Hubs Without a Comment Section

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   vocalcoachposted 8 years ago

   I've come across a hub, now and then, without a comment section.  Is this a choice made by the author?  If so, why?

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   1. 85

      Jodahposted 8 years agoin reply to this

      Yes. in your settings you can choose to disable comments.  If I come across a hubber that has comments disabled I usually don't read any of their other hubs. I like to comment to show I've read them.

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         kenneth averyposted 8 years agoin reply to this

         @ Jodah, I am with you on the comments thing. I personally live to get comments from YOU and the rest of  my Great followers who have stayed with me in thick hub and thin hub and I appreciate them and YOU very much.

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            vocalcoachposted 8 years agoin reply to this

            Me too!

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      2. 85

         vocalcoachposted 8 years agoin reply to this

         Ok Jodah.  This is something I should have known after all these years.  Thanks for clarifying this for me.  I'm with you as far as reading a hub without being able to comment.

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         1. 79

            Wesman Todd Shawposted 8 years agoin reply to this

            You can also delete the comment capsule altogether. I have one where I deleted the comment capsule. The page is way too long, nearly 5K words, lots of photos and videos. Were there to be lots of comments it would take the page that much longer to load up, and slow loading pages don't serve my purposes, which are to make an income.

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            1. 87

               Marisa Wrightposted 8 years agoin reply to this

               My immediate thought would be to split that Hub into two or preferably three Hubs, so you can allow comments again.   It's rare to find a subject where you can write 5,000 words on just one aspect of it - usually if you take a hard look, you can see how you could split it up into different aspects of the topic. 
               
               If you're writing informative Hubs, readers often have questions and it's a bit mean if you don't give them the chance to ask, IMO.

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            2. 85

               vocalcoachposted 8 years agoin reply to this

               This makes sense.  Thanks.

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      3. 90

         Venkatachari Mposted 8 years agoin reply to this

         Oh, John! You are too strict! Why punish anybody who may want to avoid any unpleasant comments or something like that.
         But, I never disable the comments section even though once it was disabled by mistake and later enabled when many of our nice hubbers, including you, pointed out to me that glitch.
         I may read the articles even though there is no provision to comment on them.

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         1. 0

            Will Apseposted 8 years agoin reply to this

            I like the crazy people to run wild and free. Until they upset me. Then I delete with relish, lol.

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               Venkatachari Mposted 8 years agoin reply to this

               Poor chaps!

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               1. 0

                  Will Apseposted 8 years agoin reply to this

                  Sorry, I reckon people get a bit too worried about these issues. It really is a choice for the individual.
                  
                  I have one hub with thousands of comments and those comments are its main strength. On most of my pages, the comments are not very useful to anyone.

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      4. 87

         Marisa Wrightposted 8 years agoin reply to this

         The obvious question is, why were you reading them in the first place, if you weren't interested in the Hubs for their own sake?

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         1. 85

            Jodahposted 8 years agoin reply to this

            I don't check before-hand to see if comments are disabled. So if it is a subject that appeals to me I will read the hub. If at the end of reading it I see the comment capsule doesn't exist I may check to see if they allow comments on their other hubs. If they have a lot of hubs that interest me I may send an email through fan mail and question if they know they have comments disabled (some do by mistake).
            If they deliberately don't allow comments then I may read an occasional hub by them if it really appeals but it is doubtful. I read mainly hubs of people who comment on mine and interact.

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            1. 87

               Marisa Wrightposted 8 years agoin reply to this

               .....so you're reading for social reasons, not for research or education.  If that's the case, then that's fine. The person who disallows comments is probably not worried about networking within HubPages anyway. 
               
               I have a comments capsule on all my Hubs, but I do it for my external readers who want to ask a question, nothing more.

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                  Venkatachari Mposted 8 years agoin reply to this

                  It is a good perspective. I also believe in this kind of attitude. Comments should serve as a means of improving one's knowledge and capabilities and be useful to both the writer and the reader.

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               2. 85

                  Jodahposted 8 years agoin reply to this

                  Yes, I read hubs totally for enjoyment and social reasons. Certainly not for education. I know others do and that's fine, but as you say, those who don't allow comments don't write here for social interaction, only for external views.

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   2. 57

      charm_bakerposted 8 years agoin reply to this

      I know it's an option that you can choose not to take advantage of, but I think it's crazy to purposely disable it.  I for one get busy or sidetracked and have a hard time getting back to respond to comments, but I love knowing someone is reading what I write.  When I used to be a better Hubber years ago, I'd take one day just to respond to ALL my comments on all my hubs.  It's very time consuming, but FUN.

