Do you enjoy your HubPages comments?

If you want to move or delete a hub, but would like to keep your hard earned comments, here is a way for you to import your HubPages comments into a WordPress page.

This is also useful for keeping a backup copy of your valuable HubPages comments.

The easiest way to get your HubPages comments is to write a PHP script to process your HubPages article. This requires that you have access to a web server that can run PHP scripts.

If you do not have access to a web server, or do not want to muck around with PHP code, then you are welcome to use the sample PHP code that I have written to get your HubPages comments.

Note that this sample code works as of the writing of this hub - July 24th 2009. If HubPages administration decides to change the internal format of their hubs, this sample PHP code may no longer operate properly. If you drop me a comment, I will try to make the necessary upgrades, as time permits.

Visit my example HubPages comments to WordPress comments application. [This link will open up the application in a new window]

All you have to do is type in the HubPages URL that you want to retrieve your comments from. Note that the hub has to be published or my script will not be able to access it.

After you enter in your HubPages URL, hit the Submit button.

After pressing the Submit button, you will see some plain text appear on your browser. This is the visual result of the WordPress XML file generated by the application. All you have to do is save that file -

1. Go to the file menu at the top of your browser.
2. Select the Save As option in IE or the Save Page As option in Firefox.
3. Enter in the filename you want to save your HubPages comments into. Make sure that you use a .xml file extension, i.e. filename.xml. For example, HPcomments.xml

This will save a copy of your HubPages comments to your local directory.

Note that some browsers may try to interpret the results of the XML file and display those results. If that happens, what you will see will be a string of text similar to what is shown below.

Do not be alarmed.

Just follow the same Save Page As procedure outlined above and save the contents into an XML file.

Next, log into your WordPress blog and go into your Dashboard. In the newer WordPress versions there should be a Tools Menu on your left sidebar (see above).Click on Tools then click on the Import option. Doing so will give you a list of different import formats to choose from.

Note - it is best if your hub title is not identical to any of your current WordPress pages. This will ensure that a new WordPress page is created to store all your newly imported HubPages comments. If there are any errors in the import process, you can simply delete the new WordPress page without any ill effects to your existing WordPress data.

To be on the safe side, you want to create a new, empty blog and only import the HubPages comment data into that empty blog in case there are any errors. Once you are happy with the results, you can re-import that information into the blog of your choice.

When you are ready to import your HubPages comments -

1. Pick the WordPress format. This will redirect you to a screen to load your WordPress import file.
   
2. Select the XML file that you just saved locally on your computer.
3. When you are directed to 'assign an author', pick the author of the new comment page that you are importing (e.g. yourself). Click on Submit.
   
4. After a while, WordPress should be done loading all your HubPages comments and you will get a screen showing you a summary of the import operation (below).
   

In the older WordPress versions, the import menu should be under the Manage tab.

One important thing to note is that you will not be able to retrieve your comment status and comment IP address information with the process outlined here.

The comment status and IP information is only available if you are logged into your HubPages account. Since my server does not have your HubPages account information, it cannot extract that information.

If you want to preserve your comment status and IP address information, then it is best to execute the PHP script from your own server.

You can now go into your newly created page and examine your imported HubPages comments.

If there are any errors, you can simply delete the new page that you created and drop me a comment to let me know what is not working.

Join HubPages and start making money with Google AdSense.