eHow FAQ

Q. What is eHow?

A. eHow is the world's most popular place to find clear instructions on how to do just about anything. And with more than 6 million people visiting eHow each month to find and share step-by-step instructions on how to do things, eHow is also the largest How To community on the web.

Q. How much does it cost to use eHow?

A. It's free! We believe that access to eHow's How To articles and the eHow community should be free of charge to everyone. We do not charge money to read eHow's articles, watch eHow's How To videos, to join the eHow community, or to contribute content to eHow.

Q. How can I advertise on eHow?

A. Thanks for your interest! Ask all your advertising inquiries through our Contact Us page.

Q. I am a member of the Press, how can I contact the eHow staff?

A. We admit it: We love publicity. If you are a member of the press and you're interested in learning more about our website or company, please contact our PR team.

Q. Can I link to the eHow website or republish eHow content?

A. You can link to the eHow site in any manner you like. Read Link to Us for more information. If you want to actually republish eHow content, you will need to contact us and ask for permission. Please read Republish eHow Content for more information. Please see our Terms Of Use for important limitations on the rights we grant in eHow's content.

Q. How do I publish an article on eHow?

A. With eHow, it's easy to publish How To articles. Just sign in to your eHow account, and from your profile page, click on the "Write Now" button. From there eHow's publishing wizard will guide you through the publishing steps.

Q. Can I edit an article after I've published it?

A. Absolutely. Simply sign in to your eHow account and click on the "Articles" tab within your profile. Find the article you'd like to edit and click the "Edit" button.

Q. Can I delete an article after I published it?

A. Definitely. Just sign in to your eHow account and click on the "Articles" tab within your profile. Click on the "Edit" button next to the article you would like to delete. Thereafter, you will be taken to the publishing wizard page. Go to the last step of the publishing wizard, and click on the "Delete Article" button.

Q. Where are the articles that I've saved as drafts?

A. Find articles you've saved as drafts by clicking on the "Articles" tab within your profile. From here you can continue editing your article or, if it's ready for the world to see, you can go ahead and publish it.

Q. How do I add photos or images to an article?

A. Photos really do speak a thousand words, especially when you're trying to give instructions! And you can add photos to new articles that you're writing or to articles you previously published. To upload an image you'd like featured at the top of your article, go to the 1st step of the publishing wizard and follow the instructions. To add photos to the individual steps within your article, go to the 2nd step of the publishing wizard and look for the image upload button associated with each step.

Q. eHow doesn't have the How To information that I'm looking for. Can I request a new How To article?

A. Absolutely! Go to the eHow Community page, look for the "Request a New How To Article From the eHow Community" box, and submit your article request.

Q. What happens when I request a How To article?

A. Your article request will be reviewed by the eHow staff. If the article does not yet exist on eHow, we'll add your request to our list of Top Requested How To Articles and encourage other members to write the How To article.

Q. What are the article submission guidelines for eHow?

A. Any articles that are in a How To format are accepted. Whether they are expressed in text, video, or image, we welcome you to submit your own unique How To articles to the site. We very much encourage our visitors to use the eHow service as a destination point to start spreading and sharing their knowledge with others. To get a better understanding of what types of articles are acceptable and not acceptable on the site, please review the detailed summary below:

• Proper Formatting
  1. Title must be in the proper "how to" format. A title must make sense when "How to" is added in front of the title you supplied in the title group. For example, "Build Upper Body Strength" is a title whereas "Upper Body Strength" isn't.
  2. Articles must provide instructional information and actionable steps for a reader to follow. Our site focuses on providing instructions on how to do something. Vague instructions that do not provide detailed step-by-step instructions and leave the reader to make intellectual jumps from step to step will be removed.
  3. Article instructions must be clear. If they are confusing to our editorial staff, then they will be confusing to readers.
  4. Please make an effort to use correct grammar/punctuation, sentence structure, and spelling when submitting an article.
• Objectionable Subject Matter
  1. Articles must not contain offensive and/or obscene material, including written words, photos and videos.
  2. Articles must not contain potentially dangerous and/or illegal instructions.
  3. Articles must not have inaccurate facts.
  4. Articles must not contain blogging, opinion pieces, personal observations, stories, ads or poetry.

  For more specific details, please check eHow's Terms of Use.