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         kenneth averyposted 8 years agoin reply to this

         @charm . . .AMEN!

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   3. 88

      ChitrangadaSharanposted 8 years agoin reply to this

      I love comments from readers ! And I also like to write comments after reading fellow writer's hubs.

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      1. 85

         vocalcoachposted 8 years agoin reply to this

         I feel the same way my friend.

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         Venkatachari Mposted 8 years agoin reply to this

         I ditto you Chitrangada. But, I will read other articles also where I cannot comment or express my feelings to the author. Because my own happiness and satisfaction in reading those articles are quite enough for me.

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      3. 61

         prowritter62posted 8 years agoin reply to this

         you have right.

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   4. 0

      Christy Kirwanposted 8 years agoin reply to this

      Hi vocalcoach,
      
      As others have mentioned, authors have the option to turn off comments completely in individual articles. HP Staff neither recommends nor discourages this practice. It's up to the individual author.

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      1. 78

         kenneth averyposted 8 years agoin reply to this

         @Christy, good morning. I hate to intrude, but I just wanted to
         share that I love to get comments from my Wonderful Friends/Followers
         and even the non-followers.
         I use their input as a gauge as to what type of materials to write
         and the type to leave be.
         Have a safe day, Christy and Everyone on this forum session.

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   5. 86

      RoadMonkeyposted 8 years agoin reply to this

      I found one yesterday from Paul Kuehn. I thought it was a glitch. I don't think that he would have turned it off deliberately, because he likes comments.

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   6. 85

      peachpurpleposted 8 years agoin reply to this

      some writers purposely leave out the comment box in order not to answer comments or sarcasm.

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      1. 0

         Will Apseposted 8 years agoin reply to this

         I can't imagine that you are the target of much sarcasm, surely?

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2. 67

   psycheskinnerposted 8 years ago

   Not everyone is interested to in comments or has the time to monitor them. The are a module, you can have none, one or multiple comment modules.

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      vocalcoachposted 8 years agoin reply to this

      Thanks for commenting.

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         kenneth averyposted 8 years agoin reply to this

         @vocalcoach . . .hey, hey, hey! I am VERY interested in comments. Did you see that word, VERY?

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            SakinaNasir53posted 8 years agoin reply to this

            Haha! Me too Kenneth! I love reading and writing comments.

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               kenneth averyposted 8 years agoin reply to this

               @ Sakina and here is x 1000 for 1000 days.

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3. 83

   Marcy Goodfleischposted 8 years ago

   I'd love to get the HP staff's thoughts on this. Does the comment section affect readership, clicks, revenue, etc? It's quite a lot of work to maintain those sections regularly.

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   1. 0

      Christy Kirwanposted 8 years agoin reply to this

      Comments are seen as part of the content to search engines. That means if the comments are high-quality and on topic, they can help the article, but if they're low-quality, off topic, or don't add anything useful to the conversation, they can also hurt the article. Some authors don't have time to delete comments that don't add substantial value to the conversation, aren't about the subject of the article, or are poorly written, so they choose to turn off comments completely, which is reasonable.

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      1. 78

         kenneth averyposted 8 years agoin reply to this

         @ Christy, (seriously) thanks for your valuable
         input on the comments on hubs topic. Now to me
         this just means that "I" have to strive, labor, and
         work to  produce HIGHER quality hubs. And that
         is MY Pleasure.

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      2. 83

         Marcy Goodfleischposted 8 years agoin reply to this

         Christy - Thanks so much for this information! I wasn't sure if they were seen by Google or could affect traffic. I need to consider that factor. If a comments section has comments but has been disabled, does Google still see the content?
         
         Related to Google seeing comments - a while back (a long while back), I reported some hubs that seriously violated HP's terms. Some had adult content in the body of the hub and at least one had good content but the comments section was being used for adult hookups. I hope that situation was addressed, it could have a very negative impact on HP. The hub was written by someone who, I believe, had no idea it was being used that way and possibly hadn't checked it in a long while.
         
         MG

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         1. 87

            Marisa Wrightposted 8 years agoin reply to this

            Yes, Google considers comments are part of the Hub - that's why HubPages is encouraging us to delete meaningless complimentary comments, because they dilute the content of the Hub with irrelevant material. It's a tough call for social Hubbers, who often carry on conversations in Hub comments - but then, I guess they are not so worried about income.
            
