Time to make copies of all hubs?

1. 77

   TIMETRAVELER2posted 9 years ago

   
   Janderson posted something really important yesterday which I think everybody here needs to read  http://hubpages.com/forum/topic/132621#post2759379.
   
   If he is correct in his assumptions (which it appears he might be), it is time for all of us to start making copies of all of our hubs (if we are not already doing that).
   
   The reason is that HP appears to be in trouble.  If Paul follows through with his thinking with regards to saving the best and distancing the site from the worst, HP will most likely fail, and here's why:
   
   The better writers here will not want their most well performing articles removed from their subdomains because this would most likely ruin them,
   Many people will simply walk away and take their work with them.
   Those who stay and make it into the elite level will not want editors reworking their articles, so most of them will leave, too.
   Those who remain may not be enough to support the site financially.
   Regardless of what he does, Google will still view HP as a content farm and respond accordingly.
   
   With the work of millions of writers already published here, the task of sorting the bad from the good is massive.  I do believe the team has become overwhelmed by this, which is why there have been so many changes.
   
   Rather than cherry picking, Paul would be wise to start a brand new site with a different name and invite the best writers here to move their work to it via individual articles using the 301 option.
   
   However, this will only work if the team sets up a VERY good QAP process and puts the work of every single writer and article through it before allowing them to come in or at least  initially admits those who generally do well here and are active regularly on the site.
   
   This would end all of the picking and choosing and uneasiness, and would eliminate a great deal of work for the team.  However, it would take time to do.
   
   Either way, it would be prudent for writers to save their work off site so that they have the option to either
   
   stay
   transfer to the new sit e or
   leave.
   
   If all Paul wants to do is have a site where editors rewrite articles, then he might as just well let the editors write the hubs and let everybody else go.

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      makingamarkposted 9 years agoin reply to this

      You speak a lot of sense.
      
      The priority for decent authors is their content and their writing career. They may feel attached to a site - however but we've all seen websites come and go and, when 'push comes to shove', people just pick up their content and walk out the door without a backward glance. There's a limit to how much you can trade on 'length of stay'.
      
      In the last six months before Squidoo closed there was a major loss of good quality lenses and authors from the site.
      
      Between the announcement of the Squidoo transfer to HubPages and the actual transfer date there was a massive haemorrhage of people and content. I know I ended up with 100 lenses in the top 10,000 lenses on the site.
      
      In the year since the transfer I know a lot of ex-Squidoo people have closed down accounts and transferred both content and their efforts elsewhere. A LOT of people who are good authors with good content have set up their own websites for topics where they have quality content, expertise and reputation to promote.
      
      Bottom line - when people lose confidence in a website they start walking.
      
      I think your suggestion has got legs in strategic terms - it's likely to be much more acceptable to Google. Whether it stacks up in terms of the financials might be another matter - I suspect the revenue model would need to be reworked - bearing in mind good authors will need to be incentivised. However the 80/20 rule still rules the world in most places I know - so it might well have a chance.

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      Misfit Chickposted 9 years agoin reply to this

      First, the task of sorting the bad from the good should not be all that hard. Heck some of that stuff is already automated and they could automate it more if they wanted. It isn't hard to pick out spelling & grammar errors.
      
      I agree that 'if' they do this, it would have to be done right. I'm not sure why you are assuming that they will 'do it wrong'. Make no mistake, *I* am not a huge fan of HP BECAUSE they don't take writing more seriously in here. I would like to see them insist that people write up to a basic standard.
      
      Google would not consider HP to be a content farm if everyone took the writing on this site more seriously. Get a blog if you want to be able to write whatever eyesore you can think up.
      
      HP needs work in a few areas - I am always disappointed when they stop good programs that they started because of 'lack of interest' when the reality is, people don't know about them. They could have a site for amateur writers with non-intrusive programs that they could choose to help themselves improve - IF HP would re-establish them and market them.
      
      ...And also have a 'higher standards' site that google (and the rest of the world) does not scoff at. It could be done right. I can see where your worry comes in - sites like this aren't usually known for 'doing it right'; and HP has been one of them in the past.
      
      Still, *I* would LOVE to see something like this happen!!

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      1. 77

         TIMETRAVELER2posted 9 years agoin reply to this

         If sorting out the good from the bad is so easy to do, why haven't they done it?
         
