Hubpages Survey

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Miebakagh57posted 6 months ago
Did you writers take the recent survey to recommended Hubpages to other would be writers? What is your level or degree of recommendation?
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  Kenna McHughposted 6 months agoin reply to this
  I haven't recommended this site. It's a waste of time.
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  Miebakagh57posted 6 months agoin reply to this
  Kenna, I hear you loud and clear.
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  WriterJanisposted 6 months agoin reply to this
  I chose not to reply because of now, I don't have a lot of positive things to say.
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  Miebakagh57posted 6 months agoin reply to this
  Initially, that was my thought. But I immediately made up my mind to not to highly recommend it to none.
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  Uthongo Mabasoposted 6 months agoin reply to this
  Deleted
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  theraggededgeposted 6 months agoin reply to this
  This happens a lot. Contact team@hubpages.com
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Rupert Taylorposted 6 months ago
I ignored that survey for years. It never specified to whom you would recommend the platform - writers, readers, or rutabagas. I doubt we'll see that survey again.

If management is monitoring this thread now I would definitely, unquestionably, certainly, indubitably, assuredly, unequivocally, etc. NOT recommend the website.
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  Miebakagh57posted 6 months agoin reply to this
  I would have had ignored the survey likewise, but I take it at a gutter or drain level...and to make a thread out of it to see the thoughts of my fellow writers and readers, not rutabagas. I wouldn't even recommend hubpages to the late Queen Elizabeth 11 Chrismas delicacy or rutabaga.
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  TheShadowSpecterposted 6 months agoin reply to this
  I think someone has to have at least 1,000 articles published here on HubPages before they can really earn any kind of substantial money. Then again, with the way the writing platform has been deteriorating in recent days, one will eventually have to have at least 3,000 articles published on HubPages to reach that same goal.
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  Miebakagh57posted 6 months agoin reply to this
  Even if the article has to be 500 words in lenght, including title and concvsion' no novice will dare it. So its a waste of time and effort.
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  TheShadowSpecterposted 6 months agoin reply to this
  There was one woman who had close to 600 articles published on HubPages, and she told me that she was earning $1,100 a month. I communicated with her on a forum a couple of weeks ago. Then again, with the elimination of the PetHelpful Network site where most of her articles were published, I imagine that her earnings have likely taken a turn for the worse since then.
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  Miebakagh57posted 6 months agoin reply to this
  Yea, most likely. Hubpages is down the drain.
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  theraggededgeposted 6 months agoin reply to this
  It depends on their topics and whether they address questions that readers are searching. I earned four figures on less than 200 articles. Nowadays, I make just over £100 pm.
  
  My top ten articles attract as much traffic as the rest put together.
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Glenn Stokposted 6 months ago
Rupert, I definitely, unquestionably, certainly, indubitably, assuredly, and unequivocally, agree with you.
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1. 85
  Miebakagh57posted 6 months agoin reply to this
  I chukled
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Eric Cauncaposted 6 months ago
I recommended it to the Greek goddess Medusa. Upon hearing it, she herself turned to stone.
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  Patty Inglish, MSposted 6 months agoin reply to this
  Hilarious! Also likely true.
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  96
  MizBejabbersposted 6 months agoin reply to this
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  Miebakagh57posted 6 months agoin reply to this
  I though it would have been better to recommended same to the supersitious Apollonius the Jew. But I've not.
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Venkatachari Mposted 6 months ago
I took the survey one year back. I voted for 100% recommendation to my friends and circles. I love the design of the articles on this site. We can't find this kind of appealing design on any other platform.
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  theraggededgeposted 6 months agoin reply to this
  It's awful. Don't you see the adverts that are shown to our readers that break up paragraphs?
  