• Spamming/Plagiarism/Trademarks
  1. Articles that are advertisements or read like advertisements will be considered SPAM and removed.
  2. Articles should avoid the use of third party trademarks when it is not necessary to use them. If it is necessary to use a third party trademark in the article, please review the trademark holder's trademark usage guidelines to ensure you are using the trademark properly. As a general rule, all trademarks should be capitalized and followed by the generic name for the product or service the trademark describes (examples: Kleenex brand tissues; Xerox copying services).
  3. Articles should never be written in a manner that would suggest that the author or the eHow community endorses or is affiliated with any particular third party product or service.
  4. Links in your text that lead to external sites must be relevant to the context of your article.
  5. Articles cannot include material that is plagiarized from any other person and/or source.
  6. Articles you've published on the eHow website and are also published on other sites must be owned by you. To avoid any plagiarism confusion, please make sure the byline matches the byline on your eHow website account.

  For more specific details, please check eHow's Terms of Use.

Q. What does eHow consider as plagiarism?

A. Plagiarism is a serious problem that faces many online communities. As a result, we thought it would be helpful to dedicate a FAQ to this subject. In a majority of the cases where an article is removed from the eHow site, plagiarism is the cause. In order to clear up any confusion regarding what the eHow team considers a plagiarized article, a few basic guidelines are listed below. Please note that these guidelines are not exhaustive.

1. Submitting an exact or near exact copy of the language and thoughts of another author, with the intention of representing them as your own original work, constitutes plagiarism.
2. Submission of an exact or near exact copy of the language and thoughts of another author, with credit given to the other author's work, is still considered plagiarism.
3. Submitting an article in which the language and thoughts of another author's work is paraphrased is considered plagiarism.
4. Articles you authored in the past that are located on other websites may be published on the eHow site as long as they are the product of your own work and you are using the same byline.

Q. How do I comment on an article?

A. Have an opinion on the article? A tip you'd like to add? Or a comment for the article's creator? Leave a comment! At the bottom of every eHow article there's a box where you can add a Member Comment, simply type your comment into this box. To add a comment you must be signed in; if you are not signed in, you'll be prompted to do so before your comment is published.

Q. How do I report offensive content in an article?

A. At the top of every eHow article there is a Flag Article button. You can flag an article as offensive, inaccurate, out-of-date or other. Articles flagged by the eHow community will be reviewed and addressed by the eHow staff.

Q. What are eHow points?

A. By earning points eHow members increase their Member Rank from Novice to Enthusiast to Authority and then Master. You can earn points by writing articles. Earn bonus points when you add images to your articles. Earn even more points when you write articles that were requested by other Members (for a complete list, check out the Top Requested How To Articles).

Q. What happens when I publish a Top Requested How To article?

A. When you publish a How To article that's been requested by the eHow community, you'll earn points. The more times the article was requested, the more points it's worth. After you publish the How To article, an eHow staff will evaluate the article to confirm it accurately answered the request. If your article passes muster, you will be awarded the points.

Q. Does eHow have a forums group?

A. Indeed we do. The forums group is the epicenter for all things eHow related. It's a great way to get news updates about the site, it offers an open mic approach for members who would like to give suggestions and feedbacks, and is a sure fire way to get to familiarize yourself with the eHow community.

Q. Does eHow have a forums group?

A. Indeed we do. The forums group is the epicenter for all things eHow related. It's a great way to get news updates about the site, it offers an open mic approach for members who would like to give suggestions and feedback, and is a sure-fire way to get familiarized with the eHow community.

Q. What are Groups?

A. They are a communal spot where people can gather and connect with other individuals who share similar interests in life. Find a group that speaks to you or just build one and start developing your own micro community within eHow. Groups allow you to further engage with the existing lush community on the site by letting you share with members in the following ways:

• Having discussions around the things that matter to you the most
• Submitting photos and videos around your interest
• Announcing calendar events that are relevant to the group you're a part of

Join or start your group óit's easy and FREE!

Q. How do I build a Group?

A. First, click on the "Community" tab at the top of the eHow site. Then select "Groups" and you will be taken to the eHow "Groups" homepage. Start your own Group by clicking on the "Start Your Own Group" button.

Q. How do I find a Group?

A. From the "Community" page (which you can get to by clicking on the "Community" tab at the top of the eHow site), click on the "Groups" button. Once you're in the "Groups" homepage, do a search for a group you will be interested in joining. If you can't find a Group that interests you, feel free to start your own.

