Is Hubpages dead now?

1. 70

   Amara Hassanposted 10 days ago

   Hello fellows!
   Do you guys also getting worst ever reads and earnings? Earnings are totally 0 now. These new changes are worst. Looks like there is no future of this platform now and its fully dead.

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      manatita44posted 10 days agoin reply to this

      Always a joy to hear from friends. No. I know of it and have been tempted. But I am not writing anywhere.
      
      I am prolific, though. I go to many Zoom and public venues to recite poetry and give talks. I have 3, 300 poems.
      Are you well? ceeccil@hotmail.com

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         Jodahposted 9 days agoin reply to this

         Good to see you are still around, and being prolific, Manatita.

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   2. 84

      theraggededgeposted 10 days agoin reply to this

      Yes, it's dead. See these threads...
      
      https://hubpages.com/community/forum/36 … m-discover
      
      https://hubpages.com/community/forum/36 … g-with-us-
      
      https://hubpages.com/community/forum/36 … ick?page=2
      
      https://hubpages.com/community/forum/36 … r-hubpages

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      Kenna McHughposted 10 days agoin reply to this

      

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      viryaboposted 10 days agoin reply to this

      Dead as a doornail.
      
      Soon to be interred!

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      Jodahposted 9 days agoin reply to this

      Hi Amara. It is not looking good, but where there is “some” life there is hope I guess.

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         Genna Eastposted 9 days agoin reply to this

         I hope you are right, John, especially with all of the work and dedication authors have committed to HP over the years. And I have to agree that in light of recent events, it saddens me to say that it is not looking good.

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            Jodahposted 9 days agoin reply to this

            Genna, It is sad when something you have enjoyed and been a part of for so many years gets to such a low point. I am staying here just out of loyalty and the few friends left here, in the faint hope that things may change.

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               Genna Eastposted 8 days agoin reply to this

               I know what you mean, John.  They write with talent, imagination, and integrity.  And there are authors who have written both creative works of fiction (including poetry) in addition to articles.  They are among the most talented writers we’ve ever read.  Understandably, a number of these authors haven’t published anything recently, but they’re still “here” in that they haven’t yet closed their accounts.  There are reasons for this that give us a glimmer of hope over HP’s projected epitaph.

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      greenmindposted 4 days agoin reply to this

      How to destroy a community:
      
      1. Create profitable "niche" sites to side-step Google algorithm punishment of original HubPages.com url, once it was overrun by bots and scammers.
      
      2. Allow writers who pass muster to publish on the niche sites and make decent income by sharing ad revenue.
      
      3. Suddenly sell the farm. The new owners come up with a plan to wring more $$ from the platform.
      
      4. Kick long-time, profitable writers off the niche sites; move them all back to the original polluted HubPages.com/Discover site.
      
      5. Replace the writers' hard work with AI-created simulacra of their original, painstakingly researched articles on the niche sites, complete with identical titles and keywords; these articles are full of AI hallucinations that would be funny if they weren't so real-world dangerous (AI instructing you how to light the pilot of a stove? Just the start.).
      
      6. Use the zombie HubPages.com articles as fodder for AI scraping to continue spewing wrong and dangerous information.
      
      Is HubPages Dead? It is to me.

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      Miebakagh57posted 2 days agoin reply to this

      Dead or alife? No one is sure.

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      compu-smartposted 30 hours agoin reply to this

      I have 40 featured hubs. 10 are hubpro. And when this site first started, it was a10 out of 10 for earning and traffic. And talking of 10. That how much cents I make most days. 10 cents! I tried writing more articles to try and make the monthly threshold payments, but it's literally like flogging horses, and who wants to do that to poor horses!?

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   9. 83

      Kenna McHughposted 29 hours agoin reply to this

      TAG destroyed HubPages. It's as simple as that.

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         Patty Inglish, MSposted 29 hours agoin reply to this

         I feel that that's true.

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            Kenna McHughposted 29 hours agoin reply to this

            Yes. TAG has grounded HP on some long-lost river, and now the cannibals are eating us.

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               Patty Inglish, MSposted 24 hours agoin reply to this

               Exactly what the situation seems to be!

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2. 75

   manatita44posted 10 days ago

   Not dead...after all, it's algorithms allowed you to ask this question. Life evolves and we do too. Watch this space

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      Linda S Grimesposted 12 hours agoin reply to this

      Most of your work is on LetterPile?  Are you aware that you won't be paid for those works?  Or are you not concerned about being paid for your work?

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   Venkatachari Mposted 10 days ago

   Hi, Manatita. That's a river of poems. Keep flowing them all around the universe.

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      manatita44posted 9 days agoin reply to this

      Thanks, Bro.

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   Eric Cauncaposted 10 days ago

   It is a zombie now. It eats our brain and rewrites our knowledge and thoughts.

