Make the Learning Center Easier for Newbies and Others to Find

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   PegCole17posted 10 years ago

   It might help improve the quality of our content if access to the Learning Center was more obvious. It used to be available from a drop down menu. Now, you have to go to Help and look for it.
   
   Incidentally, I ran across a minor typo in the Learning Center under "How To Create Successful Online Content - HubPages Style Guide and Helpful Writing Tips - Proper Use of Capitalization in Titles and Subtitles". The word comprable should be comparable.
   
   Sorry, I just can't help myself. It's the old business school teacher in me, I'm sure.
   

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      The Examiner-1posted 10 years agoin reply to this

      Perhaps it was there on purpose Peg.

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         PegCole17posted 10 years agoin reply to this

         Yeah, that's the ticket. It was a trick question. Okie dokey.
         P

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            The Examiner-1posted 10 years agoin reply to this

            As soon as I found FAQ and Learning Center I bookmarked them to make them easier to find.

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               PegCole17posted 10 years agoin reply to this

               Good idea, The Examiner-1. We used to have a bookmark feature on HP but it got deleted a while back.
               

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                  Matthew Meyerposted 10 years agoin reply to this

                  Every browser has a bookmark feature that you can use.

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                     PegCole17posted 10 years agoin reply to this

                     Thanks, Matthew. I was not hoping for the return of the bookmark feature, only making the point that things move around and/or change.
                     Peg

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                     moonlakeposted 10 years agoin reply to this

                     They do and I bookmark lots of sites, when I want to go there again I can't find them. That's what happens when I bookmark the Learning Center. It would be nice to look up and see it in explore. Just click and your there. Just a thought.

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      Christy Kirwanposted 10 years agoin reply to this

      Hi Peggy,
      
      Thanks for the heads up! I've just corrected the typo in the Learning Center.
      
      Currently, all new users are sent to the Learning Center directly after signing up, but we struggle with the desire to make that information easily accessible without overwhelming newbies with a huge amount of recommended reading before they've had the chance to explore. It's possible that we will make it more obvious again at some point in the future if/when we do another site redesign, and we're currently working on a few ways to make the new user experience smoother in other ways as well.

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         PegCole17posted 10 years agoin reply to this

         Hi Christy, I'm getting a fresh perspective on the inner workings out here since my brother has just started writing and he's asking all sorts of questions. Things that seem obvious to me are not as obvious to new users. The amount of knowledge we acquire comes in bits and pieces over time or we do feel totally overwhelmed.
         
         There are other sites where I no longer write because their format is unwieldy and difficult to use. It's not that way here but still there are things to learn. I do remember when the Learning Center was on a drop down menu and pretty easy to find.
         
         Thanks for taking care of that minor typo. I hope you don't mind my mentioning it. Cheers.

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         brakel2posted 10 years agoin reply to this

         When I was new, I printed about ten pages about starting to write a hub. The printed material was the most helpful aid to my learning about HubPages. I kept the reading material right by my computer, and copied more later as the need arose. Maybe that suggestion might help someone.

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            PegCole17posted 10 years agoin reply to this

            Thanks Brakel2, I like to print out my articles, as well. It makes the typos jump off the page.
            Nice of you to share what works for you.
            Peg

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      Phyllis Doyleposted 10 years agoin reply to this

      Surely newbies, and anyone who needs a question answered, knows what a 'help' button is for.  When one clicks on 'help' at the top far right of all pages, it takes you to a page where up front in the first paragraph is FAQ and The Learning Center links prominently displayed and highlighted. 
      
      So many people want everything so easy and right at their fingertips without having to look for anything, especially most newbies.  I have even seen many forum posts from newbies who state they are new and asking for help to know what to write about or how to write.  A lot of people are just  plain lazy.
      
      To ask HP to continually make it EASY for everyone for everything is a bit overdone.  If people take more responsibility to learn and find things then HP might have more time for more important things.

