This week, I log in and like many other writers realise that the comment unit at the end of an article has be taken away. So, how do we appreciated our authors, or rather appreciated the works of our top authors? Is it just enough to read an article and then pass off in the online world? Why is Hubpages-Marven trying to cut of author-reader relationship or connection? Some readers surely can have the latest update about a topic in an article to inform. Hubpages has push us into a tight corner.
Welcome to the discussion. From all indications, we're expecting certain level of improvement at HubPages end side.
I wish I knew why they saw fit to do this Miebakagh. I know they have enabled commenting on AxleAddict, but who ever goes there anyway? Why did they disable comments on the feed before they restored them on all the niche sites and Discover? That makes no sense. The number of comments on each of our articles is now also gone from our accounts page.
And, on your feed page where your image is and says comments. When clicked it goes to a 404 page no longer exists.
tsmong, your too far sighted. Yesterday, I try to click that button below my article tab. But I just go ahead to review copyrights on all my stuff.
Same here. Comments link goes to 404. Urgggg! Don't get me started. After 12 years of writing for HP, I'm slowly losing interest.
It is disheartening, but I'm hoping us Writer's are stronger.
In addition to the comment stats being removed from our account page, as you noticed, the global moderation tool has also been removed. So the only way to moderate comments now, is to go into each article individually to see if we have new comments to moderate and reply. I don’t see how anyone can keep up with that.
It is an impossible situation. People are being forced to leave comments via email, Facebook etc. That can only go on for so long. Many are already deciding to not write or publish anymore articles until comments are restored everywhere.
As everyone here can see, the drastic action Hubpages took is not a good thing. Normally, and in a situation like this, HubPages should have had discuss the challenge with it's writers to inform and be reasonabe to arrive at an alternate. That's not done and things have fall into complication, if not apart. It's a nasty move indeed.
John
I'm hearing that more & more.
No one wants to write articles until the comments come back.
This is gonna make this site boring.
I wonder if and how notification emails will be generated? Will each site generate an email notifying of a new comment or will/could Hubpages poll the sites to check whether new comments have been added?
That's a good question. I was wondering about that myself. I don't see how they can implement a global moderation tool anymore since Maven is a different platform. That's why they removed that tab from out account page.
So if they do send notification emails, that means we would need to moderate via those notifications individually.
I always found it much easier to moderate comments of all my articles from one place. That ability seems to be gone for good now. Maybe Matt can chime in on that from a programming point of view.
Poling would be resource intensive I presume, depending on how frequently it's done. I'm not sure how many articles there are in total on all the platforms. To continue the microprocessor analogy, a site could interrupt Hubpages when a comment has been made on an article and then Hubpages "services" the interrupt, getting information about which article has been commented on.
Eugene, That might be how it's done when we update our articles. The system might be polling for updates. That would explain why updates get posted to Maven in a few seconds sometimes, and take several minutes at other times. So maybe they do the same process with comments.
Again, I'd like to hear from Matt on that. He can enlighten us on the technical process for those of us who understand and can appreciate the systems architecture.
Yes, I almost always did it that way too, Glenn, from clicking the “comments” tab in the accounts menu. That feature will be greatly missed.
Let me take a guess, Glen.
I was on Associated Content a few decades ago when the guy who owns Maven bought up Associated Content and then sold. His modus operandi is to buy up companies, take the best of it, put it together in another configuration, and then to sell to the highest bidder.
I have no doubt that that is where all this is going.
Likely. Squidoo>Hubpages>Marven>Tag. They're be a corporate change of name later. My psychology can't go wrong.
Yes, your assumptions can't go wrong
I enjoyed reading this comment.
Thank you, Miebakagh
Stay blessed!
Who are Marven and Tag?
Squidoo>HubPages was not a corporate change of name. The content from Squidoo was purchased by HubPages. Godin started Squidoo for all kinds of idealistic reasons, and I doubt he ever cared about turning a profit by selling it. He did so that the writers would have a home when the business could no longer continue. Whether that was a good idea is another story.
There are so many new people here who have no historical context of what HP has been through. It does no good when negative people who no longer contribute to the site come into these forums spewing doom and gloom. (Not you MIEBAKAGH57.)
I suggest you all ignore such statements. None of us know where HP is headed, but I am optimistic based on what I have seen over the past few months.
With all due respects, I posted that comment as a joke.