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5. 83

   Kenna McHughposted 10 days ago

   Well, a few of us are working on getting the word out. Hopefully, we'll be effective.

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   FatFreddysCatposted 10 days ago

   Looks pretty frickin dead to me.
   
   

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7. 68

   PaulGoodman67posted 9 days ago

   Zombie’s a good description. Basically undead. Lacking life but still twitching a little now and then. Keep your distance and don’t let your brain be eaten.

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8. 91

   Venkatachari Mposted 9 days ago

   Don't be pessimistic, Dear Friends. There is always hope waiting for you.

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      viryaboposted 9 days agoin reply to this

      It’s difficult not to be, if we are getting ZERO response from any of the HP team members. It is certainly sending a loud, clear message.

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9. 91

   Venkatachari Mposted 9 days ago

   If you are posting your views and perception, then it is active by default. How can we say it is Dead?

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   1. 84

      theraggededgeposted 9 days agoin reply to this

      We're not talking about the forum. We're talking about the state of the revenue-sharing platform.
      
      Writers who were used to getting paid regularly in return for providing useful, informative articles (that carry advertising from which HubPages benefits) have been treated badly. Some have had their articles taken, rewritten and republished under other names.
      
      There has been no communication from staff.
      
      If you are happy to publish poetry and stories for your own pleasure, and not earn money, then you won't notice any changes.

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         viryaboposted 9 days agoin reply to this

         +1

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10. 68

    PaulGoodman67posted 9 days ago

    As Bev says, it depends on why you’re here, but if you’re a writer who desires views and earnings for their articles, this site is done.
    
    Taking many months or years to reach $50 payout seems pointless.
    
    I once earned a part time income here, now it’s  just cents.
    
    The vast majority of writers already left.

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       Kyler J Falkposted 9 days agoin reply to this

       Video games are still a hot topic. I'm waiting to see if my stuff starts getting poached by big names.

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    Venkatachari Mposted 8 days ago

    Paul and my other Dear Friends. I keep holding this site until the end.
    
    I am not for earnings but for the community.

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       Genna Eastposted 7 days agoin reply to this

       Well said, Venka.  A number of us were here years before Arena took over, and were part of a unique and supportive writing community.

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12. 76

    wpcooperposted 8 days ago

    Is there another format that you can earn money on for your writing? I did all right I did a lot better than I was when I first got on here, now I don't see a point in submitting anything new if you're making pennies a day. Who is the control of this somebody must be making something off our writing not us though

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13. 77

    Rupert Taylorposted 8 days ago

    Given the state of affairs, I have adjusted my expectations to realistic proportions.
    
    If I can write something that makes a reader smile, chuckle, or even laugh, I'm happy.
    If I can write something that turns a single Trump supporter into an opponent, I'm happy.
    If I can write something that makes a reader say "I didn't know that," I'm happy
    If I can entertain myself by learning new things as I research an article, I'm happy.
    
    So, I'll keep writing in the lowered expectation of hitting payout once every three months.

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       PaulGoodman67posted 8 days agoin reply to this

       Unfortunately, I think that you may increasingly find that you're getting zero views for many articles, Rupert, so you may have to downgrade your expectations further, as most of your list relies on getting views, and I believe that they will continue to decline.

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       Patty Inglish, MSposted 7 days agoin reply to this

       Rupert

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14. 77

    Rupert Taylorposted 7 days ago

    Paul - views have certainly plummeted from 2,,000+ a day to currently 600 to 700 daily. But, that is probably 600 to 700 more than if I ran a blog, which, according to information received through earlier forum threads, is a surefire way of ensuring that nobody reads your stuff.
    
    Also, according to previous forum threads, there are no alternatives to posting the sort of articles I write.
    
    Because I have no choice, I'll settle for what's on offer and not get my knickers in a twist about how unfair the world is.

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    1. 68

       PaulGoodman67posted 6 days agoin reply to this

       Yes, running a blog is a pain and maybe isn't even worth the effort as AI seems to be lowering (certainly search engine) views across the internet.
       
       Your average of around 1.5 views per pay for articles is about the same as mine. Of course, some articles get more views and lots of them get zero.
       
       For me, this already counts as nobody reading my stuff.
       
       I used to delete articles that regularly got less than ten views/day. Nowadays, I'd be deleting virtually everything if I did that.
       
       I don't have any great alternatives, though, other maybe than to start from scratch with a completely new approach on something like Substack, and I'm not even sure that would work out. Or try another medium like podcasts or videos.
       
       Trying to find optimism on the sinking Titanic, though, seems no better than getting one's knickers in a twist. Neither seems rational.
       
       Things will only get worse here because they're shifting all their support to the TAG articles, and any articles of ours that still perform at HP.com/Discover will eventually be purloined.

