When writing articles, Hubpages requires that we add a bio to expand on our knowledge, insight and experience of a subject. This is all well and good if you have years of experience in journalism, or creative writing, have a degree in physics or are an expert in a chosen field. For most of us, however, I would imagine that the majority of hubsters are merely part-time writers who enjoy voicing their opinions on subjects and topical events or insights into their hobbies.
Therefore should it need to be a requirement to add a bio on this basis? Saying something along the lines of, “Ian has absolutely no experience in the field of animal cognitive science, but enjoys dabbling in the study of it via reference books and websites”.
It doesn’t quite have that ring of authority about it as saying you have a degree in behavioural science or a Master’s degree in animal biology does it?
Maybe this encourages people to fluff out the truth of their knowledge or outright give a false impression. Personally, I would rather leave the bio blank and if it isn’t accepted for vertical hubs, for that reason, then so be it. From what I have garnered so far, the moving of hubs gains little value to the number of views anyway (I could be wrong?)
So far, so good. have written eight articles so far on a variety of subjects that interest me, this being the ninth:
1. All of which have been featured.
2. Four of them have the ‘HubPro’ icon next to them.
3. Two have been placed on vertical hubs, featuring less than authoritative bio’s
4. Two have been recommended for vertical hubs, but I haven’t added a bio due to having little to no experience to add to it, so despite being good enough for the move, they probably won’t be due to my reluctance to add a bio that makes me sound like I have no knowledge.
5. All the articles have had a score of at least 78 at some stage, although it seems the score goes down as the article gets older with fewer views? One reached a high (for me) of 90, which I thought was rather good, although I’m sure some of you have done far better.
Anyway, my point is that this suggests there is a certain amount of quality to the articles I am writing despite the lack of professional qualification. So why the requirement to add a bio? If they are good enough to be moved, then move them. If not, don’t. Having a bio added makes no difference (that I can ascertain) to my views or following. I don’t mean to sound churlish about this, but I feel it could actually have a detrimental effect to add something highlighting your lack of qualification on a subject. If you go to read an article but scan the bio first, surely this can put readers off continuing to read if they perceive a lack of professionalism in it, or take the article less seriously than they otherwise would.
On the flip side of this, I do understand that a good bio, which highlights the author's expertise is obviously a good thing as it encourages the reader to know they are in the hands of an expert and good information should be therefore be contained within.
Does anyone else see this as a problem? As I said earlier I don’t believe for one minute that all the people writing here are experts, but more likely enthusiasts who enjoy writing articles that put their ‘voice’ on favourite subjects and hobbies into the cyber world to see how it is received by the readers.
Opinions Please
If you are a hub writer yourself I would much appreciate your opinion on this matter. Maybe you can give advice on how you word your bio’s to get around this issue in a way that makes it seem less amateurish, or maybe you agree and would like to see bio’s either removed or the ability for your article to be moved to a vertical site without the requirement of a bio being attached?
