Are HubPage users in decline?

1. 95

   CWanamakerposted 9 months ago

   I just went through all people I have been following and purged the ones that have no articles and no activity. I am quite surprised to see how many people have left HubPages over the years and I wonder what made them leave in the first place. I understand the volatility of writing online but there will always be ups and downs in this industry. I believe that there is still significant earning potential here and see no reason to move my articles elsewhere.

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      Kenna McHughposted 9 months agoin reply to this

      Yes. Like any group, people have stayed and some have left. It happens. Yes. This industry has its ups and downs. Yes. There are spammers and scammers, which are common on the Internet in general. Yes. The ads are invasive. Yes. There is a significant earning potential here.
      
      Especially with the Internet being so volatile.  I, too, see no reason to move my articles elsewhere. The forums have more negative posts than in the past, and the negative posts usually come from the same people.

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   2. 78

      alphagirlposted 9 months agoin reply to this

      I used to be on here more. I started back in 2013, then I opened a salon, got busy....now I am semi retired and wanted to see what was happening here. The ads are hugely a distraction to any reader. So I no longer come to read anymore. Infact I will unsubscribe to emails because of how the company had become a pop-up ad place and no longer a place to enjoy reading and connecting.

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   3. 95

      greenmindposted 8 months agoin reply to this

      Yes traffic and CPMs are trending up for me lately. I know there must be others!

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      1. 92

         Kenna McHughposted 8 months agoin reply to this

         There are!!

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      2. 99

         Gregory DeVictorposted 8 months agoin reply to this

         Yes, I am very favorably impressed with how page views and earnings have been lately. No complaining here at all.

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2. 82

   Brenda Arledgeposted 9 months ago

   It's so difficult to stay here when they contantly cut up your work with ads placed everywhere.
   
   My followers & friends no longer read my work...they give up the minute the ads pop up.
   
   Not to mention, we can no longer talk with our Hubpages family as easily.
   
   Many of us commuicate on other platforms like Facebook & messenger.
   
   And lets face it...the pay is not too good either.
   
   Yet, Ive made some long time friends here that I honestly don't want to leave.
   
   
   So tell me...why do you stay.

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   1. 95

      CWanamakerposted 9 months agoin reply to this

      Thanks for your observations.
      
      I checked some of my top articles and they are riddled with ads; Indeed they are difficult to read. I see what you are saying. The sense of community here is also lost. I remember the good ol' days when there was a lot of interaction in the forums, hubs (through comments), and on the Q&A section which has been gone for years. I'm not big on social media as there's so much negativity.
      
      Most of my articles get 2 or fewer views a day so it's disheartening to spend so much time on something only to get nothing in return.
      
      However, I still make payout regularly from a handful of articles so I see no reason to move those articles
      
      I guess I am wondering where everyone else has gone? Where are they writing now?

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3. 82

   Brenda Arledgeposted 9 months ago

   Many of us write on Medium.
   
   There is a publication that a lot of us follow...
   The Hub Publication ...although it is not affiliated with Hubpages
   
   Read stories from The Hub Publication on Medium: https://thehubpublication.com
   
   I am onnthere too and occasionally post on the Hub...but I really enjoy being able to communicate with others again.
   
   I am trying to do this over the forums currently on here, with my word prompt series.
   
   But I'm not certain if its working yet.

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   1. 95

      CWanamakerposted 9 months agoin reply to this

      Thanks for the information. I have long heard about Medium but am concerned about the subscription model. One of my challenges is being able to write consistently so I don't know if it would work for me. I also don't know many people willing to pay a subscription fee to read articles but maybe that's just me.

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   2. 97

      Pollyanna Jonesposted 7 months agoin reply to this

      I find this platform is okay, and in some ways it's much better than it was when I first came here 9 years ago.
      
      The niche sites are good, they've done a lot about spammers, and there are controls in place to ensure good quality. It's a lot stricter! Which only helps to build these sites as being sites that share quality content.
      
      It's nice knowing that now I have written my articles, I'll get a small passive income with a payout a few times a year that I can use to treat myself with or put aside for something.
      
      Although the things that have been tough for me to deal with are:
      
      - The massive loss of earnings. Income for views per article is dreadful compared to 2015, I'm seeing less than a third despite getting the same traffic - though I expect Ad Blockers have a lot to do with this.
      