         I am talking about more than just correcting grammar here.  Correctly using ads, writing focused articles, using effective titles and subtitles...things like this take time and cannot all be done by machines.
         
         I was not indicating that they would do it "wrong", just emphasizing the importance of doing it right.  The team has made several bad mistakes over time, and all of us are paying for them, so it would be normal to be concerned about making others, especially when such big changes are at hand.
         
         Making changes like this is a very delicate thing that requires the careful examination of every area and consequence.
         
         A real and respected site for writers would be wonderful and, hopefully, successful.  However, since we, as writers, are basically powerless when it comes to the decision making process, all we can do is state our views and hope for the best.
         
         I have always loved writing here and have felt that the team makes its best effort to keep things up and running.  They have a brilliant basic format that has helped me tremendously over the years.  I do hope they can survive, but it sure seems right now like they are foundering.

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      easylearningwebposted 9 years agoin reply to this

      I am not surprised about what I'm reading about HubPages. The last year or two have really changed in regards to traffic and earnings.
      
      What I decided to do is what a lot of others are doing and everyone actually should be doing, don't put all your eggs in one basket.  It's like anything else, for example like investing, diversification is the key. The same is true about writing and publishing.
      
      At the end of last year after I completed my 30 hubs in 30 days challenge I felt like it was something I wanted to and had to accomplish for me and to also practice writing for something bigger. It's just like sprinting and running to prepare for a big race.
      
      If we are serious in our writing then we will pursue bigger writing projects. I will not give up on hubpages just yet though. A lot of us have put a lot of time and effort into creating our articles. So I think there will be a lot of us will leave them there for now.
      
      I will see what happens and wait it out for now.
      
      As far as backing up your Hubpage articles, hopefully everyone's already doing that. I usually assemble mine in word and I have backup copies of everything. If you do not have backup copies then you might have to go through the painful process of doing some copying and pasting of your articles.
      
      Here are some things that I think a lot of us could benefit from. They are things that I am already doing. For example if you're serious about writing join writing groups like the ones on linked in. You could learn a lot from them. More than you could learn from comments on your Hubpage articles. Also consider entering free writing contest. I did just that and just had my first two short stories published in a real book. I will be writing an article about that. Very exciting.
      
      Consider hub pages a springboard to help you move on to bigger writing projects!
      
      That has been and will continue to be my plan.
      
      I wish everyone success including In your writing!

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      Lady Loreleiposted 9 years agoin reply to this

      Excellent comment Traveler: "If all Paul wants to do is have a site where editors rewrite articles, then he might as just well let the editors write the hubs and let everybody else go."
      
      My thoughts exactly. I saw this move on Helium before it went down. Not a fan at all!

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2. 77

   Sam Montanaposted 9 years ago

   It is getting sad that Google has such control over what is on the internet. I know recently, some of my articles have been unfeatured because of lower traffic. But that is easy to fix just by making a few changes in the article.
   
   The problem is at this time, there are really no other places to write articles on the internet, and HP is one of the last great website where writers can write and sell products using Amazon.
   
   I always save all of my articles in Word if I have to move them, but moving articles is getting tiresome after Squidoo and Yahoo both folded.

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      makingamarkposted 9 years agoin reply to this

      It's a big mistake to blame low traffic for hubs on Hubpages on Google.
      
      Just ask all the authors who have removed content from this site (because it was unfeatured or unpublished due to something to do with the way HubPages works) and moved it to their own websites and then sat back and watched their traffic rocket
      
      Google does not like article sites - period.  They think they have far too many low quality articles of little use to anybody.
      
      There are tons of places to write on the internet - and authors invented a lot of them!
      
      BTW don't whatever you do save hubs in Word! You'll just get a load of really crap Microsoft code embedded in your text.
      
      The best option for Apple users is a Safari webarchive "save as a webpage" - it keeps all the links live and does not corrupt the format. Plus it's a very very fast save.

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         Sam Montanaposted 9 years agoin reply to this

         As for saving my articles in Word, I write them in Word and then put them online. So the original article is always saved on my computer.

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            UnnamedHaraldposted 9 years agoin reply to this

            That is a wise decision. I do the same (except I use OpenOffice).

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3. 66

   relacheposted 9 years ago

   Where are you getting the idea that "millions of writers" are published here? 
   
