Growing followers

1. 96

   Rupert Taylorposted 7 weeks ago

   Over the last couple of days I've been getting some high-quality followers signing up. Among them are:
   
   Cypress Town Dental in Cypress, TX, is a trusted family and cosmetic dentistry
   
   At Immersive Labz, innovation meets education. We are dedicated towards blah, blah, blah
   
   Casting42 is an all-in-one customizable casting database
   
   This can only be the result of the brilliant strategy of moving articles to Discover. I'm thrilled beyond words to have these readers on board.

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   1. 91

      Genna Eastposted 7 weeks agoin reply to this

      Rupert, thank you so much for this thread.  I was going to write a similar one as well.  They are a kind of “stalker-followers” or "squatters" in that no spammer emails have yet been sent, nor have any articles been written, activity, etc.
      
      peCONTROLcouk is also following me, as well as Motion Bounty.  MB has been following me for a week, in addition to only two other members. 
      I had a couple of other weird “followers” as well, but they have since been booted from HP.

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      1. 90

         theraggededgeposted 7 weeks agoin reply to this

         I reported that first account. You can do the same.

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         1. 91

            Genna Eastposted 7 weeks agoin reply to this

            Thank you.  I already did, along with the second account over a week ago.  My rep also processed/utilized the flag option.  Unfortunately, nothing has happened.

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         2. 92

            Kenna McHughposted 7 weeks agoin reply to this

            Bev, that's what I do.

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            1. 91

               Genna Eastposted 7 weeks agoin reply to this

               I think a lot of us do when these situations occur, Kenna.  I don’t have anything against these organizations.  But HP is a publishing platform for writers.  To use it solely for the purposes of advertising is not only annoying, ironically, it damages the reputation of those entities or individuals who seek to take advantage of this community by deliberate misrepresentation upon application for enrollment.

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               1. 92

                  Kenna McHughposted 7 weeks agoin reply to this

                  I hear you, Genna. All I can do is report them and move on.

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   2. 91

      SerenityHaloposted 7 weeks agoin reply to this

      I want to draw people's attention to this thread as it has important things in it that are relevant to this conversation:
      
      https://hubpages.com/community/forum/36 … g-articles

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   3. 84

      Coffeequeeenposted 7 weeks agoin reply to this

      Rupert, I've been following you for some time now.  That's because I really enjoy reading our articles and always learn so much!  Thanks for writing such interesting and informative articles!

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2. 97

   Shesabutterflyposted 7 weeks ago

   I have 2 new followers as well.
   
   resumepro (resumeproweb) and peCONTROLcouk.
   
   Mine came from the forums as it's clear they followed the first 6 or 7 replies to Lisa's post about the Discover move. They both even followed Lisa and despite clearly trying to promote their website in the about section, they are still around. Maybe we have to wait for them to actually write a promotional article first before they are banned.
   
   I believe Immersive Labz was reported and is gone now. Valiant effort trying to remove all their linked images and changing their name to Dr. whomever it was.

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   1. 91

      Genna Eastposted 7 weeks agoin reply to this

      I agree.  Once they send out spammer emails or insert links into threads along with comments, they will be banned and rather quickly.  The other possibility is that they are waiting for the few members that they actually follow to contact them.  Or, just follow what other members write, etc., depending on their type of organization. Regardless, it is up to HP to take the appropriate action.

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3. 98

   Peggy Wposted 7 weeks ago

   I also get many similar so-called followers.  I simply delete them.

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   1. 90

      theraggededgeposted 7 weeks agoin reply to this

      How do you delete followers?

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4. 96

   Rupert Taylorposted 7 weeks ago

   Following the advice of others I report them as spam and add  "bogus followers." It seems to work.

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5. 91

   Genna Eastposted 7 weeks ago

   I don’t know any other way of “deleting” them other than already doing what Rupert suggested.  Once again, it hasn't worked.  As I noted before, for the past couple of weeks, I’ve sent emails to Team.hubpages, repeatedly, notifying them, and also used the flag feature.
   
   Three are still following:
   
   Motion Bounty – following a total 3
   peCONTROLcouk – still following a total 7
   AirdropVillage – also following a total of 3
   
   I would welcome any new suggestions – including, at long last, some input from HP as they seem to be avoiding this issue like the plague.