  In author and edit mode they look lovely.
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  Glenn Stokposted 6 months agoin reply to this
  You probably are being sarcastic. If not, have you read other Hubbers articles or reviewed your own as other readers would view it? I think you'll be in for an awakening. TAG made it impossible to read with thoughful concentration due to all the ads breaking up sentences and bullet point listings.
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  Kenna McHughposted 6 months agoin reply to this
  I am not sure if you're looking at my articles or others. They look terrible and unreadable. TAG is a disservice to its writers and reader—facade.
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4. 85
  Miebakagh57posted 6 months agoin reply to this
  Okay. That's past tense. But did you do it again this 2024?
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  Uthongo Mabasoposted 6 months agoin reply to this
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  theraggededgeposted 6 months agoin reply to this
  Be prepared for disappointment.
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PaulGoodman67posted 6 months ago
I wouldn't recommend starting here. For a beginner to reach the payout threshold would be very challenging with views and earnings in steep decline.

Further, I have zero optimism about things improving. My expectation is continued decline.

I wish I could be more positive but that's my honest answer.
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  Miebakagh57posted 6 months agoin reply to this
  I hear you. You speak my mind.
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FatFreddysCatposted 6 months ago
I laughed when that survey thing popped up a few days ago. I was like "Trust me, you REALLY don't want my opinion about this site right now."
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  Miebakagh57posted 6 months agoin reply to this
  It sems hubpages was not serious, or don't a shame.
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  Miebakagh57posted 6 months agoin reply to this
  Dude, I hear you.
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Venkatachari Mposted 6 months ago
Sorry, Friends. I do feel the frustration of all this and keep complaining about it myself. But, the recommendation is made so that new writers can learn how to format their articles and improve their skills. It has nothing to do with earnings.
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  Kenna McHughposted 6 months agoin reply to this
  V, All due respect. HP/TAG does not listen to their writers. Asking for your feedback is futile and a waste of time.
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Miebakagh57posted 6 months ago
I wonder how hubpages dare bring up this survey thing. Don't she realized the site had declined, and is in the drain?
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Jodahposted 6 months ago
It was a joke they even put it out. Do they even care?
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  Miebakagh57posted 6 months agoin reply to this
  Wondering.
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Venkatachari Mposted 6 months ago
I didn't take the survey this year. They shouldn't even try to put it up.
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  TheShadowSpecterposted 6 months agoin reply to this
  I haven't come across that survey yet. However, if HubPages is going to send us all such a survey, they should design it as an opportunity for all of us to provide them with constructive cristicism regarding their writing platform. I mean, if we don't make money off our articles, then they don't make money either.
  
  Eliminating the comments section in each article and doing away with the majority of their Network sites were the two biggest mistakes that HubPages ever made. I don't see how they can expect us to recommend this writing platform to other people.
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  Miebakagh57posted 6 months agoin reply to this
  Then is not the wish foolishness to the thought?
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  Miebakagh57posted 6 months agoin reply to this
  It's shameful.
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viryaboposted 6 months ago
The last time I took that useless survey was years ago.
Why would I even recommend this site to any of my friends when HP is not upfront with how much I earn?
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  Miebakagh57posted 6 months agoin reply to this
  Wondering too.
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emgeposted 6 months ago
One must be clear that Hub- pages is not the site to earn money. It is a site to give satisfaction to see that your work is published and read. That itself is better than the paltry sum of money it pays. I hope it stays alive.
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  theraggededgeposted 6 months agoin reply to this
  People have different experiences. You cannot extrapolate your own to generalise about that of other writers.
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  eugbugposted 6 months agoin reply to this
  Interestingly, from what I recall, the original spiel from HubPages around ten years ago was that we should write to entertain and help people and not necessarily expect to earn.
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  TheShadowSpecterposted 6 months agoin reply to this
  It makes me think of the saying that one should follow their passions, and the money will eventually follow afterwards.
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  Miebakagh57posted 6 months agoin reply to this
  Dud, I got that. Interestingly also, certain croaks or rogues, from India, or the Asian Sub-Continent mislead certain online visitors to be here just for the money. Seriously, all the novice that landed, are no longer here. Bang! Some got banned.
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  Miebakagh57posted 6 months agoin reply to this
  Oh how welcome you are? Is that why you or hubpages is here in the first place? Think about that 'Johnny, Johnny?'...'Papa'. 'Stealing sugar'? 'No sir'. 'Open your mouth!' With the exception of very few sages from the Asian sub-Continent, 98% of writers here go for the money. Bingo.
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Miebakagh57posted 6 months ago
Seems to me that the response to the survey is likely less than 1%?
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Rupert Taylorposted 6 months ago
Response to Jason. I think 3,000 articles might be a bit low if writers expect substantial earnings. I have 1,100 articles and I'm unlikely to make payout this month.

