Has HubPages Been Hacked? Hubs Say Edited But Look All Messed Up

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   Kylyssaposted 6 years ago

   I just saw two new editing notices on my dashboard but when I went to the hubs it looks more like they've been affected by some kind of bug rather than an edit. The comments have been turned into bullet point lists and it looks terrible.
   
   https://soapboxie.com/social-issues/why … d_shelters
   https://soapboxie.com/social-issues/why … -get-a-job

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      WryLiltposted 6 years agoin reply to this

      They both look fine to me. I saw a thread earlier this week where images were missing and boxes moved around; the problem corrected itself or the hub was fine on another browser. It may just be a glitch.

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         Kylyssaposted 6 years agoin reply to this

         I'm still seeing it. You have to scroll way down (sorry, long hubs) to see where the comment sections from the center of the page have been turned into bullet points. I'm thinking now it was maybe done on purpose because I can't imagine how that could happen accidentally.
         
         If it's something done on purpose, it's not consistent from hub to hub. On one hub the commenter is identified right after the bullet point and on the other it's at the end of the comment.

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   psycheskinnerposted 6 years ago

   It looks fine to me.  The bullet pointing was probably a deliberate edit to mark them out from the text.

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3. 76

   clivewilliamsposted 6 years ago

   Looks OK to me. It is on yourside. Maybe your browser needs to clear cache.

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      Kylyssaposted 6 years agoin reply to this

      You guys seriously can't see the comments that have been turned into bullet points? I'm seeing this on my desktop computer and on my tablet.
      
      

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         Patty Inglish, MSposted 6 years agoin reply to this

         I'm with you -- That is exactly what I see when I go to the link you provided. It looks like someone gathered a bunch of comments and put them in the text. I remember a Hubber who used to do that purposely, but I forget who it is.

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         theraggededgeposted 6 years agoin reply to this

         No, I don't see what you are seeing. I'm using Opera at the moment and it looks fine. Excellent articles btw.

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            Kylyssaposted 6 years agoin reply to this

            Thank you.

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         Titiaposted 6 years agoin reply to this

         Yes I do see what you are seeing. Bullit points in your comments.

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4. 96

   Beth Eaglescliffeposted 6 years ago

   Yes I can see them. It looks as if an editor has copied and pasted the key comments into a text box. The thinking behind this may be that people don't always scroll to the bottom of the hub to read comments, so, by putting them into the main body of the article, they are more likely to be read.
   
   However, this has led to duplication of some content and could look a bit odd to readers. You have three options: 1. leave it as it is 2. delete the text box with the comments that's been added by an editor, or 3. delete some of the older comments from the main comments box so that duplication is avoided.
   
   I don't think one option is better than any other, but I do think it's important you're happy with the way your hubs are set out. I've changed things on a hub after an editor added things I didn't like and the hub has remained on the niche site after my re-editing. So don't be afraid to make changes.

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5. 90

   Robinposted 6 years ago

   Hi, Kylyssa, You should have received an email from us explaining the changes.  We are converting all duel capsules and/or extra comment capsules that aren't at the end of the article into either Text Capsules or tables because we likely will be retiring the feature and don't want you to lose the content.  You are free to go in and edit this content however you see fit.  We know it's not ideal, but the duels never worked well on HubPages or on our Network Sites and especially didn't work well on mobile.  Thanks.

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      Marisa Wrightposted 6 years agoin reply to this

      I didn't even know there was such a thing as a " duel capsule"  - was that a hangover from Squidoo which we didn't have access to?

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      Kylyssaposted 6 years agoin reply to this

      Thank you. The email went into my spam filter so I had no warning.
      
      In order to avoid legal trouble, a statement needs to be displayed clearly and somewhere people can see it when they are commenting that states they are waiving their right to copyright and are licensing you the nonexclusive right to use their comments.
      
      I know I'll have to create a new thread because you seldom come back after giving an answer intended to stop the conversation, but I'll explain the problems with the change here and see if you do respond before creating a new thread.
      
      Won't we get in trouble, claiming the words of all those people as our own intellectual property and earning money on them without asking their permission? Is there something in the FAQ that states that people who leave comments give up all rights to their comments, that the comments become the intellectual property of HubPages and/or the author of the hub? Otherwise, this seems incredibly disrespectful of our readers intellectual property rights.

