Thats funny Joniki because I just had 2 of my hubs flagged out of blue, can someone please explain why ALL OF A SUDDEN this is happening? Is there someone new that is not sure what to do working for hub pages or something?
This is crazy.

moonieg1971 wrote:

Thats funny Joniki because I just had 2 of my hubs flagged out of blue, can someone please explain why ALL OF A SUDDEN this is happening? Is there someone new that is not sure what to do working for hub pages or something?
This is crazy.

Well now you mention it I have now flagged the first 4 of your hubs I looked at because they were all teasers for your clickbank promotions.  Remember any hubber can flag rubbish when they see it - doesn't matter when its published.

I've only been here two months and I do find it disconcerting to say the least that someone's entire account has been flagged after a year? That's the part that I don't get, so you have not been checking Joniki's hubs up until now?

As much as I love hubpages and agree 100% with the rules, to ask someone to go through all of 180 hubs seems a bit unrealsitic and hardly worth the effort. I try to follow the rules as best as I can but even now I am afraid to get the boot out of the blue. Surely hubpages seen the infractions as the hubs were published, after all, aren't the hubs screened? And if you were overwhelmed with too many, is it really fair to just punish an entire account?

Obviously 180 hubs is a huge contribution no matter how you look at it, whether it was for business or not, whether she faulted on some of the rules or not, It still takes time and effort to create all those pages and surely hubpages made money from it.  I don't blame Joniki one bit for leaving, I would be gone in a flash, if a year's worth of work was suddenly gone.

I hope hubpages takes another look at how they evaluate hubpage quality.  I've seen a myriad of people arguing over flagging and such, and I agree that everyone has the right to flag what they feel is inappropriate, but this is a bit much.  What more can I say, this is just my opinion.

P.S. Maddie clearly states that going through 180 hubs is impractical for hubpages, so why do you expect it from a hubber?

I wouldn't call copying and pasting some one else's writing and adding affiliate links "work."

And we have all seen these people put up dozens of hubs in an hour.

Maddie Ruud wrote:

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.

Thanks for the reply Maddie

chantelg4 wrote:

P.S. Maddie clearly states that going through 180 hubs is impractical for hubpages, so why do you expect it from a hubber?

Because the hubber is supposed to be the author of the hubs? Of course if they are just paste and copy jobs yes it might be a pain - darn!

I agree with you 100% Mark, what I am wondering is why hubpages did not pick this up a year ago and only 180 hubs later. I thought all hubs were screened but only 10 months later? I know all about the guidelines so I really don't need to re-read what Maddie wrote because that does not answer my question.  My question again is why isn't Hubpages screening for quality from the get go?

Apparently Joniki never received any emails suggesting which hubs were breaking the rules, so is it reasonable to expect someone to go through all of them if Hubpages won't even do it?  Could some of the hubs be copy and paste? Sure. Could some of the hubs be over promotional? Absolutely. Should these hubs be allowed? No. Should you prosecute someone without a reasonable chance to rectify the problem (and I'm not talking about going through 180 hubs, that's not reasonable)?

I don't know, it's seems a bit harsh to me. I guess it takes me forever to even write one article, I would not want them to be swept under the rug all at once. Surely Joniki contributed some useful content that made Hubpages a few dollars?

Anyways, fellow hubbers, don't crucify and punish me for having an opinion. You know, I was worried about this as Hubpages can be somewhat intimidating for newbies, who knows, perhaps I'm in the dog house now, lol! Hope not.

Chantel,

I think it's more than reasonable for Hubpages to put the responsibility of writing and submitting quality content on the shoulders of the writers.  I didn't have a chance to see the OP's hubs, but honestly - If Maddie said there was a pattern of infractions, it's my experience that they're right. 

So what do you do if this happens to you?

Well, for one thing, evaluate the quality of your Hubs.  The Hubs are YOUR content first, so YOU should be the first person to say.. hey, no really, I wrote that.  If you didn't write the Hub, then that's the problem, and that's why the Hubs got shut down.

If the Hubs don't follow the link allowances, but are all original content otherwise, then that's an easy fix too:  just take out some of those affiliate links!

All in all, it's not that hard to follow HP rules.  They're bold and clear in black and white for everyone to read, verified by you every time you post a Hub, and after almost 200 of 'em you think people would figure out what's allowed or not.  Unless they're a spammer.

chantelg4 - Yes. It takes me ages to write one too. But I am not worried I am going to have all my hubs deleted.   And I don't think you should worry either.

I don't know why it took them so long to find them, but I would guess this is why they have taken Maddie on - to help find all this stuff. I guess it is not an automated system and everything needs checking manually? That's a lot of hubs to go through LOL

I am sure hubpages made a little income, but I think part of the reason they get rid of these is because there is NO income for them if all the links are to affiliate sites. That is where the money is. Why should hubpages want hubs that generate no income for them?

RFox wrote:

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.

To be fair, I don't think that when Joniki joined the site that the rules stipulated how many links were allowed to a domain in a hub. It may have said it when you joined, but not when I joined.

Of course it's at HubPages HQ's discretion on how they run their own ship. And I applaud them for the direction they've taken and the course they've plotted.

However to say that Joniki did it wrong the first time is incorrect.

