Does Votes Cost Money Around Here Now?

To vote or not? That is the question that has been on my mind for many months. I have wanted to write an article about voting to see what others think about the entire process. Personally, I vote a lot. Not always, but I can appreciate the time and effort that is put in one solid quality article. In this article, my purpose is to explore and research why people vote and why they do not.

When we explore the benefits of voting on someone's hub, we can clearly see how it would be beneficial to both parties. One clear choice is this phrase, "do onto others as you want done to you". If you vote for me, I will vote for you. Although very few would admit this, it is more then likely a common practice. I imagine that votes would help the overall score of your hub or article.

As most of us already know, we have the option to vote up a page or we can vote it down. When I think about it, we are given a fair amount of power over someone's work. An article that seems great to someone else may be worthless to another. The question is, does it mean that one is right to vote it down? So what causes someone to vote a page down?

• Length of article?
• Grammar errors?
• Punctuation mistakes?
• Misspellings?
• Bad placement of content?

In all honesty, any one of these can cause someone to vote your article down. But here again, we have to ask another question. Are these legit reasons to vote down an article or should we be helpful and tell them about their mistakes? We all find articles that have mistakes in them because we all make mistakes. Some hubbers put out articles like baked cookies. It is very easy to make an error. Personally, I appreciate anyone that picks up on my errors. It is always preferred that you send a personal email instead of leaving it in the comment box.

So what does it take to get your vote? I have read a variety of different hubs that were high quality articles, yet they were no votes. As all hubbers know, you can vote an article up and down, useful, beautiful, interesting, funny, and awesome. I will admit, some writers put out what is considered to be "low quality article". What is a low quality article? Here are some things that can cause a hub to be low quality.

• Low word count.
• Off topic.
• No associations with subject
• Grammar mistakes
• Punctuation errors
• Low quality pictures
• Listing to many products.

One good thing about Hubpages is that they have a built in system that automatically finds most of these errors and mistakes before you are allowed to publish an article. However, it isn't bullet proof. Low quality articles can still squeeze through the cracks and make its way online. To make sure your article is not low quality, you need to check the following things.

• Make sure your subject matches the content in the body of work.
• Make sure that there isn't any grammar mistakes.
• Make sure you pictures are high quality with good resolutions.
• Make sure you check your spelling.
• Make sure the length of your article is appropriate with the topic.
• Make sure your Ebay and Amazon products are appropriate with your article.
• Make sure you use multiple text capsules and title them so readers can find specific information in your article much easier.

If you make sure you commit to these steps, you are more likely to receive votes for your article and earn a higher hub score. Remember, when you choose a topic, you want to make sure a reader can find a host of information on your article. For example, if you are writing about the history of a World War II battle, you want to make sure you list as much information about the battle as possible. This is one advantage of choosing a topic that is specific and concentrates on one event or one source.

For anyone that has took the time to research, write and create an article, you know the time that you have put in just to create a single article. Some hubbers write articles with a wealth of information and knowledge. These articles just don't create themselves. Some articles take hours, days, weeks, and months to write. You have to give consideration and appreciation to any writer when they create an article. We can give this to them by voting on their article. At Hubpages, we can give someone the credit that they deserve by simply clicking on the appropriate button. It really isn't that hard at all and it is the right thing to do.

I know every article that is published doesn't deserve to be voted down the board. I am not telling you to vote for this one and that one. All I am saying is, if an article deserves it, please make sure you vote for it. This goes for any article that you read online. Take the time to appreciate someone's work and vote on it if you feel that it is worthy of your vote.

As most of us know, hubbers come and go. Personally, I am finding that I have very little time anymore to get online, write, and read my friend's articles. I try to show them all appreciation by voting on their hubs when they truly deserve the vote. One of the main reasons that I wrote this article came from an article I read many months ago. It was an article about the Civil War and it was a very good article. The layout, punctuation, grammar, spelling, length, and topic were all perfect. As I scrolled down the page, I noticed that it didn't have any votes. I was surprised to see 15 comments. At the very least, this was a useful article for anyone that would search for this specific topic. This is the exactly what I am talking about.

Taking the time to appropriate vote on someone's article doesn't cost us a dime. Furthermore, it is the right thing to do. As fellow writers, friends, and community, we should all strive to be helpful and appreciate each other's work.