Meet Editbot, Launching Today

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Marina Lazarevicposted 9 years ago
Happy Thursday, everyone! In August we pre-announced a new tool that fixes common spelling and grammatical errors across the site. Today, Editbot, the first iteration of the tool, is live on a small percentage of Hubs and their comments. It will be gradually rolled out to all Hubs over the next week.

How Editbot Works

- Visit My Account > Statistics to see if any of your Hubs have edits applied to them. Hubs with edits have a robot icon next to their titles.
- While signed in to HubPages, open the live version of your Hub (i.e., not the HubTool) to access the corrections.
- To actually view the specific edits made to your Hub, click on the "show up to x corrections" button in the black author center box at the top of the page. This setting can be toggled as often as you like.

- Edits should be easy to spot because they are highlighted in orange. You can undo any edit simply by unchecking the box to the left of it; there's no “save” button. This tool is available only on desktop; edits can't be undone on mobile.
- At the moment, Editbot is not real-time, meaning that it will not automatically make corrections on new Hubs. Our plan is to re-run Editbot periodically to catch new errors.
- Lastly, it's worth noting that the majority of Editbot fixes are in Hub comments.

Let us know what you think, and stay tuned for more!
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1. 53
  paradigm searchposted 9 years agoin reply to this
  If not done so already, please make it possible for us to remove the robot icon after we have perused the changes; otherwise, our stats pages are going to look like a mess.
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  Millionaire Tipsposted 9 years agoin reply to this
  I would prefer that there is a way for me to see that I have reviewed the changes and have approved them. Right now, if the icon stays, well, I don't know if I need to check again for miscorrections. Now I should be able to remember which ones I did, but when the sweep happens again to look for errors, I will have to go through all of them all over again.
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  SylviaSkyposted 9 years agoin reply to this
  I agree 100 percent.
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  TIMETRAVELER2posted 9 years agoin reply to this
  On the other hand, leaving them in lets you know which articles have already been edited so that you don't have to check them again!
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  jansharesposted 9 years agoin reply to this
  But what if a new comment has errors and the icon is already there? How would we know? Anyway, it's too complicated, unnecessarily so.
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  TIMETRAVELER2posted 9 years agoin reply to this
  I guess you'll be able to check the comments as they come in and either keep or delete. What else can you do? Good point, though.
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  CatherineGiordanoposted 9 years agoin reply to this
  I put my hubs in alphabetical order and reviewed everyone with an editbot icon. It was annoying because the account page doesn't stay in alphabetical orer and I hade to click on title after working on each one. There is no way to tel if a new error is flagged, but if it is it will be in the comments and I'm not worried about the editbot making changes to the comments. I only wanted to make sure that it did not accidentally correct something that was the way I wanted it to be. Like in a grammar hub when I wanted to demonstrate the wrong way to do something.
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  TessSchlesingerposted 9 years agoin reply to this
  I did it the long way. I sat with paper and pen, wrote them all down, and then worked my way through the list. Of course, I consulted an outside editor to establish the veracity of the edits. All spot on!
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  makingamarkposted 9 years agoin reply to this
  You're willing to assume that all the people who leave comments have perfect grammar and spelling?
  
  No - there MUST be a button to say the corrections have been reviewed and should now be confirmed "as is" (ie with corrections ticked or unticked - whatever)
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  CatherineGiordanoposted 9 years agoin reply to this
  I thought the icons would go away after I reviewed them. Evidently not. I was happy to see that although about a third of my hubs had the icon, only a handful wee my mistakes. Almost all were in the comments.
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  Jackie Lynnleyposted 9 years agoin reply to this
  That is what I said and attacked by two hubbers for saying so; guess they are use to messes; huh? lol
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  Kylyssaposted 9 years agoin reply to this
  Is it recommended that we delete the comments with errors in them? If not, how do we get rid of the error flags?
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  SirDentposted 9 years agoin reply to this
  You can click to show or not show the edits. Only you can see the actual edited words if you choose to show them. No need to delete the comments.
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  TIMETRAVELER2posted 9 years agoin reply to this
  The bot corrects the errors, so there is no need to delete them unless the bot has made a mistake, in which case you can just check the incorrect correction to reverse it.
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  Kylyssaposted 9 years agoin reply to this
  How do we get the bot icons on our dashboard to disappear if we aren't supposed to delete the comments with errors in them?
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  TIMETRAVELER2posted 9 years agoin reply to this
  That is the question everybody is asking. I'm not sure the team has thought this far ahead, but I'm sure they'll come up with something.
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  makingamarkposted 9 years agoin reply to this
  .....which means that this has not been beta tested with people who actually make hubs or have lots of them
  
  Now I remember another place that used to make changes like that....
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  Marina Lazarevicposted 9 years agoin reply to this
  The Editbot icon should be read as "this Hub has had corrections made to it by Editbot" rather than "This Hub has errors". We'll figure out a way to indicate that a Hub has been reviewed by its author.
  
  As for whether to delete comments with errors, it's up to you. If the comment is very poorly written and/or does not add value to the page, it's probably worth deleting. I'd keep comments that have actual substance, even if they contain some errors. Good question though.
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  TIMETRAVELER2posted 9 years agoin reply to this
  Someone came up with a great idea for this: Why not have a way for authors to check a box that shows they have made necessary changes, etc. so that the bot will just disappear!
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  MizBejabbersposted 9 years agoin reply to this
  I certainly don't want to delete someone's comment just because it has a grammar or punctuation error in it. Sometimes it is actually charming. I went through mine yesterday and found that the editbot does not know that the correct use of a pronoun is the plural before a participle. It changed my use of "your" to "you're" which made sense in the sentence except that it changed the meaning. Thanks for giving us a way to override the editbot's errors. All the rest of the corrections were correct. BTW I am a professional legal editor, so I do have a handle on this, but I make careless mistakes, too.
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  TIMETRAVELER2posted 9 years agoin reply to this
  Is the only way to fix the comment edbots to delete them?
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  Glenn Stokposted 9 years agoin reply to this
  No, you don't need to delete the comment. The editbot correction is automatically applied. But if you don't think it's correct you can remove the check mark and it reverts back to the original text.
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  stricktlydatingposted 9 years agoin reply to this
  It really just corrected a few spelling errors in my comments, so I don't mind it. There are still plenty of other spelling errors in my comments though, maybe I should be deleting those comments if these are impacting some how, but it would be very time consuming and some of the spelling errors are on my Hubs with over 1000 view a day steady, so I don't think it would make any difference. It does change Aussie spelling to the US version ie: Jewellery- is correct here, but I'm used to that in other spell checkers I use anyway.
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  Marina Lazarevicposted 9 years agoin reply to this
  Editbot applies corrections that come from a predefined list, so it doesn't catch every error. We will add terms to Editbot's dictionary over time, once we've tested them for accuracy.
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  Denmarkguyposted 9 years agoin reply to this
  Just checked and ALL the edits are in comments-- so I guess there just isn't anything to "do" or "not do" about that.
  
