Hidden due to negative feedback - thumbs down?

1. 66

   KU37posted 9 years ago

   If this is not the correct place on HubPages for this question/discussion/comment, I apologize.  I did a bit of research and did not find that it had been previously addressed.  Recently I got an email notifying me of a new HubPages question, and I decided to write and post an answer to it.  My answer got one comment (which didn't seem to specifically address the points I made).  Some days later I revisited the page and saw the message "hidden due to negative feedback" instead of my answer.  As of today, my answer is visible, and the message is gone.  From what I gather, my answer had been "hidden" because of the number of times it was voted "thumbs down".  There was no specific complaint that I'm aware of.  I don't have a lot of Hubs, I haven't written any new ones in years, I'm okay with them not being featured prominently.  I understand basically how HubPages works.  I have not been active for a long time, but I had been considering writing a new Hub.  However, I was not aware until the other day that there was a functionality in HubPages of "hiding" something because it was unpopular.  This functionality strikes me as a kind of willful ignorance on the part of HubPages.  That despite the general tendency on HubPages to encourage discussion.  The facts that the original question was a controversial one, that it was (arguably) disingenuous, and that my answer represents an unpopular viewpoint, are all beside the point.  It's kind of hard to get motivated to write when you suspect that what you write will be ignored.  If you suspect it might get "hidden" by the website, then it's time to look for a different venue.  If anybody can shed light on the idea behind HubPages "thumbs-down" functionality, I'd appreciate it.

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2. 87

   Marisa Wrightposted 9 years ago

   The question & answer section is the only section where writing can be hidden due to negative votes.
   
   It can't happen on the forums and it can't happen on Hubs (there is no voting on the forums, and the voting on Hubs does virtually nothing). 
   
   The Q&A section is not actively monitored by staff, so the voting is one way of controlling quality.  Of course it's open to abuse but anyway, it's a section you'd be better off ignoring. Questions are marked "no follow" after a brief period so they don't appear in search engine results for long, meaning very few people ever see them, so the earnings potential is low - and it's only the questioner who can earn ad income, not the answerer.

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3. 66

   KU37posted 9 years ago

   Speaking only for myself, I'm not motivated to write by earnings potential.  Also (and this is subjective, of course) I don't think my remarks had been voted thumbs-down because of bad writing quality.  I would suggest HubPages actively monitor the Q&A section with respect to "hiding" unpopular comments.  At the very least, an email with some sort of explanation should be sent to the user whose comment is being "hidden".

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   1. 87

      Marisa Wrightposted 9 years agoin reply to this

      HubPages has to deploy its resources effectively.   The Q&A section gets very few readers and makes very little income, therefore they can hardly justify deploying staff to monitor it.  To be honest I don't know why they keep it going as it's so inclined to collect rubbish! 
      
      The explanation is in the Help section, as you've found - voting determines what order answers are listed in, and if you get enough down votes, your answer will be hidden.

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      1. 66

         KU37posted 9 years agoin reply to this

         In that case they might want to consider doing away with Q&A, even though it can be worthwhile to the community (in ways other than $).  I viewed email notifications of new Hubs as basically equivalent to email notifications of new questions.  I wasn't experienced enough to make a distinction.   I wonder how frequently answers become automatically hidden, that they couldn't justify the expense of monitoring that.

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         1. 87

            Marisa Wrightposted 9 years agoin reply to this

            Many people have suggested the same thing - I never go near the Q&A section myself and think we'd be better of without it.  It is not useful, because the correct place to ask questions about Hubbing is in the forums.

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         2. 79

            Sed-meposted 9 years agoin reply to this

            I am now very curious what your question was. Would it be controversial to ask?

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            1. 81

               snakeslaneposted 9 years agoin reply to this

               I'm wondering what was the question, and what your answer was. Are you allowed to tell?

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               1. 79

                  Sed-meposted 9 years agoin reply to this

                  I didn't answer... who answered? Have you been into the champagne early?

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                  1. 81

                     snakeslaneposted 9 years agoin reply to this

                     Hahaha. the OP answered a question and his answer was hidden due to negative feedback. Hello!

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                     1. 79

                        Sed-meposted 9 years agoin reply to this

                        Oh, I should have paid better attention. I thought he'd asked a question that was hidden. Ok... yeah, so now I want to know his answer too.

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                        1. 81

                           snakeslaneposted 9 years agoin reply to this

                           Um, alrighty then...We await the question and the answer..

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4. 81

   snakeslaneposted 9 years ago

   I think it was a philosophical question, a little birdie told me, but I'm still hazy on the details. The OP seems to have abandoned the thread.

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5. 59

   C.V.Rajanposted 9 years ago

   KU37 & Marisa,
   
   I too have seen several times Answers that were neither offending nor illogical have been hidden due to negative feedback. This could be seen mostly in religion oriented Q&As. There are quite some egoistic and sensitive people out there to press thumbs down on what they personally can't tolerate I suppose!
   
   As Marisa said, Q&A is not a serious section of Hubpages, and most people don't bother about it. But I have an inherent tendency to waste away time on less productive things, and naturally I had spent quite a lot of time there in Q&A section! In fact, I crossed answering 1000 answers there recently! (and got an accolade too for that).
   
   Why I found Q&A attractive was that I can write something short, funny, striking, light or serious there. I write lots of funny replies to serious queries (irritating some people in that process) and throw in sarcasm in good measure. I write quite serious and useful answers too.
   
   If at all there are advantages in Q&A section as a Hubber, I would say these, based on my experience:
   - I can give link to some of my existing Hubs if the Q is related to what I have already written
   - At times I may be motivated to write a new Hub to answer a Q
   - I personally got quite some new followers who seemed to have enjoyed reading my Answers, who came and read several of my Hubs.
   - It was really a good time pass (=wastage) for me!

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