There are so many new people here who have no historical context of what HP has been through. It does no good when negative people who no longer contribute to the site come into these forums spewing doom and gloom. (Not you MIEBAKAGH57.)
Please can you elaborate your statement
I sure can.
I know your post was a joke and I am not talking about you, nor did I mean anything negative about newer people on this site.
I'm talking more specifically about a person only seems to come to the forums to make negative statements about HP.
I am saying you (not specifically you, but the general "you" being newer writers) would be wise to ignore such people and not fall for their negativity.
I've been here for ten years, and people have been predicting HP will fail for at least that long. Yet, here we are.
The point is, we don't know the future of HP, so why be negative, and why listen to people who are?
Ignore the HP haters.
If you're talking about me, I know too many ex hubbers who have left this site, and we all think it's doomed.
We will wait and see.
I'm betting it will be sold again. And, yes, I can be wrong.
But remember this place, the way it was in 2010 and 2011. It was a very, very different place. Most people have left.
Maybe, but I don't see them coming back here to tell us it is doomed every few weeks. What is the point of that?
I don't necesarily think that my name can be involve in with a bad joke. But, where's FatFreddCats anymay.
You have a point. However, maybe I'm hoping that someone will give me sufficient evidence to continue with hubpages.
Instead of putting my comments down, tell me why I'm wrong.
Tessa, you had my respect. You had already explained in clear terms why you left Hubpages. You were not specific mention as one that has gone. How many besides you left hubpages, and are these leveraging on ErikDockett statement against him? Just give the benefit of the doubt and let go. Take a deep breath in, and sigh out.
Sure. While I can't tell you why you'd continue of course, I can tell you why I am optimistic.
I could point you to the arena website:
https://thearenagroup.net/
You can see there are three prongs to their strategy: Finance, sports, and lifestyle. HubPages is listed right next to Sports Illustrated and The Street. They aren't shoving HP into some corner somewhere. It is front and center and obviously a major part of their strategy going forward.
In fact, two HP websites fall into the sports and finance categories. HP isn't going anywhere.
I could show you my monthly earnings and that might convince you, but I am pretty sure that's against TOS.
I could show you private email conversations I've had with staff, but I would never do that for ethical reasons. So, you'll have to take my word for it that they are working hard to come up with ideas to make the site better every day.
Finally, even if Arena Group was sold, remember that HP is packaged with Sports Illustrated and the Street. It is not the same situation as you've seen with other content sites in the past. This is uncharted territory. It wouldn't be sold so some bum who would run it into the ground. We have no idea if the new owner might be better or worse that our current situation.
Even if HP were sold separately, we don't know if it would be better or worse.
I know you love Medium, but any of the above and worse can happen to Medium too. It can be sold. The earnings method can change. It can go under. Who knows? They change things constantly over there.
In many ways, Medium's future seems more treacherous than HP's.
I started in 2011. I remember the people getting mad and leaving HP back then, because HubPages was finished, they said. All of the "good" writers left for sites like Squidoo, Wizzley, Zujava, InfoBarrel,etc.
I wonder how that worked out for them. I am glad I didn't listen to the doomsayers back then.
So, when you come into the forum and tell people the site is doomed, while at the same time you have abandoned the site, it seems like you are throwing bombs. I get a little frustrated. Not because you think that, but because I am concerned you are going to convince others of it. Especially newer writers who may not understand that people have been saying HP is doomed for ten years.
I would hate for them to miss the opportunity that HP has given me over the past decade.
If you genuinely want to make HP work for you, we can have a different conversation and I am happy to offer any help you are willing to hear.
John, wondering too why HubPages took that nasty move. Somewhere else in another forum, I've comment why HubPages didn't restored comment button also on hubpages and discover. But instead choice a single niche site. That also beats the mind. Honestly, I thing the whole thing has been mixed up, compromixed, and turn into a junk.
Unfortunately, being a computer systems analyst, I think I have the answer to your question, Miebakagh. It’s because Maven is on a different server (computer platform) and it’s difficult to integrate comments on Maven's niche sites with the HubPages platform.
Glen, so any new article we write and publish on hubpages will go nuts, right? That not realistic. Allow me to ask a question. Shall I? Does not articles publish on Marven allow comment? Why should not Marven that own HubPages not bother to upgrade the later to it's level to harmonized things?
Miebakagh, That's because it's a different computer server. There is no direct software communication. It's not only with comments. You can see that with updates too. When you revise an article, it takes a few minutes to propagate to Maven.
