Banned from HubPages
77OK, So I got Banned
Logged on to HubPages this morning, checked HubTivity, zeroed in on a request for help from a fellow hubber. Clicked on Reply;
Sorry, you are not allowed to make forum posts.
Contact team@hubpages.com if you have any questions.
Here's the boilerplate email that I received:
We regret to inform you that you have been banned from the HubPages
forums
for a period of 3 days. This is because of personal attacks,
which are
against our Terms Of Service, and make the HubPages forums a
hostile and
unfriendly place. We appreciate your understanding, and
want you to know
that you are not being singled out -- other people
are being banned as
well.
--
Thanks,
Team HubPages
It's All Good
In my ongoing effort to by just like my mentor, Hal Licino, I will squeeze a hub or three out of this experience. I may never go back to the forums again, but I'll continue publishing hubs. That's where the cash flows.
Sharing my feelings
Perhaps I can get a paragraph from my feelings. I feel annoyed. That's about it. Sorry for the short paragraph.
Who's mad at me?
Somebody in authority at HubPages thinks I personally attacked, thereby creating hostility and/or unfriendliness in the HubPages forums. We'll probably never know who or why, so I'll speculate why and I don't care about the who. I've always made a point of avoiding name calling in my posts. I've not referred to anyone as stupid, as being from another planet, or as ignorant. I've never questioned someone's credentials. Oddly enough, I've been called stupid, I've been asked what planet I was from, and I've been called a liar in reference to my level of education (which is clearly posted in my profile).
Through it all, I never felt threatened or unsafe at any time.
If someone thinks I pooped in the sandbox, I accept that. It would be nice to know precisely how they formed that opinion, but my life goes on either way.
Feel free to leave comments here. As long as you avoid profanity, I'll gladly allow you to have your say. If I read your cussin', I'll click Deny and you'll have to try again. No one will ever be banned from my Hubs.
Where do I stand?
Call me Ishmael the Conservative, but you probably already knew that. I believe in personal freedom and small government. I believe the government has become too intrusive on our daily lives and virtually every elected official at the federal level has betrayed us.
I believe you have the human rights of life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness (plagiarized, yes). That's all the government owes you. You don't have the right to free health care, free food, free housing, free school lunches, free college, free transportation, Those things don't exist anyway.
I believe that there is no nobility whatsoever in configuring the government to confiscate wealth in order to provide free stuff to someone else. Donating to charity is noble, voting yourself another citizen's money facilitates tyranny.
I believe that Liberals think they know what is best for everyone else, especially the poor. A prime example is their attitude toward Rush Limbaugh. A typical Liberal will say that Mr. Limbaugh misleads millions of people, implying that they are not smart enough to see through his supposed ruses. Their logical conclusion is that those millions desperately need Liberals to rescue them.
A Prime Example of a poor Liberal debater
Consider the case of the WHO survey that ranked the United States 37th in "Health Care". Here's the link:
http://www.photius.com/rankings/healthranks.html
Now, some unfortunate Liberal in a HubPages forum tried to use this 'fact' as an argument for socialized medicine. I researched the rankings and discovered the WHO spreadsheet serving as the basis for our poor showing. The spreadsheet contained a set of incomprehensible headings over columns of numbers with no units or any other explanation whatsoever. I politely requested an explanation from my Liberal foil. Naturally, all I received was an assertion that I should accept the numbers and respect the source. We went back and forth, me asking for clarification and they obfuscating. They simply couldn't support their position. Perhaps they felt unsafe and threatened, I dunno.
Fair warning; I'll do the the same thing to you if you put that silly survey in my face. I'm not hostile, just anal.
No Freedom of Speech Here
This sandbox belongs to the good folks at HubPages Incorporated. We are not hubbing in a democracy. There's a Hubtator and he/she makes the HubRules. We Hubbers are crucial but not irreplaceable.
Be completely pragmatic. Calculate your value to the Hub collective. Multiply your monthly earnings by .67. Roughly, you contribute that much to the bottom HubLine. I have no idea if the KingHubber considers this when he/she issues a HubBan. I would!
In my humble opinion we get quite a bit for kicking in 40% of our earnings. Having publishing priveleges on a web site with a Page Rank of 7 is no small thing. Even my reactionary left-brained ramblings get indexed by Google. Even I make a little money.
Do you disagree with me?
If you disagree with me, I am happy to hear you out. I'll not call you names. You probably won't feel safe arguing with me because I'll dismantle your points with facts and figures. My experience on HubPages is that no Liberal can hang with me.
No hostility intended.
Sorry, but that's been my experience. Eventually they all get frustrated and resort to ad hominem attacks or anecdotal evidence. They argue with emotion, not logic. They can't support their positions rationally. That's why Air America went bankrupt anyway. Liberal politics don't stand up to public debate.