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         PegCole17posted 10 years agoin reply to this

         Interesting point of view, Phyllis. Seek and ye shall find, that's true. Answers are available and sure, it is easy, once you find your way. Maybe it's not as obvious to others as it is to you. There is so much to absorb when folks first join the site. Sometimes they're just looking for reassurance.

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            Au faitposted 10 years agoin reply to this

            You would think that anyone setting up a website like this who wants it utilized and wants certain rules followed would want to make the information easily available to make that happen.  I had a heck of a time finding the Learning Center after they took it off the drop down menu. 
            
            Here's the URL for anyone hunting for it:  http://hubpages.com/learningcenter/contents
            I have the above URL bookmarked so I don't have to remember it.
            
            The Learning Center doesn't have as much information as it used to have either.  Is that because the requirements and expectations have been lowered?

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               PegCole17posted 10 years agoin reply to this

               Thanks for that, Au fait. I had to look for a while because I resist the urge to ask for "help" even on the main menu. I did find the answer I was looking for which was - What are the rules on capitalizing titles to hubs?
               

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               relacheposted 10 years agoin reply to this

               Actually, it still has a lot of information.  It got redesigned and whoever's plan was chosen unfortunately had the exact opposite effect, and made the entire section difficult and murky.

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                  PegCole17posted 10 years agoin reply to this

                  It's still a good source of information. I was able to find the answer I needed, thankfully.
                  

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                     relacheposted 10 years agoin reply to this

                     I've had several day jobs, dating back to the 1990s, where it was my responsibility to see if the website I was working for could be better organized to facilitate customer service.  The latest one was an online school and involved making an entire FAQ from scratch, and creating an index, etc.
                     
                     HubPages' organization of their own guides, and how they are written, really could use a lot of help and in the end, putting effort into those sections would have a huge positive influence on the site.  And I'm sure they'd love to hear my ideas but like a lot of other users who once contributed a lot more to the site, I stopped giving them that level of input for free once the money I was making here no longer paid my rent.
                     
                     But it's like social problems and education.  Society would rather make jails and prisons, and lock people up because that course of action is cheaper, takes less effort and yields more profit faster than passing different laws and creating a whole new educational and support system which would actually work to reduce crime.
                     
                     It's cheaper, faster and more profitable for HubPages to firehose-moderate the crap (just wash it away with unfeaturing) especially as their apprentice program (their attempt to foster better writers) got mixed results and many who participated complained about having to change all those Hubs shortly thereafter too.

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                        PegCole17posted 10 years agoin reply to this

                        Relache, it sounds as if you could really contribute to a better result here and it's sad that your help was not rewarded appropriately. Having a website is an awesome responsibility in trying to keep it up to date, efficient and useful. I'm just glad it's not up to me - I'd rather be writing articles than dealing with all the functional issues and quirky requests of its users.
                        
                        I do agree that a lot of people who used to be active here have left as a direct result of the unfeaturing feature. It can be quite insulting to become unfeatured for any reason, whether for lack of traffic or for someone's subjective view of fiction (unfeatured due to quality), especially when I find typos and poor punctuation (example, one contained no less than a dozen exclamation points) in hubs which are featured as Hub of the Day. It's just my opinion, but it speaks volumes about quality and inequity when poor grammar is rewarded simply to encourage new writers when the work of mature and viable writers is being unfeatured.
                        
                        Maybe I've said too much. (Probably is the better word.)
                        Peg

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            Phyllis Doyleposted 10 years agoin reply to this

            You are right, Peg -- seek and ye shall find has always been a good way to find help. And what could be more obvious than a 'help' button when looking for help?  It is good for newbies to find their way around the site, become familiar with all the ins and outs and find help if they maneuver around instead of having things handed to them. I have trained a lot of people during my career in accounting and when training on computer systems I found that the ones who learned faster and remembered better were the ones whom agreed with me that the best attitude is : "don't give me the answer, but show me how to find the answer."