We can only guess, Miebakagh. They rarely tell us what their motives are.
Yeah reminds me of one of my favorite singers - Laura Nyro who in her lyrics for Stoned Soul Picnic, said 'surry down to a stoned soul picnic.' Her producer said 'What does surry mean?" She said ' Oh, it's just a nice word."
And is the comments accolade still there for whatever reason?
Centfie we can now comment on Letterpile too but you have to enter an email sign in and get a code…..at least the first time. And no one gets a notification if a comment is made. I don’t know Centfie. some of us are sharing links to each others articles on the forums so people can comment there, orherwise email is the only way.
The only optimistic thing I could think of is that this might be a temporary glitch and comments will be restored soon at least on niche sites and discover. If that does not happen there is really no point in publishing new articles.
I very much doubt this is a glitch, Ravi. I will probably write articles but not publish them until comments are restored.
Really? Why then didn't HubPages zero in to tell us? Put money on the table.
A new issue - in loading articles I find that each new capsule appears above the one previously loaded. Of course, you can click the down arrow to put the capsule in its intended spot.
This and the above problems make me think of the scene in 2001: A Space Odyssey in which astronaut Dave starts to disable HAL.
I always responded to comments on individual articles. However, the key part of that was to have notifications on HubPages so I knew I had a comment to begin with.
I can't imagine having to go through emails every day to know where I have comments to respond to. I have 4 accounts, almost 470 articles, 4 email addresses to deal with. Some people have a lot more than that.
It would be helpful if HP would allow us to consolidate accounts. That would make things easier for writers and staff. Otherwise, it is going to be an immense burden to manage these comments without some centralized method.
I hope the comments are not sent through our emails.
Mine are backed up as it is...I have 4 different email accounts on just my mobile phone.
When you miss a day or two...everything gets behind, so you can imagine my dilemma.
It's become a maze that's gonna take forever to sift through.
I don't need more emails. Notifications on Hubpages site will do just fine.
++ thank you for sharing all that Eric, it makes me even more confident of the future of HP. I have been here 12 years and have seen all the changes. Other sites have collapsed but HP is still going even though many predicted its downfall many times. I am not going anywhere. I write a bit on Medium but have made 30 cents there so far and I much prefer writing here.
I don't mean to say anything negative about Medium. I actually like the site, though I think I am better suited for HP. Just saying that any business can be sold, change terms, or go under in a heartbeat. We never know.
HubPages has morphed several times, sometimes for the better… sometimes for the worse. I’m concerned at the moment because for me this might be the lowest November I’ve experienced in years. It’s well under where it usually is. This fall has been hard on me. And we’re in an inflated economy! I’d love to spend more time here, but if it isn’t hitting a certain minimum, then my efforts need to go somewhere else.
As for comments, they have swung from too open and wild to cryptic and challenging. By too open and wild I mean the age of questions and answers. This feature spewed off so much for me that I couldn’t keep up with it. It was a parade of spam. That was turned off and made things more manageable.
Then the comments started to trickle. Now we’re at the point where it’s so difficult, why bother? I’ve also received less emails, which in some cases could be a good thing… over the almost nine years I’ve contributed content here I have received some nice emails, but I’ve also received some really nutty and upsetting ones. The content I write attracts a strange audience at times.
For me, I want HubPages to be more clear with what is going on. The people behind the curtain were more open in the past. I also used to have email conversations with editors. Now I just get quick edits that sometimes are spotty, like changing the word chicken to dhicken. I get it. You’ve got to edit fast… but is spellcheck on? And really I want to have good relationships with the editors. They have made many things better.
I also want them to adjust how they’re doing advertising, which I think is the direct problem for Google traffic.
The way they want us to review comments in the future doesn’t sound feasible. If you have a lot of hubs you won’t want to look through all of them individually to scour for comments.
I’m still hopeful that things will get more on track in the future. This current phase seems like a transition to something else.
I agree about the transparency thing, and some of the decisions they have made have been absolutely mind-boggling.
I find it helps to remember that everything HP has done over the years, no matter how badly it turned out, was done to make the site better. It is unlikely that HP staff sit in meetings twirling their mustaches and plotting how to destroy HP once and for all. (Mwa ha ha)
Still, it is frustrating when they make choices that are obviously contrary to best practices for SEO and online writing. Sometimes, knowing why they did it helps us to understand and get behind their decision. So, yes, a little transparency and communication would go a long way.