  It would be nice if there was some kind of "checked by author" toggle... like have the icon be red until the Hub has been checked/approved by the author, then it turns black to let you know that it has been "dealt with."
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  lobobrandonposted 9 years agoin reply to this
  This is a good suggestion.
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  watergeekposted 9 years agoin reply to this
  . . . "the icon be 'read' until . . ."
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  Thelma Albertsposted 9 years agoin reply to this
  So, I have done 12 of my 103 hubs. Long way to go. The most errors though are from the comments. It´s not our fault when the grammar in the comments are not right. Can you please add an icon for those which we have checked? Thanks.
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  Thelma Albertsposted 9 years agoin reply to this
  I have just checked. I still have 54 hubs to edit and I don´t think that my hubs have a lot of grammatic errors as I checked them more than 5 times before submitting them. GRRRRRRRRR!!!!!
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  Jodahposted 9 years agoin reply to this
  Why even bother checking them all? The edit is already done, and the bot doesn't disappear. I checked about a dozen out of 100 and almost all were in comments and not worth worrying about.
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  calculus-geometryposted 9 years agoin reply to this
  You should try to make time to check them all eventually because you can undo a bad edit by unchecking the box. Many people including myself have found some incorrect "corrections" that change the meaning of the sentence. Like me, you have hundreds of hubs, so you're more likely to find some mistakes made by editbot than people with fewer hubs.
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  Jackie Lynnleyposted 9 years agoin reply to this
  That then makes editbot sound like not such a good idea. ?
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  MizBejabbersposted 9 years agoin reply to this
  I don't see why it is concerned about grammar in the comments. Mistakes will be made there because people may comment when they are in a hurry or some people who are not writers may want to leave a comment.
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  brakel2posted 9 years agoin reply to this
  Three hubs were edited, and all the corrections are in the comments section. I guess that makes me feel like the hubs themselves are ok. I go over my spellings twice, once in Word, and then in the hubs themselves. Most of my spelling problems have been typos. I wonder if spelling corrections in the comments are important to Google. Anyway, I have no complaints.
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  Pollyanna Jonesposted 9 years agoin reply to this
  I wondered what it was when I saw these little robot icons. It seems like a great tool. It has appeared on a number of my Hubs, and mostly in the comments. If it improves the quality as Google sees it, then it can only be a good thing. All importantly, if a bot-perceived error is actually legitimate, then I am able to over-ride it. Win-win all round. Thanks HubPages!
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  TIMETRAVELER2posted 9 years agoin reply to this
  Although I have seen a few errors, for the most part I think the bot is doing a very good job. I am anxious to see how Google feels about this. Am hoping the improvements will lift the ranking of the entire site. Wouldn't that be terrific??
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  sparksterposted 9 years agoin reply to this
  So, is the increase I'm seeing in traffic on the hubs which have been edited by EditBot genuine traffic or is it just traffic generated by the bot correcting numerous errors? I noticed that some of my hubs seemed to get a boost in traffic but then I noticed that the EditBot had also made several corrections on those hubs. I'm wondering if the stats show one visit on a hub for each correction made?
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  AnnaMKBposted 9 years agoin reply to this
  I've only looked at a couple of hubs with this, and I am NOT happy.
  The corrections are automatic? Then why is it that, when I go into edit and find the "error" (bath tub, instead of bathtub) and fix it, hit done editing and...
  
  The same "fix" is there, as if I had not changed anything.
  
  Worse is with non-english words.
  
  I have a hub that explains what temari are, saying "... te (hand) mari (ball)..."
  
  The bot "fixed" the error, and now the sentence sounds like gibberish. I went to edit the capsule, and my original text is still there.
  
  So how do I get the bot to NOT "correct" something that isn't an error, but something it's not capable of recognising?
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  AnnaMKBposted 9 years agoin reply to this
  Correction:
  My sentence originally read "... hand (te) ball (mari)..."
  
  Now it reads "... hand (te ..."
  
  I can't get it back to where it is supposed to be.
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  Phyllis Doyleposted 9 years agoin reply to this
  The bot is not human - it is cute bot has no brain.
  
  Anna, I am having the same frustrations with this editbot. We cannot make any corrections in comments. The only way to get rid of errors in comments is to delete the comment and I will not do that.
  
  I have just given up on wasting time trying to fix these "errors" and many of them are not errors at all, just poor judgement on the bot's part.
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  SheilaMilneposted 9 years agoin reply to this
  You don't need to fix the errors. If you leave tick in the box, the bot has fixed it for you. If you remove the tick, it will revert to the original. The highlight remains for you, and only you to see.
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  Sue Adamsposted 9 years agoin reply to this
  The bot symbol won't get off the stats page but have you looked in checked-out mode if the editbot correction is still there after editing your hub?
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  AnnaMKBposted 9 years agoin reply to this
  Yes. When I go into edit, my *orignal* content is unchanged. It still says what it's supposed to say.
  
  It's only on the published page that is shows the "corrected" version.
  
  In another hub, where it wants me to change "bath tub" to "bathtub", I did mannually change it, as well as a spelling error, and they both still show up as bot changes.
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  AnnaMKBposted 9 years agoin reply to this
  Thanks.
  My problem is, it's in my content, not the comments, that things are getting messed up. It "fixed" something that wasn't an error, and now I can't put it back to where it's supposed to be.
  
  The bot is *causing* an error in my content, and it's frustrating not to be able to put it back to where it's supposed to be.
  
  I'm almost afraid to look at my hubs that have French words in them.
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  Glenn Stokposted 9 years agoin reply to this
  It's easy to put it back to the original. Just remove the checkmark and that tells the editbot to keep the original.
  
  DO NOT manually change it by editing the hub with the HubTool. That will mess up the functioning of the editbot and it will not know that you want to keep the original. I see a lot of people making that mistake.
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  AnnaMKBposted 9 years agoin reply to this
  I already tried that. It is unchecked, yet the "correction" still shows up.
  
  I did not manually change it becuase, in edit mode, the original is still there.
  
  http://annamkb.hubpages.com/hub/hand-made-christmas
  
  Scroll down to the section on temari (about half way through the hub). The change reads "... hand (te ..."
  
  In edit mode, it reads correctly as "... hand (te) ball (mari)..."
  
  At least that's what I see when I view it. And yes, it's unchecked.
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  Margaret Schindelposted 9 years agoin reply to this
  AnnaMKB, I just checked that hub and it reads correctly, based on what you wrote in your post.
  
  If you uncheck an incorrect "correction," it will no longer appear in the public view of your hub. For the moment, the Editbot's corrections, both checked and unchecked, continue to be visible to the author when he/she is signed in. This is not only confusing (as in your experience) but also potentially enormously time-consuming unless/until there is a way to indicate that the author has reviewed the current set of Editbot corrections (and, therefore, that the changes with the checkbox that remain checked/ticked are approved by the author and the ones that have been unchecked/unticked should be permanently discarded) so that the Editbot icon only appears when there are UNREVIEWED corrections and only shows those that have not yet been reviewed.
  
  As a side note, as Glenn (and perhaps others) have mentioned, editing in edit mode is not the same thing as unchecking/unticking the box next to an Editbot correction. The only way (as far as I know) to revert to the original text is to uncheck/untick the box next to the correction. To accept a correction, leave the box checked/ticked.
  
  If you sign out of HubPages and view your hub the way others do (at least, the way non-members do, although I assume you are the only person who can see Editbot's orange edit notations on your hubs), any corrections you unchecked/unticked should have reverted to your original text in that public view.
  
