I find the front page of HP annoying

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   Sherry Hewinsposted 8 years ago

   I wish I could exclude Q&A when I want to view hubs while signed in. Also, you can only see 5 hubs, and they are always the same. I wish there was some way they could rotate the hubs on the front page more frequently.
   
   Whether sorted by "popular" or "best" anyone who looks at it very often is going to get tired of seeing the same old thing. I guess they were trying to get around this when they used "latest" as the default. Perhaps they could rotate the 100 most popular, or best.
   
   I know that most people will find our hubs through search, or some other path. Still, if people come to HP, I think HP should have something to offer. What do you think?

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      bravewarriorposted 8 years agoin reply to this

      I never go into HP's front page. I have my computer set to access HP via my profile page if I want to get to my account or post a new hub. Outside of that I normally only go into HP when I get notifications that hubbers I follow have posted. I access HP via their link.

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      Millionaire Tipsposted 8 years agoin reply to this

      I don't like the new and improved page either.  When we saw new stuff, some of it was problematic when it was spam or bad quality. At first it made sense to switch to hot, since it would keep the topics current and relevant. But now, the hot topics are irritating to me. I don't want to see the religious and political debates and problems of the day up front and center.  Plus, as you said, it is the same few over and over again.
      
      I think the best hubs would be a better idea, and as you said, more of a rotation so the same things aren't been seen over and over again.

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      Venkatachari Mposted 8 years agoin reply to this

      I am also feeling much discomfort seeing it. No interesting topics. Half of them are Q&A. Simply catching comments should not make them hot. There should be some benefit on reading them. None of them appear to be of so much value to me. Any gossip between people can be treated hot in this manner.

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   paradigm searchposted 8 years ago

   I'd suggested they just put my profile page there. They still haven't gotten back to me on that though.

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      Sherry Hewinsposted 8 years agoin reply to this

      It probably would be an improvement

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      Venkatachari Mposted 8 years agoin reply to this

      That could make more sense.

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      Nell Roseposted 8 years agoin reply to this

      That's not a bad idea para! maybe rotate people's profile page!

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   WriteAngledposted 8 years ago

   I never see the front page. Could not stomach being fed the worthless crap from HP pets and the in-your-face hub of the day that was there so I killed it. Now I only ever access this site via a direct link to my account. I've deleted all the possible feeds too because most of what that featured was mindless rubbish aimed at the lowest percentile of the IQ scale.
   
   Happily, each click on my own site is bringing 1-2 weeks' worth of HP Ad earnings, despite the fact I have not updated it over more than a year. So really, for the couple of cents a day I get here, there is no point in trying to tweak anything. As my hubs get censored, so I will transfer them unchanged to my own sites.

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      Sherry Hewinsposted 8 years agoin reply to this

      I don't use it much either, but it would be nice if it had something to offer. I can easily see how they can choose what's popular, it would be whatever gets the most views, but I wonder how they decide what's best. It seems to be about the same criteria.

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   makingamarkposted 8 years ago

   The front page of Squidoo used to be a grid affair - and each box was a category - and inside each box were the titles of the top five lenses in each category.
   
   It was like that for ages. No BIG images - just text - and text relating to things that did particularly well on Squidoo
   
   So far as I am aware it brought in lots of traffic.
   
   When they changed it the traffic started its dive.........
   
   I could never understand why people would want to remove a listing of the top five titles (in terms of recent external traffic) for each category. Why would you want to diminish traffic? Once you've got people on the site you then have the chance to retain them and filter people on to more sites on the same domain - but you can't retain what you haven't got.

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   calculus-geometryposted 8 years ago

   they will probably test more formats before settling on a style.  i don't expect it to look the same a month from now.  remember, the vast majority of readers land on individual hubs via search engines or social media links and will never look at the home page.  if readers want to learn more about a topic, they will most likely follow links on the hub they landed on or use the search bar; few will try to navigate the site via the topic pages.  in short i wouldn't worry too much about it for now.

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      Venkatachari Mposted 8 years agoin reply to this

      Hope it could be so. Try more things and settle on a more appropriate style.

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   makingamarkposted 8 years ago

   Maybe while researching what makes for a good front page they could also take a look at those of some of the competition and see they attract people to the site and help people find things?
   
   I have to say I know which front pages make me want to read more.......
   
   For example.....
   
   I think about.com http://www.about.com/ have got it about right - attractive pics, what looks like "best of" plus trending topics. More to the point some titles that actually look interesting plus it's very mobile friendly
   
   answers.com http://www.answers.com/ is a bit too all over the place for my liking. Lots of content competing for attention - but at least you can access ALL the categories quickly and one click on the category I like brings me to one which shows me ALL the sub-categories really fast. I'd say that's very accessible. Plus it's mobile friendly according to Google.