My output is mostly reportage that doesn't seem to gather a lot of readers. If I were to write stuff like How to Deworm a Parrot I would probably do better. But I have almost no "how to" skills other than journalism.

For me, it's not about the money while recalling the famous words of Mae West: "When someone says 'it's not about the money'. It's about the money.
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  TheShadowSpecterposted 6 months agoin reply to this
  I do remember reading about this one Hubber who made close to $1,000 a month on fewer than 100 articles. Of course, his articles were about auto mechanics, and those types of articles would be in high demand. Also, I found out about this gentleman before TAG took over HubPages,
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  theraggededgeposted 6 months agoin reply to this
  I did it (4 figures) on less than 200. And I do make payout every month, more than double, in fact, on around 200.
  
  As I said to someone else, it's not about the number of articles; it depends on the topic and whether you offer something people are searching for. 10% of articles can bring in 90% of earnings.
  
  Edit: Since I've been here I've earned a shade under $60k which is not much, tbh, but some periods were pretty good. And it fed my doggos.
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  TheShadowSpecterposted 6 months agoin reply to this
  Bev? I still remain somewhat curious about how much money hubbers are earning if they have published over 3,000 articles on their HubPages channel. I can't believe that they would be earning money on their articles in the double digits each month only. A bad month for them would seem to be only $200 or $300 amount of earnings. That is, unless they write extremely boring material. In any event, I do agree with you that "quality" earns a hubber more money than "quantity."
  
  I've come across hubbers who have published at least 3,000 articles. However, I have never come across hubbers who have published over 4,000 or 5,000 articles or even more than that. If I happen to come across a hubber who has published over 10,000 articles, I am going to be extremely curious to know how much money he or she earns a month.
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PaulGoodman67posted 6 months ago
HP definitely *was* a great site to earn money.

There were and continue to be a multitude of sites where writers can publish and be read if they are indifferent to earning.

However, HP was the only one of its type, certainly after Squidoo and the smaller rivals went under.

The revenue-sharing system seemed like a revolutionary breakthrough. Unfortunately, it now looks like an aberration that will be consigned to history.
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  Kenna McHughposted 6 months agoin reply to this
  Paul, I agree. How's your crystal ball going forward?
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  PaulGoodman67posted 6 months agoin reply to this
  I gave up on HP some time back. I come here mainly to keep an eye on the official announcements.
  
  In the near future, I think TAG will continue to cannibalize HP, using the stuff they see as most useful for their other publications and putting the least commercially viable material in Discover.
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  Kenna McHughposted 6 months agoin reply to this
  Paul, I think you are correct. They can do whatever they want.
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Eileen Hughesposted 6 months ago
Infobarrel was another good site to write and earn money from and then it collapsed too
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  TheShadowSpecterposted 6 months agoin reply to this
  Do you believe that HubPages could meet the same fate that Infobarrel did?
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  PaulGoodman67posted 6 months agoin reply to this
  Infobarrel was a small company so when it failed to make money, it went bust.
  
  HP is part of TAG, a much bigger publishing/media company. The scale and structure create a different dynamic. There are more possibilities.
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  TheShadowSpecterposted 6 months agoin reply to this
  Do you think that perhaps HubPages is merely in a dry spell now and that it could make a successful comeback for hubbers, causing them to earn a significant amount of money again?
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  Miebakagh57posted 6 months agoin reply to this
  It has been suggestet by someone here (Bev?) that Hubpages should be taken over by us writers. In this case, those among us with business experience and acumen, can handle the site period Then it could likely be rosy, and money began to flow. Or let TAG sold off hubpages to another vendor.
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  PaulGoodman67posted 6 months agoin reply to this
  I don't know how serious Bev was. You can't just take over a company. The company is essentially owned by the shareholders.
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  Glenn Stokposted 6 months agoin reply to this
  That’s right! A company is owned by the shareholders. And with its stock trading at 80¢, we all can become majority shareholders. But it takes a combined effort.
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  theraggededgeposted 6 months agoin reply to this
  I didn't say that... I said they could sell it to the writers for a nominal sum. Companies are transferred in that way all the time, whereupon they often become cooperatives.
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  PaulGoodman67posted 6 months agoin reply to this
  Who do you mean by “they” Bev? It’s not clear in either of your comments.
  
