2016 Update and HubPro Premium
I'm grateful for the editorial help although I opted out of HubPro Premium initially. I want to maintain the deciding vote when it comes to changes made on my work. That seems justified in light of the continued errors we are seeing with the Editbot.
For example, one of the comments on my hub was corrected when the word "because" was spelled in error "becasue." That was fine. However, in the same comment the bot overlooked the previous sentence where the word "decision" remains as it was typed, "dicision".
These are not the only instances where the bot corrected one misspelling and left other errors. Often it changes the word "and" to "to" making the sentence ungrammatical, while leaving other words misspelled.
This gives me reason to question the effectiveness of the process.
Rachel - as somebody whose main blog regularly gets independently rated as a top art blog and has received in excess of 10.5 million page views to date I feel qualified to comment on "what is blogging"
For me - blogging is
* independent (unless commercially funded - and frankly I don't count those as blogs);
* it's the voice and opinion of an individual (unlike commercial blogs which are often run by a team)
* who attracts followers over time via bookmark/email of feedreader subscription/whatever
* It's one site only (i.e. one domain - which is controlled by the blogger)
* with lots of blog posts (my main one has well in excess of 3,000 posts)
* successful ones tend to be very focused on one topic i.e. they are the ORIGINAL niche site which updates on a regular basis (I write art ones)
* blog posts can be short - but they can also be long. All the blogs that I know which are the same age or older than mine (mine's now 11 years old) write long posts. I'm a fan of long posts - and so are my fans!
* I get to decide which other posts to link to
* I can link to as many other posts and/or websites as I like - and still gets lots of traffic!
* old posts are an asset - so long as you make them accessible - because unless they are very topical they never ever go out of date and people continue to visit them, continue to like the posts and continue to join up as followers!
....and that's why I like blogging - and that's why blogging works.
No way can HubPages articles be described as blogging
Kenna, all HubPages editing services are 100% free.
I for one love the fact that we get professional editing from you guys. In every single part of the writing process whether on a site or writing a book editing is essential, so thanks for all your hard work!
Yes, 2016 was a phenomenal year for all of us and the HP team has earned a tremendous "Thank You!" from the hubbers here.
But I'm a little disappointed in the Premium edit changes - it likely means that my own hubs will have to wait longer to receive that service.
I've been extremely please with the results so far and want more of them!Before we begin editing, Premium editors always email authors with their thoughts on the article and changes that they think will improve the article for readers. We do everything in our power to collaborate with authors and most authors are very happy with the communication and the collaboration.
I understand exactly what you mean.
There is editing that serves a useful purpose, and then there is editing that merely reflects the editor's viewpoint of how they would have written the article.
In a college creative writing class, I recall an instructor suggesting re-wording a poem I had submitted, and the words were his, not mine; to have added those, it would have been his poem, not mine, as it did not sound like my style of poetry writing.
I responded by turning in a piece that read as follows:
"I work long and hard to birth my poems. Who would edit them dismembers my children."
Yes, it was an over-the top, overly dramatic, metaphor, but it got my point across.
I believe in the power of dialogue too
I get ferocious when there isn't any!
That Hub was not edited with HubPro Basic; I don't have a record of any of your articles being edited with HubPro—please provide a link if I'm mistaken; it is possible.
The article you mention was snipped by a moderator. You should have received an email about the snipping. There is a difference between snipping by a moderator, HubPro Basic, and HubPro Premium. In your case, a moderator decided that there were spammy elements that needed to be removed in order for the article to remain featured. When a moderator snips, all they can do is cut out capsules; they can't edit or add content.
I think it's important that you don't confuse Hubbers into thinking you've been HubPro Premium edited and content was added to your articles without your consent or without communication. That has not happened.This conversation is great for me to clarify because if you are confused, I'm sure others are as well.
Snipping: This occurs to bring your article in compliance with HubPages policies. Snipping is done so that the article is eligible for moving to a Network Site, or so that it is not defeatured or unpublished for quality. Capsules that we don't feel are useful to the reader can be cut or snipped from the article and title changes can occur. You have never been able to opt-out of snipping. Emails are not sent before the snipping occurs but are sent afterward.
HubPro Basic: Basic editing can fix spelling, grammar, layout, and the removal of spammy elements. Writer/Editor communication does not occur other than a final email being sent with the edits that occurred. You have never been able to opt-out of Basic Editing. Basic edits can be small minor mistakes (like an error in the first paragraph) or more in-depth, e.g., grammar edits throughout and layout changes to help readability (especially on mobile.)
HubPro Premium: Hubbers work directly with an editor to discuss and collaborate on their article. Editors discuss possible additions to the article as well as images that could be added (at HubPages's expense). We have a team of photographers and illustrators that we work with. Editors will also fact-check at this stage. In the past, you could opt-out of HubPro Premium, but within the next month or so, you will no longer be able to do so.
HubPages is a blended format of editing and writers. It is probably best for those that do not want their articles edited to move their content to their own domains where they have complete control. We understand that our format isn't for everyone, and it is pretty apparent that you fall in this category. We do wish you the very best on your own sites. You have a lot of good information to share with the world. Good luck to you.
