So I am away for a couple days and come home to hubpages for a nice Easter gift.

EVERY ONE of my hubs has been flagged and unpublished. ALL OF THEM??

Hubs that have been live for almost a year now with thousands of hits are suddenly against the rules?

Was there a major rules change or is someone seriously that far behind in their work?

Or is it someone new on the staff trying to make their mark? I'm guessing this is probably it. Well this is my fairwell to Hubpages as their is no way I am going back through almost 180 hubs.

Take care folks.

LOL, I even had a hub of auto repair tips that was dedicated to my father who passed away this past year with NO LINKS on it at all and it was unpublished as "overly promotional"

NOT A SINGLE LINK and it is overly promotional?

It's a glitch I think. Did you try to email team@hubpages.com ?

This is I am sure a mistake. There is no way you can lose all of your hubs and hard work just like that with no warning or explanation.  I agree with Misha, it must be a glitch. Don't quit just yet, investigate this further.

I hope so because I did not even receive an email saying there was a problem but for now I have given up. Going back through them all is not an option and if it was a mistake I doubt it would happen to one member.

I'm sure they have their reasons and it is their site but be warned that yes you can lose all of your work just like that.

joniki wrote:

EVERY ONE of my hubs has been flagged and unpublished. ALL OF THEM??

Joniki:

When we see a pattern of infractions, we flag an entire account, since it is impractical to go through each hub (especially when there are 180) to check whether each and every one meets our standards.  You can easily remedy the situation by going through and revising the offenders and resubmitting the innocent hubs, at which point we can see your willingness to comply and will clear your account.  Until that time, every new hub you submit will come through moderation before it is published.

Your hubs are by no means "lost," and I hope you will take the time to work with our system, since indeed, some of your hubs have no issues with them, and the others may only require slight tweaking to bring them into line with our Terms of Service.

Remember: only 2 links to a single domain per hub, and only on original content.  Many people seem to get caught up in posting duplicate content with outbound commercial links, which we still consider overly promotional.

I hope this clarifies the HubPages position for you.

Maddie

" a pattern of infractions"

Hi Maddie,

Could you explain the above please.

Sorry if I am a bit obtuse but I do not understand

Thanks,
Paul.

"You can easily remedy the situation by going through and revising the offenders and resubmitting the innocent hubs"

Sorry Maddie but if you do not know which hub or hubs have offended, how can you pick the relevant hubs to resubmitt ??

simco wrote:

"You can easily remedy the situation by going through and revising the offenders and resubmitting the innocent hubs"

Sorry Maddie but if you do not know which hub or hubs have offended, how can you pick the relevant hubs to resubmitt ??

The automated email sent to you when one of your hubs is flagged clearly states the guidelines by which we are judging overly promotional content.  For clarification, I've posted them below:

The rules - read these carefully:
* You must have no more than 1-2 links to any one domain on a page of original content (tinyurl and other cloakers are considered wildcards)
* You may NOT add links to sites or offers you are promoting on copied, non-original Web content (i.e. if the copy exists already on the Web, you can't reuse it to promote your sites)
* You can not give a short teaser and a link to "read more" or "continue". The Hub must have the full content you want to present.
* You can NOT add links to sites irrelevant to the Hub's topic
* You can not include a short teaser and then "click here to learn more" - your Hub must address the topic fully by itself
* You should consider adding more original content, or legitimate links to other online resources that complement this Hub's topic

It's very straightforward: if your hub meets the guidelines, you may resubmit it for publication.  If it does not, you can revise it and then resubmit it.  If you have questions on a particular hub, you can email the team email box with a link to the hub in question for further clarification.

"Only 2 links to a single domain per hub, and only on original content."

I'm sorry, but I'm confused.  Does this mean the link must be original on Hubpages (i.e. no other hub has that link)?  Or the content of the link must have no duplicate anywhere on the internet (i.e. original)? Or the content of the article with the link has to be original?  But all content has to be original so that can't be it.

Susan Ng wrote:

"Only 2 links to a single domain per hub, and only on original content."

I'm sorry, but I'm confused.  Does this mean the link must be original on Hubpages (i.e. no other hub has that link)?  Or the content of the link must have no duplicate anywhere on the internet (i.e. original)? Or the content of the article with the link has to be original?  But all content has to be original so that can't be it.

I'm thinking it means "the content of the article with the link has to be original".

Maddie Ruud wrote:

* You must have no more than 1-2 links to any one domain on a page of original content (tinyurl and other cloakers are considered wildcards)

Hey Maddie, can you explain the wildcard system to me?

