What happened to ParadigmSearch?

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   Rose McCoyposted 3 years ago

   Hey everyone, I recently approved some fan mail from the popular Hubber ParadigmSearch and I found that he’s been banned from HubPages. Does anyone know why this happened? He wrote good articles and posted frequently, especially in the forums—I participated in his $25 contest and he followed me for it. I can’t think of any reason why such a major contributor to the community would be banned—does anyone have any ideas?

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      theraggededgeposted 3 years agoin reply to this

      There was a bunch of weird meaningless messages posted on one of the admin posts - over a dozen, I think.
      
      It's not the first time; I'm sure PS will be back soon.
      
      The messages are still there on the last page: https://hubpages.com/community/forum/34 … ost4150388

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         Drew Agravanteposted 3 years agoin reply to this

         That indeed is a mess.

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         lobobrandonposted 3 years agoin reply to this

         No PS will not be back because this time it is a HP ban and not a forum ban if you take a look at the profile. HP is giving old hubbers bans instead of forum bans, it's crazy.

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            theraggededgeposted 3 years agoin reply to this

            That's crazy. Are they having a purge?

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               lobobrandonposted 3 years agoin reply to this

               I'm not the only one noticing https://hubpages.com/politics/forum/349167/forum-bans
               
               EDIT: I just realized the lack of punctuation in my previous comment.

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                  theraggededgeposted 3 years agoin reply to this

                  Yes, I saw that, but thought that the people they were referring to had overstepped the mark or something. PS is just a bit off the wall. He's not rude or prone to attacking other hubbers.
                  
                  Oh well, maybe I'll be on the list
                  
                  Edit: His comments weren't even deleted, so the 'crime' couldn't have been that bad.

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                     lobobrandonposted 3 years agoin reply to this

                     True.

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                  PaulGoodman67posted 3 years agoin reply to this

                  Hmm, just saw the Lobobrandon comment and link. Maybe PS is permanently banned after all. Randy Godwin was temp banned on many occasions over the years and so maybe I'm not so surprised in his case, as he kind of enjoyed pushing the boundaries. Maybe the never-ending  drive towards professionalism has become more risky for the more rogue-ish characters here. I don't care about the politics forums at all, but some real writers gone it seems.

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                     lobobrandonposted 3 years agoin reply to this

                     True, I don't care about those forums, but some real writers seem to be getting the permanent boot. I wonder why they don't just get a permanent forum ban instead of an account ban?

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                        PaulGoodman67posted 3 years agoin reply to this

                        Certainly in the case of Randy, he was capable of writing provocative hubs when banned from the forums - HP are Nazis etc. He certainly had a strong contrarian streak.
                        
                        No idea if that was the case with PS. I mean you can still do stuff like hubs and comments without being in the forums.
                        
                        We just don't know what happened unless HP gives us their reasons for the bans, which they probably won't.
                        
                        I don't know the procedure for bans, presumably you get a number of warnings and the temporary bans get longer and longer (that's what it says in the forum guidelines).

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                           lobobrandonposted 3 years agoin reply to this

                           I see.

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      Miebakagh57posted 3 years agoin reply to this

      Nope. I though he was a staffer of hubpages.

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      NateB11posted 3 years agoin reply to this

      Wow, didn't even know that happen. He's been around a long time.

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   Rose McCoyposted 3 years ago

   I think those random forum messages might have been part of that flash fiction he talked about writing in another post? Ooh... looks like we’ve got a mystery on our hands!

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      PaulGoodman67posted 3 years agoin reply to this

      Yes, maybe his eccentric humor at work.

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   CYong74posted 3 years ago

   This will be picked up by ... a certain Mr D soon.

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   PaulGoodman67posted 3 years ago

   He's searching for another paradigm? But seriously, I assume he'll be back. He seemed to be overdoing it with the number of obscure comments. Likable chap, though can sometimes drift into eccentric conspiratorial criticisms of HP, and opaque posts/comments. That doesn't merit a permanent ban though, so presumably it's temporary and he'll be back. Unless there's something more serious that we don't know about, but I doubt it.

