Snipped!

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   chef-de-jourposted 6 weeks ago

   Two of my articles have recently been snipped which is hard to believe given the chronic lack of editing of late. Anyone else experience similar activity? Are there other wee things going on in that HP editorial office they're not telling us about?
   
   To counterbalance, I've had a lone article on HubPro Row for years, gathering dust. It just sits there waiting, like something from a Beckett play.

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      bravewarriorposted 6 weeks agoin reply to this

      I've seen zero activity from HP of late. Then again, I've done nothing with the articles I have written over the years, either.

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         chef-de-jourposted 6 weeks agoin reply to this

         It's as if someone has pressed the pause button......Hope is the thing with feathers...that's featherless?

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      Rupert Taylorposted 6 weeks agoin reply to this

      Andrew - You beat me to it by a few minutes; they've been going at my articles like a demented mohel.
      
      We were encouraged to add "Related Articles" to our offerings and, dutiful servant that I am, I've been doing just that. They even provided a "Link" tool to facilitate this. But, it's these related article capsules that they are snipping.
      
      Also, they are taking the weed whacker to links to sources, mostly Amazon books. I'm not using the Amazon recommendation tool, just linking to a book that I've used as a source. Weren't we also encouraged to do this?
      
      If they have surplus labour to hand why not employ it in purging spam from the forum and rubbish from Discover?

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         chef-de-jourposted 6 weeks agoin reply to this

         Hoi Rupert, good to know you're being attended to albeit in fits and starts!

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      Kenna McHughposted 6 weeks agoin reply to this

      Andrew, nothing surprises me anymore at HP/TAG. I noticed an increase in views, impressions and CPM, which doesn't surprise me either. If the spammers become non-existent, that will surprise me.

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         chef-de-jourposted 6 weeks agoin reply to this

         Cheers Kenna - yes, sometimes I get the feeling HP could be wound up tomorrow on a whim, other times I think there must be someone in that office keen enough to kick-start the old engine and get things moving again. Anything can happen, for no good reason!

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            Miebakagh57posted 6 weeks agoin reply to this

            The new CEO putting gear into motion?

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               chef-de-jourposted 6 weeks agoin reply to this

               Who knows? He's done wonders with Athlon Sports apparently - a completely different set up to HP but shows he has the knack. Anything can happen!

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      Gregory DeVictorposted 6 weeks agoin reply to this

      I just checked my email and see that one of my American nostalgia articles on HobbyLark has been "snipped." Reason: Apparently, some of the text links in the "References" section no longer meet HP's "quality guidelines."
      
      Now I wonder just who is doing all of this snipping? Perhaps it is spring cleaning time at HubPages.

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      OldRosesposted 6 weeks agoin reply to this

      No snipping here, just a demotion for one of my hubs from Discover to HugPages because it has too many links.  Those are links to related Hubs, which I thought we were supposed to be doing.  I sent one of my usual sarcastic emails and like magic, the hub was restored to its rightful place on Discover.

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         Kenna McHughposted 6 weeks agoin reply to this

         Good for you, Caren.

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      chef-de-jourposted 6 weeks agoin reply to this

      Six more articles to be snipped. HP must have hired a slick snipping specialist.

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         Kenna McHughposted 6 weeks agoin reply to this

         What are they snipping? Links?

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      SerenityHaloposted 6 weeks agoin reply to this

      Yes, I have been getting snips. I believe the problem is before editors left they were encouraged to link HP articles to similar ones, regardless of author. The problem is a lot of people gave up and even removed their articles after changes last summer and fall. Therefore, there are a lot of links that no longer go to a proper article. This has been the case for some of my snips.
      
      Since the niches were taken away, there is link mayhem. They were supposed to be links within niches, but it’s gotten messy. The snips are a good thing in my opinion.
      
      I think it should have been all along that we link to our own articles for the very fact that then we are working in our own sandbox and not linking to something that could one day be changed or deleted.