      - Increase in adverts and popups and removal of our own Amazon modules. Amazon commission used to bring in about half of my revenue, and I'd only ever add items that were related to what I was writing about so it didn't seem spammy. I appreciate that this snipping is all about keeping logarithms happy though.
      
      - Google Algorithms now favouring sites that will make them more money as opposed to quality and fit to your search.
      
      - Google Search not even presenting some of my articles, but weirdly putting my forum posts as search results instead in some instances. This is just so strange!
      
      - Traffic being impeded by the search engines, and people using platforms like TikTok more than Facebook and Twitter (X).
      
      - Editing. I appreciate all the work that goes into this, and trust what you're doing. But some of my articles just don't read like something that I have written myself any more they've been chopped and tweaked so much. I understand it's part of the process to beat the algorithms and make an article more catchy for a reader, but as a writer this can feel very icky at times and I get why people can just walk away from the site if they feel this is too invasive.
      
      - Old faces disappearing. Some have drifted to other platforms, but I assume some must have passed away. They've just disappeared. I do miss old friends I had on HubPages!
      
      
      I like it here, and I do intend to stay. The staff team are great, but it would be nice if we could build up the community spirit a bit more.

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4. 96

   PaulGoodman67posted 9 months ago

   People have always come and gone here.
   
   However, I believe that there's been a precipitous drop in hubbers over the last few years (discounting all the spammers and scammers that regularly flood the site).
   
   I think that there are numerous reasons for the fall in enthusiasm and participation, not least the decline in traffic and earnings.

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5. 74

   Miebakagh57posted 9 months ago

   Seriously, the lack of commenting on fellowers stories is one major reason for the decline.                                        The other is the takeover of HubPages by The Arena Group (TAG). It cause a lose to what writers earn by their many ads.                                  Sub to the above points is the 60% earnings allocate to Hubpages authors which is no longer realised.

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6. 76

   psycheskinnerposted 9 months ago

   I leave my hubs here and check in on them from time to time, but I am not motivated to make any new ones.  I think the change in management was the beginning of the end for Hubpages.

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7. 93

   Titiaposted 9 months ago

   I do what psycheskinner does. Checking the existing hubs from time to time, but not updating them anymore, nor writing new hubs. Still reach payout every other month and that's fine by me.
   I check the forums a few times a week, but hardly participate. I can't/don't give advice to newbies, because English is not my native language.
   You're right, the sense of community is lost. I don't read many hubs by  fellow hubbers anymore,  because when I like what I read I want to tell the writer and that's not possible anymore. For me that's the greatest loss.

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8. 74

   Miebakagh57posted 9 months ago

   Hopefully, hubpages will rise again.

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9. 96

   PaulGoodman67posted 9 months ago

   If I there was any sense of hope, I'd start writing again. I enjoy writing. It's just disillusioning when you publish more and views go down.
   
   I remained optimistic here for some time. I kept writing up until last year because I assumed that this was just another temporary downturn. Now, I have my doubts.
   
   I think the HP model has some very challenging problems for the situation that it now finds itself in.

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10. 94

    eugbugposted 8 months ago

    Hubpages is likely a ship without a crew, with just an engine room and Matt and some skeleton staff to keep the ship moving. Probably no captain, but just a TAG admiral to bark orders.

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    1. 92

       Kenna McHughposted 8 months agoin reply to this

       Eugene, It's unfortunate that HP lacks transparency. With such a void, we can create all sorts of scenarios. As writers, we can come up with some doozies. Matt is the CEO and works from a side room of a kitchen in a restaurant his parents own. Once in a while, his little brother helps him determine where to place the ads. His uncle wrote an ebook on how to "Master Google in 29 Days," which guides Matt over the unforeseen obstacles of managing a community website of writers. When his sister needs to blow dry her hair, she unplugs the computer to plug in her blow dryer. Luckily, she hardly ever uses the side room at the restaurant. When she does, it screws up the HP platform and payments are delayed. During a rush, Matt has to leave his side room and pick up the slack, which causes payment to be pending.

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       1. 94

          eugbugposted 8 months agoin reply to this

          That would be funny, if it wasn't so serious. It's inevitable that we concoct all sorts of fantasies when we don't know what's happening. I don't reckon it's far from the truth though that the site is in a state where it's just kept ticking over, which contrasts with years ago when there were lots of innovative changes to make things better.

