Can't Find a Suitable Network Site for Hub, Please Help

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   Kylyssaposted 8 years ago

   I have a hub that currently gets an amount of Google views per day I'm not allowed to specify, but which is certainly much more than most of my hubs that have already been moved were getting on Hubpages proper. Unfortunately, I think that there may not be a place for it on a HubPages network site because I see other hubs in the same topic that are ranking above mine in popularity on their topic page on HubPages (and thus getting even more views than mine) still sitting here in the slushpile, too.
   
   It's OK if there's no place for it on a HubPages network site, but I'd like to figure it out sooner rather than later so I can move the hub to some other site where it won't get its traffic throttled by Google penalties.
   
   Anyway the hub title is "Secular Condolences and Non-Religious Sentiments to Write in Sympathy Cards." Its topic is currently listed as HubPages»Health»Death & Loss of Life»Goodbyes & Tributes for the Dead.
   
   I've gone to all the sites that seemed like they might be relevant such as the health, education, and relationship sites, but I couldn't find any suitable category for it.

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      Christy Kirwanposted 8 years agoin reply to this

      There is a correspondence category on LetterPile where we have included condolence and sympathy message Hubs.

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         Kylyssaposted 8 years agoin reply to this

         Thank you! LetterPile had not occurred to me! I was thinking of the hub as about either health (as it's categorized on HP) or etiquette, but now that you pointed it out, I can see how advice on what to write on a card could be considered writing advice. I guess it wasn't obvious to me, being autistic, because I see person-to-person writing as conversation rather than composition.

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            Solarasposted 8 years agoin reply to this

            It was not obvious to me not being autistic.  Good luck on the new niche site!

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            Will Apseposted 8 years agoin reply to this

            I don't think it is a good idea to assume that every difficulty that you have here is down to the fact that you have been diagnosed as autistic.
            
            Many people who pass for normal have far more issues when it comes to understanding and using the site.
            
            You also have a better grasp of what is undeniably true, and what is undeniably not, than most users, as far as I can see.
            
            Bottom line: if you are worried about how you appear to others on this website, it is unnecessary. You don't stand out as especially odd. And I can't imagine anyone sees you as incapable in any way.

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               Kylyssaposted 8 years agoin reply to this

               Thank you for your kind words.
               
               I wasn't feeling odd; I was remarking on a sort of blind spot I never realized I had until I asked this question and received Christy's response. I didn't express myself well in my excitement, but it was one of those weird epiphany moments when I realized yet another way in which people think differently from each other.
               
               Language profoundly affects thought and I'm aware that my use of language is atypical in that text is easier for me to talk in than sounds, not due to anxiety or uncertainty, but because it's quicker and easier for me to translate thoughts into text than it is to translate them into sounds. Writing is literally talking for me, in daily life as well as online, and it's a fairly common autistic trait. It's just a fact, not a placement of blame, little different from saying my eyes are like my father's because I carry some of his genes.
               
               There's nothing wrong with the way my interior language shapes my view of the written word, but I believe it predisposes me to see writing as conversation so much so that I have a hard time understanding people who don't see exchanges of written words as talking.* I'm fascinated with the way language shapes thought so it was actually pretty nice to have a new tidbit of that type of information fall into my lap. I was also delighted to learn I don't have to move the hub somewhere else myself unless it gets rejected.
               
               *My friend's mother said to me she couldn't understand why young people just sit around pushing buttons on their phones instead of talking to someone on the phone like she used to at that age. I was baffled because the teen right next to her was texting with his girlfriend and the rest of our one-sided conversation made it clear she saw it as an isolated activity, as if there weren't a living, breathing girl on the other end. Weird. I wonder what she thought was going on?

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                  Will Apseposted 8 years agoin reply to this

                  My grandmother was frightened of the telephone. Voices! From thin air! How do you know what to say if you cannot see someone's face!
                  
                  I think there is something in that. It is a sort of disconnect. But then people learn to negotiate the space and inject plenty of comfort and meaning into phone calls.
                  
                  I imagine txting is similar... But I won't be trying it, lol. Too old.

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                     Solarasposted 8 years agoin reply to this

                     What, no texting??? Shutup! You won't be texting? Get real. 
                     
                     Do you know how many friends I have lost via text?? I do, and it's not pretty.  What I don't know is exactly why...
                     
                     Autocorrect "seems" to have intervened.  I am accused of "secret job discussions" with another party aka friend... I never had such things...Who can really say?
                     
                     The point is, that texting wars have saved my soul.  Gone are those that try to bait me just to find fault with my imaginary conversations with others. I invite you too to join the texting community, and clean house.

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                        Will Apseposted 8 years agoin reply to this

                        I have this image of you living in a forest with squirrels for friends. Some of them are imaginary. I simply cannot believe that you have ever owned a smartphone, lol.

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                           Solarasposted 8 years agoin reply to this

                           I wish; if only I could grow a little unabomber beard.

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                              Will Apseposted 8 years agoin reply to this

                              lol.
                              
                              Unabomber? I reckon they are re-positioning a satellite as I write.  Do they have anti-satellite missiles in your local gun store?
                              
