Do you worry about where your hub will end up?

1. 88

   SimeyCposted 12 years ago

   I recently wrote a hub about the potential dangers of the Swine Flu Virus. The hub, IMO is well balanced and lets the reader make their own decision, while providing links to many relevant sites.
   
   I am not a doctor or expert on the matter but pulled together the information from around the web, and added some of my thoughts.
   
   That's all well and good and the hub has been successful on here. I then checked out my 'sources' and was surprised and a little shocked to see some traffic coming from righthealth.com - which looks like a very professional health oriented website that links to health news from major sources around the web.
   
   It's nice to be listed (when searching for certain phrases) but it made me think about the 'power' I have as a writer on Hubpages and the responsibility I have to ensure my information is accurate, and not feed the dis-information machine that I hate.
   
   Have you experienced anything similar, and has it made you think more about the hubs you create?

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2. 84

   rebekahELLEposted 12 years ago

   yes, I do think about this. I have heard from parents who have listed a few of my hubs for reading groups, etc. for disciplining children, preschool related learning.  one was making it required reading for her mothers group.
   
   anyone who is writing helpful information wants to make sure they have a quality hub with good info that will be shared and bookmarked.  we never know who may find it!!

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3. 71

   mega1posted 12 years ago

   this is good advice.  I have wondered if my humor got misunderstood in the wrong place at the wrong time, how bad could that be? And I don't think anyone would think of me a fact source, but what if? I might start printing a disclaimer at the bottom of each hub.  hmmmmmmm - how would I word that?

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      Justine76posted 12 years agoin reply to this

      ....do not take seriously...
      ?? or the usual:.....lol

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         mega1posted 12 years agoin reply to this

         Yes - like "Please don't quote me - my facts are all total fabrications." 
         
         I kinda did that on my "Turkey Butter Balls" hub - made it all up except the turkeys were real.

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            Justine76posted 12 years agoin reply to this

            no turkeys knew they were harmed in the making of this....
            you cant please everyone, and you cant  help what anyone thinks...

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   Justine76posted 12 years ago

   sorry, no one would bother to steal one of my hubs so im not worried. maybe you could take it as a complimement?

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   Ivorwenposted 12 years ago

   I received a request to reprint part of one of my hubs in a book that is being written.  So yes, I do think about the bigger impact that could be made with the things I write, knowing that they are not going to stay within the 'walls' of HP.

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   Sportyposted 12 years ago

   I was pleasantly surprised when I found out that some of my hubs had been bookmarked by other people. I get a chunk of my traffic from Facebook, yet I am not a member. Wonder how that happens. Sometimes I am really flattered when I get genuine comments to my hubs.

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   Lisa HWposted 12 years ago

   I had a kind of odd one not long ago.  A law-school student e.mailed me about a Hub I'd written in defense of the Barbie doll.  Several months ago West Virginia had some legislator who had proposed banning the sale of the doll, and this student was writing an argument that opposed the banning.  He asked if he could use my Hub as part of his argument, and said he'd give me proper credit.  When I wrote that Barbie Hub it was after writing another, researched, article about the doll; so the Hub was just "ranting and raving" from my own point-of-view.  So, the moral to that story is sometimes even the opinion-only type of Hubs may get interest from someone.
   
   I don't know what, if anything, happens to law-school arguments; but, particularly since this school is a town away from where I live, it was kind of nice to be asked.  (but Barbie dolls - of all things.    )  I've never really worried about where writing may end up, though.  I figure, I'm careful about what I write, in terms of wording very differently when something isn't a matter of research; and on researched things, if I were to end up with a bad fact I'd be more than willing to correct it and acknowledge that.  By the time I'm ready to hit, "publish", I'm pretty comfortable with it.

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8. 56

   songsterposted 12 years ago

   i write in a colloquial way about what interests me not with an assumed expertese, so i dont worry. but what you say is a concern i would think in matters medical.

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   Len Cannonposted 12 years ago

   If you aren't comfortable with everyone reading your article, you probably shouldn't post it online. If a health forum was talking about what you wrote, it was probably a) informative b) easy to understand for lay people or c) super wrong and they were bitching about it.  If people aren't commenting to correct you, it is probably one of the first two.

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      SimeyCposted 12 years agoin reply to this

      I'm actually proud to be listed on other sites and hopefully give some good advice. My concern is, particularly with a hub pointing to risks of getting the swine flu vaccine, is that someone makes a decision based on my hub and then gets really sick because they didn't take the vaccine....although, as I do feel that the hub is balanced, and I have given information from both sides of the arguments then I should be OK - it's down to the reader to make their own decision......

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      1. 84

         rebekahELLEposted 12 years agoin reply to this

         I wouldn't worry about it if I were you. If you cite sources of where you've obtained your info, that should suffice. I leave links to sources in some of my hubs. When I have read articles concerning anything health related, in magazines, newspapers, online, sources are always cited.  Then it is up to the reader.

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    songsterposted 12 years ago

    expertise,,expertese, being a kind of language.

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    Pearldiverposted 12 years ago

    1) Yes.
    
    2) No.

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    Bard of Elyposted 12 years ago

    I have had so many hubs stolen and posted elsewhere that although I used to get annoyed I am now past caring!

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       Lisa HWposted 12 years agoin reply to this

       That's enough to make a person have the urge to start to wonder if
       
       1.  We should only post our most mediocre stuff on the Internet (and save the better stuff for print or else bottoms of desk drawers).
       
       2.  We'd be better off posting the same stuff in so many places it will be yet more firmly attached to our name.
       
       I know there's rules/reasons not to do either of the above (particularly Number 2), but it's pretty tempting not to just go by the same free-for-all/low-standards "rules" so many other people on the Internet go by. 

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    songsterposted 12 years ago

    when i say expertese, i mean writing about something as if one was an expert and using expert language thereby giving the impression one is an expert, i am inventing a word(expertese) to make a point and in no way should anyone reading this think i meant that expertese is an actual language.
    i would think that anyone looking up medical info would go to the BMJ site or other official site if they dont then they deserve to die!
    
    mwaahhahhhhhhaaa!!!!

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    lyricsingrayposted 12 years ago

    Im afraid I'll drop it in the pool

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15. 84

    KCC Big Countryposted 12 years ago

    I have some local historical hubs that I've seen bursts of traffic on that made me wonder if local children are being asked to do a paper on the topic.  Those kinds of thoughts make me realize how important being a responsible writer is.  If I'm writing an opinion piece I try to make it known that that is what it is. 
    
    I have had a few comments lately that make me really proud of what I've written.  One was a comment from someone who had a ghostly experience at a hotel I was writing about being haunted and the other was from a guy who was letting me know that he and a partner were writing the screenplay to turn the topic I covered in my hub into a movie.  It's about a heroic boat rescue that happened in England in 1899.

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