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               Phyllis Doyleposted 10 years agoin reply to this

               In fact, that is how I try to help newbies here on HP. I tell them to click on Help then click on FAQ or the Learning Center in the first paragraph, then scroll down to their topic to read helpful information.  There is also a notice in the forum threads that lends help:
               
               "Please check the HubPages FAQ before asking HubPages related questions in the forum."

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      moonlakeposted 10 years agoin reply to this

      I have problems finding it because I forget it's in the Help and I have been on here 6 years, after that you have to read down to find Learning Center. My eyes are so bad that the Learning Center doesn't show up very well for me. It surprises me that it's kind of hidden. Why??
      
      HubPages Help - Have an unanswered question?
      Due to the high volume of emails we receive, we kindly ask that you consult our help resources before emailing us your question.
      •The HubPages FAQ contains concise answers to many common questions.
      •If you have questions on how to start or publish a Hub, please consult the Learning Center, which will also walk you through the process of getting set up with AdSense, Amazon, eBay, and the HubPages Ad Program.

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         PegCole17posted 10 years agoin reply to this

         Hi Moonlake, Thanks for adding that bit about the "Help" resources. I've been here 4 years and rarely look for the Learning Center - but when I did...well, you know.

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      Annie Wrightposted 10 years agoin reply to this

      Hi,
      
      I've had no problem with locating information from the learning center, just been here a few days. The only question I had came about when I tried to get an Google ad account, beside not having enough hubs, from (Google staff), the question I had was what is a ad code and how do I get it. When they sent me an email they suggested I get one and after 10 hubs please reapply. I find the site very easy to use and really think the way you write and publish hubs is the easiest software I've ever used. I would recommend this site to other writers. Simple to use  and clear about what the rules are.

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   relacheposted 10 years ago

   The Learning Center link used to REALLY prominent.  The FAQ link used to be a lot more prominent too.
   
   Given how many new users have said they can't find any of the rules or guidelines, you'd think admin would want those folks to be finding that stuff...

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      PegCole17posted 10 years agoin reply to this

      I remember that, too, Relache. It is important to make it obvious to those who wish to improve their writing skills.

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      Annie Wrightposted 10 years agoin reply to this

      Hi,
      One reason the learning center is easy for me is I'm one who loves to learn new things by exploring which sometimes I do for hours on end. Friends call it, I'm being nosey, myself I just enjoy looking around a new website to learn useful information to help me but when I can't figure it out on my own then I will ask for help. I also make notes of things I feel I may need on the website of different help topics. Some notes I've made here were the different link topics for help. Have a great day.

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         PegCole17posted 10 years agoin reply to this

         It is refreshing to hear from someone who takes the time to read through the volume of material in the Learning Center that is available to both new and experienced writers here on Hub Pages.
         I wish you all the best in your endeavors here.
         Peg

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         Phyllis Doyleposted 10 years agoin reply to this

         Annie, you sound like me -- I love to explore and learn. I do much better when I just dive in and search for things I need to know.  I admire your enthusiasm.

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            Annie Wrightposted 10 years agoin reply to this

            Hi Phyllis Doyle and PegCole17,
            
            Thank you very much. I enjoy learning new things on my own. While on any site I try not to bother other people with questions, but I prefer to search through and make notes and when in the forum, I also take notes if I see something that may help me. In my nursing career I trained new CNA's when they first started, also trained CNA's when new material about patient care but three days before their training I gave them handouts and let them know I would give 10 questions at the start of class and at one at the end of training, those who didn't pass would have to have a review in 10 days and another test. If they failed the second time then the Director of Nursing would suspend them 2 days and on the third day they would need to be able to pass when she give the test at the start of their shift. When state people were coming they were tested before hand to ensure they knew the guidelines and they had to pass, since the state people would watch and ask different staff questions, and they made notes. Wrong answers and the business got fined, patient must have proper care. Rules are known to change a lot in nursing, with everything always being upgraded. Have a great day

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