Hubpages need to tighten on hubs quality

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   dwachiraposted 11 years ago

   I have encountered a very poorly written hub, the spelling and grammar was bad and the sentences were incomprehensible. The hub has less than 300 words in total including the title (268 words exactly) and has more than 15 none-English words. I had to check the hubber profile; the hubber has 12 published articles, none featured (including this particular one) and has a hubber score of less than 25. This hub was published less than 8 hours ago and has a hub score of 56 at the time of posting this thread. What bothers me more is that two of my articles were listed on the - Discover More Hubs - section together with this article.
   
   Is Hubpages still keen on quality? I rarely flag down hubs when I hubhop but I had to flag down this one and report it to Hubpages, i hope something will be done. I love writing on HP and I would like to see Hubpages command more authority with quality content. We have different writing abilities and I do not mean the quality of my articles is the best here but if we do not improve on hub quality, HP will not rank any better and that will affect all of us.

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      Mark Ewbieposted 11 years agoin reply to this

      If the hubs are not featured, they are not indexed and so Google doesn't see them.  Meanwhile, the poor hubs can be improved by the writer until they either give up, or they are good enough to get featured.
      
      I think HubPages have it under control.  There is still a huge backlog of rubbish to clear up, and who is to say what Google is really up to - but if they are not featured.... don't worry.

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      1. 81

         dwachiraposted 11 years agoin reply to this

         Google is a good yard stick to measure content authority but won't it be even better if we can keep our in house cleaner, Google or no Google? None featured hubs  are still visible to Hubpages fans; hubbers and visitors. My point is even if these low quality hubs are not featured they add up to the heaps of rubbish in HP which is no good.

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            Mark Ewbieposted 11 years agoin reply to this

            Fair point.  I don't know how HP are going to police millions of pages - but yes, it would be good if everything was decent quality.  It is in their interests as well as ours.

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         2. 83

            Simone Smithposted 11 years agoin reply to this

            We do still have publishing standards, in addition to standards determining what is and what is not Featured, and though I cannot verify this without asking a moderator to review the Hub you mention, it does sound like something that will be unpublished once moderators review your report, so I'm glad you reported it!
            Quality is important to us, even amongst Hubs that are not Featured, and our publishing standards are still definitely being enforced.

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            1. 81

               dwachiraposted 11 years agoin reply to this

               Thanks Simone, i know HP has to deal with thousands of articles on its screening part for quality. I hope more will be done on low quality articles because this will be for the better of us all.

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         3. 93

            drmiddlebrookposted 11 years agoin reply to this

            I'm so glad to know that Hubbers are reporting bad hubs. I tend to read the Hubs of those I'm following, and I only follow people whose writing I enjoy reading. If I should happen to run across very low quality Hubs in the future, I will definitely flag them, as you have. Thanks for setting a good example for others to follow. Quality is something that must concern all of us.

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      2. 0

         Motown2Chitownposted 11 years agoin reply to this

         Love the new look, Ewbie. 
         
         And, to the OP, I agree with Mark.  There is still so much to clean up on the site and it's happening slowly, but surely.  I often see hubbers, new and otherwise, say that they are reluctant to flag hubs when hopping or just when going through what's out there.  Don't be!  With the volume of material on HP, it's possible that staff will never see it if you don't flag it and bring it to their attention.
         
         Also, in terms of ensuring quality, we all have the ability and the responsibility to help folks out by flagging, rating, etc...  Trust your gut.  If it seems really bad - it most likely is.  Flag it. 
         
         

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   2. 0

      summerberrieposted 11 years agoin reply to this

      I would not like to have a hub of such low standard linked to my hubs either. I did not think hubs which were not featured would be linked to other hubs. For me this was one of the great advantages of hubs being Un-featured is they would not be displayed at the bottom of quality hubs In Discover More Hubs. Well, I guess that was hopeful thinking. I've come across some pathetic hubs linked there. Personally, I wish the Discover More Hubs thingy was gone, but that is probably a bit of selfish thinking.
      
      Mark Ewbie- I like your new avatar. Just when I decide to go monochrome, the fashion fad changes. Now it seems a pop of color is vogue.

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         Mark Ewbieposted 11 years agoin reply to this

         Thanks you and Motown.  I just thought it stood out quite nicely. Now I discovered Paint can do colors (who knew?) the world is my lobster.

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            summerberrieposted 11 years agoin reply to this

            You are quite welcomed! On a personal note. Do your stickfigures get tummy aches when you run them through paint? Are you sure this is humane treatment of stickfigures?

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               Mark Ewbieposted 11 years agoin reply to this

               None of them have complained so far. I think they like the attention.  A 2d life can be a little flat.

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                  Beth37posted 11 years agoin reply to this

                  Mark! You have colored yourself!

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                     summerberrieposted 11 years agoin reply to this

                     He likes to color  outside the lines

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                        Beth37posted 11 years agoin reply to this

                        Ive noticed!

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   3. 81

      dwachiraposted 11 years agoin reply to this

      Checking on the said article today (about one day after) the article is unpublished. Most likely HP alerted the author or the author got the cue and did what was necessary. And it works, if we all insist on quality, it will happen and we'll be one happy family of hubbers. Thank you HP!

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2. 0

   allfitnessguyposted 11 years ago

   I have come across a few really bad articles while hub-hopping too. I think we all have a part to play in ensuring that quality articles are seen here on Hubpages, hence the hub-hopping feature. It seems to me that Hubpages have got it all under control because I have never come across a poor quality hubpages article while surfing the internet.

