Why this Interview? First I love to hear peoples opinions and thoughts doing interviews, but also this one, is, of particular interest to me.

I am fairly new here and wanted to know what drove other Hubbers and their opinions about their experiences and attitudes towards HubPages. That, and writing in general.

I was very lucky to get these 4 Hubbers who volunteered to help me. Combined, there is over 51/2 years experience ranging from 6 weeks to 3 years in memberships.

1. I have been looking for a long time for a writing community that a) had a lot of traffic and b) whose technology was user-friendly and c) whose memmbership was friendly and talented. I definitely found that here, which motivates me to stay. I enjoy seeing my portfolio build with the creation of each Hub...it's fun to assemble each capsule and I obtain a sense of satisfaction watching my collection of hubs grow with each passing day, as well as reading the comments and thoughts of my peers.
2. My motive for joining Hubpages was two-fold.  First, there happens to be a lot of information crammed in this huge skull of mine, and after reading a few hubs and realizing that Hubpages allows you to share revenue, I thought to myself – “Hey, Self, make some money and spill your guts!”  For me, hubbing is a hobby, a passion, a fun and super easy way to show off my writing talent.  When I look at the 250,000 someodd page views on my Hubs, I know that I’ve made some small impact on the internet, and that is pretty freakin cool!
3. I was making lenses at Squidoo when HubPages went into beta phase and was open to people to use and test the site. I heard it was similar but different from Squidoo and decided to give it a try. That was July 2006. What motivates me to stay is that I don't want to have a day job and I find it an excellent revenue stream. As someone who creates original writing and is not an affiliate marketer, HubPages offers a good platform
4. I had been aware of eZineArticles for about 4 months, and was contemplating posting there, when I stumbled on HubPages. HubPages seemed easy to use and much more flexible in many ways by comparison. I read HP help files, hubs and forum posts for about 4 weeks before joining. I then read another week before I published my first hub. I do find it appealing that in 6 to 12 months I might be making $100 to $200 a month passive income from my articles. I’ve read enough to project that, at best I may earn $100 to $500 a month. I’m not interested in the efforts I’d have to make, nor the direction I would have to take, to make $1000 to $2000 a month. I’m more interested in writing about those things I’m passionate about. I feel that my head is brimming with great, practical information and I want to get it out there for people to read. There was no way this could happen when I was working 75 hours a week. Approaching my military retirement I decided to take a drastic step. I vowed I would go into debt if I had to, not take another job for at least 6 to 12 months, and focus on my health, and write. I had thought about writing a self help book, but the prospect seemed overwhelming. HubPages writing is helping me to learn how to break things into manageable chunks for me to write, as well as for people to read. HubPages is also helping me develop a reputation outside of the military. I already have fans who follow and support me. I have “testimonials” if I need them, to promote myself for consulting or speaking engagements. Writing for HubPages is very gratifying and motivating.

1. I've been writing since I was in elementary school. I did a lot more fiction writing when I was younger. I was one of the editors of my high school paper and in a piece in the yearbook where someone imagined what everyone would be doing twenty years later, they said I'd be a writer. I applied for and was accepted to the Clarion Writer's Workshop the summer of 1989, and had such notable writers as Octavia Butler and Spider Robinson as some of my teachers that summer. Hugo-award winner Ted Chiang was one of my classmates. If by "writing publicly" you mean letting others read my writing, that's been going on just about always. I mean, how else are you going to get better? I've now been writing on the Internet for just over eleven years.
2. I guess it depends on how you define writing. About 2000, I got thrown in to the deep end of the pool quite unexpectedly and found myself writing numerous military awards/recognition packages and military performance reports. I started developing a good reputation for this. I have also created educational handouts for patients and gotten a lot of good feedback from these. Clients would say things like “you write just like you talk”, or say that I explained things in a way they could understand, and ask “where were you 5 years ago?” I joined my local Writers Guild about 6 months ago. I stumbled on HubPages 6 weeks ago.
3. I have been writing for over 10 years, as a technical writer, and creatively writing all of my life. I have been publicly writing for about 5 years, but felt that site owners were making money off of my (and others') creativity, so I sought a site where I could earn money AND enjoy creative writing all at once!

4. I have been writing publicly from basically day one, beginning with poetry from about age 10 onward.  I wrote fiction and, upon reaching my teenage years, sappy love poems and stories about girls who were totally not me but what I wished to become.  So, for me, I’ve been “out” for almost 18 years.