  If you want shareholders to sell their shares at below market value then I guess you could try but I doubt that they would be willing…
  
  I think that the majority shareholder currently is Manoj Bhargava with 54%
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  theraggededgeposted 6 months agoin reply to this
  TAG, I suppose. They bought it so they should be able to sell it.
  
  Do the shareholders have shares in HP specifically or only as a property of TAG?
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  PaulGoodman67posted 6 months agoin reply to this
  Good point. I guess they could’ve in theory split off the HP part of TAG. I don’t really know.
  
  I suspect it’s more absorbed than the old hubbers realize. TAG always talk in terms of “publications.” Only hp. com and Discover maintained the domain name of the old HP.
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  Glenn Stokposted 6 months agoin reply to this
  Bev, to answer your question, shareholders do not have shares in HubPages. Their shares are in TAG, which is still trading around 80¢ ever since I wrote the article in July about how we can all own a majority of it and have voting rights.
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  theraggededgeposted 6 months agoin reply to this
  So HubPages is essentially a millstone around TAG'S neck? I'll say it again, they should give/sell it to the people who built it and (previously) made it successful.
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  Glenn Stokposted 6 months agoin reply to this
  You're talking about Paul Edmondson, but I don't think he would want it back, especially after TAG destroyed it. Ironically, he is still CEO (if I'm not mistaken).
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  theraggededgeposted 6 months agoin reply to this
  No, I'm talking about us
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  PaulGoodman67posted 6 months agoin reply to this
  Bev - I think my impression was, rightly or wrongly, that you thought the CEO and management owned TAG.
  
  The shareholders own TAG and big decisions effectively need their approval.
  
  The TAG CEO/management can't just sell or give away something that they don't own.
  
  There have been all sorts of politics have been going on. At one point, Manoj Bhargava appeared to be both CEO and the majority shareholder, giving him a lot of power. But then he was either pushed out, or resigned from the CEO role, as I understand it.
  
  He still remains the majority shareholder, though, as far as I'm aware. He would be the one who would need to endorse your plan.
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  theraggededgeposted 6 months agoin reply to this
  No, I wanted to know if HubPages as an entity was owned by shareholders.
  
  As part of TAG's portfolio then they could choose to offload it. It wouldn't affect TAG's shareholders.
  
  I'm not making this complicated
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  Glenn Stokposted 6 months agoin reply to this
  Bev, to clarify what I said in my reply to you yesterday, the shareholders own TAG, not HubPages. HubPages is part of TAG, so that’s part of the ownership. I hope that makes it clearer.
  
