Unpublished Hubs

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   Tina Trueloveposted 8 years ago

   I've been away from HubPages for awhile, but decided to come back and spruce up my HubPages account.  I read that HubPages is no longer allowing affiliate links in hubs.  Yesterday, I removed affiliate links from several hubs which were featured.  This morning I awoke to the message that two of those hubs are now unfeatured due to quality.  The email indicated it might be due to affiliate links. 
   
   Really HubPages? 
   
   I REMOVED them while they were featured.  Then, AFTER I removed them, you unfeature them due to quality?  By the way, you use the term "quality" loosely here. 
   
   I've been away to build a blog which is now doing pretty well.  However, I wanted to remain here and become active again.  This makes remaining here discouraging. 
   
   I'm hoping this is a technical issue which can be quickly resolved. 
   
   I tried to contact you privately about this issue, but the options available under the "contact us" tab didn't fit this particular issue so I could not progress using that method. 
   
   I hope it will be worth it for me to stay here.  I have enjoyed HubPages in the past.  Since I first joined here, I've improved my skills quiet a bit and was planning on implementing all I've learned here and on my blog.  However, if I work hard on what I consider a good quality post, yet you unfeature it for such minor issues, why would I stay?  This particular type of issue discourages good writers from staying here. 
   
   I hope it's fixed soon.

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      Matthew Meyerposted 8 years agoin reply to this

      The last 3 Hubs you submitted failed the QAP for spammy elements.
      http://hubpages.com/faq/#Spammy-Elements
      In these cases it is related to a large number of product capsules.
      
      You can email us at team@hubpages.com with any further questions.

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         Tina Trueloveposted 8 years agoin reply to this

         They were not considered spammy before I removed the affiliate links. 

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            Marisa Wrightposted 8 years agoin reply to this

            They were not considered spammy before, because the QAP team had not looked at them before.  It's not an automated filter which makes that judgment.
            
            Things that are classified as "spammy elements":
            
            Links which are not DIRECTLY relevant to the subject of the Hub.
            Amazon products which are not DIRECTLY relevant to the subject of the Hub.
            Links to other Hubs which are not DIRECTLY relevant to the subject of the Hub.
            
            That word "directly" is key - they are very strict.  For instance, if you're writing a Hub about cooking rice, you could have an ad for a rice cooker but not an ad for general cooking utensils.   Another Hubber recently had his "lesson plan" Hub unpublished:  he had included links to all his other lesson plans at the end of the Hub, and those were judged not directly related (because the topic of the Hub was a lesson plan for genetics, so the subject of the hub was genetics not lesson plans).

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               Tina Trueloveposted 8 years agoin reply to this

               The links were all relevant and there really wasn't that many of them.

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                  Tina Trueloveposted 8 years agoin reply to this

                  It's fine though.  I'm just moving any unfeatured content to my personal blog.

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   2. 84

      Marisa Wrightposted 8 years agoin reply to this

      It's such a shame that you were misinformed. It's a misunderstanding that seems to have gained traction for no reason.
      
      Affiliate links ARE allowed, but only to "reputable" affiliate networks.  Clickbank is not allowed.  Most others are allowed. If you hadn't touched your Hubs, they would not have gone through QAP and they would've been fine.

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         Tina Trueloveposted 8 years agoin reply to this

         HubPages changes their policies and rules so much that I'm afraid to include any links at all. 

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            Marisa Wrightposted 8 years agoin reply to this

            That's called panic and not being sensible!  The secret is to understand the rules and not listen to people who exaggerate. I wrote a hub on the rules, you'd find it useful  - it's called "The Basic HubPages Rules"

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               Tina Trueloveposted 8 years agoin reply to this

               I'm not panicking or being unsensible - just trying to do this right.  I read your hub.  I was familiar with all those rules.  I even went through the HubPages apprenticeship program a couple of years ago, but had to drop out in the last couple of months for personal reasons.  I've been here a long time and I'll be the first to admit that my first articles were not so good.  LOL  However, most of the ones I have published right now are much better an in my opinion, the two hubs which did not meet QAS were good ones and not spammy at all.  They were pretty good, helpful to readers, and the products I linked to were relevant to the content of my article.  They should have passed, but I'm over it now.  My blog is doing pretty well too so I'll just move them there.  I was pretty mad when I posted this but I'm over it now.  Thank you for your help.

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                  Tina Trueloveposted 8 years agoin reply to this

                  *and in my opinion

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2. 54

   paradigm searchposted 8 years ago

   HubPages has a real dichotomy going....
   
   On the one hand, HubPages splatters "Have you heard about the new HubPages Amazon Program?" all over our stats pages.
   
   On the other hand, hubs are being shot down all over the place because of Amazon capsule inclusions.
   
   What's a poor Hubber to do...?

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      Tina Trueloveposted 8 years agoin reply to this

      I know.  At least one of the articles was about gift ideas with the Amazon capsules added to compliment my suggestions.  I guess that is considered spammy now.

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