Hellobee Boards

No. If I want to get the baked potato taste, flaky texture and crispy skin then I put them directly into the oven without being wrapped. If you stab them deeply several times with a fork before cooking they shouldnt explode because the stab holes allow the steam & heat to escape
Wrapping them in foil makes the skin soft and the potato gets the texture of being steamed rather than baked

@Mrsbells: Thank you so much for the advice! I had no idea!!!

Whole?
I never bake potatoes whole, they take waaay too long.

We bake yam fries a lot and when I do that we season them they bake them on top of cookie cooling tray so that there's even heat distribution. Equaling crispier fries and shorter baking time!

I microwave them in a shallow dish of water, so much quicker than baking in the oven! But you don't get the yummy crispy skin that way.

No foil, I rub normal potatoes in olive oil & sea salt, then place some foil underneath to catch any drippings.

Sweet potatoes, I just place them on the rack and also have some foil underneath.

I used to because my mom always did, but then I tried it with no foil and rubbed with olive oil and sea salt, and OMG. I will never go back! I love to eat that crispy skin.

I never plan far enough ahead, so usually I'm stabbing them with a knife and throwing them in the microwave. We have sweet potatoes all the time.

I always use foil because I think the potatoes get dried out if I don't use it.
Sometimes I will cut slits in the potato and put butter inside, and then wrap it.
My favorite way to cook potatoes is to take the yellow (or fingerling) kind and thinly slice them. Then I put them on a baking sheet, brush with olive oil and sprinkle with a seasoning salt. They get crunchy on the outside and soft on the inside... SO delicious!

DH and I wrap sweet potatoes in wet paper towels and stick them in the microwave. They come out piping hot, moist, and no explosions are involved.

I'm lazy and impatient waiting for a potatoe in the oven and just microwave them for baked potatoes.

Yup, that's how I thought you were suppose to bake a potato.

I read somewhere that cooking them in foil is basically just steaming them; so kind of the same as the microwave. Now I always do an olive oil and sea salt rub and put them right on the rack. Yum.