3 Good Things About the Discover Moves (Maybe)

1. 98

   EricDockettposted 8 weeks ago

   It is a beautiful summer day, I just got done mowing the lawn, and I'm feeling unusually positive. Here are some good things about the Discover move. Feel free to add to the list.
   
   1. A second life for dead content. Some of the niche sites aren't really niche sites anymore. They started out that way, but over the years have morphed into a mess of different topics.
   
   Google tries to decide what a site is about. If you write about blue widgets, and Google thinks the HP widget niche site (WidgetHelpful) is about red widgets, your blue widget articles are going to struggle.
   
   Moving them to Discover, which Google already sees as a multi-topic site, might breathe new life into them.
   
   2. No more waiting for your article to get moved to a niche site. I'm always anxious during that that week or so it takes for my articles to get moved. Now, once they are on Discover, that's where they'll live.
   
   Unless HP decides to review everything that goes to Discover like they did with the niche sites. If so, forget I said this.
   
   Also, this will still happen with any niche sites that survive the purge.
   
   3. Link with reckless abandon! (Sort of.) If everything is on Discover, that means you don't have to worry about linking between your own articles on different niche sites anymore. Or, about linking back to Discover for that matter.
   
   If it is relevant and helpful to your reader, go ahead and link your article about monster trucks to your article about how to crochet a doggy sweater. It's all on the same domain (subdomain, really) so it doesn't matter.

   replyreport
   1. 92

      SerenityHaloposted 8 weeks agoin reply to this

      It isn’t clear whether all niches will be removed. I think the idea was to remove articles off niche sites that have lower authority scores than Discover. There is no reason to end a niche site that is performing well or better than Discover.

      replyreport
      1. 98

         EricDockettposted 8 weeks agoin reply to this

         My guess: The niche sites that stick around will be the ones with "news" sections. Have they moved any of those yet?
         
         Just a guess.

         replyreport
2. 96

   PaulGoodman67posted 8 weeks ago

   My concern is that while those three "good things" might seem liberating in the short run, over time, the lack of control and curation will drag down the site and our articles.
   
   I would love to be proved wrong by events but I'm struggling to feel the positivity.

   replyreport
   1. 98

      EricDockettposted 8 weeks agoin reply to this

      I'm sure you're right. Honestly, I'd be happy with a reliable version of HP that's worth writing for again. I don't ever expect it to get back to where it was, but right now it feels like mere survival is the best possible outcome.

      replyreport
      1. 96

         PaulGoodman67posted 8 weeks agoin reply to this

         It's a very difficult environment. This is the last writing site of its sort still standing. (Okay, I guess Medium is kind of related, despite using a different revenue system, but that's struggling too.)
         
         Ten years ago, there were so many common topics to write about that weren't covered on the internet. Nowadays, pretty much every subject area is saturated, plus AI is threatening to radically alter the entire field, so nobody wants to invest in publishing.
         
         We were writing content for the search engines to find but now we're no longer needed. Or at least, we're no longer valuable. The earning potential has gone from dollars to cents.
         
         I don't think it's possible to go back to some previous system that worked here like some people (not saying you) seem to think. The internet is constantly evolving and it happens quickly.
         
         For sure, things like the customer-service side of writing here could be way better, we were treated well in the past, I'm not talking about that, though.
         
         I'm just not optimistic that there will be any more good times. It feels like all our writing efforts are ultimately headed for Discover/hubpages.com where they will just sit.
         
         Maybe we will do okay for a time but I can't see a great future. 
         
         Sorry, if that sounds bleak.

         replyreport