  In my article on the subject, I meant Hubbers can have a controlling majority vote in TAG. I added that to the beginning of my article to try to make that clearer.
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  theraggededgeposted 6 months agoin reply to this
  Yep. I got it
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Miebakagh57posted 6 months ago
How much money a hubber earns should be of little concern to others. If this month you make $500, and the next month $2, how content you mind is? That's what count I think. Because you can bet on making money by other means.
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  TheShadowSpecterposted 6 months agoin reply to this
  If someone has over 10,000 articles published on HubPages, I would still be curious to know what kind of money he or she was earning from them. Then again, a hubber who has published that many articles may not yet exist.
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  Titiaposted 6 months agoin reply to this
  Few years ago HP itself showed us here in the forum a payout to one of the hubbers (no names of course) who earned more than $10.000 in one month. As the max for Paypal was 10.000 they had to send this person two payouts. Can't tell how many hubs this person had.
  Up till now I reached payout easily every two months with only a few hubs in Pethelpful and Dengarden. Since they've been moved to Discover I've earned 99 cents in 12 days. I have no illusion that it will get any better.
  I've never recommended HP to my friends, because none of them are writers and most of them don't even speak English.
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  TheShadowSpecterposted 6 months agoin reply to this
  Yeah, another hubber told me that Pethelpful was good at drawing enough viewer traffic insofar as she was making $1,100 a month. It's insane that HubPages decided to eliminate that same Network site. In any event, I'm glad that HubPages decided to keep Owlcation as a Network site, although it hasn't been easy for me to get an article upgraded to that same Network site.
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  theraggededgeposted 6 months agoin reply to this
  They haven't eliminated it; they've identified it as an asset and integrated it into TAG. Essentially taking it from HubPages and the writers who built it.
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  TheShadowSpecterposted 6 months agoin reply to this
  After I read your reply, I did check it and you're right. That Network site does still exist and the articles that were published there are still there. However, I got an e-mail from the HubPages Editing Team not too long ago informing me that that particular Network site was no longer accepting submissions. Only the following Network sites were doing so: HobbyLark, WeHaveKids, WanderWisdom, Owlcation, LetterPile, and Delishably.
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  Miebakagh57posted 6 months agoin reply to this
  That's still curious.
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psycheskinnerposted 6 months ago
Eh, I was here just for the money when I started. I was on a low income and not able to take other salaried work due to the visa I was on as an immigrant. It worked out pretty well for many years. There's nothing wrong with being motivated to earn money.
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Venkatachari Mposted 6 months ago
Yes, there is nothing wrong with being motivated to earn money. But, when we are not earning we blame people or otherwise feel depressed. (Both of these tendencies are harmful to our own health. We need to invest our minds in positive things and seek alternative routes for earning.)
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psycheskinnerposted 6 months ago
I disagree that being money motivated is more likely to be harmful. When one avenue of earning started to dwindle I just moved to another.
These days, I can do things just for fun, but that has more to do with being wealthy than being naturally cheerful.
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  Miebakagh57posted 6 months agoin reply to this
  I agree with you. In my culture, to go forward, one wust eat. The only fun side of work is that you voluntered. Still your host provide you with refreshments, a traditional kind of tip.
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PaulGoodman67posted 6 months ago
A substantial chunk of my income has come from writing over the years.

I enjoy writing.

I can earn in other ways, but they tend to be dreary by comparison.

I do think that the internet generally has been taken over by a small number of huge corporations and everyone else has been screwed in the process.

That's not a shot against HP. In many ways, the root of the problem for HP was that they could not survive as an independent company because of these same forces.

I'm talking about Google, Amazon, Apple...

I have limited hope with the coming AI developments because again, there are just a couple of big corporations dominating. They're even taking away people's right to own intellectual property without compensation.

While I agree that on a practical level, we should look for other ways to earn, there are major, underlying issues that it's reasonable to be angry and upset about.
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Eileen Hughesposted 6 months ago
Wow I found someone that was here before me. Paul has been here 18 years so that must be when hubpages started
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  PaulGoodman67posted 6 months agoin reply to this
  It was launched in 2006 by two Pauls and a Jay.
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theraggededgeposted 6 months ago
I just need to clear this up... Glenn proposed that if a large number of Hubbers were willing to offer the sum of $600+ we could buy HP and run it ourselves. I'm saying that, because it is a failing entity, TAG should simply hand it over, either for a nominal sum or nothing.

Then we got into a discussion about TAG'S shareholders and all that. HubPages is one publication belonging to TAG, therefore, with the assent of the shareholders, it could be transferred to those who worked so hard to make it work, i.e. the writers.

I know it won't happen, of course, but I do know that it has been done before - turning failing companies into thriving cooperatives.
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  Glenn Stokposted 6 months agoin reply to this
  Ahh, yes, I see your point, Bev. That’s different from my idea with TAGs capitalization being so low now that all 36,191 Hubbers can purchase it.
  
