Confounded with a Friendly Heads Up

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   ILoveLegosTooposted 7 years ago

   First, I want to say that the following article was created many years ago and does get a steady stream of traffic.  Unfortunately, I hit the edit button, and although I didn't publish the edits, it went through the quality process and was shut down.  After attempts over the last several days to "remove spammy elements", I am frustrated with the repeated emails that tell me the same thing.
   
   I find I learn best when the feedback is specific and points me at those parts of the article that I need to clean up.  So I read and reread the general articles that are suppose to help me, and after removing all Amazon modules (although relevant, I don't believe the reviewer agrees), cleaning up some misspellings, and rewriting a couple of sections, I still receive the "Friendly Heads Up" with the same advice.  And the process repeats over and over and over...I don't think it's a "Friendly Heads Up" anymore, it is becoming something else entirely.
   
   It probably just needs a new title...although, the current title relates it to other articles I have written on the same subject.  This 3,000+ word article that has a lot of ideas when traveling, and certainly adds value to the community and those that read it, ends up on the trash heap.
   
   Maybe I'll get lucky and delete the one thing that keeps it from being published.
   
   Anyways...end of rant.  Keeping my fingers crossed on the latest edit.

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      Barbara Kayposted 7 years agoin reply to this

      Share a link to the hub and I'm sure someone can spot the problem.

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      1. 65

         ILoveLegosTooposted 7 years agoin reply to this

         Thank you Barb.  My rant was more intended to say that the messages need to be more direct.  If a human is rejecting the hub, then a quick thought would be great as to what they see.  If it's more of a machine generated message, then the thought is that it can kick out some error messages and a snipit of the offending text.   It's akin to entering information onto a screen, if the message is, you need to correct something in the 20 fields you entered, you spend most of your time trying to change something that isn't correct.  However, if you say, this field needs to be numeric, it becomes easier.

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2. 59

   paradigmsearchposted 7 years ago

   This is why I don't dare update my articles anymore.

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   1. 65

      ILoveLegosTooposted 7 years agoin reply to this

      I typically stay away from editing any published hubs, unless it's been edited by HubPro team (even those I sometimes end up with the "Friendly Heads Up".  I decided to do a quick edit and remove the small pictures from this particular hub, as it looked awful with the pictures, and am now down the rabbit's hole.

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3. 73

   Cynthia Hooverposted 7 years ago

   I too have some frustrations with those ‘heads up’ emails. Some are very cryptic in comparison to what I see when I go into edit that specific hub. Lately I am getting a general ‘please proofread for typos’. I run everything through spellcheck and grammar check on a program on my PC before I ever move it to HubPages. So, I then run it all through again, and even ask friends and family to see if a fresh set of eyes can find what myself and spellcheck are missing.
   I would imagine that it would be very time consuming for the editors to give us all a more detailed description of the issues at hand. Alas it still is mildly frustrating when you cannot pinpoint the element that is holding a hub back. Good luck to you, I do hope you narrowed it down and were able to get it sorted.

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   Butterfly67posted 7 years ago

   I agree. I've been in that situation and it is very frustrating not to get more specific info about what is wrong.

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5. 72

   Gregory DeVictorposted 7 years ago

   I too have received those nebulous emails that are not the least specific as to what is wrong with an article. Yes, I’ve also read the words “spammy elements” in more than one of those emails.

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6. 79

   RuthCoffeeposted 7 years ago

   I'm glad you posted. I thought I was the only one. I have articles that are nearly a decade old that I've accidentally "edited" only to get that non-helpful "friendly" e-mail. All you can do is post it and see if anyone can help you figure out what to do to get it re-published. I get suggestions that are excellent although sometimes I can't figure out why those things would cause it not to be published. I've had a few instances where I hadn't had time to act on any suggestions, and it magically gets published. It happened just a couple of days ago.
   
   Like you I think more specific feedback would be helpful. Mostly I just want to learn what not to do and that still seems elusive to me.

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7. 65

   ILoveLegosTooposted 7 years ago

   Quick update:  An editor came in an snipped the hub and it is published again.  The content snipped was the last module in the hub which was a linked list to other related articles not on HubPages.  The links were to competing article sites like InfoBarrel, Wizzley, and RedGage.  My guess is that HubPages and Maven are starting to weed out helping the competition

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      lisavollrathposted 7 years agoin reply to this

      The might be less about weeding out competition, and more about removing links to sites that Google is finding problematic.

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8. 0

   cursedempathposted 7 years ago

   I am a new writer here at HubPages, and as such, am learning as I go along.
   
   I, too, have had a few incidents now that have made me raise an eyebrow regarding content censorship (which is what I believe it to be). Now, luckily the warning tends to appear before I am even finished with the article so I know not to bother publishing as there is a high chance that it will wind up rejected. What I see is a warning that states that ads have been disabled because some bot (I am no techie lol!) has found my content to be of a "sensitive nature."
   
   I am perplexed about this, as I do understand that my perspectives may not fit the mainstream narrative at times. But, when I write, I try to convey my message with the utmost respect to anyone who reads it, with an emphasis on a generally inclusive tone.
   
   I do drop the odd cuss word here and there, however, the terms are simply used for emphasis or humor and my target audience is adults. I will be sure though to include adult content disclaimers though in this regard as I am aware that to some folks, a random F-bomb could be life-altering (lol sorry I couldn't help myself). In all seriousness, out of respect for readers at the end of the day. I would rather not cause upset intentionally in this regard.
   
   That all being said, I am struggling to understand what it is about my content that is particularly "too sensitive." I mean, the real world is not all DIY home make-overs and cake recipe sharing (I love both of those subjects though believe me).
   
   I was truly bothered by this as, like yourself, I have re-examined these pieces and I am not seeing anything that I believe most would find too distressing or offensive.
   
   I believe that censorship does have it's place within reason. I would understand if I was touting hate-speech or promoting violence (I am certainly not, I make no secret of the fact that I am completely opposed to both). But this is just getting ridiculous!
   
   Writers are also artists and to punish a writer for thinking outside of the box is concerning to me. I did some searching on this one last night, and apparently this is not at all uncommon with HubPages. It has caused a lot of really great writers to leave.
   
   I am not saying that I am about to do that as I truly enjoy this community, I love the variety, I love the supportive atmosphere. These alone are enough to make me hang around. I can't help but feel a bit jaded though that if I even dare touch on a very real but uncomfortable topic, it means a smack on the hand and ad removal. I don't feel that this is right.
   
   I am not sure what to advise really as it seems like you have done everything possible to work through this one and still wind up with no real understanding of the problem. Unfortunately, you may have to use other platforms to share your content if this is going to be the case. I would hate to see a solid, quality piece wind up in the virtual trash bin

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      EricDockettposted 7 years agoin reply to this

      HubPages is a business and relies on advertising to survive. The site must comply with the terms of ad programs or it simply will have no means to earn revenue. If HP doesn't play by the rules, none of us will have a place to write.
      
      Mistakes do happen, though. If you really think your Hub has been flagged as inappropriate for no reason, shoot the Team an email and ask them to take a look.

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9. 83

   Kenna McHughposted 7 years ago

   I have received the same emails after having an article featured for many years. I edit - submit, edit - submit, edit - submit until I hit the jackpot. The form letters are not very helpful, but I have received "Suggestions" from a moderator. The suggestions were inserted in the form letters, which was helpful.

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    Miebakagh57posted 7 years ago

    All hubbers received the same email after summiting an article for publishing. It was just an encouragement to review and edit the story so that it will be featured. Hope it helps? Thanks.

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