Comments on your hubs - Deny or respond?
I am curious how other hubers deal with comments made by others on their hubs. I don't want to censor people or delete comments I disagree with, but at the same time I'd like to promote healthy discussion on my guides and not spread poor information around.
I wrote a guide on how to set up IRC chat because I thought it wasn't widely used or known about. The single comment I got to the thread is not really off topic (the poster gives thoughts on IRC) but it seems to be a bit self promotional and doesn't focus on IRC entirely. The commenter also left a link to some site of his, and I am unsure how to proceed.
<snipped - you might want to avoid self-promotion yourself>
Can anyone share comments they have seen on their hubs, that were odd or completely off topic? Do you generally think it is better to completely remove the comment, or just reply and let the reader decide?
88- Helen Cater
- 878 posts
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- Hubs: 46
- Followers: 290
I checked out the link and it is not working, but the comment looks good to me. You need to decide if it is helping your hub, and if it is then I would keep it as it's doing no harm. I have trouble deciding on keeping comments and have only denied a few spammy ones.
That is up to you to whether you want to keep that comment or deny it.
Thanks for the input. I have only deleted one comment so far, and also prefer to just respond even if the comment disagrees with me.
I was mostly worried the site of his might be harmful or unrelated (you are braver than I for clicking that =p). He also only mentioned IRC in the first sentence or two, then went on to give thoughts on privacy and tracking of cell phones and IP address. I appreciate any different point of view, just not sure how much off topic to tolerate if only a portion of the comment is related to the hub.- 88
- Helen Cater
- 878 posts
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- Hubs: 46
- Followers: 290
Suspect20 wrote:
Thanks for the input. I have only deleted one comment so far, and also prefer to just respond even if the comment disagrees with me. I was mostly worried the site of his might be harmful or unrelated (you are braver than I for clicking that =p).
You are safe as it does not exist, maybe I was a little brave in doing so, but hey it was OK in the end and now at least you know it is dead.
96- darkside
- 4868 posts
- Joined: 3 years ago
- Hubs: 218
- Followers: 1172
You might want to look into how Google feels about Adsense ads being on webpages that promote Torrent Sites.
- 88
- Helen Cater
- 878 posts
- Joined: 5 months ago
- Hubs: 46
- Followers: 290
darkside wrote:
You might want to look into how Google feels about Adsense ads being on webpages that promote Torrent Sites.
Darkside you are full of so much useful info. Please explain Torrent sites as I am sure most of us have no clue.
- 96
- darkside
- 4868 posts
- Joined: 3 years ago
- Hubs: 218
- Followers: 1172
Helen Cater wrote:
darkside wrote:
You might want to look into how Google feels about Adsense ads being on webpages that promote Torrent Sites.
Darkside you are full of so much useful info. Please explain Torrent sites as I am sure most of us have no clue.
Torrent sites have links for downloads, typically pirated movies.
I wouldn't mind some elaboration on that also. About half of my hubs on hubpages are guides related to torrents. In none of my guides do I promote piracy or anything illegal. Are you making a very general comment on torrents in general or is there a specific point in any of my guides that you think is unethical?
I think torrents in general get a very bad reputation, and many people actually think they are illegal. A couple of my guides focus on this specific subject, and serve just to explain how torrents work (it is just a form of data transfer, nothing about it is any more illegal than hosting/sharing any file on the internet).
It seems reasonable to be able to discuss and inform others about how they actual work, and I was not aware of any rule against it. There is a significant difference between hosting and sharing information that is basically a "how to steal software and media" and what my guides contain.- 88
- Helen Cater
- 878 posts
- Joined: 5 months ago
- Hubs: 46
- Followers: 290
darkside wrote:
Helen Cater wrote:
darkside wrote:
You might want to look into how Google feels about Adsense ads being on webpages that promote Torrent Sites.
Darkside you are full of so much useful info. Please explain Torrent sites as I am sure most of us have no clue.
Torrent sites have links for downloads, typically pirated movies.
Thanks Darkside, and yes I can see now what you mean about this being bad for AdSense.
darkside wrote:
Helen Cater wrote:
darkside wrote:
You might want to look into how Google feels about Adsense ads being on webpages that promote Torrent Sites.
Darkside you are full of so much useful info. Please explain Torrent sites as I am sure most of us have no clue.
Torrent sites have links for downloads, typically pirated movies.