   Reality check:  there are just over 60,000 published users on this site.  60,000 is 6% of 1 million. 
   
   
   

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      TIMETRAVELER2posted 9 years agoin reply to this

      I thought I read that figure on someone else's post recently.  Either way, that's a lot of posts for a team of 23 to sort through and evaluate.

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      makingamarkposted 9 years agoin reply to this

      Good point.
      
      I wonder what would happen to those numbers if they also listed featured hubs and featured writers (as in writer of a featured hub)

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         relacheposted 9 years agoin reply to this

         Based on historic web averages, only about 10%-15% of any visible demographic is actually genuinely active at any given time.
         
         So in reality, there are only about 9000 users on his site right now who are consistently publishing.
         
         And as for people who say it must not be that hard to sort the good from the bad, but what happens when you invent a process that is only scanning for technicalities?  It means you wind up with perfectly spelled and grammatically expressed hate speech and illogical personal beliefs. 
         
         No one is doing any idea editing on this site, and that's why after nine years, the content has become predominated by Hubs that cater to the lowest common denominators.  And what advertiser wants to pay money for something so unremarkable and unqualified?

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            sallybeaposted 9 years agoin reply to this

            Anyone know of a quick easy way to back up their published hubs!

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               TIMETRAVELER2posted 9 years agoin reply to this

               I use my MS Works word processor.  It's very easy to simply copy the article directly from the edited page and paste it onto the word processing document and save it via the title.  It only saves the words, not the images.
               
               I also use a spreadsheet to save the titles and date written and then put them into categories so I can find them easily.
               
               Once you have it set up, you can save everything in less than a minute.  This should work with any word processing software.

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               theraggededgeposted 9 years agoin reply to this

               Go to your hub. Right click anywhere, click Save Page As... and save it to your hard-drive or DropBox. The whole lot will be saved to you can view the Hub exactly as it is published.

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                  sallybeaposted 9 years agoin reply to this

                  theraggededge
                  Thank you so much, just what I needed to know.

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                  TIMETRAVELER2posted 9 years agoin reply to this

                  I tried this to see what would happen, and it didn't work.

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                     makingamarkposted 9 years agoin reply to this

                     You have to do "save as a web page"
                     
                     I tried Chrome, Firefox and Safari when I was backing up my Squidoo lenses and Safari was far and away the best in terms of the cleanest, best and simplest webpage archive.
                     
                     I also backed everything up as an article onto Evernote - along with stats about keywords and the URL of the site for when you want to take it offline and you need to know the URL to tell Google.

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                     sallybeaposted 9 years agoin reply to this

                     I found I can right click the open hub and click on save as and then click My Documents and then it will saved it to my documents and look like the original version.   This was using Chrome.

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                        TIMETRAVELER2posted 9 years agoin reply to this

                        I tried saving it that way to my desktop.  Didn't work.
                        
                        I already have everything saved, but just wanted to try it.

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                           sallybeaposted 9 years agoin reply to this

                           Definitely works in Chrome.  It must be a .htm file.  I saved all of mine to dropbox.  What a relief to have it all done.  I won't be forgetting to do it as I write new Hubs from now on.

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                              adevwritingposted 9 years agoin reply to this

                              How about trying this?
                              Right click on the webpage in Chrome browser and click Print. There you can see the print preview and set  Destination to Save as PDF.
                              
                              
                              
                              
                              
                              

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                     theraggededgeposted 9 years agoin reply to this

                     Works in Firefox.

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            3. 84

               MelRootsNWritesposted 9 years agoin reply to this

               Sallybea, I use Evernote.  I do a full page save (not just an article save).  Keeps all the photos in place, too

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                  sallybeaposted 9 years agoin reply to this

                  I have never heard of it but will check it out.  I tried saving the work as suggested above and although it downloaded the files,  I seemed unable to view them as a Hub.  They were just a series of files.   I know I managed to do it as suggested a long time ago, but I seem to remember that the images were downloaded much smaller than I had uploaded them originally.  Thanks for that.

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                     TIMETRAVELER2posted 9 years agoin reply to this

                     Chrome did not offer "save as a page" or "save as a web page"...it only offered save.  That's why it didn't work.

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                     theraggededgeposted 9 years agoin reply to this

                     Make sure the file you're clicking on ends in .htm. It should open in your browser. It won't be inside the folder of the name name.
                     