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6. 90

   Robinposted 6 years ago

   Kylyssa, if it makes you feel more comfortable, you can mark the capsule as reader comments.  You have control over the article, so you are welcome to hide or delete the capsules as well.  Again, I'm sorry for the hassle.  It is always a difficult decision for us to retire features, but it helps us maintain the features that impact more authors/readers better. 
   
   @marisa:  the Duel Capsule was a Squidoo feature that we moved over but we didn't provide the option for Hubbers to use it.

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      Kylyssaposted 6 years agoin reply to this

      None of that answers the legal concerns.

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      Kylyssaposted 6 years agoin reply to this

      @marisa,
      
      Robin is mistaken; the duel capsule actually has not existed for a long time. They were replaced with comment sections quite some time back.

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      Kylyssaposted 6 years agoin reply to this

      How don't you understand that taking the words of others without their permission or credit and using them on a page that earns a profit is a violation of their copyright?

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         Robinposted 6 years agoin reply to this

         When people submit content to HubPages, they give us the right to modify it in conjunction with the service.  We regularly review our policies with legal council and we are comfortable with them.  However, authors always have the option to remove or edit the content on their articles.
         
         As for Duel Capsules, I'm not sure how I was mistaken.  They were a Squidoo feature that was moved over to HubPages, but we are now likely retiring it.

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            Kylyssaposted 6 years agoin reply to this

            Your legal counsel is mistaken if they told you that you can use the content of comments and give the right to use such content to hubbers without providing the proper verbiage on your website. Commenting is different from submitting an article. Why not just add the sentence that makes it legal?
            
            Only the author (the person who wrote the comment) can give other permission to use and alter their comment. They can give it up to you if you use one sentence in your comment box.
            
            You are mistaken about duel capsules still existing. Shortly after the move to HubPages, duel capsules were turned into a pair of comment sections that did not display like duel capsules on mobile devices. They have not displayed like duel modules on mobile devices for (I think) at least a year.
            
            I'll  just add the comment boxes back in with a link to the part of the FAQ explaining what you chose to do to their words and how I put them back into a comment section, then I'll sign out and cut and paste the comments back into comment capsules.

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   psycheskinnerposted 6 years ago

   Where exactly does it state this about comments? 
   
   Because it is a very non-typical policy and I think it needs to be more prominently mentioned. Most people will be used to sites like Facebook or Amazon which do not take the rights to modify comment or to use comments outside the comment section itself except in relation to advertising their site and services.  As a fairly savvy net user I would never imagine a site would edit my comments of take my comments and add it to their own text.
   
   I am very close to disabling comments on all my hubs on the basis that if I am not longer comfortable with making comments here myself, why would I invite others to do so?

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   Robinposted 6 years ago

   Moving comments into the body of the article is extremely rare.  This is a special circumstance and authors have the right to remove the capsule.  However, if you read our TOS, HubPages has the right to adapt content (which includes comments.) We are comfortable with this policy, but again, if authors are not comfortable with any content on their articles, they can always remove it. 
   
   Here's the section from the TOS.  Note, author content includes any comments:  You grant HubPages a worldwide, royalty-free, non-exclusive, perpetual, irrevocable license to reproduce, publicly display, publicly perform, distribute, modify, adapt and publish the Author Content on or in connection with the Service.

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      Kylyssaposted 6 years agoin reply to this

      This statement is nowhere that our readers can see it when they comment.

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   psycheskinnerposted 6 years ago

   I am not, personally, convinced that commenters are "authors".  I doubt they would think of themselves as such and they don't have to agree to the TOS before commenting.

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      Will Apseposted 6 years agoin reply to this

      I routinely search forums for useful info. I see forum posts and page comments as contributions to a general dialogue rather than an attempt to make money and in need of copyright protection.
      
      Newspapers routinely quote or use screen shots of Facebook and Twitter posts in their reporting. They treat online commenting as speech which can be reported without asking for permission, as far as I can see. They do reference the source, of course.

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    DzyMsLizzyposted 6 years ago

    ??? Duel capsules???  So now we are having duels on Hub Pages?  Bring on Don Quixote and the windmills, then--or is it banjos, instead? 

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