Why am I being blocked from the Answers section?

1. 74

   Abby Campbellposted 10 years ago

   Yesterday, I posted a question in the Answers section. After doing so, I received an immediate response that my question needed moderation. After a few hours, I went back to see if it had been approved. However, it was crossed out, and I received an emails as such:
   
   > Dear Abby Campbell,
   >
   > Your recent question "How do companies get away with merchandising illegal OTC drugs before the U.S. FDA checks them out" has been removed because it encouraged a discussion rather than a Hub or multi-paragraph answer. Surveys and poll-type questions do not belong in Answers. To engage in a discussion or conversation, please post in the Forums section at http://hubpages.com/forum/, or for a private conversation you can contact another Hubber directly from their profile page.
   >
   > Please contact us at team@hubpages.com if you would like additional information.
   >
   > Thank you.
   >
   > HubPages
   
   I went back to the Answers section to re-word my question, though HubPages had removed my privileges for asking questions for 22 hours. This morning, I go back to actually "answer" questions (not ask), but my privileges have been totally removed. I have sent them an email and am awaiting response, but rarely have I received a response from them at the Help desk before. I have always had to contact my HP mentor from the Apprentice program to get anything answered.
   
   Yesterday, I did answer several questions. They were all done in a professional manner, and I never bucked up against someone. Therefore, I don't understand why my privileges were removed.
   
   My score was above 90 when I left for vacation a couple of weeks ago. I checked on Saturday, and it was at 85 which I didn't think was too awful for being away for so long. However, it dropped to 79 by Monday (just in two days). Therefore, I knew I must get in and spend some time writing a new hub, answering questions, and being involved. However, I can't even do this due to revoked privileges on the Answers section.
   
   Does anyone have a clue to what is going on?

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   1. 94

      wildernessposted 10 years agoin reply to this

      I hardly even visit the questions area, but it appears that HP is having trouble in that questions are being asked in a manner that encourages discussion rather than a simple answer.  Mostly likely you have been caught in the fallout as they try to turn it around back into what it was intended to be - a simple question/answer rather than the discussion forum it is being used as.
      
      If I'm reading them right, "How far away is the moon?" is an appropriate question, "What do you think of gun control?" is not.

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      1. 74

         Abby Campbellposted 10 years agoin reply to this

         Thanks for answering, wilderness. I understand the reasons why HP may be playing hardball on the Questions/Answers now, but I just don't understand why I have been totally blocked from that section. Though I received an email from them stating why my Question was not posted with reason, they never warned me that I would be blocked from posting any questions or answers... no email... no nothing.

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         1. 94

            wildernessposted 10 years agoin reply to this

            It'll be interesting to see if the ban drops in the 20 hours.  You could also have been caught in an unintended glitch - not posting questions resulted in the unintentional effect of not answering them, either.  I'd give it a day to see what happens.

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            1. 74

               Abby Campbellposted 10 years agoin reply to this

               Thanks, wilderness. The 24 hours have already passed. Yesterday, it did state the number of hours. However, today states that I am "banned" with no hours listed, so I'm not sure. I'll wait another day or so and see what happens. However, I don't think being banned from questions had an unintentional effect on answers as I was still able to answer questions yesterday. That's why this doesn't make any sense to me. But, I'll ride it out for the next day or two.
               
               I always see so many complaints about HP, but I have absolutely loved them. This is my very first personal glitch, and it's my 7th month here. I know HP is making several changes, so hopefully this will be worked out. I don't want to spend a ton of time here trying "to work things out" as I have a business to run and much more important things to do. Writing hubs has been a pleasure, and it does produce a little income. I have even loved interacting with other folks here... even made some wonderful friends. I'd hate to leave due to me having to spend so much time with the site's conflicts.

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               1. 0

                  Beth37posted 10 years agoin reply to this

                  I get banned when I blink too loud... you could just wait it out. It will resolve itself quickly enough.

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                  1. 74

                     Abby Campbellposted 10 years agoin reply to this

                     LOL, Beth. At least it hasn't had any affect on your hub score.

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   2. 60

      The Examiner-1posted 10 years agoin reply to this

      Did you try starting a 'Forum' before you went to answer more questions?
      I had entered a couple of questions and was told by HP that they had actually been transferred/removed because they were forums. I did not realize this. It took me a while to learn the rules.