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          1. 92

             Kenna McHughposted 8 months agoin reply to this

             I hear you, Eugene. It would be nice to know what is happening behind the scenes.

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       2. 85

          JerryFisherposted 8 months agoin reply to this

          Hilarious!
          Matt hasn't had time to respond but probably up to his neck in the kitchen with dishes.

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          1. 92

             Kenna McHughposted 8 months agoin reply to this

             Yes! The restaurant business is doing well.

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                Gregory DeVictorposted 8 months agoin reply to this

                Kenna, great analogy about the restaurant business! Matt is apparently alive and well because he promptly answered an email of mine earlier today.

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                1. 92

                   Kenna McHughposted 8 months agoin reply to this

                   Yeah!

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          2. 74

             Miebakagh57posted 8 months agoin reply to this

             Matt will crawl out of his rabbit hole sooner or later.                                 Because what Kenna, said beats the mind. It's not just funny.

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             1. 95

                greenmindposted 8 months agoin reply to this

                Matt's not a rabbit in a hole. He's just a dude with a tough, complicated job who probably works really hard. I don't envy him.

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                1. 92

                   Kenna McHughposted 8 months agoin reply to this

                   I agree. Matt is one busy dude.

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                   eugbugposted 8 months agoin reply to this

                   Either do I. He has to listen to us moaning all the time too.

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                      Gregory DeVictorposted 8 months agoin reply to this

                      Plus, he has the job of answering a plethora of crazy emails everyday.

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                         Miebakagh57posted 8 months agoin reply to this

                         Yes, that's his opum.

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                            Gregory DeVictorposted 8 months agoin reply to this

                            Have you noticed that Matt is always prompt about answering emails? That must be a demanding job too, especially when there is some kind of glitch in the system.

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                            1. 74

                               Miebakagh57posted 7 months agoin reply to this

                               I'm seeing this reply only today. I think it's a glitch that make it by-pass my early notice? Nearly 4 weeks ago? Cindi lala.

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                                  Gregory DeVictorposted 7 months agoin reply to this

                                  Yes, I do remember writing this a couple of weeks ago. I believe that it was on a Friday evening.

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                                     Miebakagh57posted 7 months agoin reply to this

                                     Thank you.

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                                        Gregory DeVictorposted 7 months agoin reply to this

                                        You are welcome. Now that I have checked things further, I posted it four weeks ago. Time flies.

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                3. 74

                   Miebakagh57posted 8 months agoin reply to this

                   Yes. But d' you think rabbits don't work hard? Cindi Lala is calling you.

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11. 83

    Solarasposted 8 months ago

    There is some sort of a vision that is manifest in the NEWS articles.  Great effort is put in over there, or AI is spinning TikTok and Instagram videos, to lure the unsuspecting to HP's adorama.
    
    That is someone's vision of the future.  Relatively few ads on the NEWS and a link to an article, packed chock-o-block with ads, that suspend the page while the ads contemplate the wisdom of actually loading, since there is so much competition between the videos, ads and images for bandwidth. Not to mention, the ads are often the exact same ad, punctuating the article 20-30 times.
    
    Narcoleptic readers may doze a moment and find the long expanses of white begin to populate, perhaps to their horror....
    
    I stay because while views are a fraction of what they once were (with half as many hubs), HP income still pays my power bill, in a land where I pay for air-conditioning during the day and heating during the night.  (There is only a 30 minute pause  in between heat and cooling). It also covers my cellphone/internet and often my auto insurance each month. On an especially good month, my cable bill is also covered.  All of life's necessities neatly covered. 
    
    I did post about 7 new articles the last two quarters of last year.  2 of them are getting 60-75 views a day, and that was worth the effort.  The others add up to 75-100 views a day.  So it was not - not worth the effort.  I'll probably give it another go shortly.

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    1. 92

       Kenna McHughposted 8 months agoin reply to this

       In brief, I notice an uptick when I do something on HP, whether it's an edit, a new article, or something else.

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12. 94

    eugbugposted 8 months ago

    We're nearly at the end of Q1 though, so it'll probably drop again next month. Fingers crossed though. My traffic is down 20% this week after the latest volatility. Might be due to school holidays too though.

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