                     Right click on hub
                     Save as (or save as webpage, depending on your browser)
                     Choose where to save it
                     Click Save
                     Open by double clicking on .htm file that is *not* in the accompanying folder - that's just where the parts of the page are stored, code, images, etc.

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                     MelRootsNWritesposted 9 years agoin reply to this

                     Httrack worked really well in backing up my hubs.  I was able to run it and not have to waste time with copy and paste or saving individual hubs with Evernote.

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               SmartAndFunposted 9 years agoin reply to this

               Here is a YouTube video that gives instructions on backing up your entire HP account -- from former hubber Eric Graudins. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2aUmTRrEsyE
               
               I did this a few years ago, and as I recall it was very easy, and copied my entire account all at once, with very few steps. Does anyone know if this is still considered a good method, or if better methods have come along in the last few years?

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               NateB11posted 9 years agoin reply to this

               I used to use a FireFox add-on called ScrapBook. Since I got a new computer, don't know how to add the add-on. At any rate, it would well for saving content. It'll save it as it is. See this for more info: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2aUmTRrEsyE
               
               But, like I said, I haven't used it in awhile and not on my new computer.

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                  SmartAndFunposted 9 years agoin reply to this

                  That's the one I used several years ago, and referenced a few posts up. As I recall, it worked well at the time and was very easy to do, and copied my entire account.
                  
                  Does anyone know if this is still a good method or if something better has come along?

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                     NateB11posted 9 years agoin reply to this

                     Oh, didn't see your comment referencing it. I was pretty tired last night.

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                        SmartAndFunposted 9 years agoin reply to this

                        No biggie. I am just wondering if it is still a good method to use. I used it several years ago, but come to think of it, I don't even know where all those copies are stored. It's time for me to back everything up again and this time pay closer attention, LOL.

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                           NateB11posted 9 years agoin reply to this

                           All of mine are copied on my old computer. I'd have to start over at this point.
                           
                           I haven't used scrapbook for months, but it still worked on my old computer several months ago. It's easy to find online just by googling firefox addon scrapbook.
                           
                           Back when I was using it it was easy to find just by searching directly for addons through firefox.

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               justholidaysposted 9 years agoin reply to this

               I open my hubs in my browser and then save the file on my computer. This way when I delete a hub, I can get it intact whenever I want to - just open it in your browser and you'll see the exact same hub as it once was.

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   RonElFranposted 9 years ago

   Have I missed something? Paul said "I've thought hard and considered many alternatives from building silo sites like Wordpress or splitting HubPages..." When I read that it didn't seem to me that he was saying he had decided to split HP, but rather that he had done due diligence in considering all plausible alternatives. If he hadn't considered such things he wouldn't be doing his job.
   
   Backing up our hubs is a good idea anytime. But I'm a little perturbed that "I've considered it" seems to have been turned into "it's going to happen!".

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      TIMETRAVELER2posted 9 years agoin reply to this

      If you read Janderson's post, you will see why his words are being interpreted this way.  Nobody said that a split was a given, just that it seems to be the way things are heading.  Just the fact that Paul even mentioned this possibility is a red flag.
      
      Of course we all hope this never happens, but it does look like things may be moving in that direction.

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5. 83

   Marisa Wrightposted 9 years ago

   I cannot see why HubPages would proceed with the idea of moving to a new "high quality" site. I can't see how it would succeed in the long run. 
   
   The reason Associated Content/Yahoo! Voices, Helium, Squidoo and all the other article sites got into trouble was because Google hates content farms, and it classifies every article-writing site as a content farm regardless of quality.  Google is not likely to change that attitude and therefore persisting in creating new article-writing sites is a waste of time and investment. 
   
   Google has said, repeatedly, that it wants "authority" sites offering comprehensive information and expertise on one subject area.  And that's why ex-Squidooers are doing better with their own sites than on HP, because they've created specialist sites.

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      TIMETRAVELER2posted 9 years agoin reply to this

      I've been waiting to hear you jump into this discussion.  I believe I said pretty much what you just posted earlier.
      
      Question, for people like me, with limited skills who don't want to invest money in starting their own site, would you still suggest Blogger, or would Google Sites or something else be better.
      
      If this does not work out, people like me will need someplace else to go that is relatively easy to use yet can produce income.
      