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      1. 74

         Abby Campbellposted 10 years agoin reply to this

         No, I didn't try starting in Forums. I have asked several questions before but never got this kind of response. I figured that HP was changing some things... redirecting us to where the most appropriate place. I just don't understand the "banning" from the Answers section. I had never done anything in the past to warrant a banning. A warning would have been nice... at least something to notify me of what I did to deserve a "punishment."

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   3. 90

      Christy Kirwanposted 10 years agoin reply to this

      Hi Abby,
      
      The Moderation Team is looking into this issue right now. Q&A should be working normally for you again soon.

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      1. 0

         Beth37posted 10 years agoin reply to this

         Hi Christy, I have a question... Do you think in the future we might be able to receive an email telling us what offense we committed that caused us to be banned? I was just banned for 7 days and never knew why. I s'pose if we are to learn from our mistakes we need to know what we've done wrong. Thanks!

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         1. 90

            Christy Kirwanposted 10 years agoin reply to this

            Hi Beth37,
            
            For Forum and Q&A bans, you can always email the HP Team and we'll tell you why. Also, if a ban is preceded by a moderation email which explains that you've been moderated for a particular violation, that violation is usually the reason for the ban.

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               Beth37posted 10 years agoin reply to this

               Ok, thanks.
               I thought I looked for an email address and didn't see one, but hopefully I wont have to find one in the future.

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      2. 74

         Abby Campbellposted 10 years agoin reply to this

         Thank you, Christy! I appreciate your response very much! I look forward to being able to work normally again. :-)
         
         As Beth37 suggested (above) about email notification, I would love for this as well. It's difficult to correct anything when we don't know what we did wrong. There's so much information on HP that it's difficult to remember all the rules.

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         1. 90

            Christy Kirwanposted 10 years agoin reply to this

            Hi Abby,
            
            I just heard back from the Moderation Team. They let me know that a Q&A ban includes a ban on answering and commenting on Questions as well as asking them, so that's why you were unable to post Answers. We realize our messaging is really unclear on what the ban includes, and I'm very sorry it was so confusing and frustrating for you. We're working on changing the wording right now to make it more clear for other Hubbers in the future.
            
            Also, you should be able to use Q&A normally in about 2 hours.

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2. 64

   innersmiffposted 10 years ago

   I had the same thing with one of my questions, and on hindsight it probably would have been more appropriate in the forums, but since it literally was like a survey I thought it needed shorter answers instead of a big debate.

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   1. 74

      Abby Campbellposted 10 years agoin reply to this

      I appreciate your answer, innersmiff. I understand why HP is doing what they're doing as they've been trying to clean up the site for the last few months. However, I never received warning of why I am banned from posting questions and answers. Yesterday, I was banned for 22 hours... probably 24 hours from the time my question was moderated. That in itself doesn't even make sense, especially since there was no reason for it. Today, I am banned from that section completely and have received no reason. It just doesn't make any sense.

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3. 73

   brakel2posted 10 years ago

   I had a few questions removed, but never lost privileges. This change is recent, and several people reported it. I guess they are clamping down on in-depth questions and then not allowing answers for a while. I am sorry this happened to you and hope they will clarify the change.

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   1. 74

      Abby Campbellposted 10 years agoin reply to this

      Thanks, brakel2.

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4. 84

   liesl5858posted 10 years ago

   It happened to me as well and all my previous questions and present question were all deleted and I am not allowed to answer questions as decided by the moderators. I don't know who to ask for help bearing in mind I've been here only more than 4 months so I always try and ask fellow hubbers for help in the Q@A but apparently I should post to forums. I did not know this you see.

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   1. 86

      Marisa Wrightposted 10 years agoin reply to this

      The Questions and Answers section is NOT the right place to ask for help.   It's a place to post interesting questions which could inspire Hubbers to write Hubs.
      
      Ask for help here, in the forums.
      http://hubpages.com/forum/category/2879

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5. 76

   Anti-Valentineposted 10 years ago

   I imagine HubPages will remove the Q&A feature entirely at some point in the future. There's not much you could ask that you couldn't google to get the answer to anyway.

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      Beth37posted 10 years agoin reply to this

      Agreed. Why are you anti-valentine? (I googled it, but no luck.)

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6. 94

   sallybeaposted 10 years ago

   Don't take it personally, it is happening to all of us - myself included about four times so far.

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   1. 74

      Abby Campbellposted 10 years agoin reply to this

      Thanks for the encouragement, sallybea. :-)

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