                              By the way, I read a couple of your hubs the other day. You managed to interest me in subjects I would never normally read about. I was impressed.
                              
                              Ever thought about spreading your wings a little and going for some non-dog/cat stuff?

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                                 DrMark1961posted 8 years agoin reply to this

                                 I do not think you meant this to be offensive, but writing about garden tillers, ipad cases, and compound bows is not of greater value than her writing about dogs and cats.

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                                    Will Apseposted 8 years agoin reply to this

                                    Only you seem to think that it might be.
                                    
                                    I should add that any writer who can hold the attention of someone who is not especially interested in the subject has quite a skill. Worth developing.

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                                       Solarasposted 8 years agoin reply to this

                                       Thanks guys!  No, I am not offended by the suggestion. Just perplexed, loving my cats and dogs as I do.  What could be a subject about cats or dogs that one would not be especially interested in?
                                       
                                       I have written a few other hubs under another account with a holistic health and unnatural beauty focus, with very moderate success.  Now that the niche concept per account is dead, it's a shame I can't combine the accounts.  The second account makes payment every 3-4 months, however it only has  6 or 7 hubs on it.  I am working to beef it up a little so it can hopefully make a regular payout one day. 
                                       
                                       Topic suggestions for me to spread my wings a little more are always welcome!

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                                          Will Apseposted 8 years agoin reply to this

                                          I have had four cats and one dog. You can judge how much thought I put into their naming if I tell you they were called Snowy, Sandy, Peachy, Flash and Buster (the dog). Color, speed and demeanor assessed, rightly or wrongly, in under thirty seconds, lol.
                                          
                                          Now, if other people enjoy a long and lingering naming process then that is obviously  wonderful. But it is not really me. That you could interest me in choosing the names for cats and dogs is the achievement I was focused on. It takes a little lateral thinking to inject some life into the topic. That is a writerly skill.
                                          
                                          As to new topics, I reckon a good technique in writing, and in life generally, is to throw yourself into the air from time to time and see where you land.
                                          
                                          The niche site setup here offers plenty of scope for new directions.

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                                             Solarasposted 8 years agoin reply to this

                                             Your "throw yourself up in the air" comment inspired me to watch David Byrne's Once In A Lifetime video.  Good times!
                                             https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I1wg1DNHbNU
                                             
                                             I used to have a poll on one of my dog name hubs asking why the reader had come to the page.  Were they getting a new dog? Was a friend getting a new dog? I wanted to see what I could sell them, which as it turns out, was nothing at all. A full 30% of respondents said they "just liked thinking about dog names." I guess I do too.
                                             
                                             Editors removed that poll, which seems odd, since they used to like polls so much. Nearly 1000 people had participated in it.

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                                                Will Apseposted 8 years agoin reply to this

                                                Somehow this seems like a genuine insight.
                                                
                                                And I am not going to prejudice it in any way.
                                                
                                                By the way, can I interest you in my blog, 'How do honest folk make a living in the age of evil.com'?
                                                
                                                There is an eBook.

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                                                   Solarasposted 8 years agoin reply to this

                                                   Well, I Googled it, and I came up with this: Rich People More Likely to Lie, Cheat, Study Suggests. You must be funning me.

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                                                      Will Apseposted 8 years agoin reply to this

                                                      Ain't nothing wrong with lying and cheating, as long as you have a good lawyer to get you out of any scrapes. And your victims are too downtrodden to complain much. lol.

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                                       DrMark1961posted 8 years agoin reply to this

                                       That first sentence makes absolutely no sense.

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                                          Will Apseposted 8 years agoin reply to this

                                          I can see that you a dog man, DrMark. One of the great things about dogs is that you can be in a foul mood as often as you like and they will never hold it against you.

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            Christy Kirwanposted 8 years agoin reply to this

            Other greeting card message content is located on Holidappy, but we thought it seemed insensitive and in poor taste to include somber subjects like condolence and get-well messages on a site about celebrations and festivities, which is why we ultimately chose LetterPile for this type of correspondence.

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   firstcookbookladyposted 8 years ago

   i think texting is like being in the 1960's, early seventies using a tele type.

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      Kylyssaposted 8 years agoin reply to this

      That's an interesting way of looking at it and very close to the origin of text devices for autistic people.  The text devices they used just a few years ago before cell phones became ubiquitous were developed for deaf people to communicate. Some people with autism who were previously believed to be severely mentally retarded were discovered to be of much higher intelligence than that after they had access to text devices of one sort or another.
      
      I'm lucky in that I can hold conversations verbally if I focus intently. If I don't also simulate the expected facial expressions and body language at the same time, people misunderstand me even though my words are clearly enunciated and used according to their definitions, so it is very tiring.

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         Will Apseposted 8 years agoin reply to this

         That sounds very difficult.
         
         I will be honest though, I smiled when I read 'people misunderstand me even though my words are clearly enunciated and used according to their definitions'. I had an image of Mr Spock trying to communicate with a not especially intelligent species.
         
         Anyway, good that you cope.

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