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      Rose McCoyposted 3 years agoin reply to this

      That’s good info... I hope you’re right! Do you think someone saw what he was posting and decided to report him (is that possible?), or did HubPages just see it and decide on a ban?

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         theraggededgeposted 3 years agoin reply to this

         It was on an Admin generated thread so they would have seen it.

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   Rose McCoyposted 3 years ago

   Woah! This is all pretty surprising... I didn’t realize there was something bigger going on.

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   bhattucposted 3 years ago

   This is sad but does ban mean no chance to come back? Anyone any idea?

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      Miebakagh57posted 3 years agoin reply to this

      Specific, I've seen few hubbers banned temporarily. Make a come back for good. I realized it's a small matter about s.x.       Now, put out your pen and write about coitus like the man in the middle, HubPages' now  Google Panda, will instal sense in you. Ok?

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   Marisa Writesposted 3 years ago

   I didn't think Paradigmsearch had been banned as often as Randy but then, we don't always know when someone has been banned.  He may have had a lot of black marks against him already.
   
   I suspect both of them may have earned a ban once too often. I've never seen anyone say there's a limit - it's not "three strikes and you're out", otherwise Randy would've been gone a very long time ago! - but maybe they've introduced one now.   
   
   I'm noticing that HubPages is much less social nowadays.  I think management tolerated misbehaviour much more in the days when this was a writers' community, because having a few "colourful characters" kept the place lively.

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      lobobrandonposted 3 years agoin reply to this

      I still don't see why they don't just introduce a permanent forum ban instead of a complete ban. Complete bans are going to make people less willing to say stuff freely.

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         PaulGoodman67posted 3 years agoin reply to this

         But perhaps there were issues outside the forums that we didn't see? For instance, a heated email exchange with a staff member? I don't feel that it's possible to assume that it's entirely related to forums.

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            DrMark1961posted 3 years agoin reply to this

            That is very possible. Often he would ask staff to PM him outside of the forums. I am not sure, of course, how often that happened.

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            lobobrandonposted 3 years agoin reply to this

            Possible. I wonder if they have a rule for account bans for being rude to staff members.

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               PaulGoodman67posted 3 years agoin reply to this

               They can ban anyone at anytime for anything, according to the terms of agreement. I'm sure that in practice they don't ban people lightly. But the reality is that they don't need rules for every scenario.
               
               I guess my point was really that what we see may be everything. Or it may be the tip of an iceberg. Or somewhere in between. Difficult to know. For me, HP feels like a big city and I only know for sure what's happening in one particular street.
               
               I'm probably getting over-philosophical...

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                  lobobrandonposted 3 years agoin reply to this

                  I agree with your point, didn't know about them being able to ban anytime and for anything.

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                     PaulGoodman67posted 3 years agoin reply to this

                     2b of the Terms of Agreement: "Maven at any time and for any reason, in its sole discretion and without any liability to you or any third-party, may suspend or terminate your account or use of or access to the Platform (or any portion thereof)."
                     
                     Like I say, I don't believe that they ban people lightly. PS and Randy both had been banned multiple times previously on a temporary basis for discretions, as far as I know. But it's a private company and we essentially enter into a private agreement when we agree to the terms and conditions.
                     
                     It's getting tighter though. A reflection of how the internet is going generally, perhaps...

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                        Marisa Writesposted 3 years agoin reply to this

                        Like I said, I believe a time is coming when the social side of HubPages will disappear.    Once all the niche sites are transitioned, our HubPages profile becomes superfluous, since nothing links to it except the "slush pile" articles on the main site, which Maven doesn't care about.  So following and fan mail will fall into disuse or be removed.  There is no other way to connect with authors on the new layout.  I'm not convinced they will reinstate comments either.
                        