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         chef-de-jourposted 6 weeks agoin reply to this

         Yes interesting - ok - someone in that near empty HP office is making an effort to tie up these loose ends - a small positive move forward.

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            SerenityHaloposted 6 weeks agoin reply to this

            It is a move in the right direction. One of the smartest things to fix. There is the question of who is doing it.

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               Miebakagh57posted 6 weeks agoin reply to this

               Paul? Just working on bad one gear in a clock or wrist-watch, prompt the others to move. Maybe, hubpages, is rising?

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         PegCole17posted 5 weeks agoin reply to this

         I agree that the snips are a good thing.
         When I recently got a notice that my article had been snipped I was ready to move another one off site. Then I realized that the latest staff edit removed links that some other editor added. Bravo. I thought I'd caught and removed all of those when they first did it.
         Yes, please don't try to send readers somewhere else, particularly in the first paragraph of my article.

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      Patty Inglish, MSposted 6 weeks agoin reply to this

      A dozen of mine were snipped in the last few days and fortunately, the snipped parts were those I would have removed myself... if my Internet had not been wonky for the last few months.
      
      Views have increased, so thank you HP. We'll see what happens next.

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         Kenna McHughposted 6 weeks agoin reply to this

         Patty, same here, views have increased.

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            Patty Inglish, MSposted 6 weeks agoin reply to this

            That's good to hear, Kenna.

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         chef-de-jourposted 6 weeks agoin reply to this

         You too? Snipping is catching on it seems. Has someone in the HP office finally woken up at last?

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            Patty Inglish, MSposted 6 weeks agoin reply to this

            I hope so.

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   PaulGoodman67posted 6 weeks ago

   I've seen some snipping occasionally recently.
   
   I'm so jaded, I'm like: meh!
   
   FYI: Meh = "Do as tha likes" in Yorkshirespeak.

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      chef-de-jourposted 6 weeks agoin reply to this

      By eck, reet ovver top a me ead....ang on a sec, al fetch interpreter, name a Sean Bean, eel sort it all out. Tha reckons, ah...

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         Patty Inglish, MSposted 6 weeks agoin reply to this

         

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   Rupert Taylorposted 6 weeks ago

   Caren - What the "HE double hockey sticks" is going on? Perhaps, I should address that question to Matt.
   
   Perfectly good articles are now rejected because they fail to meet "quality standards" but we no longer know what those standards are. In the overused cliche it looks as though they've moved the goal posts.
   
   Are we encouraged to add "related articles" or not? Are we supposed to include links to sources we've used or not?

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      OldRosesposted 6 weeks agoin reply to this

      Rupert, in my case, I think the editor got lazy and didn't check where the links went.  They all went to other related hubs I have written that are still live and have been updated.
      
      Judging from the way things are going on this site, they probably have one overworked editor going through all of our hubs to clean them up.  Obviously they are taking shortcuts so that they can edit as many hubs as possible.  For all we know, they could have some kind of daily quota that they are trying to meet.

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         Patty Inglish, MSposted 6 weeks agoin reply to this

         "Overworked"seems to be the American way more and more...at least at every company I ever worked for.

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   Rupert Taylorposted 6 weeks ago

   I've asked Matt for clarification. I will report back.

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   Rupert Taylorposted 6 weeks ago

   Andrew you are so minor league. The count so far today for me is 17 articles snipped.
   
   Clearly, there has been a change of policy. Would have been nice if they had let us know. It would have saved me a lot of work.
   
   Maybe, I'll just re-install the snipped links. Two can play at this game.
   
   And now, they've just flagged six broken links, five of which are perfectly good. More time wasted fixing someone else's mistakes.

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      bravewarriorposted 6 weeks agoin reply to this

      They're snipping without notification? If that's the case, how can I check to see if any of my articles have been snipped?

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         chef-de-jourposted 6 weeks agoin reply to this

         Via email.
         
