Get a Drive Going on Correct Categorization

1. 87

   Will Apseposted 8 years ago

   I just noticed that I had couple of hubs (very early efforts) that were not categorized at all. They just appeared under 'home'. There was no warning associated with this.
   
   Might be worth applying some kind of alert (including pages that are categorized to just one level of a hierarchy).
   
   I know that there are plenty of warnings floating around but this looks like being an important issue.

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      Venkatachari Mposted 8 years agoin reply to this

      But, you can categorize them now and include them in suitable groups. You may even change some of those titles to make them search friendly. There is no need for any worry if you do this immediately. Because, Hubpages is going to feature all articles only category-wise from immediate future.

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      1. 87

         Will Apseposted 8 years agoin reply to this

         You are absolutely right, we can make the necessary changes, but there are tens of thousands of pages here from authors who probably never read these forums. Some emails might help.
         
         If it is a crucial issue (and why make this change if it is not important) then people need to be alerted.
         
         HP should dig around and see what percentage of pages are either not categorized or wrongly categorized.
         
         It might or might not be an issue for the site as a whole.

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         1. 92

            Phyllis Doyleposted 8 years agoin reply to this

            There are times when we, as writers, should take responsibility for our own stuff - such as making sure all of our hubs are categorized. This can easily be done by going into the 'Manage Groups' section. I check that about once a month to make sure all is well.
            
            We cannot expect HP staff to send us an email about things we can easily monitor for ourselves. They have their hands full making things difficult for us with so many new changes to get used to and causing hours of extra work for us.
            
            I think any hubs that are not categorized will not show up on the topics feed and just become 'orphaned'.

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            1. 87

               Will Apseposted 8 years agoin reply to this

               I think you are confusing groups with categories. You can put any page, regardless of its category, into a group (which may not be a good thing).
               
               Anyway, going back to the main issue, if half the pages here are wrongly categorized then trying to use the recent SEO fix is pointless.
               
               Since there is nothing you or I can do about other peoples categorization shortcomings, it is down to staff to take a lead.
               
               Of course, it might be that every writer on the site has been super-diligent.
               
               Wouldn't that be nice?

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               1. 92

                  Phyllis Doyleposted 8 years agoin reply to this

                  Oh! Will, I am sorry. I did get the two mixed up. Yes, it would be nice if everyone categorized appropriately.
                  
                  Edit: However, I still maintain that we all need to take more responsibility in making sure we choose the correct options when creating hubs.

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                  1. 87

                     Will Apseposted 8 years agoin reply to this

                     Interesting to think about groups after this change. Someone might want to do a little research.

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         2. 83

            Venkatachari Mposted 8 years agoin reply to this

            I hope, Will Apse, you viewed or would be viewing the clarification provided by Phyllis Doyle regarding this. Each author here is himself responsible for his content. You can not expect help all the time from the administration here. If, by way of courtesy, they are doing any favour, it is their generosity and greatness. But, one should not expect or demand more. It is our own work and responsibility to categorize and arrange our own stuff properly. Each one of us should understand this and keep in mind always.
            Thanks Phyllis for clarifying the matter in your own words.

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            1. 87

               Will Apseposted 8 years agoin reply to this

               It would be nice to let people mess up and not offer criticism. But unfortunately, rather like life, other peoples actions here impact on us all.
               
               For some people this is a serious issue. They rely on the income. That has to include staff who probably would not want to be protected from a little work which gave the site a significant benefit.

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   2. 84

      Marisa Wrightposted 8 years agoin reply to this

      I think it would be a great idea if HubPages could create some kind of flag, but I think it would be hard to make it work.
      
      Ideally, there should be a filter which looks at the title of a Hub and flags if it looks like it's in the wrong category.  However, as I said in my previous post - based on conversations I'm having, a big problem is that many Hubbers just accept the "suggested" category when they create a Hub. 
      
      That suggested category is based on the words in the title - so obviously, unless the title has changed since, if you ran a filter now it would still think the category was OK. 
      
      Maybe if there was a filter that checked for keywords in the text of the Hub?

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2. 89

   lobobrandonposted 8 years ago

   So true Will, as long as the main category is done right, we should not have any issues. I don't think there will be a problem, because when creating a hub, you can't proceed without picking a main category.