  I hope this is helpful.
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  peachpurpleposted 9 years agoin reply to this
  is there an option to choose- turn the edibots on or off??
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  Enelle Lambposted 9 years agoin reply to this
  Not that I have found - I would prefer to turn it off and let the errors stand.
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  ronbergeronposted 9 years agoin reply to this
  I agree completely. I prefer to keep what I wrote, even if it isn't correct, rather than have an automated process introduce mistakes that may change the meaning.
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  Thelma Albertsposted 9 years agoin reply to this
  Me too. I just logged in after a few days of not being here. These robot icons scared me a lot when I opened my stats. I have to check what´s in this edit bot. Very annoying!!!
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  DzyMsLizzyposted 9 years agoin reply to this
  No, there is no opt-out of this mess. HP made it quite clear when they unleashed this critter that everyone would be subject to this 'basic' edit level, and the only opt-out is for the HP Pro version of editing.
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  ogochukwu1posted 9 years agoin reply to this
  It will be a very nice experience
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  TeriSilverposted 9 years agoin reply to this
  Stop Stop Stop, PLEASE make it stop. This is not helpful. If you want to run such a thing, then send me an email saying you "caught" something before you make changes to my copy. Most of the changes, as I found when I went through my tagged articles, were for alternate spellings (which I always check before publishing) and worse, it changes branding and promotion spelling for particular products listed (especially in my "nostalgia" pieces). When HP first sent out info on EditBot, I thought I opted out of it, but I guess that's not the case. I just spent the better part of an hour redoing and undoing what HP did and now I find that I shouldn't have done anything. But I wouldn't have had to do anything at all if you had just asked me first, before taking an initiative to which I had already said "no thank you." Yes, I am annoyed about this. Maybe there is some benefit but for now, I don't see it. Why can't we just say no?
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  bzirkoneposted 9 years agoin reply to this
  Agree completely. I am not happy with this, at all. I am actually stunned that HP has the audacity to edit a HP reader's personal comments...change a person's words...that's just wrong on too many levels. I have followers who've signed up for HP just to keep up with my work and to have their comments edited is insulting and embarrassing. People typo comments...that's just part of the experience. I'm considering taking a loss here of my 35 cents and closing up shop.
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  bzirkoneposted 9 years agoin reply to this
  Wondering if my 'a' instead of 'an' will be corrected??
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  Misfit Chickposted 9 years agoin reply to this
  I agree, it seems silly and wrong to worry about the comments - why? So many people treat comments like it is a casual conversation, not 'official writing'. Heck, a lot of them use social media shorthand. That is one part of the software that should just be lobbed off.
  
  The very first article of mine that was done by the editbot was done pretty well; but the rest of them have at least one thing that isn't 'quite right'. It really seems like a huge waste of time on both HP's part and our's.
  
  It's almost like they all sat down and brainstormed up the most complicated way to make corrections, LoL!
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  Misfit Chickposted 9 years agoin reply to this
  Really? This is the editbot? I generally like the way it works - check or uncheck the box to keep the edit or return to the original. However, WHY is it so worried about the comments on our hubs? And why is it so deficient in catching basic errors like neither/nor?
  
  Especially since it does not edit NEW hubs as they are being written and before they are published - this seems like another waste of time & money on HP's part. Again.
  
  I mean, if you're going to do something like this; WHY don't you take the time to do it right? Like, have someone who actually writes hubs in here develop it? Wouldn't a way to indicate which articles you have gone through been an obvious option? Thanks for getting our hopes up again. But, you continually fall short, HP. It is so disappointing.
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  SylviaSkyposted 9 years agoin reply to this
  I dislike having my carefully researched and crafted articles meddled with, whether by EditPro or EditBot. I feel the same way about readers' comments. There aren't that many errors in the ones I receive that HP has to create software to point them out. And BTW, my numbers, now closing in on 1 million views, are down by 20 percent since this thing.
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  Misfit Chickposted 9 years agoin reply to this
  That is worrisome - but congrats on 'almost' getting there. That is one of the problems with any kind of 'bot', really - they often sound like a good idea; but they almost always complicate code, slow things down and screw things up.
  
  I don't mind my articles being edited or corrected - that is a basic thing that should be happening in here before they are published during the 'this article is not yet published' phase. How much more simple would that make things? All kinds of things could be caught BEFORE hubs are published - aside from grammar and punctuation errors. And, it could be done in a less-intrusive and coordinated way with authors, no-doubt.
  
  I did opt out of the extreme version of editing that they started where an editor completely redoes the entire article. It sounds like that might be a good idea for poorly-written articles with interesting subjects that might have evergreen potential (and maybe my hubs fall into that category; they offered to do one of mine, ha!) - but, no thanks.
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  MarieLBposted 9 years agoin reply to this
  What has happened to the premise that one owns what one writes? Comments belong to their authors. Some of these authors are not HP members.
  
  While I understand that HP authors have agreed to abide by HP rules, those authors [mentioned above] have not. I resent the intrusion in someone's else's work.
  
  Read comments on any paper, or article outside of HP. Are they less valuable because their grammar or their punctuation is not perfect?
  
  Lord Google presides over all, is it?
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  Jodahposted 9 years agoin reply to this
  Very good points Marion.
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  Phyllis Doyleposted 9 years agoin reply to this
  Very good thoughts, Marion. I just uncheck the corrections from editbot in the comments, so they revert back to what the commenter wrote. Unlike HP editors, I do not like to change anyone's work.
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  MarieLBposted 9 years agoin reply to this
  Thank you Phyllis. I will do the same. I imagined I would be considered a reactionary for that! LOL!!
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  Enelle Lambposted 9 years agoin reply to this
  Me 3
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  Phyllis Doyleposted 9 years agoin reply to this
  You are most welcome, Marie.
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  makingamarkposted 9 years agoin reply to this
  +1 very good point
  
  The only option should be publish or don't publish and that decision should be the author's
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  delia-deliaposted 9 years agoin reply to this
  I feel like I'm back in school! I have spell check, and the only thing that could go wrong is using the wrong word. Holy cow, I would have to go through 739 comments in just ONE of my hubs. I will not be correcting comments, that's too personal and if ratings go down, so be it...as it stands now, there's nothing to lose. I will be capturing my comments and stored in a file. There haven't been added comments since the Squidoo departure anyway.
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  Misfit Chickposted 9 years agoin reply to this
  I think the comments are already corrected just like the article is, right? You would have to go back and 'uncorrect' everything the bot corrected by unchecking the corrections.
  
  Maybe I am wrong, I haven't paid as much attention to the editing in my comments. I am not even going to look at the one article I have with only a couple hundred comments - can't imagine doing more, yikes!
  
  I know so many of my comments were not written with the thought, "Oh my gosh, I have to write this RIGHT". To the average internet surfer, it is just a casual conversation where the rules can be overlooked.
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  Misfit Chickposted 9 years agoin reply to this
  If the comments end up looking dumb, it's HP's fault and will reflect back on them (and us) - not to mention that is where people will complain. Hopefully this part gets changed.
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  Matthew Meyerposted 9 years agoin reply to this
  Marina just posted an update here.
  http://hubpages.com/forum/post/2767050
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  FitnezzJimposted 9 years agoin reply to this
  I have a few Hubs where the recommended changes were made to the text, but the icon has not gone away. This seems to have happened to Hubs where changes were made before first update to Editbot came out. That first change included a way to trigger removal of the Editbot icon.
  
  It looks like the criteria to remove the icon from the Hub Statistics page triggers by clicking on the 'review Editbot changes' icon, but not on the criteria 'no Hub text changes found'. Is there a chance both can be applied?
  
  An alternate logic for removing the Hub Editbot icon might be "'review icon was clicked' OR 'no recommended changes'".
  
  Overall though, I like the change. For Hub texts it is allowing the author to go in and make after release modifications, based on recommendations from a HubPages tool.
  For recommended comments, is there some way the comment edit icon be removed when we have reviewed the recommendations made by Editbot?
  
  And yeah, I probably mangled standard English in writing this comment ...
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  Jenn-Anneposted 9 years agoin reply to this
  I just logged in after being away for a while and I do not understand this editbot thing. I see the icons but can't figure out how to see the edits. Is it not mobile compatible? And frankly, I didn't ask for my material to be edited let alone changed without my permission. I know - this is how things are and there's nothing I can do about it. Except leave. Which I'm considering. In the meantime if someone can tell me if I have to be on my laptop to see the edits, I'd appreciate it. Thanks.
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  Glenn Stokposted 9 years agoin reply to this
  It works on my iPad but I don't know about mobile phones. In any case, did you follow the instructions Marina posted? Just to be sure...
  
