Regarding unfeatured hubs!

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   ChitrangadaSharanposted 5 months ago

   When a particular hub is unfeatured, can the moderators be more specific about what is the problem areas which have to be improved. Just writing ‘ Spammy elements ‘ doesn’t help.
   I keep on updating my hubs regularly, even if they have decent traffic/ views. But these days, any editing (from my side) results in that particular hub being unfeatured.
   I do try to improve them further according to the changing rules and regulations of HubPages,  but again I get the message, ‘Spammy elements.’

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      TIMETRAVELER2posted 5 months agoin reply to this

      I took a look at your hub about how money can't buy everything.  I do not think your problem is using links!
      
      The team places a copyright notice you can use at the bottom of the hub tool.  Instead of using it, you have chosen, at least in this hub, to place your own notice both at the top and the bottom, in bold letters, of your post.  The team specifically asked us some time ago not to do this.
      
      Second, I notice that you often use exclamation points when you should be using question marks.
      
      Third, you are using lists where there should not be any, and not using them when there should!
      
      All of these things are issues that could cause your work to have problems.  I suggest that the next time you update a hub, you pay close attention to issues like these because if you don't you'll continue to have issues.
      
      By the way, I use Amazon links regularly in my hubs and I also link back to my own articles and sometimes to external ones and every one of my RV hubs and most of my Dreamworker hubs are on niche sites.  Just sayin'

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         ChitrangadaSharanposted 5 months agoin reply to this

         Thank you TIMETRAVELLER2 !
         Suggestions noted and I appreciate you for being so specific. That’s what I request the editors/ moderators to be. It will save our time as well as theirs.
         Regarding copyright notice, I had some bitter experiences of my work from HP stolen several times. No DMCA helped . After putting my copyright notice, such incidents have not happened. Anyway if you suggest, I will remove them.
         Yes I can see that you have Amazon links and your own links and many others also have it. But in my case it was removed from  some of my hubs which went to niche sites and even others.
         For proofreading, I do use use Grammarly and Proofread Bot, So I think there should not be any issues related to that.
         Thank you once again for your suggestions and I would review my hubs accordingly.

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            TIMETRAVELER2posted 5 months agoin reply to this

            The moderators really don't have time to do specific edits, unfortunately.  This can be very frustrating because if you knew what you were doing wrong you wouldn't do it!  It is so easy to make mistakes and not even know you have done it, but fortunately when you post here for help, a number of writers try to guide you.  What I dislike is writers who say "Oh, your work is great" or "I don't see any problems"...when you are looking for constructive criticism comments like that don't help.  As a former English teacher, when I leave a response to a question like yours I try to give an honest assessment.  Some people get mad at me for doing it, but either people want help or they don't.  If they don't, why ask for help???

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            1. 98

               Marisa Wrightposted 5 months agoin reply to this

               I agree TT2 and your suggestions for improvement are always helpful.   However, I always think it's important to answer the OP's specific question first, to avoid confusion.
               
               The moderator's message in this case was "spammy elements".  It's important the OP understands that means ONLY that there is a problem with links.  If she gets the impression it means other things like grammar or structure, then in future, she could spend hours editing those elements and could even forget to fix the links - resulting in endless frustration.
               
               So in summary, if the OP fixes the links, then it's likely the Hub will get Featured again because that is what the moderator is concerned about. However, if she improves the structure, that could improve her traffic so it's also worth doing.

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2. 98

   Marisa Wrightposted 5 months ago

   I wish HubPages didn't make up its own jargon, because it only confuses people!
   
   "Spammy elements" just means you have one or more links which are against the rules.  It's that simple.  It could be a link to an Amazon product, or to another website, or to another Hub.  It might help you to read my Hub on the Basic Rules, to make sure you know what the rules about links are.

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      Venkatachari Mposted 5 months agoin reply to this

      Thanks, Marisa, for making it that much simpler. It's true that many words used by HubPages need to be made simpler so that anyone can understand what they are referring to.
      
      Chitra, when you edit hubs, you need to be more careful to look at every aspect of it. Otherwise, you leave it as it is. Once, you touch anything, the HP bots are watching you. Otherwise, they will not bother!!!
      So, you take your full time before starting to edit any hub.

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         ChitrangadaSharanposted 5 months agoin reply to this

         Thank you  Venkatachari Ji for your help!
         I agree with you that the moment I touch (edit) any of my hub, they become unfeatured. I do it because HubPages expects us to keep editing and updating our hubs to add more relevant content in it. But the results are counterproductive. Even some of my top performing hubs are affected.  Moreover it takes so much time that you are in no mood to publish anything new.
         Thank You for your advice Venkatachari Ji!

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            Venkatachari Mposted 5 months agoin reply to this

            True, Chitra. It is a very time-consuming job and even frustrates you a lot if it does not catch up readily.
            
            I have two unfeatured, presently since one year and do not like to touch them without full research.
            
