HP editing quality

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   promisemposted 5 years ago

   When Pulitzer winner Bob Woodward writes a major article at the Washington Post, the article does not get edited by a 22-year-old just out of college. It gets edited by the best editors on the staff.
   
   When a young and inexperienced reporter does an article about a neighborhood festival, it usually goes to a young and inexperienced editor.
   
   I have experienced huge variations in the quality of editing here on HP. Some of my articles get improved; others are rewritten to the point where they have factual errors, misspellings and other problems.
   
   If you look at the history of posts about editing on this forum, many writers apparently have had both good and experiences as well.
   
   I would like to suggest that HP assign its best and most experienced editors to its best and most experienced writers.
   
   "Best" is often a matter of opinion, but there are some standards you could use for certain writers who consistently write articles that:
   
   - Exceed standards, such as word length, original graphics, etc.
   - Produce high page views.
   - Generate high ad revenue

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      Abram Leyzorekposted 5 years agoin reply to this

      Hello Scott!
      
      To begin, I hope you don't mind my using what I assume to be your real name, according to Rupert Taylor, instead of your username. With that out of the way, I would like to join your plea to HP, because, although I have never experienced it myself, I feel leery about the Hub Pro editing service as I thought such things as you describe could go wrong with it. I think that HP should allow top writers to opt out of their editing service, and if they choose to do so, HP can just not feature the articles containing egregious errors. I would assume, however, that a top writer's work would rarely contain such errors.
      
      But, on the other hand, I think it could be a great service to valued writers if, one, the writers accepted it and, two, if it were done properly.
      
      I hope HP heeds your words and that your work stops being assigned to inexperienced editors, or that, if this continues to be the case, they allow you to opt out of the service.
      
      Sincerely,
      
      Abram Leyzorek

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         theraggededgeposted 5 years agoin reply to this

         Abram, you do know you have to be 18 to write for HubPages? Your bio says you are only 16.
         
         See the Terms of Use #3 https://hubpages.com/help/user-agreement

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            Abram Leyzorekposted 5 years agoin reply to this

            theraggededge,
            
            Thank you for bringing this to my attention.

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      Eurofileposted 5 years agoin reply to this

      I have had experience of my articles being edited and I think the problem with all writing is that of subjectivity.  The editor comes at our articles with a different mindset from the writer and tries to adapt it to their way of thinking.  As a relatively inexperienced hub writer, I have resigned myself  to take the rough with the smooth and accept the changes that are made to my work, but I fully appreciate the point you are making.

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   Rupert Taylorposted 5 years ago

   Hi Scott. My experience is generally quite positive in that most of my articles get elevated to the lofty heights of niche sites without so much as a comma being moved. But I cannot say my stories meet your third criterion of generating high ad revenue.

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      promisemposted 5 years agoin reply to this

      Hi, Rupert. I'm glad to hear you have had overall good experiences. Thanks for your feedback.

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         Wesman Todd Shawposted 5 years agoin reply to this

         Over at Spinditty.com, the person or persons who've (sometimes) edited my stuff, either made the webpage more aesthetically attractive, or they've at times rearranged my capsule presentation to where the page made more sense commercially.
         
         More than once I've just been left feeling like I'm a bit unimaginative when it comes to where on a page a segment of information should be located. I also put a lot of thought into making sure my webpage has a visual aesthetic that is pleasing, but my stylistic flair could use the help of someone who wears more than just bluejeans.
         
         On the highest performing article I've ever done, the editor did the premium thing, and did make an error in stating something which was only incorrect for a particular year and product specifications.
         
         I'd already had an email conversation going with the person then, so I simply emailed him to say, 'yo, where you said 1955, it should definitely say 1957.'
         
         
         So it was quickly changed to being factually correct. I suppose my reputation survived having something stated which was not true, for maybe a whole day.
         
         Probably the most of the editing done to my things involves editing the opening text capsule. The editors have caused me to realize that I say things which make perfect sense, but there are easier and possibly less confusing ways to sometimes say a thing, than how I'd done so.

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            promisemposted 5 years agoin reply to this

            Regarding your second paragraph, there is a concept in writing called the inverted pyramid. It basically means you put the most important information first and least important last.
            
            It works well in an online environment because people don't spend much time on web pages.

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            lobobrandonposted 5 years agoin reply to this

            I find the same thing happening in my case, especially the last paragraph of what you wrote.

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               Wesman Todd Shawposted 5 years agoin reply to this

               You're being very modest. You always make perfect sense. I'm half touched in the noodles...Ever see the show 'King of the Hill?' Without professional editors, my text comes off like Boomhaur.

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                  lobobrandonposted 5 years agoin reply to this

                  Nope, I've not. But just checked out a few youtube clippings of Boomhaur in action xD

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   Wesman Todd Shawposted 5 years ago

   On behalf of persons who forced themselves, at least once in their lives, to read a Bob Woodward book, I'd like to thank the staff of editors at Hubpages for all that they do.

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   MizBejabbersposted 5 years ago

   I appreciate the rearranging of capsules, etc. to make the articles more attractive. But as an editor for a total of 33 years in publishing, I don't appreciate the restructuring of sentences or changes to factual words and phrases. That is not editing, it is rewriting. I opened one article of mine and changed the misuse of "facts" back to the original words. I was not going to ask them to do it for me because I feared they might not do it.

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      Jean Bakulaposted 5 years agoin reply to this

      Last week a Hub Pro editor contacted me and wanted to edit one of my best viewed and paying hubs. I have had so much trouble here, with editors
      cutting links I need so the article makes sense, especially astrology ones, where I wrote series and the reader needs the link to find what zodiac sign their planet is in.
      
      I've fought for over a year to get an admission that Greek Mythology should be placed under Humanities, and they are finally making a new Mythology niche.
      
      I told the editor if any of my work gets touched, I will pull everything I ever wrote here from the sites. I've had it with dumb editors who change things so they don't make sense, and know nothing about my topics.

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   paradigmsearchposted 5 years ago

   You have no idea what this has cost me.

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   psycheskinnerposted 5 years ago

   I get having disagreements with editors, but Hubpages is the last large site making money from open-access content farming-the fact they employ editors at all is a minor miracle.  While on one hand I can charge thousands of dollars for a consultant whitepaper and consider myself an elite writer, on the other hand I realize online content is online content and any editing at for that sort of writing is better than the norm.  I imagine the top earners here -- which is for sure not me -- are already getting the top editors.

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      Wesman Todd Shawposted 5 years agoin reply to this

      Right. Lets not go looking the gift horses in the mouth. (no idea where that phrase came from, or why I even know of it)
      
      I think we know for sure the best content gets the most attention. It only makes perfect sense that a business would put their best people on the best work.

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