This is Why Newest Ought Not To Be the Default on the Front Page

1. 90

   Kylyssaposted 8 years ago

   
   
   Note the top hub. How did it make it through QAP? If it hasn't made it through QAP, what is it doing being the first face of HubPages to people seeing the homepage for the first time?

   replyreport
   1. STAFF

      Paul Edmondsonposted 8 years agoin reply to this

      Signed in users see a different list of hubs. Try signing out and taking a look. It's better, but not perfect. We are working on it.
      
      That said, I wanted to have more visibility on new hubs for a few reasons. One, I hope to see gaps in our moderation, two, I want to increase the freshness of the site and third, I want people to see the breadth of content so they explore the site more.
      
      We need more weekend moderation coverage. That's coming shortly which will help as well.
      
      We all agree that putting good content forward is what we want to do!

      replyreport
      1. 90

         Kylyssaposted 8 years agoin reply to this

         Won't excellent new hubs get high hub scores and show up naturally in best? If you want the older articles hidden, you could alter the hub score algorithm to permanently lower hub scores on hubs over a few days old by a small percentage so they can never reach 100 once they're older than you like. It would keep hubs more than a few days old off the front page like you want unless the quality of new hubs dropped to the point there weren't enough good ones to fill the front page anymore.
         
         If the idea of Hubpro is to show the people who visit HubPages the best we have, why make a front page that makes the site look less professional than it could?

         replyreport
      2. 93

         Phyllis Doyleposted 8 years agoin reply to this

         I do not understand why any hub that has not been through QAP yet is visible to all. There are so many really bad and inappropriate hubs that give HP a bad image, which affects all of us. This has been brought up many times before and never resolved.
         
         This was a problem five years ago and we are still seeing such low quality hubs on the front page?
         
         see: http://hubpages.com/forum/topic/49041

         replyreport
      3. 71

         makingamarkposted 8 years agoin reply to this

         As opposed to you want to generate traffic for the site?
         
         If the choice is between "freshness coupled with low quality hubs" and "very good traffic and top quality/popular hub" I know which I'd choose.
         
         Squidoo used to list the top five hubs for every single category on the front page. Then it switched to listing "fresh" lenses with pics and Moderator choices
         
         ...and then the traffic died.
         
         Don't forget that every popular hub which brings in traffic has connections which keeps people interested. People who write popular hubs KNOW how to keep people interested and moving around HubPages
         
         The chances are that new/fresh hubs have much poorer connections and are much less likely to keep people on the site - not least because they are on topics which people are much less interested in.
         
         I'd be keeping a very close eye on the average length of stay and bounce rate in your statistics if I were you. I already know what they will be saying.

         replyreport
   2. 91

      Jodahposted 8 years agoin reply to this

      I totally agree Kylyssa. If this is supposed to promote a good image to outside viewers it won't succeed. In yesterday's "newest" homepage almost every second hub was by the same hubber..I counted at least 12...doesn't seem fair for one person to get so much advertising just because they published a heap of hubs a at once.

      replyreport
      1. 83

         mary615posted 8 years agoin reply to this

         I noticed the same thing, Jodah!!    I have to agree with you.

         replyreport
   3. 81

      peachpurpleposted 8 years agoin reply to this

      i noticed that the front page is the latest hubs released but might not be the best hubs

      replyreport
2. 90

   Kylyssaposted 8 years ago

   
   
   Just so it's clear it isn't an isolated thing.

   replyreport
3. 0

   calculus-geometryposted 8 years ago

   Even signed out I can see hubs that are still pending QAP review on the front page's 'Latest' feed. Some of them you can tell aren't going to pass.
   
   I understand the reasons for letting registered users see a less filtered selection, but what is gained by showing the general public hubs that have not passed HP's basic quality check?

   replyreport
   1. 93

      Phyllis Doyleposted 8 years agoin reply to this

      I am beginning to think that forum and Q&A posts should not appear on the Home Page. Some of those are pretty redundant, ridiculous, mundane, or downright asinine.  I don't see how they can be of any interest to the public.

      replyreport
      1. 92

         SheilaMilneposted 8 years agoin reply to this

         You can see the forum posts etc. only when logged in so the public won't see them

         replyreport
         1. 93

            jansharesposted 8 years agoin reply to this

            Thanks, SheilaMilne. I hadn't noticed that. I looked closer and did not see any Q&A nor any forums when I signed out. This change came up so unexpectedly that we are reacting to things we may have missed.

            replyreport
      2. 93

         jansharesposted 8 years agoin reply to this

         I agree wholeheartedly, Phyllis. It's been bothering me since I first looked at the new design. I cannot add anything more to your descriptives. It takes away from the professionalism of the site.
         In general and in agreement with Kylyssa's concern, I'm confused about what message or image HP is presenting with the new front page design with the inclusion of forums and Q&A. It seems that they've moved more toward "we're a social site," rather than "we're a site that offers informative, quality articles." The front/landing page leaves visitors with the first impression.

         replyreport
4. 90

   Chriswillman90posted 8 years ago

   So bottom line is that we have a lot of unhappy hubbers with several of these changes. I have to concur about many things already mentioned. The latest shouldn't be the default; I don't think any hubs should be visible at all until they pass QAP screening. The Q&A should be removed from there as well.
   
   I'm still confident that things will get put in order because there's trial and error we have to account for.

   replyreport
5. 83

   psycheskinnerposted 8 years ago

   Sure focus on "new", post QAP.
   
   If "new" without QAP was worth focusing on, we wouldn't need QAP.
   
   The hub at the top when I last looked said:
   
   
   "rgdfgfdgdfgdsf
   Updated on August 10, 2015
   gdfgsdgsdfgsdf
   pload, import or select images using the tabs to the left. Images will be displayed in the order below; drag-and-drop to change the order. Optionally, add a caption and enter the name and URL of the image source when attribution is required. (Source URLs in photos are counted as links for purposes of determiningpload, import or select images using the tabs to the left. Images will be displayed in the order below; drag-and-drop to change the order. Optionally, add a caption and enter the name and URL of the image source when attribution is required. (Source URLs in photos are counted as links for purposes of determining if a Hub is overly promotional) if a Hub is overly promotional)pload, import or select images using"
   
   
   Yeah, great to focus on that....

   replyreport