

http://www.textfiles.com/anarchy/

I can remember shaking my head in disbelief at some of those even when I was ~10.

Yeah I remember that too! My friend had it all printed out (dot matrix!). Nobody I know ever did anythign with it, it was just the "cool factor" of "Hey, I have the recipe for making nitroglycerin. I dare you to make it!" type of thing. Of course thanks to old Looney Tunes cartoons, we all knew nitro was unstable and would blow up the second Road Runner popped in and made you quiver. HEH

[leapinlew]

I think ehow, about.com and a few other sites pay for the articles depending on how often they are accessed. So you end up with poorly written articles by authors who are content earning small amounts of money.

[eds1275]

If you compare them with ExpertVillage, they are gold!