  Go to any hub that has the editbot icon and click on the "show up to x corrections" button at the top. Do NOT use the HubTool. If you edit the hub it will mess up the present editbot. When you click that button, it shows you the first highlighted change. You can leave it alone or remove the checkmark if you disagree with the change. Then scroll down until you see the next highlighted item, if any.
  
  When you review any hub's changes, that bot will be removed automatically from your stats page.
  
  Presently the changes are not made within the HubTool, which Is a problem for many of us. Later a new version of the editbot will be coming that will allow you to make the change permanent.
  
  The bottom line is that we need to do this since Google is getting tough about misspellings and bad grammar. Comments left by readers with poor grammar can hurt your ranking. Some Hubbers delete poorly written comments for that reason. So hang in there and try to appreciate the hard work HP is doing.
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  Jenn-Anneposted 9 years agoin reply to this
  Thanks Glenn. I don't see a "show up to x corrections" button anywhere and I've looked and looked so I'm guessing it is a mobile thing. I will try from my laptop although I really don't want to be dealing with this. No one is running any "editbot" on my blog and it does much better traffic-wise so I have my doubts that it will really make that much difference with google. I understand that this is hubpages site and they can do what they want, I just don't like my content being changed without my permission. (I'm not talking about the comments but edits that apparently have been made to a couple of my hubs.) Anyway, thanks again for the info - I appreciate it!
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  Glenn Stokposted 9 years agoin reply to this
  If you're not seeing it on the live version of you hubs (not in edit mode) then it must be unavailable on mobile phones. Hopefully HP staff will chime in and confirm that.
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paradigm searchposted 9 years ago
We are all doomed.... Just kidding. Looks like it hasn't discovered my account yet, I shall await the adventure.
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Nell Roseposted 9 years ago
Not sure if any of mine have been checked but when I went to check on my thyroid hub today its gone nuts! pictures all over the place, an amazon ad right at the top which resulted in me getting a written yell out at the top, 'you are not supposed to have an ad there' and so on! tried to sort it out, but its just bouncing back in the wrong place! any ideas?
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  paradigm searchposted 9 years agoin reply to this
  The "Hyper...Hypo..." one? I just checked it and it looks like it has straightened itself out.
  
  Edit. It looks like you are not alone, http://hubpages.com/forum/topic/133105
  
  Edit2. And, yep. I, too, am now being messed with re: the images, Amazon thing.
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Millionaire Tipsposted 9 years ago
Do you recommend that we correct typos on comments? In the past, we weren't allowed to change them.
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  janderson99posted 9 years agoin reply to this
  You cannot edit comments, so I guess authors will not be able to fix incorrect changes by editbot. Weird!
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  Glenn Stokposted 9 years agoin reply to this
  I like the fact that the edit bot gives the ability to correct typos in comments. In the past I had to delete comments left by people with major spelling errors and bad grammar just to get a better ranking from Google. We still can't do anything about bad grammar in comments, but at least we can now get those spelling errors corrected. I look forward to seeing how well the edit bot works. So far, it didn't get to any of my hubs yet. Most of us won't see it until next week.
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  Millionaire Tipsposted 9 years agoin reply to this
  That is still weird changing comments though - it is like incorrectly quoting someone.
  
  I do like the idea though of changing the comments, so I can just take out links out of otherwise acceptable comments, and accept those weird spam comments with deliberate misspellings.
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  Glenn Stokposted 9 years agoin reply to this
  The way I understand it, we can't make our own changes to comments. We can only accept or decline changes suggested by editbot.
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  Marina Lazarevicposted 9 years agoin reply to this
  Yep, that's exactly right. And to be clear, the errors are corrected by default. You can undo any correction by unchecking the box to the left of it. Most of the fixes are on very obvious spelling and/or basic grammar errors (an/a, your/you're, misspellings of "because", etc).
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  paradigm searchposted 9 years agoin reply to this
  What with we can simply delete the comment if there is a problem, I see no pulse-rate-quickening issues here.
  
  Edit. And I'm not kidding about the icon removal. Seriously, I don't want that mess.
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  Enelle Lambposted 9 years agoin reply to this
  I agree! Not impressed with this little bot
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  Thelma Albertsposted 9 years agoin reply to this
  Me too. Not impressed at all.
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  MarieLBposted 9 years agoin reply to this
  I was taught English as she is spoke, but here I make a concession and use American English most of the time.
  
  However, Queen's English is far from incorrect.
  
  Now, what nationality English does EB use, and will that be seen as partisan?
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  justholidaysposted 9 years agoin reply to this
  I've learned at school that one writes "an" instead of "a" before a word that begins with a vowel sound. So why does your bot corrects such things?
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  jansharesposted 9 years agoin reply to this
  +1
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  Marina Lazarevicposted 9 years agoin reply to this
  Could you post an example Hub where Editbot made this [incorrect] correction? Thanks!
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  justholidaysposted 9 years agoin reply to this
  Here's the hub where this happened.
  
  http://justholidays.hubpages.com/hub/ha … ecorations
  
  Here's the pararaph:
  
  Here's an example of a painted jar: paint a jar white, draw the eyes and mouth of the murderer in Scream and in five minutes you get an unique/a unique and customized ghost light.
  
  I already unchecked the "a"...
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  Marina Lazarevicposted 9 years agoin reply to this
  Thanks! So, "a" is actually right in this example. Normally, "an" is the correct article to use before a noun that begins with a vowel, but there are exceptions, such as when the noun begins with the "you" sound. Here's an article that explains more:
  
  https://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/resource/591/01/
  
  Specifically:
  When "u" makes the same sound as the "y" in "you," or "o" makes the same sound as "w" in "won," then a is used. The word-initial "y" sound ("unicorn") is actually a glide [j] phonetically, which has consonantal properties; consequently, it is treated as a consonant, requiring "a."
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  Gloriousconfusionposted 9 years agoin reply to this
  I always insist on saying "a hotel" and "a herb", as I think it sounds unduly posh to say "an hotel", and only Americans pronounce herbs as 'erbs, which is why English people say "a herb" and not "an herb". I wait with baited breath to see what the Editbot does with these .
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  DzyMsLizzyposted 9 years agoin reply to this
  "a hotel, " "an honest man," "an herbal bouquet," "an hourglass," "a hot-shot driver," "a Howitzer cannon," "a historic site," etc.
  
  I'm American, and I would submit that most likely, we don't say "a herb," because "Herb" is also a nickname for the man's name, "Herbert," so it might be confusing:
  "A herb? Which Herb? I don't know anyone named Herb."
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  justholidaysposted 9 years agoin reply to this
  Well ok, didn't know. The sound sounds weird but since it's the rule... Thanks
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  Thelma Albertsposted 9 years agoin reply to this
  +1
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  Misfit Chickposted 9 years agoin reply to this
  You know what would be so helpful (and maybe this is the end-goal of this program)... If this editbot was somehow IN the current word processor that we use to format text and images, etc.
  
  Imagine... a word or phrase comes up that the editbot does not understand for whatever reason. So a menu of at least two or three checkboxes pops up for the author to make a clarification.
  
  For instance, if it is simply a spelling error - the corrected spelling box gets checked. If it is a specific word that you want spelled a certain way such as 'journaling' - the 'Customize' box could be checked with the correct spelling inserted exactly as the author means it. It is highly-unlikely that people would be getting words wrong (as often) when we are intentionally making confusing words or grammar more clear.
  
  Also, making it mandatory WITH the option to opt-out of the editbot based on a few reasons; like foreign language or poetic and creative writing content that is not usually meant to be edited.
  
