What's the scoop on comments that have been removed by HubPages?

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   Kylyssaposted 8 years ago

   HubPages recently started removing comments they consider of poor quality in an attempt to make Google happy. Many of the removals make sense, but there are other cases I disagree with. Are we allowed to approve comments they've unpublished?
   
   For instance, comments with URLs in them seem to automatically get unpublished, but I wish to welcome some sorts of links, particularly links to charities on my pages about homelessness. Is it allowed for hubbers to republish the comments with links if they think they add to the hub, or are all links in comments forbidden?
   
   A few others that were removed from my hubs as "low quality" that did not have links in them really weren't low quality at all. They did not exhibit perfect grammar, but they were clearly about the subject of the hub they were on even though they didn't necessarily outright name the subject. One that was removed was an account of a woman's experience with homelessness that was related directly to the content of the hub it was on, people had replied to her, and her story backed up the content of the hub. It had a few errors in it, but it seems bogus to remove a comment of such substance. Am I allowed to approve it?

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      Robinposted 8 years agoin reply to this

      You can approve comments that you think are useful and inaccurately denied. However, we believe that comments can affect your overall quality signal, so I would do so with caution.

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         Kylyssaposted 8 years agoin reply to this

         Thank you for replying, but what exactly does that mean? Does it mean we're technically allowed to approve comments, but that it's a quality signal that will get our hubs removed from niche sites?
         
         In case you didn't understand the question, I'm not asking if it's possible to go to my comments dashboard and click approve on comments HubPages has unpublished. I'm asking if there will be negative consequences to approving un-published comments with relevant links useful to readers in them or to approving relevant, insightful comments with a few typos in them.
         
         Please remember that I have autism so answers that just hint at something don't help me at all and your second sentence reads like some kind of hint. "Do so with caution" only makes sense if I know what to be cautious of and how to be cautious. I know how to cautiously approach a strange dog but I don't know how to cautiously approach a comment with a useful link in it or a long, on topic comment that supports my hub and adds meaning to the conversation yet has a few typos in it.

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            Christy Kirwanposted 8 years agoin reply to this

            Hi Kylyssa,
            
            I think what Robin is getting at is that should you accidentally approve links that Google has penalized or marked spammy or risky in some way, it could potentially have a very negative impact on your Hub, your account in general, and whichever site the Hub appears on, which is why we ask Hubbers to be very cautious. Not that you will be punished by HubPages in some way for this decision.
            
            I should add that if you approve comments with links that are against the HubPages rules (links to gambling sites, weapons sales, links with paywalls, etc) it could result in your whole Hub being unfeatured or moderated.

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               Kylyssaposted 8 years agoin reply to this

               Thank you. Your answer has all the information I needed to make decisions about my comments now and for the future.

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   Austinstarposted 8 years ago

   Kylyssa - outside links take viewers away from HP and your content. It might be better to ask your viewers to Google something at the end of your hub, or put the away links at the end of your hubs. That way, you can keep them on your page longer (hopefully).

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      Kylyssaposted 8 years agoin reply to this

      I'm referring to URLs left in comments. HubPages is having people go through our comments and un-publish comments with URLs in them.

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   Marisa Wrightposted 8 years ago

   Thanks very much for posting this question, Kylyssa.
   
   I do recall seeing an announcement about "low quality" comments being deleted, but I am pretty strict with commenters myself, so I did not expect any of my comments would be affected.
   
   Your question prompted me to go and have a look, and I am SO glad I did!   I found many valuable comments had been deleted.  I would not have thought to look, if you hadn't asked the question - so thank you again.

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