  Your idea is an ingenious one that would be great if it were to happen. Once they keep PetHelpful and Dengarden for their own, and eliminate all the actions Paul E. had done to save us from the Panda algorithm, nothing will be left that can be monetized.
  
  So, the idea of giving it away is interesting. However, at that point, it wouldn’t have any value anymore. And, therefore, who would want it even if free. That is becoming evident with Hubbers who once earned four figures monthly get just a few dollars now. It just doesn’t have any value anymore for a new entrepreneur to take over.
  
  You said you know it has been done before. Would you have a reference to it somewhere on the web? I’d be interested in reviewing it. Maybe with that reference we can put a proposal together for Elon or Jeff.
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  theraggededgeposted 6 months agoin reply to this
  It's been done in the UK. I'll see if I can find anything.
  
  Okay, start here: https://www.workers.coop/whatis/
  
  Then see the paragraph here on 'rescues':
  
  https://www.mutualinterest.coop/2021/03 … since-1970
  
  Here's an interesting one - a publishing company: https://gritstonecoop.co.uk
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  Glenn Stokposted 6 months agoin reply to this
  Bev, that’s great research you’ve done and I commend you for it. However, it’s not the same thing. Worker Cooperatives are for employees, and we are not employed by TAG.
  
  On the other hand, a quote from the second link you provided resembles what I wrote about. . . “the Italian “Marcora Law”, that gives workers help and a preferential right to buy a business and convert it into a cooperative if it’s being sold or facing closure.”
  
  However, the “Marcora Law” proposal still only applies to employees.
  
  Another quote: “perhaps instead of using cooperatives as a last resort to save what is dying, greater focus should be on fostering them in areas of the economy that are in their infancy and growing.”
  
  Once again, that idea also fails, in our case, because writing platforms are not ‘in their infancy and growing” but are quite the opposite — unfortunately.
  
  In reference to your third link, Britain’s Gritstone Publishing Cooperative is the closest thing to what is possible with us, but it requires membership. And that implies ownership of some sort. That costs money, and the feedback I’ve received from my article indicates that Hubbers don’t want to, or can’t, spend $655 to collectively attain majority voting rights in TAG.
  
  Oh, well. Let’s keep the discussion going. It definitely interesting to evaluate alternative possibilities.
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  PaulGoodman67posted 6 months agoin reply to this
  I agree with most of what you say, Glenn. However, while the members of co-ops are typically employees, co-ops can also be established by service users.
  
  You would still need to buy it, though, like you say, Glenn. That's not just a financial issue. You also need to persuade the "owner" to sell.
  
  You can't just take over a company or part of a company because you believe it's failing.
  
  My understanding is that the “Marcora Law” is generally about companies verging on closure.
  
  I don't see that in this case. The majority shareholder invested 12 million dollars into TAG earlier this year.
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  Glenn Stokposted 6 months agoin reply to this
  You don’t need to persuade the "owner" to sell since it’s publicly traded. If a group of people can purchase enough shares to control a majority vote, that is all that’s required. Shares of TAG are easily available since they just lost another $1.5 million capitalization in the past week. So, existing shareholders are eager to sell.
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  PaulGoodman67posted 6 months agoin reply to this
  Glenn - My comment is in response to a general discussion about taking over companies and converting them to cooperatives. In the sentence you refer to, I'm attempting to include the different types of companies, private, share-owned, etc. That's why "owner" is in quotation marks.
  
  You're correct that in the case of shareholder companies, you would need to gain majority status.
  
  In the specific case of TAG, Manoj Bhargava owns 54% of the shares. Unless you can persuade him to sell to you, you're going nowhere, as it's not possible to get over the 50% threshold without his cooperation.
  
  My view is that there would be no point in buying any shares without negotiating with him first and seeing where he's at, so that would be the obvious starting point.
  
  He's a man with deep pockets, a vision/plan for TAG, and a great deal of experience in the business and tech world. I believe that he has intentions for TAG and won't easily be budged.
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  Glenn Stokposted 6 months agoin reply to this
  You’re correct, Paul. Buying enough shares to attain a majority vote would be impossible unless Manoj Bhargava sold his shares. Thanks for bringing that to my attention.
  