      Thoughts?

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         Marisa Wrightposted 9 years agoin reply to this

         Yes Blogger is still the best place to create your own blog.  It's not perfect but it's the best of the free options if you want to use advertising and/or affiliate links (Wordpress.com is excellent but won't let you use ads). 
         
         I'm afraid I don't believe that article-writing sites will be a serious source of income for writers ever again.  Let's face it, if someone had told you thirty years ago that ANY writer could publish ANYTHING, any time they wanted, and get paid - you'd have thought they were mad.  It was a brief  and unexpected window of opportunity, but it's now closing fast. 
         
         I'm sure article-writing sites will continue to exist because there are so many writers willing to write for little or nothing - you only have to look at the number of people still writing on Bubblews to see that. So if you "just want to write", you'll find places to do that.  I quite like WeekendNotes and Hubgarden.  But if you want to earn serious income, writing articles online is not the way to do it.
         
         Personally I've decided not to make copies of my Hubs - if HubPages folds, there is nowhere else worth the effort of moving them, as far as I'm concerned.  I don't have enough on any one subject to make another specialist blog. I've earned more from all of them than if I'd sold them, so they've done their job.

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            TIMETRAVELER2posted 9 years agoin reply to this

            Thanks.  You know my personal situation and, I'm sure, realize that although it's nice to make a little money from my work, I don't need it .  To me, the money indicates reader satisfaction and a certain level of success.
            
            When I was younger, I wanted to write professionally but was never able to connect with a publisher.  The one I did find who went so far as to produce galleys of my work, stole my entire book!
            
            So, I satisfy myself with HP, which I have very much enjoyed and learned from during my years here.  I saw from my Blogger site that people loved reading my work but bought nothing, so that kind of turned me off.
            
            I think if HP founders, I'll try hard cover publishing again.  I have plenty of material for it, that's for sure!

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      relacheposted 9 years agoin reply to this

      This is why I'm using HubPages as a case study for societal collapse.

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         TIMETRAVELER2posted 9 years agoin reply to this

         Is this a book you are writing? I agree that everything is falling apart and that this is a good example of that...although, for the moment, HP is still functioning...just not as it was before.
         
         We should start a new threat about that subject.  We could write forever!

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            relacheposted 9 years agoin reply to this

            I suggest you look at some of the writing of Dimitri Orlov.  It's incredibly insightful, and clearly lays out how US culture on the whole is following a collapse trajectory already established as historical precedent.
            
            HubPages is a microcosm of that process.  It's fascinating to watch, especially as people have the exact predicted emotional responses.

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               TIMETRAVELER2posted 9 years agoin reply to this

               I know this is way off topic for this forum,but does Orlov think this is just the US or the world in general, because to me, it seems that what is happening is universal, and that is very frightening.

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   makingamarkposted 9 years ago

   Somebody queried how a conversation about looking at options had turned into "something is going to happen".
   
   A few comments as to why people need to be alert to the environment HubPages operates in - over and above Google's hatred of article sites/content farms.
   
   In 2013 I sat and watched the traffic on Squidoo start to trend downwards - and there came a point where you could actually predict how long the site had left - just based on the trend data. It went a little way beyond the date I predicted - but not by much.
   
   The thing is you need to be prepared for all eventualities and backing up hubs is just a very sensible move to make so that if you get two weeks notice to pack your bags you don't regret being on holiday when it happens.
   
   That said - my traffic has improved very slightly since the last algorithm change - but I wish I could say the same about earnings.
   
   The REALLY BIG PROBLEM HubPages is facing is that everybody is turning on AdBlockers and the income from traditional advertising is going down the tubes.  If Google did nothing HubPages is still going to have a major problem working out how to deal with the deficit that will cause - especially when iOS9 launches - because Apple is going to build in an ad blocker. That's going to be a MAJOR Game changer!
   
   Some reading for you
   http://www.uk2.net/blog/how-can-your-bu … -blocking/
   http://www.fipp.com/news/features/futur … dvertising
   The writing is on the wall....

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      TIMETRAVELER2posted 9 years agoin reply to this

      Oh Goody...more good news.  Problem is that this will affect ALL sites, not just HP.  Time for me to start making my hubs into a hard copy book that I can present to publishers.  Forget ebooks...I tried that and  have had abysmal results...mostly because I am not marketing it.  My biggest problem is that Word is difficult for me to use as I have little experience with it and don't want to convert my current articles.  Too bad there isn't a site that will, for free, convert it for you!