            I got one broken link message two days back on another featured hub which I fixed immediately by changing the link to the correct one.
            
            Government websites keep changing their folders and thereby the links become broken.

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      paradigmsearchposted 5 months agoin reply to this

      HubPages really should pay you something. You do a job that is necessary and that HP should do themselves.

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      1. 55

         ChitrangadaSharanposted 5 months agoin reply to this

         Thank you paradigmsearch for your response! In fact I don’t mind if they want me to edit some portion of the hub. But going through the whole article again and keep guessing, what could be the trouble spot, involves lot of time. I just want them to be more specific. In any case, the same hubs which have passed the QAP earlier and are doing well since the last five years, cannot be completely wrong — so wrong that they deserve to be unfeatured!
         Thanks again for your response!

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            Marisa Wrightposted 5 months agoin reply to this

            Those old Hubs are not "completely wrong".  However, the rules have changed.  They didn't go back and check old Hubs to see if they obey the new rules - but when you edit an old Hub, THEN they check it.
            
            So it's usually not necessary to make huge changes to the Hub, it's just a case of working out where you've broken the rules.   For instance, as TT2 says, we're not supposed to add our own copyright any more.  We're not allowed to use the star rating any more, except in recipes.  We're not allowed to link to our own Hubs unless they are directly related to the Hub.  And so on.

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               ChitrangadaSharanposted 5 months agoin reply to this

               Once again, many thanks Marisa for your help. I have noted the suggestions made by you and TT2 and will review my hubs accordingly.
               Yes I did edit some of my old hubs to add fresh content and more videos and they became unfeatured. Thanks for the advice that if they are having decent traffic, there is no need to make changes.
               Thank You!

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   3. 55

      ChitrangadaSharanposted 5 months agoin reply to this

      Thank you Marisa for your answer! Yes I will read your hub.
      I have removed almost all Amazon capsules from my hubs and those that were selected for niche sites were removed by HubPages.
      I don’t have any external links but I do have some links to my own hubs, in case they are related.
      I will review them again and many thanks for your help.

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         Titiaposted 5 months agoin reply to this

         Linking to your own hubs is a no no at HP these days.

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            ChitrangadaSharanposted 5 months agoin reply to this

            Yes Titia, I can see that. I have removed links to my own hubs too. Although I don’t like this rule because some hubs are related and it’s important to read both of them together.
            But rules are rules and we have to follow them, whether we like them or not .
            Thank You!

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   docashpposted 5 months ago

   I wish they were more specific rather than the genric "spammy elements". It confuses new hubbers like me. I think using amazon capsules is also a great hurdle in the hub being approved. I have stopped using them all together on the presumption that hub pages dislikes them. lol

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      ChitrangadaSharanposted 5 months agoin reply to this

      Thank You docashp for your response! Yes, that’s what I want—the notification to be more specific. That will save lot of time and we will be able to publish new articles.
      Even I don’t use Amazon capsules.
      Thank you!

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      Marisa Wrightposted 5 months agoin reply to this

      "Spammy elements" IS very specific.  It means you have links in your Hub that are not allowed.  It's true they might be links to Amazon products, or links to websites, or links to your own Hubs - but all you have to do is check your hyperlinks and Amazon capsules, and make sure they are within the rules.  That's not too hard to do, surely?

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   anusha15posted 5 months ago

   Actually, sometimes the bots can be unpredictive too. There may be no satisfactory explanation, if any, that could be given, even by HubPages Editors. Old hubs are not re-checked till we edit them, so they are left alone, but you can't be too sure about that either. So, I think what we should do is, edit and update if we feel that:
   
   1. The hub has become partially or totally obsolete,
   2. There is some additional information that is extremely crucial and must be added, or
   3. We are receiving notification for doing this.
   
   Apart from the above 3, IMO, we should focus on publishing new and quality content.

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   1. 55

      ChitrangadaSharanposted 5 months agoin reply to this

      Thank You Anusha for your suggestions and I agree with you. It’s not necessary to edit old hubs, unless we get a notification to do so.
      Time to focus on publishing new ones.
      Suggestions noted, my friend and thanks!

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5. 86

   tritrainposted 5 months ago

   If you have access, try writing on Word or run your article through Grammerly.com to check on grammar and spelling. 
   
   Otherwise, ditto to everything TimeTraveler had just written.

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   1. 55

      ChitrangadaSharanposted 5 months agoin reply to this

      Thank you tritrain, for your response!
      I do use Grammarly and Proofread Bot for proofreading.
      Thanks everyone for your helpful suggestions in this thread.

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6. 98

   Marisa Wrightposted 5 months ago

   Just to be clear, if they are getting decent traffic then there's no need to make changes to the text, BUT you do need to identify and fix the aspects that are breaking the new rules.

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      ChitrangadaSharanposted 5 months agoin reply to this

      Yes I understand! Thank You Marisa once again.

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