Comparison to wikipedia

Many times throughout my tenure at wikiHow, I find other users comparing wikiHow to wikipedia -- the mother of all wiki sites both in popularity (hits per day) and number of users. In fact, many often confuse wikiHow for a wikimedia project, when, in fact, wikiHow is independent of wikimedia and run by completely different people.

In the instances where wikiHow is compared to WP, the parallels are a little convoluted. Without citing specific examples -- thus citing specific users -- a broad understanding of wikiHow needs to be made by active wikiHow contributors. Specifically, users need to understand the practicality of wikiHow.

Example: John Appleseed logs on to his iGoogle page on a daily basis. One of his modules is the wikiHow module (also default on the iGoogle homepage), and he routinely clicks on the daily articles and reads through them. Through various links weavings and such, he has a pretty good understanding of the articles, and occassionally goes to wikiHow for how-to instructions he needs throughout his life. He has never signed up for wikiHow nor does he actively contribute.

wikiHow is a practical web site. It offers information that is on a need-to-know basis. WP offers information that is practical, but really only if you need to find out information. I frequently use WP to check information about a topic and get the background, but I'm a factual geek. wikiHow offers information for the non-geek.

In short, comparisons to wikipedia fall short when one considers the different audiences and uses for each site. Parallels can only be drawn in reference to their "wikiness", but stop there.