Memory

I am often surprised by the memory of some of wikiHow's contributors. There are so many different policies and discussions that happen (often repetitive in nature), and yet someone remembers them months, even years, down the road.

Where is this memory? How is it accessed? wikis in general have an incredible set up for maintaining history. One page for example, even when it has been moved to a new title and altered thousands of times, has a unique page history that can call up old versions with the click of a button. I wish my email did that! (wikiMail anyone?) In addition, an old version can be restored faster than you can say "wiki" and the new one wiped away -- although even THAT new-now-old version is stored in history. The archival capabilities are infinite.

Page history is just a tool, though. The actual memory recall abilities of some of these editors is astounding and speaks to the fact that online projects really do connect different people from different walks of life. It truly is a global connective device.