Will all tinyurl's be counted as the one domain. Or will say, tinyurl.com and giganticurl.com () be counted as one domain?

Is it really as little as two links to the same domain? Huh, I might have some violations in there then (though relevant to the hub's content, and linking to respected sites like Wikipedia). Perhaps I should go through and check...

darkside wrote:

Susan Ng wrote:

"Only 2 links to a single domain per hub, and only on original content."

I'm sorry, but I'm confused.  Does this mean the link must be original on Hubpages (i.e. no other hub has that link)?  Or the content of the link must have no duplicate anywhere on the internet (i.e. original)? Or the content of the article with the link has to be original?  But all content has to be original so that can't be it.

I'm thinking it means "the content of the article with the link has to be original".

But all articles, regardless of whether or not they have links, have to have all-original content to be acceptable to Hubpages, don't they?  So it makes no sense to mention "and only on original content".   That's what got me confused.  I was thinking maybe I misinterpreted the sentence.

darkside wrote:

Hey Maddie, can you explain the wildcard system to me?

Will all tinyurl's be counted as the one domain. Or will say, tinyurl.com and giganticurl.com () be counted as one domain?

Any links with cloakers will count as wildcards, in that if you have only one link to an affiliate page, and two TinyURL links, that would put you over the limit.  In other words, TinyURL and other cloakers do not count as their own separate domain; they are added to the count of whatever other domains you may be linking to.

kerryg wrote:

Is it really as little as two links to the same domain? Huh, I might have some violations in there then (though relevant to the hub's content, and linking to respected sites like Wikipedia). Perhaps I should go through and check...

Wikis are considered non-commercial, and shouldn't be a problem.

Maddie Ruud wrote:

Wikis are considered non-commercial, and shouldn't be a problem.

Okay, thanks for the clarification!

O.K., so let's say I publish a hub on gardening, and I have found a site I want to quote more than once.  Copyright laws dictate that you use partial language with a link to the remainder of the article.  So if I'm to go by your rules, I cannot publish this hub because it would have the "read the remainder here" in it?  Or even if that passed through, because I'm referring to the same site three times?

Just wondering, because I already have a hub I'm working on that references at least two articles on a site for a garden center that also has some great information.(they don''t even have affiliates, so I'm not making any money off of it). 

According to copyright laws, I can only quote what is it...1/3 of the info with a link to the rest, so I technically can't do that hub.  I'd have to break it up into two hubs, which would completely destroy the continuity of content.

Just wondering.  If that's the case, I'll just post the hub on another site, but I don't really want to.

dafla wrote:

O.K., so let's say I publish a hub on gardening, and I have found a site I want to quote more than once.  Copyright laws dictate that you use partial language with a link to the remainder of the article.  So if I'm to go by your rules, I cannot publish this hub because it would have the "read the remainder here" in it? Or even if that passed through, because I'm referring to the same site three times?

dafla:

I think you're taking that phrase the wrong way.  That rule is geared towards people who are posting an intro or "teaser" with a link to an article posted elsewhere, say, on Squidoo or EzineArticles.  If you're writing your own content and citing a source, that isn't the same thing.  And to avoid the 2+ link flagging, after the second citation from the same site, you can simply refer visitors back to the previous quote, since posting the same link over and over again is redundant anyway...

The articles aren't gone they're just unpublished. And if you read the terms of service when you sign up to Hubpages it clearly states the rules. No more than 2 links to commercial sites period. It's not that difficult to comply with the rules and still make good money.
There are lotsa people here doing it.

Actions have consequences. Do it right the first time and you won't have any problems. If you're unsure of any rules there are a lot of people in the forums that will help you. Not to mention HP administrators who are always happy to help.

Maddie Ruud wrote:

joniki wrote:

EVERY ONE of my hubs has been flagged and unpublished. ALL OF THEM??

Joniki:

When we see a pattern of infractions, we flag an entire account, since it is impractical to go through each hub (especially when there are 180) to check whether each and every one meets our standards.  You can easily remedy the situation by going through and revising the offenders and resubmitting the innocent hubs, at which point we can see your willingness to comply and will clear your account.  Until that time, every new hub you submit will come through moderation before it is published.

Your hubs are by no means "lost," and I hope you will take the time to work with our system, since indeed, some of your hubs have no issues with them, and the others may only require slight tweaking to bring them into line with our Terms of Service.

Remember: only 2 links to a single domain per hub, and only on original content.  Many people seem to get caught up in posting duplicate content with outbound commercial links, which we still consider overly promotional.

I hope this clarifies the HubPages position for you.

Maddie

That's ok, I'll post my content elsewhere.

Thanks!!!