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         Marisa Wrightposted 9 years agoin reply to this

         Adblocker is a problem but it can be overcome on a blog.  Most successful bloggers these days don't rely on Adsense, and in fact many don't use it on their blogs at all, preferring to keep those ad spots (when they get successful enough) for paid advertising, or advertising for their own products (e.g. ebooks), which the ad blocker won't recognise as ads.
         
         However that won't work for revenue-sharing sites.  Some sites have managed to get around the ad blocker (I believe squidoo had a way of fooling the adblocker into showing the Amazon ads for instance), but it must be a constant battle - the sites think of ways to work around the blocker, then the blocker gets more sophisticated to get around the workaround, and so on.

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            Sam Montanaposted 9 years agoin reply to this

            As far as I know, the ad blockers will block the ads but not the Amazon modules. I worry about my blogs and the adsense on them. I guess I should look at affiliate ads, I have never done those before. And where I live, were are banned from using Amazon ads.

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               Marisa Wrightposted 9 years agoin reply to this

               You can sign up for Skimlinks and still use Amazon through them - you have to create your own "ads" though, by using images and linking them to the product.

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                  paradigm searchposted 9 years agoin reply to this

                  Marisa, what do you think of Viglink these days?

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                     Marisa Wrightposted 9 years agoin reply to this

                     I haven't looked at them for ages!  I avoided Viglink initially because I was worried they would become associated with spam:  with Skimlinks, you have to submit each and every website for their approval before putting links on it (and yes, they did reject one of mine!!), whereas Viglink accepts everybody without any checking. 
                     
                     I don't know if that's still the case.

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                        justholidaysposted 9 years agoin reply to this

                        Hi Marisa
                        
                        What are the payment methods with Skimlinks?
                        
                        Thanks.

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                           Marisa Wrightposted 9 years agoin reply to this

                           Skimlinks pay via Paypal and the threshold is $10.

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                              Solarasposted 9 years agoin reply to this

                              What percentage does Skimlinks pay on Amazon ads?

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                                 Marisa Wrightposted 9 years agoin reply to this

                                 I haven't checked recently but it used to be more than the basic rate you get direct from Amazon, about the same as HubPages.

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                              justholidaysposted 9 years agoin reply to this

                              Thanks Marisa

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               justholidaysposted 9 years agoin reply to this

               Amazon and eBay capsules are invisible when AdBlock is turned on. I have AdBlock on my computer and never see them on hubs when it's working. It's a huge earning opportunity we lose because HP doesn't seem to want to work on the way these capsules are conceived. Yet they bought Squidoo and part or all of their scripts ?!?

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   Sherry Hewinsposted 9 years ago

   I think it is always a good idea to keep a copy of all of your writing. I must say that I have deleted plenty of things that I did not think were important at the time, but later I wanted to refer back to them. Any site can go away; there is nothing we can count on.
   
   As to whether HP is on the edge, and one day I will try to log in and it is no more, I cannot say. I hope this is not the case. I am not someone who wants to run her own website. Perhaps if this is the only choice I have, I will consider it.
   
   HP has given me a fine platform for my writing. I doubt that I will quit them before they quit me.

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      TIMETRAVELER2posted 9 years agoin reply to this

      +1

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8. 74

   Oscarlitesposted 9 years ago

   I agree that we need to have a safe copy of our writing.  I don't know how to transfer all the hub content to another site, and I think it wouldn't be right to do so, but as I for one have spent eons of hours creating hubs, do we just copy the text and keep a dvd of just text? or is there a way to copy the entire format without violating hubpage standards?  what is the 301 copy mentioned?

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      makingamarkposted 9 years agoin reply to this

      You can't copy the HubPages template - that's belongs to HubPages so you can't reproduce it elsewhere
      
      However there is no question about copying your own content - YOU OWN IT!
      
      That's what to my mind is so very serious about Editors editing it. If you allow it whose content is it at the end of the day?
      
      The other thing I don't understand is why on earth anyone would invest in editing content that somebody can just pick up and take to another site without a backward glance. You're assuming an awful lot about the value of loyalty to make that sort of decision.
      
