RETIRED: Suggest Links Tool

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   Simone Smithposted 11 years ago

   Top of the morning to you, gorgeous Hubbers!
   
   It is my pleasure this morning to announce the soon-to-come retirement of the Suggest Links Tool (that tool that you can activate at the top of your published Hubs, which enables you to link highlighted words to related Hubs).
   
   Why are we retiring the feature?
   1. We would like to further simplify the Hubbing experience so Hubbers focus on the most important things (strong titles, in-depth content, great media, polished words) and not distracting details
   2. Only a few hundred people per day use this feature (which is quite small in HubPages feature terms)
   3. The tool is often used in excess, creating a less than optimal reading experience for visitors (and hurting the Hubbers who over-use the tool)
   4. Most importantly, there are a number of technical problems with the tool that make its performance less than optimal (you deserve the best, guys )
   
   For these reasons (and more), Suggest Links will be gone by the end of the week. It's been a great run, but we're happy to be moving on to better and brighter days.
   
   Excelsior!

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      JimTxMillerposted 11 years agoin reply to this

      Okay. Reckon I won't miss something I never used anyway.

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         Simone Smithposted 11 years agoin reply to this

         Perfect!

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      AMFredenburgposted 11 years agoin reply to this

      I could never get the thing to work anyway!

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      Howard S.posted 11 years agoin reply to this

      Please take care not to oversimplify. I agree with removing this feature (Suggest Links Tool). I did not agree with "simplifying" the slideshows. Wordsmiths need the option to "just say NO" to multimedia tomfoolery (the same as photographers and poets need freedom to say more with fewer words).

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         Simone Smithposted 11 years agoin reply to this

         Fair point, Howard S.
         
         Rest assured that we don't remove features lightly.

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      vocalcoachposted 11 years agoin reply to this

      That's fine by me. I used it for the first 2 years. Last year I rarely did. Good idea!

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   Vickiwposted 11 years ago

   Hi Simone, I never used it either. It didn't work on my iPad. So one less thing for a relative newbie to worry about!

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      Simone Smithposted 11 years agoin reply to this

      Great! That's our thinking. Simple is best in so many cases!

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         mary615posted 11 years agoin reply to this

         Suits me fine.  I want to keep my reader on MY article, not detract them by going elsewhere.

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            Simone Smithposted 11 years agoin reply to this

            True that! Good point.

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   Ghaelachposted 11 years ago

   Hi Simone.
   I'm one happy hubber as I was always getting little messages telling me I had a broken link. Stopped using it in the end and cancelled all the suggested links in any hubs that I had to edit.
   What happens to the suggested links that are in the hubs, do they just revert back to a normal word and are not highlighted as is at the moment.

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      mary615posted 11 years agoin reply to this

      I agree, I won't miss those "little message" about broken llinks.  Good question...I was wondering the same thing.  Should we go in the Hubs and edit those links out??

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         Simone Smithposted 11 years agoin reply to this

         Only if you think they reduce readers' experiences. A reasonable number of links to resources with more information can be quite helpful.

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   Kathryn Stratfordposted 11 years ago

   I have used it before, but simplification can be good. If only hundreds out of a huge group of people are using it, it's not going to be missed much. And it is easy to add a regular link to an article if it is something that will supplement the subject in a positive way.
   I like that HubPages tries to stay on top of improving and simplifying the community. Thanks for informing is, Simone!

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      Simone Smithposted 11 years agoin reply to this

      Thanks Kathryn! We're doing out best.

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   Peggy Wposted 11 years ago

   Question...can we still manually highlight words and have internal links that way?  If we put regular links in...say to Wikipedia as an example, for those wanting more information about a subject...and it is a regular link instead of a highlighted one...it sends the reader away from our page.  The internal link keeps the reader on our page.
   
   Assuming that is correct, is there a number of links that should not be exceeded?  Any optimum ratio to number of words in the hub as an example?
   
   I would surely hope that we can still link our similar hubs together.  I have slowly been changing the old links of similar subjects to internal links.  Hoping all of that work is not going to disappear.

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   1. STAFF

      HubPagesposted 11 years agoin reply to this

      Absolutely- the linking feature within the Text Capsule is not being removed.
      