  *sigh* I know, I always think up more work for them to do, ha!
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  MarieLBposted 9 years agoin reply to this
  What a great idea! Then the Hub word processor would become up-to-speed with other commercial processors which already do that kind of thing.
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  Margaret Schindelposted 9 years agoin reply to this
  Hi Misfit Chick,
  
  The future plans for Editbot probably won't include that degree of individual customization, but Marina did say in the thread on the recent update to Editbot that "Eventually, we'd like to give Hubbers a way to 'accept' an Editbot edit from the rendered Hub and have the change applied in the HubTool. This isn't a trivial effort, and for now, we need to move on to other projects."
  
  Here's the link to that post:
  http://hubpages.com/forum/topic/133237? … ost2767333
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  Misfit Chickposted 9 years agoin reply to this
  It's not a trivial effort, but it does seem to be a pretty darned unpopular one for a lot of really really good reasons. And *I* was/am someone who has only thumbs-up for these changes being made. It isn't about 'my stuff being edited', it is about it being done right.
  
  And since there seems to be some issues with the editbot that need to be addressed; I don't understand how this gets put aside to move onto other projects - other projects that are hopefully not as three-quarter baked as this one.
  
  Why does HP not care about the feedback they received when they do big stuff like this? From our perspective, you're not even sort of listening - it's pretty much, 'because we say so'. Which wouldn't be so bad, but your 'because we say so' stuff often comes up short - like the editbot (so far).
  
  Really? We're moving onto other projects before this one gets nailed? Or is it already considered to be 'nailed' from your perspective?
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  Bronwyn Joy Ellioposted 9 years agoin reply to this
  Or, you simply do what I do. Write your Hub IN a commercial word processing package, then run it through an app named for a famous writer who loved bull fighting and Cuba. Then, when those two packages can no longer find an issue with your work, cut and paste it into HubPages.
  As Alexander would say, "Simple!"
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  makingamarkposted 9 years agoin reply to this
  Thank you! I never knew Mr H could be so helpful - I've never seen that app before.
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paradigm searchposted 9 years ago
I've got one hub with 900 comments. Poor Editbot...

Edit. Going to be interesting to see if my traffic improves after that mess is cleaned up.
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  janderson99posted 9 years agoin reply to this
  If authors still cannot edit comments, then there is no point knowing that Editbot has visited. The notification should only apply for changes within the content itself. Otherwise there may be needless checking.
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  Glenn Stokposted 9 years agoin reply to this
  The edit bot will correct errors in comments too.
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  Suzanne Dayposted 9 years agoin reply to this
  Probably a good thing, I know a lot of the comments I received have very bad spelling.
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  TIMETRAVELER2posted 9 years agoin reply to this
  I found one correction in a comment of my own that I could not edit, and it was a glaring mistake made by the edit bot.
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  Glenn Stokposted 9 years agoin reply to this
  If the editbot made a mistake, you can change it back to the original by removing the checkmark.
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  TIMETRAVELER2posted 9 years agoin reply to this
  Yes, I realized that after I made my first comment about it. Thanks.
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DzyMsLizzyposted 9 years ago
No editbot icons on any of my hubs, yet...
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Thomas Swanposted 9 years ago
I've used words that I know are correct but which show up as wrong in the HP spellchecker, for example reputational and neuropsychology. What would it do with these? Does this mean I'll have to check every single hub to be sure the bot hasn't screwed something up?
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  jansharesposted 9 years agoin reply to this
  I have the same issue with these words: journaling and stressors. In my latest hub, I took out the word "journaling" and replaced it with "freestyle writing in a journal" to avoid the editbot. There are others I can't recall now but it does raise a good question about being penalized for using words that are acceptable within the field you write in but not by an editbot.
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  DzyMsLizzyposted 9 years agoin reply to this
  I agree, janshares, and more to the point, the kind of work-around you were forced to use comes under 'excess verbiage' of the kind we used to use in high school to pad our essays to the requisite number of words....IMO, at least...
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  janderson99posted 9 years agoin reply to this
  collateral damage it is called like unfeature for low traffic
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  Matthew Meyerposted 9 years agoin reply to this
  @jan when you say you have issues with "journaling" and "stressors" are you referring to the HubTool spell check or your browser spell check?
  I ask because EditBot doesn't work the same as those spelling tools.
  
  We suggest not making preemptive edits until you can see the changes EditBot makes.
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Sue Adamsposted 9 years ago
Unfortunately, we must face the fact that Google caters for a reading age of 12.

Plus, having to check all edits means a lot of extra working time taken away from writing new hubs.
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  DzyMsLizzyposted 9 years agoin reply to this
  And that is such a sad commentary on our society. The 'dumbing-down' of education to the lowest common denominator, instead of having high expectations.
  It makes me sick and angry.
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janderson99posted 9 years ago
Editbot has started.

My first one raises an issue about English (UK) versus American spellings

This title was deliberately written to cover both spellings Omelet (UK) vs Omelette

How to Cook an Omelet | Tips for Making Great Omelettes

weirdly Editbot wanted to change the American spelling to the English one

How to Cook an Omelette | Tips for Making Great Omelettes

PS: when the suggested change is unclicked it does not remove the symbol for the hub in my account. When you open it again the check-box is unclicked, but the symbol remains. If this continues it is going to be a nightmare keeping your own track of edits.
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  janderson99posted 9 years agoin reply to this
  Another one is similar - accepted alternate spelling
  Tendinitis (also tendonitis), meaning inflammation of a tendon
  
  Another
  life long vs lifelong which are accepted alternative spellings.
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  janderson99posted 9 years agoin reply to this
  Next one is an accepted technical abbreviation
  
  Total measured antioxidant strength (ORAC value) is 5346 µmol TE/100 g
  
  which Editbot wanted to change to THE/100 g (?) which is WRONG
  
  Looks like technical terms and abbreviations are going to be a pain to have to correct Editbots' ignorance.
  
  Yet to find a genuine 'error' yet!!!
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  janderson99posted 9 years agoin reply to this
  Next one is another US versus UK spelling - Editbot is American!!!
  
  barbecue (US) vs barbeque (UK and Oz) hence BBQ
  
  Others (hardly earth shattering)
  
  up hill vs uphill
  down hill vs downhill
  race course vs racecourse
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DzyMsLizzyposted 9 years ago
Okay--I have been "hit."

There was only a single correction within two of my hubs; and they were minor; a matter of typos.

The rest were in the comments, and since those are auto-corrected, I see no point in those corrections/suggestions being shown, since there is nothing we ourselves can do to edit comments, either others' (or our own past a 10-minute time frame).