As for earnings, while HP can do things to help traffic, some of the earnings problems are due to the current global issues with shipping and staffing. All we can do is ride it out.
HP has indeed changed over the years, as has what they expect from the writers. When I first started, we were encouraged to create brands for ourselves, niche down, get on social media and promote ourselves. It was a partnership between HP and writers, and if one did well the other did well.
Now, we are more like content creators. The brands and pen names I created years ago no longer matter. What matters is, HP has websites that need content, and I am a person who can fulfill that need.
It took me a while to get my mind around that, and I think it is a key to being happy around here, especially for people who want to earn.
So optimistic!
I enjoyed reading this : It is unlikely that HP staff sit in meetings twirling their mustaches and plotting how to destroy HP once and for all. (Mwa ha ha) ... And of course, I agree!
You make some good points, Eric.
I’m trying to stay optimistic while also savvy about it. I think it’s a good idea to put your writing in lots of places. Don’t put all your eggs in one basket, save everything you write in case of an emergency, and don’t get too dismayed. Writing has always been a challenging craft.
The economy has been a whirlwind. I think that does play into it. I’ve been one to say that the pandemic era has played a part in the earnings. Mine went down in March 2020. I was in a better spot however last fall, that’s when the earnings started recovering from spring 2020. Then once fall of 2021 started there was a sharp decline. There was a slight uptick in November, but it’s not where it normally is for this month. I’m concerned about how much things will drop off in January when the holidays are over.
Things haven’t really been on track for me since March 2020. Some gradual rises, but nothing compared to what I was previously earning.
Anyway, I know some people have had a different story with earnings. And some don’t see the pandemic as part of the equation, which is alright. The pandemic if it did do anything could be more noticeable in certain niches.
Google traffic and the advertising part is definitely part of the equation. HubPages ad layout interferes with the users experience, and Google looks at that critically.
I don’t think there is a room of twirling mustache evil doers… but I have seen corporations get bought up, stripped down, sold, and repackaged. I hope those in charge of HubPages have its best interest. I think more transparency would help build trust.
I was laid off at two different newsrooms and decided to do freelance full time because my trust in corporations was broken at that point. HubPages has been a lifeline over the past few years. I don’t want what happened in those newsrooms to be a repeat for HP. Hopefully what we are seeing our growing pains, not signs of diminishing quality / diminishing returns.
HubPages has lasted way longer than most websites, which is impressive. I don’t think it’s coming to an end, but I can’t say that I’ll see earnings like I used to two years ago.
The community and a lot of the staff here have been amazing. I’ve met a lot of people here who have helped me to keep my head on straight.
The advertising is still a problem for many of us. It creates a motivational conflict, actually. I had a friend tell me on Facebook that she couldn't read my peacock article, because there was an ad in the way. Maven is supposedly adding ads to get us more money, but that's self defeating if it discourages potential readers from reading. And I don't want to write if nobody's going to read it.
P.S. My readership went up last summer, but now it's lower than ever.
I know I heard they were working on those ads, but from what I can see...
There are more of them, not less.
It would have been much better if HubPages had placed just onl three ads on a page.
Sorry. But don't. They're be improvement in the way. How long? That I don't know.
Good luck to any who choose to leave. For myself, I shall stay until they stop paying me each month.
That's an understanding. But as for those not focusing on payment, or otherwise, should they continue?
If you don’t find it fun anymore or aren’t getting the community you want those would be good reasons to stop. Those seem like the motivations if you’re not focused on payment.
Nope...it's not about being fun...
Nor the community we want.
This is like the air we breathe...it's part of us.
One cannot just simply quit.
I've written my response because that's the best way I know how...
Hopefully this helps you to understand
...we can't simply quit.
https://hubpages.com/literature/Poem-I- … op-Writing
Interesting. I think there may have been a misconception. I took Miebakagh57's comment as what would be the motivation to keep using HubPages, not writing in general.
Andrea
I do understand you were only talking about Hubpages, but my muse was inspired and there's no stopping that one.
To me, Hubpages has also become part of my writing outlet...I couldn't easily stop it.
I was trying to read that in rap form in my head.
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by Shelley Horsley Cruz 13 months ago
How does a reader enter a comment on an article? How does the author set up a comment section.
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It appears that the industry standard is a little outdated looking but it would still be nice to have bold text with a yellow highlight to warn readers that there is a spoiler in the article.
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