      In relation to just employing Editors to create content....
      HubPages would do well to look at the About.com model http://www.about.com (the design is nicer for one thing) - which employed people (after tests for their suitability http://experts.about.com "and your qualifications are...?") to do just that. However they changed the remuneration model / employment conditions and a lot of their experts walked as a result.

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         Misfit Chickposted 9 years agoin reply to this

         There are many ways that HP could solve their problems and make the site more popular. Editing is a huge part of that - although I do not like that they come in and 'just edit' our content.
         
         Editors could suggest a list of changes; and then the author could pick and choose what to change or not. Some mistakes should be mandatory to fix or it does not get published - like spelling, etc.
         
         If people would edit their own writing and care about it enough to begin with so that editors would not be needed - it would be a different story. But, currently the only way to improve the writing on HP is to have editors.
         
         And again, it would be nice if the editing/suggestions/rewrites happened in the 'pre-publishing' stages; so that when an article is published in here - it won't be publishes with a bunch of glaring mistakes like so many of them are, now.
         
         Also, editing is as much a part of both professional and amateur writing as the writing, itself. If you're writing something creative and 'just for you' - that's one thing. But when you're writing an article for an audience; the standard should be higher. Always.
         
         Bottom line is... the garbage on HP is heaps and bounds more than the good stuff; and it lessens the quality of all hubs no matter how well they are written. And if it is true that the few good articles are the ones making the majority of the money on this site (not sure if it was this question or one of the other ones like it - someone made that claim) - that isn't fair, is it?

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   Chriswillman90posted 9 years ago

   Well then I have a lot of backing up to do if the site might be in danger soon. I might as well use Word to keep everything, but I'll take a look at the other suggestions brought up.
   
   Oh and agreed that there's too much low quality content on here that detracts from high quality talent. I wish the QAP was a bit stricter when it comes to its filtering process.

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    ChristinSposted 9 years ago

    There is a free software you can use to copy a website - to use as a backup etc. HTTrack.  I have copies of all my hubs and haven't used it in awhile, but it does make nice backup copies of the hubs (at least it did) worth checking into.

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11. 93

    DzyMsLizzyposted 9 years ago

    I have copies of a good many of my hubs, because I wrote them first in MS Word, then copy/pasted them into hub capsules.
    
    However, that is not true of all of them and certainly not of my earliest attempts.  There are quite a few that I wrote on-site in the capsules as I went along.
    
    The problem now is, I don't remember which ones those are, and with over 300 hubs, it is not worth my time to go back and forth between my computer file and HP to try and compare titles (some of which I've since  changed), to figure it all out and then copy the ones missing from my personal file.
    
    I'd rather just devote the time to writing and research and other things in my life.

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       TIMETRAVELER2posted 9 years agoin reply to this

       This is exactly why I keep copies of every hub which can be edited as needed and a list of titles and the dates I wrote them. 
       
       The titles I group by topic, just as they are grouped by HP. This way I can quickly find any article, update it and save it and then update the title if needed as well.
       
       I always know where everything is, and believe me, this saves me a mountain of time and work.

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       MelRootsNWritesposted 9 years agoin reply to this

       DzyMsLizzy,
       I made the mistake of editing hubs transferred from Squidoo and not recopying the text back to my computer.  So, last night, I decided to see if a free program for backing up websites, Httrack, would work. I've used it before on my website.  It worked fine using my hub subdomain.  It copied all my hubs in html format with photos.  I can view the pages in my browser and they appear as they are on hubpages.  Now if need be I can copy the text wherever I want and I know the photo placement.
       
       It did download some files I didn't want.  After an hour, I checked what it was doing, saw that all my hubs and photos were saved, so I turned it off.  I'll check each hub to make sure they are right. 
       
       No need to use Evernote or to copy and paste pages into a word processor.  This saved me a tremendous amount of time as well as tedious boredom copying and pasting.

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          DzyMsLizzyposted 9 years agoin reply to this

          Thanks for that info, MelRootsNWrites!
            I'll look into that for sure!

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          Oscarlitesposted 9 years agoin reply to this

          mel,  how does httracks work? how do you apply it to your page?

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             MelRootsNWritesposted 9 years agoin reply to this

             You're welcome DzyMsLizzy!
             