  I didn’t consider that Bhargava owns more than half the shares of TAG. As CEO of Sports Illustrated, he probably would want to hold on to those shares despite losing millions already.
  
  However, there is always the possibility that he sees his investment eroding, and once TAG is delisted due to the shares dropping to 75¢, he might want to unload. We’ll never know what he is thinking.
  
  Nevertheless, Paul, your explanation gives me hope that Bhargava might have the desire to do something to turn things around. I just don’t understand why, as the majority shareholder, he let management undo everything Paul Edmondson did that made HubPages successful.
  
  What worries me, though, is that Bhargava is presently under investigation for having undeclared Swiss bank accounts and criminal tax evasion. It’s being conducted by the United States Department of Justice and the Internal Revenue Service, according to this article last week in The Wall Street Journal. . .
  
  https://www.wsj.com/us-news/law/monk-bi … s-573c764b
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  theraggededgeposted 6 months agoin reply to this
  But why would we want to buy shares in TAG? I certainly wouldn't. But I would contribute to HubPages if I could own a little bit of it.
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  Glenn Stokposted 6 months agoin reply to this
  But HubPages isn’t traded on the market by itself. It’s part of The Arena Group. The reason for all 36,191 Hubbers buying a few shares in TAG was to accumulate a majority vote, as I detailed in my article. However, Paul helpfully made it clear that that would be impossible because Manoj Bhargava owns more than half, and he probably wouldn’t be selling his shares.
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  theraggededgeposted 6 months agoin reply to this
  So TAG would have to hive off HP, which is what I said originally. It's probably not profitable and therefore not worth very much so they should gift it or offer it for a nominal sum to the writers.
  
  I think we're having a circular discussion
  
  We know it's not going to happen in a million years but it's interesting to think about. How the platform would be run, what it would look like, how new writers could join, how we might be paid, etc.
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  Glenn Stokposted 6 months agoin reply to this
  Yes, it’s interesting to think about. Unfortunately, it will never be a reality for reasons mentioned.
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  PaulGoodman67posted 6 months agoin reply to this
  I'm not so sure that HP even exists anymore in the way that many hubbers appear to think. I believe that's been the case for some time.
  
  There's obviously a hubpages.com domain name, but in many ways the company has been absorbed by TAG and they think in terms of "publications" and brands rather than there being a constituent entity called HP.
  
  The niches, for instance, are essentially TAG publications as far as I can see, even if the content comes from hubbers.
  
  As you say, Glenn, there's a whole lot of "politics" and serious legal ugliness going on at TAG and Bhargava appears to have his own legal struggles.
  
  Buying a few shares and being a passive shareholder is one thing, but attempting to be a majority shareholder would inevitably involve becoming embroiled in all sorts of power and legal struggles.
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  Miebakagh57posted 6 months agoin reply to this
  It's in this later case where the virus and disease of hubpages is born.
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  chef-de-jourposted 6 months agoin reply to this
  I see TAG's share price is now at 75 cents, grim, and that they have to come up with a plan by Nov 1st to keep the NYSE happy. These are trying times for a once go-ahead company.
  
  As for us writers here at HP, well, who knows what the near future will bring? Seems we've been left rudderless.
  
  I lack business skills but the possibility of 'buying' HP does interest me simply because I have over 400 articles on Owlcation which earn me three figures, still. Who wouldn't want to maintain the status quo? Like many writers here I've been hard at it for 10 years or more and would like to keep the show on the road.
  
  How to know what to do? Be proactive and write to TAG with a business plan? Write to Matt Wells who once said HP is here to stay? Or simply wait and hope that TAG and HP can bounce back and learn from their past mistakes?
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  PaulGoodman67posted 6 months agoin reply to this
  I have various plans but none of them involve buying TAG or writing to any of the employees.
  
  I'm just joining in the discussion for fun.
  
  You're right that the company needs millions more in equity.
  
  They're furiously restructuring but lack funds.
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  PaulGoodman67posted 6 months agoin reply to this
  Most of the tech business people I listen to and read believe that traditional search, where users go through a search engine and are given lists of website options, is on the way out and that the future lies in AI responses.
  
