eHow Changes

1. 88

   WryLiltposted 13 years ago

   eHow is going to be using Facebook Login as the ONLY method of logging into the site, removing eHow member profiles and removing the forums.
   
   I personally don't use eHow but what are your opinion on these changes? To me it sounds like they're making the site even worse! (Never mind the fact I can't write there because I'm in Australia!)

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   1. 78

      nell79posted 13 years agoin reply to this

      I wrote for eHow until they made the change-over to Demand Studios. I didn't like the change and so I didn't activate the new account they gave me with them.
      
      I like that everything else stayed the same for the content (small amount that it was) I already had there. I liked that I still had a profile there too.
      
      I think you're right. It is a worse change. It certainly hasn't benefited me in any way.

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      1. 61

         iamalegendposted 13 years agoin reply to this

         why did they do that. ehow is a excellent site composed of many good writers. They are going to destroy that community. Rebuilding a community is not an easy process

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         1. 78

            nell79posted 13 years agoin reply to this

            I'm not sure why, but I don't like it.

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         2. 59

            jordy3738posted 13 years agoin reply to this

            iamalegend, I disagree with you. ehow is polluting the Internet with mediocre content.
            
            Sorry if I have offended anyone, but it is the truth.
            
            Example: How to Do Brain Surgery
            
            1) Get a scalpel
            2) Cut an incision
            3) Fix the part of the brain that is not working right
            4) Stitch up the incision
            
            How many articles do you need on how to tie your shoes?
            
            Well lets see...
            How to tie shoes with blue laces.
            How to tie shoes with red laces.
            How to tie shoes with short laces.
            
            Bla, bal bla
            
            It's pathetic that Google allows them to continue
            to dominate the top of the SERPS.

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            1. 68

               bgamallposted 13 years agoin reply to this

               Ehow was one of the Demand Studio sites not hit by the algorithm. trails.com and the answers one were hit.

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               1. 59

                  jordy3738posted 13 years agoin reply to this

                  Yes, I read a great post at seobook.com that actually said eHow is getting better results since the recent algorithm changes.
                  
                  It's not great that eHow missed getting sand boxed, but it's an excellent post by Arron Wall.

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   2. 0

      EmpressFelicityposted 13 years agoin reply to this

      I hope other writing sites don't follow this trend.  What about those of us who don't do Facebook on principle?

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2. 69

   lrohnerposted 13 years ago

   It's only for the people like Nell who wrote for eHow before the change to DS-only content. And the new change is only for them to access their accounts -- nothing more, nothing less. The site, and access to it by the general public, remains the same.
   
   This is a program they no longer support anyway, outside of paying out revenue to the people who wrote those articles.

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   1. 78

      nell79posted 13 years agoin reply to this

      That's true. I don't see it being worse for the readers. Just us writers who didn't make the change-over. And I'm not overly upset about it. Just disappointed as I'll lose some backlinks there. I'll get over it.

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3. 59

   katiem2posted 13 years ago

   I have a wee bit of work over at ehow, got bored with it quickly and haven't been back for oh over a year...
   
   Thanks for the heads up!

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   1. 78

      nell79posted 13 years agoin reply to this

      Sounds like me! Though I wish I'd done more as my articles there are finally making money

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4. 60

   paradigmsearchposted 13 years ago

   This is just an intuitive prediction, but I believe ehow will have gone down in flames within 5 years.
   
   I could be wrong.
   
   It could be less.

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   1. 78

      nell79posted 13 years agoin reply to this

      I could be wrong as well, but I have to disagree. I find them in the top google rankings when doing research on various things and most of what I find is relevant to what I'm looking for.

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      1. 60

         paradigmsearchposted 13 years agoin reply to this

         What goes around comes around. Ehow has been busily collecting enemies for years…

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   2. 69

      lrohnerposted 13 years agoin reply to this

      Five years is a lifetime on the Internet, so anything is possible. But with Demand Media enjoying annual revenues of over $200 million, and the company just gone public (as of yesterday I believe), I'd tend to say they're sticking around for the long-term.

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5. 70

   thisisoliposted 13 years ago

   I got the email too, facebook login only, and they are removing teh forums, destroying the community? Looks like it is going to die a slow death.

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6. 70

   Singular Investorposted 13 years ago

   Don't forget Matt Cutts from Google just posted on the fact that Google will be taking a very close at 'content farms' - i.e. they will be slapping them - and lots of people think EHow are one of the sites that Google will be slapping, so they may find themselves in the not too distant future demoted to page 200 of Google rather than turning up on page 1

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   1. 78

      skyfireposted 13 years agoin reply to this

      Nowhere google explicitly mentioned about demand studios. I don't know if these are competitor tactics or something else to target demand studios. It's actually very funny considering how DS works and maintains quality over many farms which are just garbage.
      
      If demand studio is content farm then what about 'EZA' or 'Infobarrel' or Hubpages' and wait, 'squidoo' ? All are content farms maintained by humans, isn't it ? Some content is likely to be low quality on almost every network but that doesn't mean it'll be trashed just because rumor say so.

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      1. 70

         Singular Investorposted 13 years agoin reply to this

         In the articles I have read eHow and EZA seem to be lumped into the 'content farm' category whereas hubpages and infobarrel seem to be accepted as being of a higher quality. I know very little  about eHow so I am just reporting what is being said in the press. It could be of course that G wants to create its own content site. Just what they willl actually do is anybody's guess and of course they are being sufficiently vague and will certainly not mention any sites by name as that could lead to lawsuits.

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         1. 69

            lrohnerposted 13 years agoin reply to this

            Of course many articles mention eHow/Demand Studios -- it's by far the largest company out there of its type. I would kindly request that you show me one reliable publication that has cited HubPages and/or InfoBarrel as being a "higher quality" content farm.

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7. 83

   Sunnyglitterposted 13 years ago

   I keep hearing about this, but I have yet to receive an email from EHow.  I hope it doesn't have any impact on my earnings.  My earnings there are at a record high this month.

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   1. 78

      nell79posted 13 years agoin reply to this

      They say it won't and that we'll still have access to the article pages that they're setting up--much like it already is set up at eHow.

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8. 78

   skyfireposted 13 years ago

   Google already has wiki content site - knol. All type of abuse is going on using knol and it hardly appears in their own results. Besides if they create content network and showed their own results at front page then it'll taken as monopoly and  many countries from EU and other continents will ban google. The next change is going to be small and not big with slaps, in my opinion. Sites with lots of duplicate and garbage/syndicated content will be slapped.

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   1. 69

      lrohnerposted 13 years agoin reply to this

      I totally agree with you, skyfire.

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9. 70

   thisisoliposted 13 years ago

   I doubt Google will be banned from any country, there is too much money to be made from it.  Besides do you know who some of the people are behind Google nowadays, it is pretty well protected!

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   1. 78

      skyfireposted 13 years agoin reply to this

      Microsoft and apple are known for cases related to monopoly and privacy. Just because google is strong in terms of money doesn't mean they can't be banned - MS used to be like that. But when it comes to privacy/monopoly - public wins the case always.

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   2. 69

      lrohnerposted 13 years agoin reply to this

      Whatever happened with that whole China/Google debacle? I really haven't heard much news about it in a long time.

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         paradigmsearchposted 13 years agoin reply to this

         Good question!

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10. 60

    paradigmsearchposted 13 years ago

    There is/was a website that is/was blatantly stealing all of ehow’s content. My guess is that the new algo now deals with that. Thus the bump for ehow.

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