How guides are written and checked

Guides on helps.wiki are signed by the "helps.wiki editorial team". This page explains what that means in practice, including where AI is involved.

Research and drafting

Topics come from real error messages and searches people make, from vendors' published lists of error codes and known issues, and from reader reports. For each topic, an AI model (Anthropic's Claude) researches the vendor's official documentation first, then other reliable technical sources, and drafts the guide in its own words. The draft lists every source it relied on, and those sources are shown at the end of the guide.

We do not claim to have reproduced an error on our own machines unless a guide says so explicitly, and we do not invent test results.

Checks before publication

No draft is published straight away. Each one must pass automatic checks:

  • every source link and download link must open, and at least one source must come from the vendor of the product;
  • a second review pass compares the draft's claims with those sources and flags anything unsupported;
  • commands are scanned for risky operations (registry deletions, disabling security features, formatting disks, removing system files);
  • the guide must not duplicate one we already have, and it must contain concrete, ordered steps and a way to confirm the fix worked.

Drafts that fail are rejected or sent back for rewriting. Drafts with risky steps, or with claims that could not be confirmed, wait for a person on the editorial team to review and approve them.

Safety rules for instructions

  • Fixes are ordered from the safest to the most invasive. Anything that can cost data is marked and preceded by a warning.
  • We do not recommend turning off antivirus, firewall, User Account Control or Secure Boot as a fix, except briefly to test a cause, with a reminder to turn it back on.
  • We do not tell readers to delete system files or registry keys unless the vendor documents that step.

Updates and corrections

Published guides are re-checked on a schedule: links are tested and instructions are compared with current vendor guidance. The "Updated" date changes only when the content changes in a meaningful way, not when we fix a typo. Reader reports go to the editorial queue; if a report shows a mistake, the guide is corrected.

Images

Diagrams marked "Illustration" are drawn by us to explain a process and are not screenshots. Photos and screenshots from other sources are used only under a licence that allows it, with the author and licence shown under the image.