I've not read joniki's hubs (obviously I can't now) and I accept that he/she may not be a deliberate spammer. 

However, I think many of us have got fed up with HubPages being cluttered up with spam and spammers.  Lets keep flagging 'em so Maddie can unpublish them.  Welcome on board Maddie.  This town sure needs a good sheriff !

Yes, you may be right Mark, perhaps Hubpages did have a lot on their plates. Perhaps now that Maddie is on board the system will run a bit smoother.  I guess their has to be a few bumps along the way for anything to be truly successful!!  And yes, there would be no point to Hubpages and the community as a whole if all visitors we're sent elsewhere.

Lissie wrote:

chantelg4 wrote:

P.S. Maddie clearly states that going through 180 hubs is impractical for hubpages, so why do you expect it from a hubber?

Because the hubber is supposed to be the author of the hubs? Of course if they are just paste and copy jobs yes it might be a pain - darn!

When you state it is IMPRACTICAL FOR HUBPAGES to go through 180 hubs why would you think it would be PRACTICAL for the author to do so. Its disguisting to me that instead of going through and looking at someone's hubs for infractions you decide to take down all of their hubs. For some people this is how they make their living and by taking them all down AFTER A YEAR you are costing him money.
Shame on Hubpages, Shame on Maddie Shame Shame SHAME !!!

YOU CANNOT FLAG someone's entire account because YOU DONT WANT TO TAKE THE TIME TO DO YOUR JOB!!!

It would be understandable if he had a few that were not complying with the rules that those would be flagged. But to take down his entire portfolio is a abuse of power to me.

As he stated he has had some up for over a year, my question JONIKI would be to hubpages like this, what have you been doing for a year that NOW it's a problem?

How can he be considered a spammer if he has hubs with NO promotional  material at all on some of the hubs?

moonieg1971 wrote:

YOU CANNOT FLAG someone's entire account because YOU DONT WANT TO TAKE THE TIME TO DO YOUR JOB!!!

moonieg:

Flagging accounts is part of my job.  I'm perfectly happy to stand corrected, if the user in question takes time to email the team email box.  However, when we see a pattern, and have sent several emails warning the user of their violations, it is standard procedure to flag an account to give the user a chance to review the Terms of Service and bring their hubs into compliance.

Of about 700 hubs submitted each day, around 15% or more do not meet our guidelines, and it's up to me to catch them.  I do not have time to sit around sifting through a single user's hubs, especially if the user has showed no initiative to contact me or revise the offenders.

Mark Knowles wrote:

I wouldn't call copying and pasting some one else's writing and adding affiliate links "work."

And we have all seen these people put up dozens of hubs in an hour.

Who are you talking about? My work was not simply copy and paste with affiliate links so you should reserve your comments for subjects you know something about.

From what I can tell, you're doing a great job Maddie, keep it up.

Here's where I am confused.  It is my understanding from Joniki that he never recieved anything stating that his hubs were not in compliance.  If that is the case, what chance does he have to fix the offending pages?  If he did recieve notification that specific pages were not in compliance then yes, it is his fault for not trying to fix them.

Again though, I think he said he's never recieved anything stating there was an issue with any of his pages until his entire account was flagged.

Is that really possible? 

I'm just a bit confused.  Prior to Maddy being brought on board was there no one looking at the pages submitted?  If that is the case I find it even further wrong that this has happened.  If no one has been looking at them and now they have someone to do so, then it is Maddys job whether inpractical or not to look through each and every page! 

I am completely new to this, but I have to say, that if this is the standard procedure for this website I'll be finding a new one.  There is too much time and effort on my part putting together a page for someone to just randomly decide that its inpractical for them to do the job they were hired for.

Joniki, *before* the incident, did you receive emails from HP staff stating non-compliance of some of your hubs and asking you to correct the problem?

This is a writer's site. Where is the personal responsibility for your own work?

Every time you publish a hub the rules automatically come up, so there should be no doubt what HubPages expects from Hubbers.
In any other facet of professional writing the onus is on the writer to fix what is not right, not the administrators or editors. Their job is simply to point out what is wrong and what needs fixing.
It is your work. Take responsibility for it.

Maddie Ruud wrote:

moonieg1971 wrote:

YOU CANNOT FLAG someone's entire account because YOU DONT WANT TO TAKE THE TIME TO DO YOUR JOB!!!

moonieg:

Flagging accounts is part of my job.  I'm perfectly happy to stand corrected, if the user in question takes time to email the team email box.  However, when we see a pattern, and have sent several emails warning the user of their violations, it is standard procedure to flag an account to give the user a chance to review the Terms of Service and bring their hubs into compliance.

Of about 700 hubs submitted each day, around 15% or more do not meet our guidelines, and it's up to me to catch them.  I do not have time to sit around sifting through a single user's hubs, especially if the user has showed no initiative to contact me or revise the offenders.

You did not send me emails about flagged hubs. I received NO EMAILS. You went back through my hubs for SOME REASON.

I had not posted any NEW HUBS so if it is impractical for you to go back through hubs because of the volume of new hubs then why did you decide to go back through mine.

You have opened up a whole new issue here and I will be documenting all violatuing hubs that I can find that are still live on hub pages.