  Traditional search may survive in some form but it will be usurped.
  
  If that's the case, then the HP business model, which relies on traditional search for traffic, doesn't have a future.
  
  TAG is moving toward a combination of video clips and AI as its key media product.
  
  Even Google, the biggest search engine in the Western world, is moving away from traditional search and toward AI. The same is true for Microsoft/Bing.
  
  It would be a terrible idea, in my opinion, to buy the HP element of TAG. Even if you got it for nothing, it would cost a fortune just to keep it afloat.
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  Kenna McHughposted 6 months agoin reply to this
  The AI search results work well with the mobile platform; currently, I find it more helpful. If you scroll down, I can see the sources.
  
  On my desktop, when I search Chrome or Duck, the results show advertising websites first and foremost. It's painful and a waste of time. Reddit comes up if the search item is obscure or esoteric, which is not helpful. That's when I need Google to work for me, not the masses, to no avail.
  
  My crystal ball tells me to write fiction, which I do. I may also write commentaries on Medium, but I must check that out to see if it's feasible. I still have clients who hire me to edit AI. I wrote for them a year ago. Quote Dylan, "Times are changing." Go figure.
  
  Purchase HP as a cooperative? I am always open to innovations.
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  Gregory DeVictorposted 6 months agoin reply to this
  Paul, based on what you have stated above, where do you believe that sites like Medium and Substack are headed?
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  PaulGoodman67posted 6 months agoin reply to this
  That's a big question.
  
  I think you have to write material that AI finds hard to reproduce and that's capable of making you money, assuming that's your thing.
  
  The writing that's most vulnerable is the how-to material because AI will only get better and better with those type of questions.
  
  Likewise, any system that depends upon traditional search is on shaky ground.
  
  Medium and Substack are subscription-based, so they avoid the search problem.
  
  You have to write articles that people are prepared to pay for and give the reader info and experience that they can't easily get somewhere else. That will only get more difficult as AI improves. Intellectual property rights are also becoming increasingly non-existent.
  
  I think reading medium to long-length articles will inevitably become more of a niche pastime. That's certainly the trend. The internet was completely textual to begin with but becomes less so with each year that passes.
  
  Video clips and podcasts are on the rise. Fewer people want to read medium to long-length articles.
  
  Scrolling through video clips, memes, and tweets can be addictive, reading articles isn't. Attention spans are getting shorter.
  
  Even in situations where traditional books like novels and nonfiction sell well, there is far less money in it than there was before the digital age. You have to shift a hell of lot of books to make just a few hundred/month.
  
  You also need a lot of subscribers to make hundreds on Substack. But I see it as potentially surviving albeit in more of a niche form. I can't see it getting huge, nor as a good earner for most writers.
  
  Medium was intended to be a huge thing, Williams wanted it to be as big as Twitter or even greater but that didn't work out. Coach Tony has far less grand plans but I don't think Medium will last in the long run.
  
  Or maybe it will carry on but with the earnings continuing to diminish, which is what seems to be happening with HP.
  
  The buzz has gone out of that place and most of the top writers have left Medium. It's now more of an amateur blogging site than it used to be and blogging has been out of fashion for years.
  
  Generally speaking, there are plenty of opportunities for writing and publishing but it's harder to earn money and will only get harder, I believe.
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  Gregory DeVictorposted 6 months agoin reply to this
  Paul, thank you for your response.
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  Glenn Stokposted 6 months agoin reply to this
  Andrew, As far as a business plan goes, I covered that in my article on my website.
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Miebakagh57posted 6 months ago
Hey guys, while I'm on my sick bed, I'm unable to follow and contributed to the Hbpages Survey. But ...
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  viryaboposted 6 months agoin reply to this
  I hope you feel better soon Miebakagh.
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  Miebakagh57posted 6 months agoin reply to this
  Yes. I've been discharged, and diving and swimming in some forum discussions.
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Miebakagh57posted 6 months ago
Surely, HubPages has not qualified for sale!?
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