            I'm not sure what you mean by comments being disabled?  If comments have been made and they are visible on the Hub, then Google will count them.  If you've disabled future comments, that makes no difference.  If, on the other hand, you've hidden or deleted the comments capsule, then Google can't see it.

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            1. 78

               kenneth averyposted 8 years agoin reply to this

               @Marisa,
               I have to ask why would complimentary comments both received
               or given, dilute the content of a Hub?

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               1. 87

                  Marisa Wrightposted 8 years agoin reply to this

                  Have you heard of the term "keyword density"?   
                  
                  Google doesn't use human beings to decide what to include in its search results, it uses algorithms (which we call "robots").  The robots are clever, but they can't read and understand an article.  The only way they can decide what an article is about, is what words are used in it. 
                  
                  So, say the robot comes across a poem.  It gives extra weight to words in the title, so let's say it sees "Love" and "Crumb" in the title.  So now it has to decide, is this poem about love or is it about food?  So it looks at the rest of the poem.  It finds a few mentions of "love" again, and words like "heart" and "devotion" which it knows are related, but only one mention of food.  It's about love not food, the robot decides - so now, if someone looks on Google for a love poem, this one will be included in that category.
                  
                  The difficulty arises if there are lots of other repeated words in the Hub.  What if "thank you" is repeated in the comments, more often than "love" in the poem?  This poem is not about love, the robot decides, it's about gratitude.

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                  1. 78

                     kenneth averyposted 8 years agoin reply to this

                     @ Marisa,
                     Ahhh, now it makes sense.
                     Thanks
                     Sincerely.

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                     1. 87

                        Marisa Wrightposted 8 years agoin reply to this

                        You're welcome.

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                           kenneth averyposted 8 years agoin reply to this

                           2 U, Marisa!

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                     2. 85

                        vocalcoachposted 8 years agoin reply to this

                        Thanks for this helpful explanation!

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                  2. 69

                     Glenn Stokposted 8 years agoin reply to this

                     That's a very good explanation Marisa, and you make it clear why it's so important to delete comments that just say "thank you" or "nice hub."

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                     Marcy Goodfleischposted 8 years agoin reply to this

                     This is very valuable information - I need to look for issues like this. Thanks, Marisa!

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                     Venkatachari Mposted 8 years agoin reply to this

                     Thanks, Marisa, for this great information.
                     Now, I myself and most of us are able to know the difference it makes with the quality of comments.
                     You have done a great job by providing this good advice. Thanks a lot.

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            2. 83

               Marcy Goodfleischposted 8 years agoin reply to this

               I was referring to disabling the feature that lets people comment.  I always see the author mode, and I wasn't sure if turning off future comments affected the search results. I wonder if having older dates on comments would be a concern?

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               1. 78

                  kenneth averyposted 8 years agoin reply to this

                  @Marcy, if this is the appropriate place or not, I have to
                  say "hello" to you.

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   2. 85

      vocalcoachposted 8 years agoin reply to this

      Good thoughts Marcy.  I'd like to know this myself.

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4. 58

   Talha Mazharposted 8 years ago

   I'm sign up... Now what

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   1. 67

      psycheskinnerposted 8 years agoin reply to this

      It's kind of self-serve around here.  Try the top right option "start a hub" and see how far you can get.  Then bring any questions you have back here.

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      1. 78

         kenneth averyposted 8 years agoin reply to this

         (Theme from Dragnet here)
         I think I will take myself a break, but thanks, psycheskinner. You have an interesting pen name. Wish I had created one when I joined HP.

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5. 0

   Will Apseposted 8 years ago

   This is the last line on one of my pages:
   
   See 100 of 2781 remaining comments
   
   In other words, there are 2881 comments. Mostly they are long comments, so I reckon the page has well over a quarter of a million words in total. Luckily you can limit it to 100 comments when the page first loads, so it is quick enough.

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      Venkatachari Mposted 8 years agoin reply to this

      Will, that is quite interesting and amazing to know. A quarter of a million words is too much to manage. I appreciate your capabilities.

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6. 82

   MarleneBposted 8 years ago

   I enjoy receiving comments and so I keep the comments capsule available. But, I can understand why someone would not want to receive comments. In a very pertinent way, comments are rated as part of the hub and are evaluated as such in the Google world. In the case of a hub that might stir up negative responses or comments that are not related to the hub, having a comments capsule could possibly reduce the traffic received through Google channels.

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