Follow Up
My ban ended almost a week ago. I've resisted the urge to participate in the forums since my reinstatement. I don't miss it all that much; somewhere there's a liberal who can treat with me, but probably not on HubPages. ;)
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Comments
Right now I am just thankful we are not getting all the government we are paying for. Didn't your daddy ever teach you not to discuss religion or politics in the house among friends or guests? LOL I don't know what happened but this is what, the second time in about a month now? Maybe stay away from those threads for a month or so. Ahh, who am I kiddin', you love it.
nicomp...first, change your nom de guerre..you most definetly are not a nincompoop...I have followed your commentary in the various forums and you always respond with lucidity, intelligence, factual statements, and clarity, mixed with a lot of humor...I love reading the liberals as they do a slow boil and balk at any pretence of intelligent discourse...Don't leave the forums...your presence is refreshing and at time illuminating...Larry
Wow Wow Wow. Thanks for the great feedback!
As a fellow former Bannee, I applaud your efforts in the forums to try and bring fact to such convoluted reasoning, having said that I personally like slinging crap at the other monkeys! Come on back after the 3 days and start all over, wouldn't be as much fun without you!
Just adding my support to this hub so that I too can be tagged as a malcontent and added to Hub Santa's naughty book.
By the way, I disagree with some of your views on welfare. I think that no-one should be left to starve, or homeless, or sick. Regrettably, in the present economy (and most recent ones) there are not enough jobs to go round, and a form of state support - welfare if you wish - is required.
The altruism of voluntary donations is a pleasant thought, but the truth of many of them as that they're made for tax concessions, and in times of hardship, such as now, such generosity is notably absent.
I could carry on over this matter with some feeling, but I have to go in a few minutes to receive an assisted medical examination so I may get a small supplement for my government pension. This may offend your principles, however as I've paid into these schemes compulsorily all my adult life, (and still am) I feel it's my right to try and get a little of my investment back.
Best wishes,
The Ornery old Fart.
I can't imagine you being hostile or unfriendly Nicomp! Is there an appeal process you can go through?
On the topic of government support, having worked with intellectually disabled adults and seen the hardship some ageing parents go through, I believe there is a place for welfare. I also experienced, however, first-hand how so-called government funded do-good institutions can become self-fulfilling and lose sight of their mission and for whom they're resources were created in the first place.
@The Old Firm: I agree that no one should be left to starve or go homeless if they are unable to care for themselves.
@psychicdog.net: Thanks for the kind words. I emailed the head Hubbers as to why I was banned, but they have not responded. I am much more concerned why my hubs are not being indexed.
A truly enjoyable post!
Thanks, Dave! Your site rocks. Love the domain name.
Dear Nicomp,
Getting banned from the forums isn't so bad if it means you write more hubs. Great hub!
@breakfastpop: I agree. I may never go back to the forums anyway. Hopefully this will be more profitable if my hubs ever get indexed.
Nicomp, I wonder if there is any way to get the Hubpage staff to give you a link to the exact spot where you supposedly violated the terms of service. That at least would give you some idea what to avoid saying!
Nicomp, I don't always agree with your points,especially around health care. But that's probably because I have lived all of my life in places where there is some form of government sponsored health care and despite its problems it seems to work for most countries. Having said that, you have the right to your opinions. To be denied the opportunity to express them as you see fit (provided you are within the bounds of civility) is clearly wrong. If, as seems possible, you have been banned from the forums because your opinions do not concur with the Hubmeister's, there is clearly something wrong in the hubworld. Keep hubbing, your fans will read you here.
Excellent article
Aww Too bad - I can see you are confused and upset, but I am pretty sure you got banned for being an annoying troll. LOL
I was banned for responding to one of the other trolls who also appears to be banned now.
Are you sure you weren't banned for misinformation and BS? Cause you are pretty good at telling half truths and outright lies too.
Although logic is obviously important in a discussion, it would be quite boring and pointless without emotion. I may be what you call a "liberal" but I haven't resorted to attacks or empty evidence. Chin up, we'll see you back soon. In the mean time, just keep writing good hubs :)
It is all about who complains to the staff. I had a Hub removed completely one day out of the clear blue, AFTER it had been up a month and had 500 views and 100 comments, 97 of which were positive. I got no explanation other than I had violated TOS. I had a photo of an aborted baby on there; I removed it; and voila! My Hub was back on line. It seems the Lefties specialize in whining—no surprise, right? I guess the bottom line was it's OK to do it but not to see it. uh huh
I not sure but I think we talked a few times. I'm one of those emotional liberals you talk about. I'll argue with you whether or not my arguments are logical. But I think banning people is wrong. This is the first blog I ever joined. I thought this was the one place you had freedom to express yourself. I did not get banned yet. I gonna to be as careful as I can be, and still try to express myself. It's a shame, I had sooooo much fun P ing off people. Welcome back!!! Hope we argue soon.