However, once the corrections have been made, the 'editbot' icon has remained....is that going to change?
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Nell Roseposted 9 years ago
Yep it is a bit strange! I have checked three hubs so far with the Bot next to it. At least 18 corrections, only one, yes one on my hub! all the rest are comments! not sure really why comments would be corrected?
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  DzyMsLizzyposted 9 years agoin reply to this
  If I am correctly understanding, Nell, it seems that Google also looks at comments when its deciding on 'quality,' so comments with poor grammar and misspellings may subject the entire hub to penalties with Google's ranking.
  Seems unfair, to me; we have no control over that aspect! Google should ignore comments, IMO.
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  Glenn Stokposted 9 years agoin reply to this
  You're right Lizzy, but Google can't ignore comments. There is no way that a Google Bot can tell the difference between the main section and the comments. It sees the entire page, at least up to the number of comments that are visible without clicking "see more."
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  DzyMsLizzyposted 9 years agoin reply to this
  Yes, I suppose there is that, Glenn, which goes to prove we are a long way from developing true "AI."
  Such a device/algorithm would be able to make that distinction, by noticing the sections, the "comments" heading, etc..and other indicators that show the article has ended.
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  Good Guyposted 9 years agoin reply to this
  This is news to me. I didn't know that. Looks like I should delete all those very old comments that have grammar/spelling mistakes. Should I?
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  watergeekposted 9 years agoin reply to this
  Eww! Does that mean Google counts ads that have misspellings too?
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  janderson99posted 9 years agoin reply to this
  Fixing the comments is a great idea as we have no opportunity to correct them ourselves.
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  Glenn Stokposted 9 years agoin reply to this
  Nell, Comments need to be corrected because they hurt our ranking with Google is there are a lot of errors. In the past I've improved my traffic on some hubs by deleting really bad comments.
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  alancaster149posted 9 years agoin reply to this
  I've checked some of the errors Editbot dug up on my comments and found i'd made them (not a lot).
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paradigm searchposted 9 years ago
Still no infestations. And I'm starting to get nervous re my math hubs...
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WriteAngledposted 9 years ago
I have always deleted very illiterate comments from my hubs. I don't need an automaton to do this for me. As for my own content, I am capable of looking after it by myself, thank you.
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  DzyMsLizzyposted 9 years agoin reply to this
  +1
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  makingamarkposted 9 years agoin reply to this
  +1
  
  I calculate my rate of Editbots per 1,000 words of my own content is something like 0.003%
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janderson99posted 9 years ago
I am considering editing the hubs that are flagged by Editbot. It seems that turning the ticks off does not remove the tag. This will be a nightmare going forward if you have a lot of hubs as you will have no way of knowing which one's you have checked - they will stay that way forever!!! Hopefully by editing them the tags will not pop up next time. Ho Hum!
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paradigm searchposted 9 years ago
Hark. Yep. Hit.

Went to HubTool. It still showed the old way. Fixed it. Departed. Editbot now says zero errors. Excellent. Now, how get rid of icon?

Update.

One hub says zero errors after I fixed it.

Other hub still says error even though fixed.

Update2

I think I'll let this rest until next week. Seems to look fine to the visitors.
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Glenn Stokposted 9 years ago
Well, I just got a few hits and so far I'm pleased with the editbot. All the errors were in comments and I didn't have to uncheck any of them.

However, there is no way to specify that I confirmed the bot's suggestions. So all the hubs continue to show the bot icon. This is going to fill up eventually and there will be no way to tell which are new and which I already reviewed. This seems to be something that was overlooked.
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  janderson99posted 9 years agoin reply to this
  = Nighmare !! the tags remain even when you edit the content to satisfy Editbot. I suspect that unless you edit the originals, they will all pop up again next time the Editbot is run irrespective or whether you remove the tick or not!!! Gone fishing - I hope I wake up shortly.
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  TIMETRAVELER2posted 9 years agoin reply to this
  Why would you have to edit anything? The bot makes the corrections for you. All you need to do is check to see if the edit was done correctly. If not, simply check the little box next to it to reverse the edit.
  
  I a assuming that each person's subdomain is checked totally on the first go round. So, unless you write a new hub, you only have to do the checking one time.
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Lisa HWposted 9 years ago
(I like that the editbot icon is cute. It may be the only "alert-about-a-Hub" icon that makes me kind of happy to see it - just because it's so cute. ).

I just took a super-quick look at the handful that showed up with my Hubs. I should have come back to this thread to be reminded about how the "check thing" works, because, I guess, unless one has seen the actual icon and edit maybe what to do about each type may not really register. (In other words, yesterday I wasn't really paying all that much attention because I was waiting to see some edits show up.) I think my biggest "issue" was that someone wrote a long comment and didn't write (or type) in an apostrophe in the many instances when one should have been used.

Anyway, I'm pleased to see this feature. It's easy enough to choose between check/uncheck.

One question, though.... Will declining an edit for a legitimate reason (like choosing a more formal version of grammar/spelling) result in any kind of penalty for the Hub? (like, for example, lowering the Hub's score)
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  Marina Lazarevicposted 9 years agoin reply to this
  No, definitely not! Editbot has an error rate, but it's low. If you want to revert a fix because it is incorrect, feel free to do so as it will not penalize your Hub or its HubScore.
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paradigm searchposted 9 years ago
Kind of odd, only 3 hubs. I'm guessing it's being done by topics, as opposed to accounts?
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paradigm searchposted 9 years ago
Well...

Fixed the 2 hubs as to syntax. Editbot happily concurs as to zero errors.

Threw out the 11 comments with misspellings in the third hub (no great loss, still has 300+ other comments). Editbot again happily concurs as to zero errors.

Will the Editbot icons now disappear from my stats page? Drumroll...
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  jansharesposted 9 years agoin reply to this
  I'd like to know that, too. Five of my hubs got the bot; most were in comments. Hope bot-face goes away soon.
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  peeplesposted 9 years agoin reply to this
  This I would like to know also. I have a ton of bots, it seems it's only been useful in correcting comments so far. I like that, but once I have seen the fixes it needs to go away. Cute little bot face is going to become annoying if it overstays it's welcome!
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Chriswillman90posted 9 years ago
So do I have to look over the editbot hubs or no? Can the icon just stay there without penalty?
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  SirDentposted 9 years agoin reply to this
  There is no penalty. The icon only shows what hubs were edited. You can view the hubs, live not edit mode and see what words were edited. They show the original word and the edited word. You can choose which to keep and which not to keep.
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  Chriswillman90posted 9 years agoin reply to this
  Great thank you so much.
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  SirDentposted 9 years agoin reply to this
  You are most welcome.
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Blake Flanneryposted 9 years ago
Cool feature! I hope to see it expand with the same accuracy I'm seeing so far.
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William F. Torpeyposted 9 years ago
Two corrections were indicated on one of my hubs (in the comments.) They are now correct. However, I've found one or two typos in the same hub (in the comments) that were not corrected. If Google is going to correct spelling errors they should correct every error. We should be allowed to correct spelling errors ourselves on our own hubs (and comments) -- after all the quality of the hub reflects on us!
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Good Guyposted 9 years ago
This is very irritating. I have hundreds of comments and are you telling me that you are going to correct their grammar/spelling? Totally irrelevant! Two Thumbs Down!
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  PegCole17posted 9 years agoin reply to this
  +1
  
  Here's my first editbot (not a word) correction.
  
  I have DOZENS of others in the comments sections of my hubs. This is demotivating me from any additional posts.
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cat on a soapboxposted 9 years ago
What ever happened to raising the bar on good writing instead of dumbing it down? Writers should be carefully checking their work before posting it. I find the idea irritating and think we should be able to opt out without having to comb over our hubs and the comment sections. As MsLizzy pointed out: even after correction, the icon stays put.
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Phyllis Doyleposted 9 years ago
Marina, Okay - this is the most asinine change yet to place editbot on the comments. We are not responsible for what others write in comments and I will not delete good comments from readers just because your edibot has hit some of their words. And by the way: editbot is not a proper word and is not in any dictionary. Are you going to correct that every time you use the word editbot?

See now - I have four errors in this post because editbot is not a word... make that five.
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  Sue Adamsposted 9 years agoin reply to this
  :-) It would be better if editbot (6th error) was applied when text is originally written, like the ordinary spell-check feature, underline errors in red.
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  Phyllis Doyleposted 9 years agoin reply to this
  I agree. To replace the spell-check feature with editbot makes much more sense.
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  DzyMsLizzyposted 9 years agoin reply to this
  +1
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Sue Adamsposted 9 years ago
Editbot doesn't pick up contextual errors like this one I found in a comment:

"I didn't know any of this but know it all makes sense."

2 things are missing from the editbot feature.