                        HubPages tolerated characters because they helped keep the social side of HubPages alive.  If, as I suspect, they've decided that's no longer of value, I expect to see more and more people getting banned for minor infractions - unless their Hubs are making good money.

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                           PaulGoodman67posted 3 years agoin reply to this

                           The followers, fan mail, political forums are superfluous in my opinion. Early HP kind of wanted to be many things, including social media. The multimedia approach was common at the time, for example, there was Yahoo which did email, games, search engine, news, etc. Nowadays, sites are generally slimmed down and focused.
                           
                           The main, perhaps only social thing that I care about is that there is forum for us to express feedback and opinions on the writing and earnings aspect. I feel that that has been a positive of this site and has worked well over the years. It will be sad if that goes. Learning from others is invaluable. I also hope that the site maintains a sense of the writers and HP working together towards success.

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               Marisa Writesposted 3 years agoin reply to this

               I know of one other member who got a temporary ban for that reason.

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         EricFarmer8xposted 3 years agoin reply to this

         I already feel this way. I like the HubPages forums but not so much I would risk getting into arguments that may get me banned. I rather stay silent and just publish before that.
         
         The way I see things. There are plenty of other social media channels to get into that sort of thing if I really wanted to.

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   Kenna McHughposted 3 years ago

   Didn't PS win an award for having the funniest posts?

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      lobobrandonposted 3 years agoin reply to this

      More than once if I recall.

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   Rose McCoyposted 3 years ago

   Yeah, it’s kind of a shame that we would lose any number of talented writers just because of what they say here. I agree that a forum ban would be better than a complete one—and that would be best for everyone, because then HubPages would still receive revenue from ParadigmSearch’s articles!

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    PaulGoodman67posted 3 years ago

    It's difficult to get a full picture of what goes on. We see the public side of things in the forums and often hear the hubber's side of things. But sometimes there may be arguments between staff and hubbers by email that we don't see, or other things happening that aren't obvious. Staff tend to play down fall outs with hubbers too, so they rarely give the HP side of the story. I generally see HP as tolerant, but when they temp ban people from the forums, it is intended as a warning I'm sure, but some see it as a provocation. At the end of the day, the forums are optional for me, it's good to be connected because writing is by nature an isolated pursuit, but not essential. There have been times where I've stayed away from the forums for many months.
    
    A few years back, Randy Godwin was writing hubs about HP being Nazis and all sorts, so I wonder what he did to tip the balance recently, maybe it was just cumulative. His RV articles seemed solid enough. PS was likable and essentially harmless to me, even if eccentric, but then I don't feel like I'm able to see the full picture. I'm here for the writing and earnings side of things. I would still say that the biggest drama here was after the Panda algo hit about nine years ago.

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    Will Apseposted 3 years ago

    These forums were very important to PDS. They helped him struggle through difficult times.
    
    The notion that someone as vulnerable and harmless as PDS should be banned from anything at all is depressing.
    
    It is a sharp reminder that online stuff claiming to be a community is often anything but.

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       Marisa Writesposted 3 years agoin reply to this

       I wish these forums had a "Like" button

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    Miebakagh57posted 3 years ago

    All these amounts to one thing: HubPages holds the ACE.

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    Solarasposted 3 years ago

    I find it hard to imagine that PDS had a vile exchange with HP staff.  He had been banned before, and when he was allowed to return, he was very supportive of HP and staff, almost obsequious in his cheerleading of the staff.
    
    I expect that the run of strange posts was to blame.  I am sorry to hear it, as the normal HP exchanges here were so important to him. 
    
    Mark Cuban warns us that all of our Internet comments and posts will one day be used to profile us by the authorities, as fitting the profiles of likely future criminal offenders or murderers. Lucky he who gets away in time.

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       gmwilliamsposted 3 years agoin reply to this

       Oh dear, paradigmsearch has been banned.  He was such a nice person.  He didn't bother anyone.

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    psycheskinnerposted 3 years ago

    If you toe the line long enough, eventually the hammer falls.

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