"Are you sure you weren't banned for misinformation and BS? Cause you are pretty good at telling half truths and outright lies too."
Nah... that's not it. All of them would have been banned by now.
@Friendlyword: We'd all be banned, except LimaBean. :)
Update: I've been reinstated to publishing privileges in the forums. Still no word from the HubGods as to why I was banned: no response to any of my email inquiries has been forthcoming.
I'm just a harmless little fuzzball.
uncle...;)
@megs78: good one!
:)...I tried to leave just a smiley face, but Hubpages advised me that "your comment is rather short" so here you go...:)
i have been banned because i have made many mistakes and also used many website in it
Being banned for 3 days.... I find the premise quite funny and seemingly childish on their part, join me in a laugh!
It has resulted in you gaining at least 1 more reader as I enjoy someone that can get under the skin of the powers that be, or maybe it was just a whiner that squeaked so loud in their ear they used you for grease?LOL
Great approach, keep up the good work.
nicomp - you are hilarious on the Forums sometimes and have made me laugh out loud way more than once! Don't you even think of leaving. They would be a lot duller without you. As for being banned, it seems sort of random to me. No one is ever allowed to learn from their mistakes in that they're never told what they did!! Kinda like mommy and daddy saying "because I said so". If they're going to "parent" us at least they could be good at it. Welcome back :)
Personally, I like a forum where all points of view are debated, and I'm sorry to hear your particular voice was arbitrarily removed. For whatever it's worth, I don't agree with this action.
@lmmartin: Thanks, I agree with you. I've never suggested anyone should be silenced. I've never engaged in name calling and oddly enough I've never received a response from the HubCrew as to why I was banned. Since then I've stopped posting to forums completely.
Hi Nicomp,
I'm chuckling that Hal Licino is your role model. Does he ever post in the forums? Wouldn't that cut down on his amazing productivity? 12 hubs a 1/2 hour without spamming -- now that's a neat trick!
In all seriousness, tho, sorry you got slapped on the wrist.
Welcome back from banishment....
And for what it's worth, I have never found the delivery of your viewpoints in any way objectionable. The views themselves... well, let's just say agree to disagree:-)! Lurv ya you crazy equine creature you, MM
I've just been banned from posting on forums. I thought I was following HubPages advice:
"Congratulations! You wrote a great hub that has been chosen to be put on our HubNugget Wannabe list!"
"Remember to promote your work to get lots and lots of votes. It's perfectly legitimate! Promote your Hub like crazy anywhere and everywhere that you can, just please do not place your link in the HubPages forum or the HubNuggets hub." Well, silly me, I forgot to read the last sentence and I went and did just that: placed my link in the HubPages forums!!
As to HubPages not being democratic, I think they are. If we agree to the rules, we should not break them.
@Sue Adams: Bummer. At least you know why you got banned, that's a start. I still have no idea. At this point I don't care much anymore; I'm more concerned about why many of my hubs aren't getting indexed.
What do you mean indexed?
@Sue Adams: "Indexed" means that Google has added the page to their search engine. If that doesn't happen, everything else is moot because no one will know the page exists unless they search Hubpages for it.
Update: This page has been index by Yahoo but not by Google. Is anyone has a clue as to why, I'd love to hear from you.
I have my own input to add re: the forums - after being insulted to the point of (almost) quitting by some of the comments I personally received when I asked questions, I can't imagine anyone getting banned if a few people who will remain nameless did not! I have decided to never visit the forums again for that reason as I felt that some of the answers I got were totally smug and arrogant not to mention insulting to my intelligence - especially since I added the caveat that HEY - I'M NEW - if I wanted to get beaten up, I'd go back to my childhood! I am still unsure myself as to where this all goes and what is the point but I guess for now I will keep on writing and hope for the best! I do appreciate folks that have the courage to speak up, however! Audrey
@akirchner: Thanks for writing. Sounds like you took some serious abuse.
I still don't know why I was banned. I think I called Mark Knowles a troll once or twice, but beyond that I have no idea.
dipping my foot in the forums, I learned very quickly to stay away. There are people there who think their shit don't stink just because they've been here longer or have more hubs than me. Anyways, I recently had a run-in with Officer Hub which I wrote about. Apparently, you also have to be careful not to hurt anyone's feelings in your own hubs. Good read nicomp.
@Set's All Set: Thanks. I still haven't received an explanation for my banishment.
jiberish says:
2 months ago
Well Nicomp I spend a few hours reading through the forum to see what happened, and the last place you showed up was in the 1st Woman President. There was no profanity, there was no maliciousness, it was a civil discussion with the other person running out of steam. I have spoken to other Hubbers in the past who experienced this, and you are right in saying, that this is a privately owned company, and who ever they choose to support is their right. See you in a couple days. Chin Up, and all that stuff.