Most people associate torrents with the negative piracy aspect. This could turn into an entire new topic if I went into that though. My guides give no information on how to steal media. They simply explain how torrents transfer information, and how to set them up.
Two people can share any file over a torrent client. Torrents can be the only way for most people to find random foreign TV series (decades old) which are not even available to buy anywhere. They can (and are) used for countless reasons other than the over-publicized piracy cases.
But like I said, if there is some rule or official google comment related to torrents, I would love to read the exact wording of it. This is not something I was aware of, so any information would be appreciated.
95- Amanda Severn
- 436 posts
- Joined: 18 months ago
- Hubs: 51
- Followers: 389
I had a comment on my Lewes Bonfire hub this week which included a swear word. Other than obvious SPAM I never normally delete. The comment was actually quite funny, but I didn't like the swear word so I deleted. Was I right?
95- Lisa HW
- 2931 posts
- Joined: 2 years ago
- Hubs: 270
- Followers: 618
I think we have a right to have "standards" with regard to things like profanity or worse language. I've only gotten a few with really crude language, and I haven't approved them. (Then, of course, you get back the "free speech" complaint
) I just figure that between HubPages and Google most likely not being too thrilled with some language, there's the thing that I don't really want it with something I've written either.
What I struggle with are the links that go with some comments. Some are obvious "commercial" spam. Some actually look like someone thought their own Hub or blog relates to the Hub, so they look "spammish". I just kind of get irritated when people do that, though - maybe because I don't do it on other people's Hubs. Then I feel unfriendly for lumping them in with spam and not approving them.I tend to keep comments which support my hub, or give gainful discussion towards it.
Comments which are unreleated, or posted by someone who has not even read the article however, can be deleted.- 95
- Amanda Severn
- 436 posts
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- Hubs: 51
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Personally I never leave a link to one of my hubs without being invited to do so, though I might mention a related hub in a non-specific way. I think that's good manners. I agree that to come right out with a link straight away can look spammish.
96- rebekahELLE
- 1838 posts
- Joined: 5 months ago
- Hubs: 22
- Followers: 206
Amanda Severn wrote:
Personally I never leave a link to one of my hubs without being invited to do so, though I might mention a related hub in a non-specific way. I think that's good manners. I agree that to come right out with a link straight away can look spammish.
I think that's a good practice unless it's a site like a major newspaper where people generally are not going to go back to that article, if it relates, I leave a link.
In this case, obviously the commenter came in from the internet and felt this comment was relevant and left a link. It's your choice whether to leave it or spam it.
90- prettydarkhorse
- 3509 posts
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oh, how about putting a link to one of your articles, because the commenter asked for it...(havent put links in my hubs because I am still elarning how to put links? are you allowed to put links in the comments section?
- 95
- Amanda Severn
- 436 posts
- Joined: 18 months ago
- Hubs: 51
- Followers: 389
rebekahELLE wrote:
Amanda Severn wrote:
Personally I never leave a link to one of my hubs without being invited to do so, though I might mention a related hub in a non-specific way. I think that's good manners. I agree that to come right out with a link straight away can look spammish.
I think that's a good practice unless it's a site like a major newspaper where people generally are not going to go back to that article, if it relates, I leave a link.
In this case, obviously the commenter came in from the internet and felt this comment was relevant and left a link. It's your choice whether to leave it or spam it.Yes, the comment was from outside HubPages. And, yes, I'm happy to leave links to articles from outside HubPages in my comments, but I think uninvited self-promoting links can seem rude.
- 95
- Amanda Severn
- 436 posts
- Joined: 18 months ago
- Hubs: 51
- Followers: 389
prettydarkhorse wrote:
oh, how about putting a link to one of your articles, because the commenter asked for it...(havent put links in my hubs because I am still elarning how to put links? are you allowed to put links in the comments section?
Certainly, if it's requested. Just cut and paste your hubs address into the comments section with a suitable explanation.
86- BeccaHubbardWoods
- 176 posts
- Joined: 4 months ago
- Hubs: 29
- Followers: 97
The only comments I have denied were vulgar and disgusting about the man I was writing about. They were from the same girl and I didn't think they were appropriate and found them quite redundant. The self promotion thing I don't mind, especially if it coincides with the subject at hand. People who are already on your hub and are reading the comments aren't really lost to you because they're already there. No harm, no foul.
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