Q. What are the "I Did This" buttons on eHow articles?

A. The eHow "I Did This" is a quick, easy and fun way for you to share your first-hand experiences of how you did something. It's a new free-form article format on eHow, to allow you to share stories, opinions and photos about your experience, talk about or recommend products, and have the freedom to add anything else you feel will help others get the same thing done.

Q. How do I access my message inbox?

A. Access your eHow inbox by clicking on the "Inbox" tab, which is located at the top of your eHow profile.

Q. How do I find out when I have a new message in my inbox?

A. Once you're logged in, you'll be able to see a dashboard on the top right hand corner of any page on eHow. On the dashboard, you'll be able to see the number of new messages you have.

Q. How do I create a personal profile?

A. Once you have joined eHow you can create a personalized profile to promote yourself or your business. Get started now on the "Edit Profile" page. You can access your "Edit Profile" page from your profile. Click on the "Edit Profile" button, which is located in the left navigation column. If you would like to add a little more personality to your profile, click on the "Edit Interests" button, which is also located in the left navigation column. Here you can provide additional tidbits about your life and let everyone in the community know about it.

Q. How do I edit my personal profile?

A. Just go to the "Edit Profile" page, which you can get to by clicking on the "Edit Profile" button in your profile pageólocated in the left navigation column.

Q. How do I add an avatar or personal image to my profile?

A. From your profile page, click on the "Change Avatar" button, which is located in the left navigation column. You can choose from the pre-existing avatars eHow has made available to the community or just upload your own.

Q. How do I add an eHow member as a friend?

A. To add another eHow member to your friend list, visit his/her member profile and click the "Add as a Friend" button. The member will be sent a message notifying him/her that you'd like to add him/her. Once he/she accepts your request, he/she will be added to your list of eHow friends.

Q. How do I remove a member as a friend?

A. To remove a member from your friend list, click on the "Friends" tab at the top of your profile. Once you're in your "Friends" page, there will be a "Friends" module on the right, where you'll see a list of members you've added as friends. Find the member you want to remove and click on the "Remove Friend" button.

Q. How can I find out when I have a new friend request on eHow?

A. Once you're logged in, you'll be able to see a dashboard on the top right hand corner of any page on eHow. On the dashboard, you'll be able to see the number of new friend requests you have.

Q. Where can I find eHow's Terms of Use?

A. We have one of those policies. If you're interested, please read the eHow Terms of Use.

Q. What is eHow's Privacy Policy?

A. For a full explanation of how eHow treats your personal information, please read the eHow Privacy Policy.

Q. I have a question that wasn't answered in this FAQ, how can I contact an eHow staff member?

A. We would love to hear from you, and we will do our best to answer your inquiry as soon as we can. Reach out to us by submitting your questions through our "Contact Us" page.

Q. What if I have a question that is not in a How To format?

A. Although our site revolves around the How To formula (i.e. How to Tie a Tie, How to Boil an Egg, etc.), we do want to provide a portal for people like yourself to have your general questions answered. Our eHow members are a good source for discussions, so if you have any all-purpose questions, we suggest you to post them on our eHow forums or check out our Groups and find a community of people who share your interest and seek similar knowledge.

Q. Can I be notified through my personal e-mail of any activities that has occurred on my eHow account?

A. Yes, you can. From your profile, click on the "Email Notifications" button in the left navigation column and once you're in your "Email Notification" page, you will see a list of notifications you can opt in to receive in your personal e-mail. Once you're done setting your preferences, just click on the "Save Changes" button.

Q. How do I subscribe/unsubscribe to the eHow of the Day?

A. Simply go to the eHow of the Day subscription page. There you will be asked to input your e-mail address. If you want to subscribe, submit your e-mail address and click on the Subscribe button. If you want to unsubscribe, submit your e-mail address that you originally subscribed eHow of the Day with, check off the confirmation box, and then click on the Unsubscribe button. You can also subscribe/unsubscribe for the eHow of the Day from your profile. Click on the "Email Notifications" link in the left navigation column of your profile. Once you're in your "Email Notifications" page, you can opt in or opt out for the eHow of the Day.

Q. How can I close my eHow account?

A. Just send us a request at member.service@ehow.com. Please have the email titled as "Delete Account", and provide your first and last name, and username.