1. Authors should be able to correct spellos in comments without changing the comment content. That's a tough cookie.

2. The editbot symbol should disappear from the stats page once the corrections have been reviewed by author.
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  Ruby H Roseposted 9 years agoin reply to this
  Agreed
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Colin Quartermainposted 9 years ago
Is there any chance of getting the editbot to add British spellings of words to its dictionary?
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  janderson99posted 9 years agoin reply to this
  I agree - massive oversight!!!
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  Ruby H Roseposted 9 years agoin reply to this
  Very good idea!
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Jodahposted 9 years ago
I noticed the editbot icon on about 1/4 of my hubs when I signed in. On checking all the edits are in comments. It looks like a good idea my only query is will it change British/ Australian English to American?
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  Jodahposted 9 years agoin reply to this
  oops, didn't read the last few comments
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janderson99posted 9 years ago
For suggestions on changes to the dictionary, or other updates needed for Editbot, post them on this thread

http://hubpages.com/forum/topic/133125
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WriteAngledposted 9 years ago
Very underwhelmed. Idiotbot changed the TITLE of a work I cited in one of my hubs and tried to force US instead of UK spelling on me.

As others have said, the persistence of the icon is confusing and means I will never know if the same hub will be tampered with again and again.

I'm glad I only have a few hubs here and will certainly not be adding to them. This truly is the last straw for me!
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DaveOnlineposted 9 years ago
Is it possible to undo a change that Editbot has made as I use British Spelling and it changed a word in one of my hubs?
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  theraggededgeposted 9 years agoin reply to this
  It's doing it to loads of mine. I'd prefer to keep my British spelling. Is there a way to opt out of this? I also don't like it editing the comments. It's presumptuous.
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  Jodahposted 9 years agoin reply to this
  You only need to click on the tick next to the edit and it will change back.
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  DaveOnlineposted 9 years agoin reply to this
  Thanks Jodah, fortunately there is this feature available.
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UnnamedHaraldposted 9 years ago
Hmmph. I actually learned something while checking the editbot's handiwork: you don't "immigrate to" you "emigrate to" and "immigrate from". Dagnabbit. I don't like learning that I've been wrong all this time. Seriously, the only problem I've found after checking all my hubs is that "an historical" was changed to "a historical". This points out that there may be problems if only American grammar/spelling is the rule. Also, I wonder if there will be a way to tell when a hub has been editbotted. If we look at our statistics page and new errors have been corrected in a previously corrected page, I'm not sure I would know to re-check.
Remember, bad grammar and spelling in comments that others add to your hub affect Google search rankings. And, no, I don't know if I've used "affect" correctly.
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  alancaster149posted 9 years agoin reply to this
  I've had some of mine indicated where I've spelt according to the permitted UK/OED style, eg., 'styiised', as opposed to US 'stylized'.
  Below somewhere I've pointed out a few anomalies, including one where 'Editbot' amended '1950's' to '1950s'. I've followed the recommendation and suddenly got the squiggly red line under it. Shows, don't it.
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Nell Roseposted 9 years ago
Virtually everyone of mine is because of comment misspelling, which is fine, but its also affecting my views, gone well down today already!
Forgot to say, I do think they should stop the bot going through the comments, comments are written really quickly, this is going to be on all the hubs at this rate, surely it should only concern the actual hub?
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  Jodahposted 9 years agoin reply to this
  Yes, I agree Nell. Now at least half my hubs have the editbot symbol. Every one I have checked has only been in comments, but I don't have time to check over 100 hubs. If it affects traffic and is mainly only editing comments then it seems counterproductive.
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95
LongTimeMotherposted 9 years ago
There's no way I will be checking all of the 30+ hubs currently showing your bots, Marina.

Please give us two bots. One colour (yes, colour) for changes in comments, and a different one for changes in hub content.

Why? Because I will quickly visit any hubs where you've made changes to my content, to see if you've changed my perfectly acceptable Australian spelling into American spelling.

Thanks.
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1. 89
  wildernessposted 9 years agoin reply to this
  Now that is a good idea - different colors for comments and the hub. Thought it might mean 2 icons on some hubs.
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  60
  Ruby H Roseposted 9 years agoin reply to this
  Very good idea, agree totally.
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2. 60
  Ruby H Roseposted 9 years agoin reply to this
  Oh yes, working with color, that would really help.
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95
Thomas Swanposted 9 years ago
It seems like this really needed some beta testing...
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1. 91
  DzyMsLizzyposted 9 years agoin reply to this
  It would seem that we are the beta testers....
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  53
  paradigm searchposted 9 years agoin reply to this
  Yep.
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  60
  Ruby H Roseposted 9 years agoin reply to this
  for sure
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77
jackclee lmposted 9 years ago
I like this new feature. It helps to catch spelling errors and you can always ignore the suggested fix if it is wrong.
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1. 77
  TIMETRAVELER2posted 9 years agoin reply to this
  Not if it's in the comments.
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88
lbrummerposted 9 years ago
Out of 253 Hubs, I had 53 robot signs attached, and in those 53 Hubs there were 85 errors fixed. I have a problem wanting to make two words out of single words, like tea pot instead of teapot and witch craft instead of witchcraft. I still have questions about that because I’m really talking about making “witch” crafts, but I can live with that.

When my lenses were moved from Squidoo, I noticed and fixed words that needed an apostrophe. Words like I’ll and you’ll. I really appreciate Editbot fixing the ones I missed.

There is one correction though that I don’t know how to avoid. When I write the word “décor” (this is spell-corrected on Microsoft Word) it should have an accent mark above the “e.” How do I type that on my computer…..I don’t see a key for it. Does someone have a suggestion for me?
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1. 77
  TIMETRAVELER2posted 9 years agoin reply to this
  I have the same problem. The edit bot fixed it for me...three times!
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  89
  wildernessposted 9 years agoin reply to this
  I had several of those kind of things, too - didn't know how to put the special letters in or didn't think about it while typing the hub. Appreciate that the hubbot did it for me.
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2. 95
  SheilaMilneposted 9 years agoin reply to this
  When editing a text module, you can insert a special character. You can find it in the bar at the top of the editing box, the fifth symbol from the right. If you hover over the little box it says "Insert Special Character".
  
  Alternatively, you can use ALT-130 for é but you then need to know an ALT code for each symbol you use.
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3. 91
  DzyMsLizzyposted 9 years agoin reply to this
  Or, you can go to your 'accessories' menu in your computer (on a PC), and open the character map.
  There, you'll see all kinds of special characters that may be used, and they are easily selected, copied and pasted where you want them to be.
  I keep a shortcut to the character map on my desktop.
  (Ones I use often, such as the © symbol, I have memorized; that one is "Alt +0169") There are also fractions available; ¼, ½, ¾ (Alt + 0188, 0189 and 0190, respectively.)
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90
Kryssy OSullivanposted 9 years ago
I'm not liking this at all... I checked on my articles this morning and I have the most ridiculous edits I've ever seen... I had an article that told me "whatsoever" needed to be changed to "whatsoever$6" or it was wrong. The funny thing is, that in that same article, it didn't catch a mistake I made on a word. Because this is constant, I have to re-write sentences just to bypass from being told I'm making mistakes, when there is none.

I'm glad my "errors" are of few, but... All my errors are just because I don't have special characters next to words, which completely wouldn't make any sense to it if I did. My favorite correction so far, in one article, has been a smiley face (the emoticon) at the end of a sentence, next to a word.

"Editbot" has gone haywire for me. Woohoo. Lucky me...

