Wiki? What’s a Wiki?

When we launched the Zillow Real Estate Wiki back in December, we realized the concept of a wiki might not be easily grokked. After all, the mother lode of all wikis — Wikipedia — launched in 2001 and just now seems to be reaching mainstream status. When we launched our wiki, we actually called it "Real Estate Wiki," but just recently changed it to "Zillow Real Estate Guide." Why did we change the name? Because through usability tests, we found that many people did not know what a wiki was. Not only that, but we continue to get questions such as, "Why did someone change MY article?"

With these misconceptions about the wiki, a.k.a. "Zillow Real Estate Guide", I’d like to itemize the top myths that surround it:

Myth #1: I can’t add or edit an article on Zillow’s wiki.
Fact: Anyone can add or edit anything you want, as long as it’s related to real estate and it follows the Real Estate Guidelines. The Zillow Real Estate Guide is free for anyone and everyone to add, edit, write, read, and contribute their real estate knowledge. Bring it on!

Myth #2: If I create an article, it’s mine. No one else can edit it.
Fact: Anyone can edit any article, no matter who wrote it. The idea of a wiki is the same as the wisdom of crowds; people will benefit from everyone’s perspective and insight.

Myth #3: I can write an article about myself and my business and publish it on the Zillow wiki.
Fact: Shortly after the wiki launched, it was inundated with self-promotion and articles about specific services and businesses. This is not the intent of the wiki. The wiki is a real estate reference site — a guide — that should be helpful to consumers and be free of commercial entities. So, we are sweeping the site daily to remove these types of articles. But, if you want to publicize yourself or your biz, we have a couple of suggestions:

• Create a profile to promote yourself and become active on the site for links back to your profile(this is FREE), OR:
• Take out an EZ Ad (this is not free, but only costs you a penny each time your ad appears).

Myth #4: If I delete content on a post, it is gone for good.
Fact: Content that has been deleted accidentally or maliciously can be "rolled back" to its previous version, thereby saving the content. To "roll back," go to a wiki article. In the right-hand column is a link called "Page history." Click on it to see the numerous authors who have edited the article. There is also a link "Roll back to this version" next to each author link. Click the respective "Roll back" link to roll the article back to that version. (Pretty cool!)

One last misconception is about the voice to use when contributing to a wiki. A lot of people are writing in the first-person (e.g., "I, my, we, our"), but we ask that you use third-person, since it promotes writing based on fact, rather than opinion. So, if you’re looking for ways to contribute, go ahead and find an article that is written in the first person and turn it into a helpful, straightforward, third-person piece. And, if you feel it’s not yours to do, please see Myth #2.

[Fadeaway to sound of seagulls' chorus of "mine, mine, mine, mine..."]