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   1. 81

      dwachiraposted 11 years agoin reply to this

      I believe Hubpages have got it all under control but like i said, HP does have fan readers and visitors who come directly to HP and not necessarily landing from search engines. That is why we need to maintain in-house quality too.

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         TIMETRAVELER2posted 11 years agoin reply to this

         There is no way that a small staff such as the one HP has can monitor thousands of articles.  As hubbers, we have a responsibility to flag hubs we do not feel meet the basic standards HP requires.  With all of us looking and flagging, the site will continue to improve.  It's the only way we can attain higher ratings with Google and create a quality product.

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3. 59

   sleepylogposted 11 years ago

   I like to hub hop, it allows me to have a say as about the quality of recently published hubs. If I think a hub is particularly bad I report it.

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4. 83

   heidithorneposted 11 years ago

   I'm, of course, concerned about quality issues on HP like the rest of the conscientious writers on this forum. And, yes, if I see something particularly awful, I will flag it! (Reminds me that I have to do some hub hopping.)
   
   But one thing that we have to remember is that each of our individual pages is technically a separate sub-site. I consider HP a platform, similar to WordPress or social media. To say that HP is bad or low quality, would be akin to saying that WordPress, Twitter and Facebook are low quality because there are some real knuckleheads using those sites (trust me, there are!). I'm using HP as a publishing tool and directing traffic to MY articles, articles of other quality hubbers AND my other web properties.
   
   I wouldn't be too concerned about the "you might also like" suggestions. Have you seen some of the "you might also like" suggestions on social media? Hilarious! I wouldn't connect with some of those... ever!
   
   That being said, I'm hoping, too, that the HP algorithms will evolve to help weed out the low quality stuff. In the meantime, I'm focusing on my making my corner of the HP universe the best there is and reporting offenders as I discover them.

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5. 93

   jansharesposted 11 years ago

   I'm beginning to tire of the confusion and inconsistencies around quality, participation, and hubberscore as well. I am feeling a little frustrated right now, after
   
   a) using the hub hopper to help out and assess hubs,
   b) participating in forums and helping out new hubbers,
   c) reading and commenting on hubs of fellow hubbers, both randomly and my followers,
   c) traffic increasing nicely,
   d) tweaking and editing my hubs to make them better, and
   e) seeing hub scores increase (one at 100)
   - - - all of this activity just this morning, only to see my hubberscore drop 3 points within a couple hours. I'm tired, need to take a break.

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      heidithorneposted 11 years agoin reply to this

      @janshares Time to go get a Starbucks! Don't despair. We see the same stuff happening in the non-HP Internet universe, too. Do a fab blog post, see your Alexa.com rating drop by 10K. It happens. The Internet is fluid and ever changing. Hang in there!

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      1. 93

         jansharesposted 11 years agoin reply to this

         Thank you, heidithorne, for your support. I feel better already just reading your post. It also helped to step away, go to private practice and have a great  session with a young couple. Just got home, will fix dinner and chill.

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   2. 60

      Mark Ewbieposted 11 years agoin reply to this

      Ignore hubberscore. It only irritates.  It is also not directly connected to recent activity - otherwise people could more easily game it.  Therefore it is more likely that it looks at a window of activity a few days earlier - I have said too much.
      
      Being 100 means you will be more likely to get copied.  It may give you some minute internal lift but internal traffic is worth nothing.
      
      I can't say it any other way.  Ignore the thing.

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         jansharesposted 11 years agoin reply to this

         Thank you, Mark. I needed to do something this morning that I never do - vent. Thank you for helping me get my perspective back. I will let hubberscore go once and for all . . . I mean for now.

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      summerberrieposted 11 years agoin reply to this

      It can literally drive one bonkers. I for one wish they'd not show hubber scores. If they need it for internal  administrative reasons then let only the administrative people "see" the score. Or at least give us the option to have it "hidden" from us.
      
      In the meantime, I'd recommend this GREAT hub by a fellow hubber friend .
      http://janshares.hubpages.com/hub/How-T … nce-Within

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         jansharesposted 11 years agoin reply to this

         Ha ha ha summerberrie. I will make sure to read it and inwardly digest it. Good one, my friend.

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      dwachiraposted 11 years agoin reply to this

      @janshares, hubberscore has this habit of turning the other way just when you think it is about to dance to your rhythm and tempo. The best weapon i have discovered against hubberscore and its irritating moments is what Ewbie has discovered too ..ignore, ignore and ignore

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         jansharesposted 11 years agoin reply to this

         I have promised myself before to ignore. But you know how the need to achieve and be acknowledged can just take over and cause neurotic hubber ranting?  Well . . .  I will take your advice and stick to it this time.

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      sleepylogposted 11 years agoin reply to this

      @janshares
      I have found that the more I do in trying to improve my hubscore, the more it drops. I think this is HP's way of making sure that people don't abuse the system just to improve their scores. Some might just indiscriminately hubhop without putting much thought or effort into it, others might just leave very brief comments in hubs, forums and answers that are of no real benefit to anyone but they hope that doing so will be seen as participating in the community.  I find just doing a couple of these things each day helps my score remain somewhat consistent but when I start going crazy hopping hubs and leaving lots of comments then my hubber score does go down. It never takes long for it to increase again though.

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         jansharesposted 11 years agoin reply to this

         Thanks, sleepylog. Great advice. Sometimes I see something I think is great and want to read and comment, so I do. When I use the hub hopper, I usually do three then exit, maybe once a week or less. I will pay attention to consistency. You're right about the decrease after activity. This is not the first time this happened to me but today, I let it get the best of me. I appreciate the advice and support.

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