   
   

1. I think that Hubpages is fairly unique in a way as pertains to networking and making friends.  For instance, one can learn a great deal about a perspective friend and colleague by reading the hubs they’ve written, comments left, and even forum posts.  Gaining readership is simple, based on writing good content and, for most folks, not being a total dirt bag, unless your name is Mark Knowles.  ;-)
2. I started connecting with other hubbers shortly after I started publishing my own hubs. I contacted hubbers as a courtesy to ask about linking their related hub to one of mine, and this started some friendships with fairly regular contact by email. Similarly I’ve connected to hubbers through the forums or through commenting on others’ hubs. I’d say I now have a core of hubber friends who regularly read and comment on my hubs. This despite me neglecting many of my friends during the week of the healthcare HubMob!
3. A few. I tend to be more reserved than most people (online). If I have a "readership", I am extremely flattered about that, and hope I don't say anhthing in the forums to alienate anyone ;)
4. I don't make a lot of comments, but I do get a fair amount from other readers. Only about 25% of the comments actually have any substance, most are just a pat "nice hub" sort of response, which I don't find very engaging. When the site first started, the comments and interactions between site users was much more genuine. Now sadly, the bulk of it seems to be people begging for fans or trying to get backlinks.

1. Some sort of policy change that I felt was a breach of my personal ethics, or the sale of the company to owners I didn't feel I wanted to support might be the sort of thing that would cause me to leave. I can't say for sure, as this is only a hypothetical imagining. One thing that does keep me here is that I get to retain any and all copyright to my writing. I've written for sites that retain partial rights or sole rights, and I just don't do that anymore.

2. I would have to seriously consider pulling out of HubPages if the rules changed and I no longer had control of my work. I like that I can edit a piece, continue to improve and develop a piece, or even remove that piece. Even though I have not yet applied for affiliates (I’m still “developing my web presence”.), I would have to re-group and re-consider remaining at HP if the possibility of earning passive income disappeared.

3. I can't think of anything drastic enough that would make me leave HubPages, but if I did I would close my account and remove all of my hubs because when I am done with something, I like to put it behind me.

4. I would stop Hubbing altogether if my house was on fire and both my arms were broken. I really cannot think of a single event that would cause me to leave the site. If I did choose to stop actively writing for any length of time I would keep the account open to continue to gain revenue.

   
   

1. My one and only suggestion would be to tighten the restriction on “photo gallery” hubs, and following that same vein, ban the individuals whose primary purpose on Hubpages is to distribute those pictures.  It is a belief I keep mostly silent about since my Adsense account was the target of publisher ID fraud and malicious clicks in the thousands, but nonetheless, it is something I think is a REAL problem on the site.
2. I honestly can't think of anything that needs improvement.
3. The only area of the site which I find pretty deplorable is the forums. The spam, sock puppet action and lack of decorum in some topics really casts a pall on the reputation of the site as a whole. I actually miss the days of the first year of the site when there were no forums at all.
4. Never ask an occupational therapist for just ONE anything. So I’m pushing the limits here with 4 things.

• My first I’ve already submitted to the Hub Team and they’re exploring options. I’d like for it to be easier for new hubbers to find the truly beginner level “How to Hub” hubs.
• I’d like some means internal to HP for signaling other hubbers that I’ve made a comment specific to them on a forum thread or I’ve answered their comments on my hubs with specific comments or suggestions to them. Otherwise it’s chance as to whether the person gets the message, or I’d have to go to their profile and create a contact message. It’d be nice to have something to click so that the hubber gets a notification to go back to that forgotten forum thread or hub comment.
• It would also be nice to have a “folder” where I could track and stay on top of my “reciprocal” reading and commenting, on my hubber friends’ and my fans’ hubs.
• I’d like a chronological listing of hubbers’ hubs. Maybe even allow hubbers to list certain groupings of their hubs chronologically. Some hubbers have stories that have a beginning, middle, and [hopefully never] an end. It’s sometimes difficult to tell where to start reading.

Thank you again, Rmcrayne, Relache, Cosette, and Gamegirl. You were a big help and an inspiration.

It would be nice if you readers could drop by and leave them a comment on how well they did and all on their own time, no benefit or compensation.

Until our next Hubber Interview-and I have already got you in mind, be safe, Happy Hubbing and thanks again to these 4 Hubbers.