         Hubpages Team....Your Article Has Been Snipped
         
         I'm up to 18 articles now, but don't tell Rupert he'll be turning peridot with envy.

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            bravewarriorposted 6 weeks agoin reply to this

            I haven't received any such emails in eons!

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   Rupert Taylorposted 6 weeks ago

   Interesting theory Andrea, but the only related links I have put on my articles are to my own work. because with unaccustomed modesty, (a) I know they are well written and (b) they have been thoroughly fact checked. I could not possibly sort through the tens of thousands of other articles hoping to find suitable similar pieces; there's a lot of crap on Discover.
   
   It would be helpful if someone came on and told us what is going on. If there is a change of policy why have we not been told about it?
   
   It seems as though HP is still operating on the mushroom management system: Keep the workers in the dark and once a month opening the door and throwing a bucket of manure over them.

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   Rupert Taylorposted 6 weeks ago

   Still got ya beat Andrew. My count is now 31 snips in the last 24 hours. But HOLD THE FRONT PAGE.
   
   I just received a message from Matt that I can restore the related articles capsules that were removed. I have responded by saying it's the responsibility of HP to do the restoration. I'm waiting to hear back.

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      bravewarriorposted 6 weeks agoin reply to this

      I agree with you, Rupert. It's HP's responsibility to return what they took from you!

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   Jodahposted 6 weeks ago

   I just had my first snipped. Now I feel important.

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      Patty Inglish, MSposted 6 weeks agoin reply to this

      Congratulations

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   theraggededgeposted 6 weeks ago

   I've had one too. The funny thing is that these 'low quality links weren't ones I'd added; they were inserted by editors and were to other hubbers' articles.

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      Kenna McHughposted 6 weeks agoin reply to this

      Bev, that's right. I believe HP had/has an automatic system that randomly linked articles.

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         Patty Inglish, MSposted 6 weeks agoin reply to this

         Automatic brainlessness?

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            Kenna McHughposted 6 weeks agoin reply to this

            I am not sure about brainlessness, but it was automatic.

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    Rupert Taylorposted 6 weeks ago

    Matt wrote that he would "speak to the editor." That was at 9 a.m. snow-covered Ontario time. At 12.15 p.m. another notice about links being snipped appeared in my in-box. These were links that HP staff had inserted some time ago.
    
    I responded with considerable vigour and await further information.

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    melbelposted 6 weeks ago

    I've seen some snipping, too, but I'm on the fence about whether to write anything new.

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       chef-de-jourposted 6 weeks agoin reply to this

       Ok, right, yes - it'd be good to get a definite notice of intent from HP but I guess things will continue as before, hit&miss bitsanpieces all made in the dark.

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          PaulGoodman67posted 6 weeks agoin reply to this

          Yes, they don't even bother to explain what they're doing or why anymore. Those days are gone.

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    Miebakagh57posted 6 weeks ago

    It's a good move. I had one story snipped. I would have object to it. But let hubpages go-merry-round.

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    Rupert Taylorposted 6 weeks ago

    I believe Matt is on the case. I have now gone more than 24 hours without being snipped.

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    eugbugposted 6 weeks ago

    Five on Owlcation were snipped in the last couple of days, but that's because they were originally linking to articles on other network sites and since those articles have moved back to Discover, the links were deleted because the site still presumably has a bad reputation as regards Google.

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       chef-de-jourposted 6 weeks agoin reply to this

       Yet more snipping - getting rid of potentially bad links is a positive move, which is welcome.

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    Miebakagh57posted 6 weeks ago

    Otherwise, how do one explain it?

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    Rupert Taylorposted 5 weeks ago

    My issue is with "related articles" that we were encouraged to add at the end of articles. I spent considerable time assembling these only for some clown to come along and delete them, without explanation.
    
    The in-text links were not, for me, so much of a bother as they opened in a separate tab rather than taking readers away from our articles.
    
    Anyway, the snipping activity seems to have come to a halt. Again, no explanation.

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