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   1. 87

      Will Apseposted 8 years agoin reply to this

      As I say, a couple of my pages had no category at all, but they were at least four years old. Not sure when the rule about choosing a category changed.
      
      With any luck not too many pages are involved.
      
      There remains the issue of miscategorization. I was guilty in the past of deliberately choosing the wrong (unpopular) categories to avoid plagiarists.

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      1. 92

         Phyllis Doyleposted 8 years agoin reply to this

         Isn't there a "wrong category" choice to check if one wants to report a hub?  Would HP take note of that and notify the hub author?

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         1. 87

            Will Apseposted 8 years agoin reply to this

            We need an army of dedicated informants.

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            1. 89

               lobobrandonposted 8 years agoin reply to this

               Yeah, and this is not just unlikely, it's definitely not happening.

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      2. 89

         lobobrandonposted 8 years agoin reply to this

         lol that's unique, putting it in the wrong category Since I joined I always had to pick a category, so not sure when things changed. I assumed it was always like that.

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         1. 87

            Will Apseposted 8 years agoin reply to this

            The return of the plagiarist vultures would be a welcome sign of revival.
            
            Categories hardly mattered when every page published here had a huge advantage in the SERPS. Now, I reckon you have to pursue every tiny improvement possible.

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   2. 84

      Marisa Wrightposted 8 years agoin reply to this

      I think Will's point is that people don't always pick the right main category!
      
      When you start a new Hub and type in the title, HubPages suggests a category.   Obviously that's based on the words in the title - so if your words don't clearly describe the subject, that category will be wrong.
      
      I've been corresponding with a few Hubbers and what's coming to light is that many Hubbers think they're obliged to accept that category.   For instance, you may have noticed Timetraveler2 posting that her RV Hubs were scattered over several categories, e.g. finance, cooking, camping, instead of all being listed under "Recreational Vehicles". 
      
      It's a common mistake, there are other "suggestions" here on HP which Hubbers mistake for commands to be accepted/followed - e.g. the auto-created URL, the "stellar" guidelines on Hubs. So I'm guessing there are many Hubs which are not in the right category.

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      1. 89

         lobobrandonposted 8 years agoin reply to this

         Yup, I saw  Timetravellers comment about the change in category. That's why I suggested taking a look at your final sub-category, as I assume that if that's right, in most cases, if not always, the main category would be a good fit.

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         1. 84

            Marisa Wrightposted 8 years agoin reply to this

            ...but if you don't know there is a better category, you may draw the wrong conclusions.
            
            For instance MsLizzy was bemoaning the fact there was no category for humor - so in her case, she would look at the red sub-category and think "not ideal but that's the best I can do". When in fact, there are several sub-categories for humorous articles, it's just that she was unable to find them.
            
            Also, TT2 thought she was doing the right thing by putting an article for financing a RV under "finance" instead of under "recreational vehicles", because that's what the tool suggested.

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            1. 89

               lobobrandonposted 8 years agoin reply to this

               Hmm. Doubt a tool other than manual checking will help when people are finding it hard themselves.

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               1. 96

                  Solarasposted 8 years agoin reply to this

                  A new category was recently created for some of my hubs, "Dog Names" hidden under "Selecting a Dog."  I stumbled across it, and am now changing categories for hubs I created before this was an option.
                  
                  I never would have known this category existed, had I not created a new hub and accidentally stumbled across it.  A notification might serve some writers well.

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3. 91

   Millionaire Tipsposted 8 years ago

   I agree.  It would be nice to have notice when a hub is not categorized for those who wrote hubs before categories were necessary.
   
   I think, though, that I would like to have a list of my hubs with their current categories.  In that way, I can not only see that they have a category, but that they are in the best category they can be. 
   
   I did export the csv of my account just to make sure that this feature wasn't already being provided.  It gives the location, which I guess would help once HubPages changes the pages to the new site structure, but right now everything is going to my user name location. I would prefer to make the change before the site structure changes if possible just to keep things simple.

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4. 89

   lobobrandonposted 8 years ago

   If you want to see your main category all you need to do is go to your profile and it shows the category in RED. This is the tail of the category chain though. In most cases as long as this is relevant, you can be sure that your main category is right.
   
   If you find a hub missing a category just open it in a new tab and hit edit.

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   1. 93

      viryaboposted 8 years agoin reply to this

      Thank you.

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