(And, I admit, it would be nice if Editbot worked conveniently, because between "pregnancy brain" and exhaustion, I've never made as many errors as I have in the last few weeks.)
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95
Glenn Stokposted 9 years ago
Yesterday I had 11 hubs with the editbot icon. I went through each one and only comments had errors. Today I have twice as many with the editbot icon, but I don't remember which I already checked. So I'm wasting time going through all of them again. We really need a way to shut off the editbot icon after reviewing a hub for corrections.
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1. 91
  Sue Adamsposted 9 years agoin reply to this
  I'not even going there until that is in place.
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  60
  Ruby H Roseposted 9 years agoin reply to this
  Good idea
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53
paradigm searchposted 9 years ago
My account was just subjected to a second bot critter invasion. I'm happy to say all the corrections were in the comments. This time I didn't even bother to delete them; apparently that doesn't work as to getting rid of the icons on the stats page; the critters from the first invasion are still present.

One hub had 24 comment errors. Another had 39 errors. It will be interesting to see if the traffic improves on those now.
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76
lobobrandonposted 9 years ago
Gotta love it! Corrected errors in comments and one typo in a Poll Capsule which I couldn't edit without losing the past votes

5 of my hubs were edited, nothing to complain, but a lot of praise.
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70
William F. Torpeyposted 9 years ago
Spelling and grammar "suggestions" may be appropriate in our original copy, but not in the comments. I feel sure most writers would appreciate suggested corrections in their copy -- even the most careful writers occasionally fail to pick up spelling and/or grammatical errors. Editing the comments, however, is totally different because spelling and/or grammatical errors speak directly to the credibility of the commenter. By correcting the spelling and grammar of the commenter you make him or her appear to be more competent than they may be -- thereby making it dramatically difficult to assess the commenter's credibility.
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1. 93
  Kylyssaposted 9 years agoin reply to this
  I think this is a good point. I'm also a little disturbed by the idea of editing comments because those who commented were unaware that their words might be changed. Some people may be upset by that. I'm trying to work out a little notice I can add to hubs so people who comment in the future will be aware that their comments may be altered by an automated spelling checker and that I bear no responsibility for changes made to their words.
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paradigm searchposted 9 years ago
Hubbers versus Bot Critters, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_CYu2tbkgF4 2 min. : 45 sec.
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96
Phyllis Doyleposted 9 years ago
In one of my hubs editbot corrected "try and" to "try to". I made the correction last night. This morning the editbot icon is still showing on my accounts page for that hub. Again I went to the live version and clicked on "show up to 1 correction". I got the message "no corrections found".

So, why is the icon still showing on my account page for that hub?
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1. 87
  Jodahposted 9 years agoin reply to this
  Apparently the icons don't go away Phyllis, not yet anyway
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  96
  Phyllis Doyleposted 9 years agoin reply to this
  Well, they are cute even though very annoying.
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TessSchlesingerposted 9 years ago
Just been through mine. Here are comments and questions.

1. Changes British spelling to American spelling, i.e. Judgement to Judgment. Does this mean when I write, I have to use American spelling?

2. Words with umlauts like décor or naïve are difficult to type from the keyboard because one has to find the particular symbol and most people don't. So when searching for the words in the search engine, people are unlikely to use them. Does this affect the search engine knowing what to look for?

3. I didn't have many errors, but the few I did have where of the same type where I used two words instead of one, e.g. life time instead of lifetime.

Brilliant tool. Love it.

Thanks.
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1. 95
  SheilaMilneposted 9 years agoin reply to this
  You can enter special characters using the "Insert Special Symbol" in the text editing box, fifth from the right near "Link" .
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  60
  TessSchlesingerposted 9 years agoin reply to this
  Yes, I realize that, but do people when they are searching for décor do that?, and if they don't, does the search engine realize it's décor and not décor without the umlaut? Just curious. One of the reasons I left the umlaut off was SEO.
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  95
  SheilaMilneposted 9 years agoin reply to this
  Google doesn't worry about accents in a search. It doesn't even mind spelling errors.
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wildernessposted 9 years ago
Out of 50 hubs with corrections there was only one that I didn't like - an intentional misspelling in a title, with the correct spelling in parenthesis. Done intentionally for SEO purposes as the misspelled term was the one being searched for. (Wonder if Google is smart enough to ignore misspelled searches now and such tactics are not needed?)

Other than that there were some compound word errors and the rest were in the comments. Appreciate that comments are getting fixed as it could well affect how big G ranks a hub.

So overall, a +1 for the new program. I like it, although like everyone else I'd appreciate some way of knowing when I've checked out the bot's changes.
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53
paradigm searchposted 9 years ago
And I've just had a third critter invasion. So far I'm pretty much fine with this adventure, excepting of course the missing make-this-icon-go-away option.
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60
Mark Ewbieposted 9 years ago
OK. ima bout sick n enough of this rubish. Stoopid bott has gorn and mesed ebveryfing up and botted al my good stuf.

This could meen I make a cent less a day, or mebbe a sent moar.
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1. 60
  TessSchlesingerposted 9 years agoin reply to this
  I read your comment without seeing your name (scrolling down super fast). I stopped and thought, "That has to be Mark Ewbie." You know you've become famous when someone recognises your writing style...
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70
brakel2posted 9 years ago
I would like to know if this edit included grammar, as I see no mention of it by anyone.
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1. 60
  TessSchlesingerposted 9 years agoin reply to this
  It does. It corrected a/an for two of mine. One was a typo and the other I considered for SEO purposes.
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80
Marina Lazarevicposted 9 years ago
It sounds like most of you would like a way to tell the difference between a reviewed Hub and an unreviewed Hub. We'll work on a solution for that as we improve the tool. Thank you for the feedback.
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1. 70
  William F. Torpeyposted 9 years agoin reply to this
  Good.
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2. 60
  TessSchlesingerposted 9 years agoin reply to this
  Yes, it would be helpful.
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3. 52
  janderson99posted 9 years agoin reply to this
  I have gone through all my Editbots and amended the original content AND deleted the comments highlighted as having potential errors. For the content, I have either accepted the recommendation, or substituted other words - e.g. appetizer for entree. Clicking on the "Show Correction" button now reports "No Correction Found". So please remove the tags. I am surprised that this update facility was not built into the tool.
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  53
  paradigm searchposted 9 years agoin reply to this
  I was the first person to warn them to do that. I wonder if I'll get a T-shirt (size medium).
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  52
  janderson99posted 9 years agoin reply to this
  Nope, the reward is a packet of Bandaids
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  70
  William F. Torpeyposted 9 years agoin reply to this
  Band-Aids
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  52
  janderson99posted 9 years agoin reply to this
  Bandaids is a generic term used in Australia for adhesive wound covering patches (including Elastoplast, and other brands). It avoids the brand name. I think it is a perfect term for what the Editbot does - put bandaids over 'wounds' so that you cannot see them, without addressing the underlying problem - the original content or comments are not changed. You cannot remove them even if you heal the wounds underneath.
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  77
  SusannaDuffyposted 9 years agoin reply to this
  bandaids where I live - unless you're the editbot
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4. 86
  ronbergeronposted 9 years agoin reply to this
  A way to opt out would also be appreciated.
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5. 76
  alancaster149posted 9 years agoin reply to this
  Do the 'bots' disappear when the errors/suggestions have been seen to?
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  52
  janderson99posted 9 years agoin reply to this
  Nope - they don't even, when the button press says "no corrections found"
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  96
  Phyllis Doyleposted 9 years agoin reply to this
  I am thinking that the bots will expire after 30 days from the correction.
  
  I also think the editor group are the "Editbots" - meaning, they as a group have the right to choose which hubs to edit or perform tedious work or certain repetitive tasks on. This is much like the manual bot that MediaWiki uses. https://www.mediawiki.org/wiki/Manual:Bots
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  52
  janderson99posted 9 years agoin reply to this
  If you are correct, then I guess we can expect the Editor Group to automatically change our content in many other ways with similar bots.
  reply report

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