WELCOME TO WIKIPIK!

How did it all come about?

I had the idea for WikiPik a long time ago. Whenever I was going to buy something (camera, washing machine, car etc.), I wanted nothing but the best. So I used to spend hours after hours online on review sites, wading through hundreds of reviews, looking at dozens of pages of technical specs, and annoyed by ads, tediously extracting the information I needed to make an educated buying decision. And again and again, I wished that there was a web site that had all that information distilled down for me at my fingertips, where I could make that informed decision in just an instance. After coming to the realization that there was no such web site quite as I imagined, I decided to create it, and so my dream came true (well, at least the humble beginnings of it)! So if you like WikiPik as much as I do, join in making this site even greater with great content!

Why the name "WikiPik"?

"wiki" means it's collaborative, and "pik" stands for four things: "pick" as in "pick the best", "peak" meaning "top" or "best", "PIK" = "Payment In Kind" which stands for WikiPik's reward point system (coming soon), and of course for "pic", as we have lots of pretty pictures, too. WikiPik is also a word that is easy to pronouce in just about any language, emphasizing WikiPik's global reach..

So what's so cool about WikiPik?

WikiPik is the place to make lightning fast educated decisions. WikiPik is the place where consumers and professionals alike connect and exchange opinions and data on products, services, places, people, you name it. WikiPik is truly international, multilingual, ad free and open licensed, that means it's free information forever.

Here's what makes WikiPik unqiue and different:

• Meaningful, Bias Compensated Rankings  WikiPik uses a novel ranking algorithm, to display information in the order that is relevant to you. DeltaRank™ is different in that it can compensate for bias in users ratings, by basing its scoring on how contributors perceive quality differences between items rather than just averaging uncorrelated opinions.
• Customizable Grid Views  WikiPik's powerful grid-based ranking/sorting/filtering interface allows you to quickly manipulate information and identify the item that is best for you. No more sifting through pages and pages of review text to tediously extract the information you need. WikiPik finally has it all at your fingertips!
• Performance Database  Beyond subjective opinions on quality aspects, users can also share measurements of real world performance, such as such as battery life or power consumption, in a plethora of quantities and units, and convert them between US and metric. Such way you can use WikiPik as a collaborative research database, go beyond whitewashed manufacturer's specs and get your hands on real world data.
• Open Structure  WikiPik allows you not only contribute content, but also collaborate on how this content is represented and organized. If something is not in the database yet, simply add it! Create new items, categories, rating criteria, technical specs whenever you need them and build WikiPik right then and there.
• Open License  All contributed content is published under the Creative Commons Attribution Share Alike license. So anything you contribute to WikiPik stays free information available to mankind forever, and can be re-distributed and altered by anyone, free of charge, even for commercial purposes, under the terms of this license.
• Ad Free  Consistent with the vow to strict neutrality and trust, WikiPik is a 100% ad-free web site. WikiPik puts mission first and money second so we can all enjoy a truly informational experience.
• Multilingual  Having a name that is easy to pronounce in just about any language, and a multilingual interface & database, WikiPik makes it easy for anyone from any culture to contribute.

Who's behind WikiPik?

WikiPik is operated by WikiWise, Inc., a tiny company run by just me and my wife right now. WikiPik was developed pretty much entirely by me in my spare time, funded only by my time and personal savings. Well, to be fair, I got some help from these great people: My wife Dilyara who is incredibly supportive of my crazy idea and did a large part of the visual design, Brenda and Dale at Process 39 who helped a great deal with functional design and initial visuals, my friend Oliver Acker who designed the triangular smileys, my friend Mark McCubbin who was an awesome sounding board throughout the process and Joe White who helped with the smiley's initial concepts.

So join the force and enjoy your stay! And if you hate or love something about WikiPik, drop me a line.