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   Mark Ewbieposted 8 years ago

   I might follow a Wiki link to a related article.
   
   I don't think I have ever gone to the front page of Wiki.
   
   As for about, answers, etc. - I would only land on them by mistake and NEVER browse them - related or not.
   
   I suppose a few Hubbers might look at the front of HubPages to see if their name is up there or maybe they are very bored.
   
   Related - yes.
   Front page - who cares?

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      makingamarkposted 8 years agoin reply to this

      Well - each to his own!
      
      I periodically visit the front page of Wikipedia to see what changes they've made.
      
      More importantly I make extensive use of the Wikipedia/Wikimedia category pages. Looking at categories on any site is an excellent way into a topic without pre-judging what one might find. Hence lots of nice surprises from time to time - and why they are worth a visit.
      
      What I'm much less keen on is the terminally boring and/or downright naff and/or prejudiced content too often seen on the front page of HubPages. It provides no incentive to visit whatsoever.

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         Mark Ewbieposted 8 years agoin reply to this

         I think we agree on the naff stuff.
         
         And the "each to his own".  The internet is not just for research in my opinion.

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            DasEngelposted 8 years agoin reply to this

            In a certain sense, the internet seems to be mainly about creating PhD. quality content.

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            makingamarkposted 8 years agoin reply to this

            Of course! Maybe I wasn't clear enough by the reference "each to his own".
            
            What I meant was what we use it for and how we use it - we're all different.

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      Millionaire Tipsposted 8 years agoin reply to this

      The reason it matters to me is because it shows up on my home page now.  No fun browsing when there isn't anything fun to see.  At least it could have earned a few clicks to Hubbers from Hubbers if it was more interesting.

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         Sherry Hewinsposted 8 years agoin reply to this

         I agree. If I'm looking for hubs to read, that home page is no good to me. At least before, we could scroll back through, now we can only see what they give us.

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   FatFreddysCatposted 8 years ago

   Has anyone else noticed that the first article on the "front page" today (whether you're logged into HP or not) is about shaving tips for the male genital area? And it's "Illustrated" no less!! Awesome. That's JUST the kind of thing we want random web surfers to see when they first land on the site!!
   
   Don't get me wrong, I'm no prude, but... yeesh. (Shudders)

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      calculus-geometryposted 8 years agoin reply to this

      A screenshot for posterity:
      
      
      
      Good for Jacob Morris making the top of the list, his hubs are well-written.

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      Dolores Monetposted 8 years agoin reply to this

      This one has been up there for quite some time. One of the other great hubs is about snot. I dunno, but it looks like they are trying to "sell" the site to 12 year old boys looking for a laugh.

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   ologsinquitoposted 8 years ago

   I just saw this and I find it so offensive. Yet another reason to have your own websites.

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    ologsinquitoposted 8 years ago

    Please understand I have nothing against the writer. I'm sure his hubs are very well written. My only complaint is that HubPages is sending us a message that this is the type of topic they value.

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    FatFreddysCatposted 8 years ago

    When I saw the "Shaving Genitals" article all I could do was laugh, shake my head and said "Holy cow."

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       calculus-geometryposted 8 years agoin reply to this

       There are no Adsense ads on it so it's fine.  It's one of the best articles on HP if you ask me!

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          gmwilliamsposted 8 years agoin reply to this

          Read the article, it was quite informative if you ask me.

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             FatFreddysCatposted 8 years agoin reply to this

             All I know is that my newest Hub about a killer-Dolly horror movie from back in the day will never be able to compete with that! (haha)

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                gmwilliamsposted 8 years agoin reply to this

                You will never know.  Your hub on the killer dolly horror movie will probably get more responses. Let's see shall we.

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                gmwilliamsposted 8 years agoin reply to this

                There is another grooming article that he wrote on the same line-how to shave one's b*tt.  Check it out!

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                   paradigm searchposted 8 years agoin reply to this

                   I shall not.

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                   FatFreddysCatposted 8 years agoin reply to this

                   I dunno, maybe it's just me, but if you're searching online for proper butt shaving techniques, you have WAY too much free time.

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                      Sherry Hewinsposted 8 years agoin reply to this

                      The comments are even more entertaining than the article.

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    ologsinquitoposted 8 years ago

    calculus - I don't really want to.

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    paradigm searchposted 8 years ago

    I am gazing at my camera... Shall I liven up the HP forums...?

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    paradigm searchposted 8 years ago

    And there it is...
    
    My camera.
    
    My Richard.
    
    Do I do it?

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    word55posted 8 years ago

    At top right of page click immediately on "Explore," drop down to "feed," click it and you'll see the string of hubs like we used to.

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    Farawaytreeposted 8 years ago

    I don't think it looks very appealing either...

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