      There is no particular number of links that we consider to be "too many". The optimal number of links in a Hub really varies depending on its subject matter.
      
      None of the links you've inserted into your Hubs are going to disappear because of this change.
      
      Hope that clears things up!

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         Peggy Wposted 11 years agoin reply to this

         Thanks for the clarification. 

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         Thelma Albertsposted 11 years agoin reply to this

         Thanks for letting us know;-)

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   janderson99posted 11 years ago

   I trust that this will not affect the Insert/Edit Link (chain symbol) in the Text box - that would be a very bad move!!!
   Also does this mean that the "Links Capsule" is also an endangered species? I trust NOT.
   
   Some stability in the choppy seas, with less frequent changes would be nice - The SUBmariners are getting Sea Sick!!!

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   1. STAFF

      HubPagesposted 11 years agoin reply to this

      No, this feature will not be affected. Not to worry!
      
      And we have no plans for getting rid of the Links Capsule.

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   Rosie2010posted 11 years ago

   Thanks for the update, Simone.  I used it when I was new here on Hubpages because I didn't know any better.  I had not used it in ages.  I had actually forgotten that feature was there. 
   
   Adios to the 'Suggest Links Tool.'  RIP 

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   wjack2010posted 11 years ago

   As usual, the moment you can't fix something, you retire it. Seriously, get up, look at the system, and fix it. Removing things is OK, but limit yourself, like a diet. If you remove something, there always has to be a replacement.
   
   Those few hundred Hubbers who DID use it, will miss it.
   
   Doesn't the community ever get a say?
   
   I could write a strongly worded few paragraphs right now, but it's late, so I'll resist.

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   That Grrlposted 11 years ago

   It's a pretty useless feature when HubPages encourages writers to delete their Hub posts unless they are featured. I have all but stopped linking to any Hub posts (other than my own) because they can't be relied upon to show up. Fixing link rot from HP is not how I want to spend my time.

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    pstraubie48posted 11 years ago

    Hi Simone....So do we need to go into all of our hubs that we have used in on and remove the highlight? I did not use it so much but was encouraged by some to use it so I did.

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       pstraubie48posted 11 years agoin reply to this

       "it" on...

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       Simone Smithposted 11 years agoin reply to this

       Nope! You can leave your Hubs as is.

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    mistyhorizon2003posted 11 years ago

    Glad it is going, and glad there is no need to manually remove previously added links that were generated as a result of using this tool. It was never a good idea to use it anyway as it (generally) suggested hubbers link to other hubber's hubs (therefore taking traffic away from their own hubs along with potential income). It also left loads of broken links to be fixed by the hubbers when the mass exodus of disgruntled hubbers happened and each began deleting or removing their hubs from this site. Lastly the hub link suggestions it made were frequently really bad and not at all accurate to the anchor text that was highlighted in the 'suggest links' tool.

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    Astra Nomikposted 11 years ago

    I love the amazing features in the capsules in Hub Pages for creating Hubs. For any writer or poet in my case, the array of media and linking methods we have - including what will remain available - is just right. I admit I never used that feature that is being removed, so I also won't miss it.
    
    It will enable writers to focus on making their writing better and more readable, and less stuffed with unnecessary links just for SEO purposes. The focus is quality, and I am happy with this.

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    duffsmomposted 11 years ago

    I'm a little disappointed as I though it might bring more views, but I'll be okay!  :-)

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       Simone Smithposted 11 years agoin reply to this

       Glad to hear it!

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    FatFreddysCatposted 11 years ago

    Fine by me, I stopped using the "suggest links" function quite some time ago. I was getting tired of getting numerous "broken links" warnings in my Hubs every time I logged into HP so eventually I deleted most of them anyway.

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    watergeekposted 11 years ago

    I've been using it off and on. Made it easy to find hubs of my own that I'd forgotten were related. It also introduced me to the work of other hubbers I'd never met before. Started following some of them. I haven't had any notices of links broken, at least not with my watergeek moniker. (Haven't checked my other one.) But I agree that if only a relative few of us are using it, and there are still ways to link, than it's probably a good thing to let it go.

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