A Strange Snip

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   Ilonagardenposted 8 years ago

   I just had the strangest form of editor snipping. It wasn't Amazon, since this was a new hub, and I had used the topic template as a guide. Instead it was the capsule where it is suggested that you introduce yourself as the gardener (on a home and garden template).
   
   Why would the template suggest we write something into a hub, and then it gets snipped? I find that both strange and frustrating.
   
   Does this mean no one should trust Hubpages own templating suggestions?
   What I'm really asking is for greater clarity, Shouldn't we be able to use the template as a trustworthy guide? I think perhaps those guides should be updated to reflect present expectations. Thanks for listening.

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      Christy Kirwanposted 8 years agoin reply to this

      Hi Ilonagarden,
      
      We absolutely recommend talking about your expertise, training, experience, etc, with the subject you're writing about. However, such an intro may be snipped if you include things like links to your personal blog or social media pages, in which case it is considered overly-promotional. Those links belong in the link section of your profile page, not on individual articles.

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         Ilonagardenposted 8 years agoin reply to this

         I understand, thanks. It wasn't just a link, but the entire content and photo that was snipped. I did have my moniker imprinted on the photo of myself. Is that considered overly promotional?
         
         And on this topic, I have a garden site, which is informational, not a personal blog, and it is always penalized by editors, so I don't even link it now.

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            Christy Kirwanposted 8 years agoin reply to this

            We do advise against using watermarks on images on HubPages. A good rule of thumb is that your paragraph about yourself should establish authority. (For example, you'd want to include your professional qualifications like if you worked at a nursery or had a degree in botany, if you'd been gardening for years, if you participate in gardening groups or clubs, etc. It's ok to mention that you run your own popular gardening blog or website, but we advise against linking it because the bio should never appear to be promoting anything.)

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            1. 83

               Ilonagardenposted 8 years agoin reply to this

               The content in question related my gardening experience with the fact that I had grown those particular plants and the way they performed well for me. There was no mention of my site or the fact that I blog or even my writing here on Hubpages.
               
               Not to pursue any arguments about fine points, I do think the conflict between what the official template advises and the zealousness of the person doing the snipping is where there is a rub.  I didn't actually watermark the picture of myself, but  decorated it with my identification. I guess that could b considered a watermark of a type.  The whole matter is quite arbitrary, and that creates unnecessary work for Hubbers. If it was only the photo that was a problem I would think that would be the only thing snipped. I am not invested in having this portion of the hub published, but strongly believed I should not have been lead to add it by way of the template calling for it.
               
               Thanks for all the feedback.

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