             Oscarlites, it's a program you download and run from your computer.  It can make a mirror copy of a domain or subdomain.  I used my HP subdomain and it mirrored my "site" on my computer in folders.  It saved my hubs in one folder, photos in another, etc. 
             
             When I click on each hub from the folder, it opens in my browser and looks almost exactly (ads are missing) as they do when viewed by a web visitor.  They are same in HTML format.
             
             I found the downloading of my hubs took about 45 minutes (80 hubs).  It continued to download added files.  Once I realized that I had what I needed, I turned it off.

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                Oscarlitesposted 9 years agoin reply to this

                ok, I got it done!    I copied the whole oscarlites site. it was easier, quicker and I copied to a flash formatted DVD disc. so, voila I have the entire collection on a safe disc, in case my laptop goes out on me!   I can update it just as easily say month by month..  thanks!! !

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    Sylvia Leongposted 9 years ago

    Hi Marisa Wright, I own three WordPress websites & have adsense on all three & Amazon on one.

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       Marisa Wrightposted 9 years agoin reply to this

       Do you find the Adsense ads convert well?

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    makingamarkposted 9 years ago

    Always wise to look at reviews on a proper technical website before depending on a piece of software like this.
    
    This is the cnet review http://download.cnet.com/HTTrack-Websit … 39773.html
    
    This software only works with Windows which means it's useless for anybody using Apple based devices

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    tillsontitanposted 9 years ago

    I think saving your hubs is a great idea regardless of what happens.  I remember years ago when a gas station went out of business and the mechanic went to get his tools, he was locked out!  Never did get his tools, just saying.
    We are in a crisis in writing and Google and HP, why?  Ratings, money, who knows for sure.  Our writing and our friends are the most important thing here, at least to me.  I hope everyone survives whatever is ahead.

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       TIMETRAVELER2posted 9 years agoin reply to this

       +1

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    Mark Ewbieposted 9 years ago

    I am concerned if I try to flush all my pages at once it may cause an outlet blockage.
    
    Can the panel advise where else they could go?

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    mattforteposted 9 years ago

    "The reason is that HP appears to be in trouble.  If Paul follows through with his thinking with regards to saving the best and distancing the site from the worst, HP will most likely fail, and here's why:"
    
    Sorry, you lost me at that line.
    
    HubPages gets crap traffic compared to what it could if they did this. The community is at BEST 95% crap. Even some of the "hub famous" people have nothing but crap. The garbage that has been allowed on this site for the past few years is most of the reason I stopped writing here. I still collect checks from what I wrote years ago, but I no longer write because it is no longer worth my time.
    
    If they separated the good from the bad (No, it really wouldn't take that long...the good stuff sticks out like a sore thumb) then the good would see a dramatic uptick in traffic. Yeah, it might screw up their inbound links, but those can be forwarded and there are ways of letting Google know it's been moved without losing the link juice. Furthermore...Google will crawl the new stuff anyway and it will just get a higher ranking than before.
    If more traffic causes people to leave....well. I got nothing to say about that.

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    Oscarlitesposted 9 years ago

    well, now they are censoring answers to questions on hubpages. if someone answers wrong, they appear to grade your question as offensive.  what is going on?  are we in trouble hubpagers?

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       DzyMsLizzyposted 9 years agoin reply to this

       The thumbs up/down on questions has always been there, and does not necessarily mean it is "offensive," but rather that someone found the answer to be irrelevant in some way. 
       The answer can become hidden if many people find the answer irrelevant or silly, but I believe, it this happens, there is a button to "unhide" so you can read what was originally said.
       
       The author of the question can also deny an answer that may strike them as either offensive, if their aim was not to have a flame war, or simply too silly to rate serious consideration.
       
       I had this happen recently on my most recent question, in which I asked people what was the weirdest cure for hiccups they had ever heard.  I got some interesting answers that I'd not heard before as remedies.
       
       One person, however, saw fit to make up some really outlandish, stupid, multi-step nonsense that was not worthy of publication as a serious reply. I can only presume it was a juvenile thinking they were being funny, so I denied it.
       
       That is all--there is no overt  "censorship.  The question, itself, can of course be reported for any violation of the TOS if it crosses the line there.

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    Pawpawwritesposted 9 years ago

    I didn't take the time to read through all of this, but it makes me feel a lot better about moving my content a while back.

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