Talk:HowStuffWorks

 Accessing HSW content from Wikipedia

A link to a something works on HowStuffWork can be made by means of a template: HSW. Instructions about the use of these templates can be found on its talk page. Note that this template should be used in the "External links" section.

Comment
Isn't there a Wiki on this website? If there isn't how can I start one --209.12.51.207 19:14, 7 March 2006 (UTC)?

Who writes HowStuffWorks articles? Wiki or company?

The writers write the articles.

—Preceding unsigned comment added by 128.138.96.15 (talk) 04:30, 5 August 2009 (UTC)

Removing http://computer.howstuffworks.com/wiki.htm link
I removed this link from the "External Links" section as per Avoid_self_references. That article is no more notable than any of the others on the site, and there is no reason for us to link to that one solely. I hope thats OK with everyone. Bodil 19:38, 16 April 2006 (UTC)

Slogan
The slogan for HowStuffWorks is either "Learn How Everything Works" or "It's good to know". Does anyone know which one, so we can add it to the article? 99.254.204.28 (talk) 20:44, 18 April 2008 (UTC)
 * I updated the article and I used "It's good to know" as that one is the most used. -- iDosh!  talk?  17:32, 13 July 2008 (UTC)

Accuracy
I'd be wary of quoting HowStuffWorks as a reliable source. Have a look at Talk:Quasiturbine for what seems to be a glaring piece of misinformation.

Of course Wikipedia is not perfect either! But we've had a number of people test our accuracy and comment on it. I wonder, has anyone tried to assess the reliability of the info at HowStuffWorks? Andrewa (talk) 17:48, 5 July 2008 (UTC)

Podcast
There's a HSW podcast titled "Stuff You Should Know" and hosted by staff writer Josh Clark along with some other staff writers and editors. It's been in the Itunes (for America) top 20 podcasts for a while now. I'm not sure of when it began, etc. so could someone else write this in for me? —Preceding unsigned comment added by 98.221.127.16 (talk) 17:28, 17 July 2008 (UTC)

How-to website?
As far as I know, Howstuffworks isn't a how-to website--it's more of an informational site than it is directional. Should it be taken out of that category? I'm not sure if this has been resolved already or not; that's why I'm asking. Scxnwa (talk) 01:57, 11 April 2010 (UTC)

Podcasts
A couple things -- First, the descriptions for Stuff Mom Never Told You and BrainStuff are out of date. They should be updated. Also, they have 11 podcasts, and only 2 have their own articles. Articles should be created for the other nine. If not that, at the very least they should have redirects to http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HowStuffWorks#Podcasts. I will try to figure out how to omake those now. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 195.234.27.10 (talk) 10:33, 16 August 2010 (UTC)

Controversy
The controversy section appears to be completely unsupported by any evidence and I'm inclined to remove it. Moreover, a quick check of the HowStuffWorks website shows no article with the quoted title. It appears to be written by a person who once had a personal dispute with the site, back when Marshall Brain operated it. It appears not to be notable; there's nothing there to suggest any legal action was taken. mmj (talk) 01:28, 11 October 2010 (UTC)


 * Yes, it was when Marshall Brain operated it.

The article has changed significantly, but it's here:

http://www.howstuffworks.com/movie-projector.htm

This... http://entertainment.howstuffworks.com/movie-projector5.htm

... discusses the changeover system -- the "antiquated" technology that was the basis for rejection of my article. Had the original article not focuses solely on the changeover system, then perhaps the plagiarism wouldn't have been so evident. The original article was almost a direct copy of my material albeit with different wording, thus legally there was little I could do. Plagiarism isn't covered under copyright law, especially since my article had never been published. Marshall Brain and the How Stuff Works staff at the time knew exactly what they had done -- at first accepted my article, read it, copied it then changed into their own words, then sent a "sorry, but we've decided not to accept your article after all" e-mail. A few weeks later, the "How Movie Projectors Work" article appeared.

—Preceding unsigned comment added by 82.107.240.161 (talk) 18:30, 24 October 2010 (UTC)


 * Controversy section removed for now. Feel free to reinstate it if you find secondary sources covering the issue.  This does not by any means indicate that I don't sympathise with the above anonymous poster's situation if that indeed is true, this stuff is just not suitable for an encyclopedia without references to secondary sources (news articles? court records/judgement?), some sort of idea of how notable this incident is to an article about HowStuffWorks, etc. mmj (talk) 05:57, 16 November 2010 (UTC)

atm
how ATM of a bank is connected to server and works — Preceding unsigned comment added by 27.7.9.122 (talk) 15:42, 2 July 2012 (UTC)

Some criticism
Any article about a commercial entity must contain criticisms to avoid Wikipedia endorsing the company (this isn't US television after all). There must be some sources out there criticising the site. Personally this site seems typical of American websites in that it relies on list articles where each part of the list is divided into separate pages for the only reason of increasing page views and advertising revenue. Such a frustrating mess and tiring to keep clicking next. Additionally the huge presence of advertising is also an issue. -- XANIA - ЗAНИAWikipedia talk &#124; talk 01:22, 10 November 2014 (UTC)

External links modified
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 * Added archive https://web.archive.org/20090325003355/http://dsc.discovery.com/tv/how-stuff-works/series.html to http://dsc.discovery.com/tv/how-stuff-works/series.html

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External links modified
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 * Corrected formatting/usage for http://www.howstuffworks.com/
 * Added archive https://web.archive.org/web/20111010092528/http://blogs.howstuffworks.com/category/how-to-stuff/ to http://blogs.howstuffworks.com/category/how-to-stuff/
 * Added archive https://web.archive.org/web/20130204011107/http://dsc.discovery.com/tv/how-stuff-works/how-stuff-works.html to http://dsc.discovery.com/tv/how-stuff-works/how-stuff-works.html

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External links modified
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 * Added archive https://web.archive.org/web/20081119143638/http://www.convexgroup.com/ to http://www.convexgroup.com/

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