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   1. 97

      Shesabutterflyposted 7 weeks agoin reply to this

      I did not think we could delete followers either. It's unfortunate that we appear to have different standards than HP.
      
      With Discover content not near the quality of the niche sites, maybe they don't care about people who appear to sign up just to "follow"? At least their profiles are not easily found, and I don't think they show up at the top of our followers list in the off chance a reader comes looking at our profile.
      
      I doubt anything will be done until they write their first article. Although, articles are not being removed in a timely manner either, even if they violate HP guidelines. I personally don't expect essentially blank profiles to get banned.

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      1. 91

         Genna Eastposted 7 weeks agoin reply to this

         Interesting comment.  They haven’t written any articles, and I somewhat doubt they ever will.  As I commented earlier, publishing an advertising article would only get them tossed and rather quickly.  We’ve seen this happen in the past, and in recent weeks.
         
         HP is a publishing platform and community of writers.  So, why are these commercial squatters (bogus members) still here and increasing in number?  (I’m getting new ones almost every day.) And why is HP allowing/ignoring it?  Why do we receive the same response with every inquiry:  Crickets.  At the very least, they could add comments on this and other threads -- as well as emails sent to Team Hubpages -- that have addressed this specific concern.
         
         I truly hate to keep harping on this…it’s just not my style.  As Kenna noted, all she can do is report it and move on.  She’s absolutely right, and I would love to be able to if doing so would solve this problem.  But thus far, it hasn’t.  It is the lack of integrity and professionalism involved with this issue that bothers me.  I have to agree with Rupert’s previous comments on other threads in that HP’s standards have begun to plummet.  Is this yet another example? Will this problem only worsen?

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         1. 97

            Shesabutterflyposted 7 weeks agoin reply to this

            I think the QAP standards have always been subpar. Most of us might not have noticed until recently when our articles are now living with them verses on the niche sites. I saw an article earlier today that was not even in English, yet it somehow managed to pass QAP with only 3 sentences, 4 images, and a promotional YouTube video.
            
            I reported several articles yesterday and today from accounts that joined weeks ago, yet only recently wrote their first promotional article. All such articles are still hanging around Discover, despite being reported. Oddly enough, the AI content I reported yesterday has been removed.

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            1. 91

               Genna Eastposted 7 weeks agoin reply to this

               Thank you for the feedback.  Only a few sentences and a promotional video??  And the commercial accounts are actually starting to publish promotional articles.  (I was wrong in my original assumption.)  Good grief…what a mess. Have the team members at HP short-staffed themselves into an abyss? 
               
               The majority of my publications are with LetterPile.  After returning to HP after a long hiatus, there is only one item I have written that was not scooped up by LP -- an article I wrote seven months ago.  But you have given me an idea which will require some research on my end, and may turn into an article, depending on the results.  Thank you, Cholee, and have an enjoyable weekend.

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               1. 100

                  Gregory DeVictorposted 7 weeks agoin reply to this

                  Genna, I had a professor back at Villanova University who frequently used the word "execrable" to describe the quality of some of the research papers that he would receive from students.
                  
                  I use the exact same word here to describe what I see too much too often on Discover.

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                  1. 91

                     Genna Eastposted 7 weeks agoin reply to this

                     Really?  And they are all on Discover? Interesting.  I wouldn’t know as I do not read or write research articles for HP.  Then again, I don’t pay much attention to which site an article is on except to say in retrospect, some of the best HP articles I’ve ever read are on Discover.  But I’m curious about something…something I noticed.  It will require some digging on my part, and what I find may end up in a short story rather than an article for obvious reasons.  I will say this:  It has nothing to do with Discover.  In other words, Discover is not the common denominator.  Have a good weekend.

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6. 91

   Genna Eastposted 5 weeks ago

   Just a footnote comment that HP has banned all those commercial “squatters” that were following me and a few others.  Kudos, Hubpages Team, for catching up with and resolving this issue. Thank you.

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   1. 91

      SerenityHaloposted 5 weeks agoin reply to this

      That is good news!

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7. 96

   Rupert Taylorposted 5 weeks ago

   Good to know. For more than a week these pests have left me alone.

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