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    psycheskinnerposted 6 days ago

    I think we can expect them to eventually phase out non-staff writers entirely.

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       Kenna McHughposted 6 days agoin reply to this

       Even TAG will fall with their unprofessional ethics. It's a sad day for sure when it comes to quality writing.

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       PaulGoodman67posted 5 days agoin reply to this

       Yes, there really is no future.
       
       They're currently using us to mine articles and for SEO purposes but there's no reason to expect that to last.

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16. 83

    Solarasposted 6 days ago

    As bad as traffic is, CPMs are putrid. For my topics, Google AdSense is paying $5.20-$5.40. I should say, I believe Google AdSense is about as stingy as it gets in the Ad universe.
    
    We at HP in the pet niche are getting less than half of that, for who knows what number of impressions 1.5? Certainly less than two impressions.  While TAG takes the balance for themselves, to pay themselves to do what? Purloin our articles and redirect our backlinks to their ill-gotten niche sites.
    
    Whatever happened with their banner bidding?  I am sure it is still a thing for them, and that this CPM is somehow part of the old 60/40 split.  Now we get 40% of whatever they are getting on the worst day of the week.

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       Kenna McHughposted 5 days agoin reply to this

       Barbara, another factor is that they are also using our old URLs when our articles were on the Network (niche sites), which gives them a high ranking within 24 hours. So, they are not only stealing our content, they are stealing our former URLs. TAG thinks it's ingenious, but it's a lazy, underhanded and cowardly action. They have cut our communication, which they may also think is clever. The problem for them is that some of us have recourse. Yes, it's doom and gloom, but some of us are taking action.

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17. 68

    PaulGoodman67posted 5 days ago

    In other news, I did see that humorist, Mark Ewbie is now writing at Medium.
    
    In the days of hubbie awards, he was regularly voted funniest writer.

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       TheShadowSpecterposted 2 days agoin reply to this

       Paul?  Some of the other Hubbers have told me that Medium is a tough neighborhood to excel as a writer and make a decent income.  However, I have been reading their terms or service and rules, and the fact that Google Adsense is not in the picture there is a plus to me.  I'm not even looking at Substack, because it has too much overhead involved.

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          PaulGoodman67posted 2 days agoin reply to this

          There are many threads at HP dedicated to  the pros and cons of Medium.
          
          I do badly at Medium too nowadays.

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             viryaboposted 2 days agoin reply to this

             I’m still deciding whether to pull out of the Partner Program now, or wait a while.
             Costing me too much for too little!

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                PaulGoodman67posted 6 hours agoin reply to this

                I am still in the partner program, it's neccessary to earn. However, I did join then leave the Friends of Medium program.
                
                While I earn a pittance at Medium nowadays. I do applaud their relative openness about what's happening there.
                
                Coach Tony's recent update tells how they've struggled with debts and a lack of investment, which I figured was why earnings just went down and down:
                https://medium.com/the-coach-life/fell- … 1356ec8d7f

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          Ken Burgessposted 22 hours agoin reply to this

          Medium is not a smooth transition, it is not as straight forward as HubPages was, I created an account there but do not have the desire to invest the time.
          
          I'm thinking of making shorts with AI and seeing how it works on Youtube... but that will only happen if I leave my job, money is less important to enjoying/relaxing in the off time I have... been that way since I joined the 55+ club.

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18. 83

    Kenna McHughposted 4 days ago

    Nice imagery, Green. Let's not forget about TAG using our high-ranking URLs to deceive Google into thinking their substandard articles are our original, high-standard content.

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    Jodahposted 42 hours ago

    At the end of 2003 I was making up to $700AU per month on Medium. Since January this year, I am averaging $50AU per month.

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       Patty Inglish, MSposted 29 hours agoin reply to this

       Sad to hear it, Jodah. I've almost given up.

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       viryaboposted 20 hours agoin reply to this

       It’s so disheartening. I know I got on the Medium train pretty later than most
       
       Substack? No thanks, for me!

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    FatFreddysCatposted 30 hours ago

    After unpublishing my HP stuff late last year,  I attempted to get something going on both Medium and Substack.
    
    To date, I have had no luck getting any traction or readership whatsoever at either place
    
    So I have officially reached the "F*ck it, I'm done" point with this online-writer stuff. I no longer have the time or the patience to keep pushing this giant rock up a steep hill.
    
    It was a fun ride while it lasted.

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       Patty Inglish, MSposted 29 hours agoin reply to this

       I feel the same.

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       chef-de-jourposted 25 hours agoin reply to this

       So long Sisyphus! Keep on rocking! May the heavy metal be with you.

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          Patty Inglish, MSposted 24 hours agoin reply to this

          Amen

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    psycheskinnerposted 6 hours ago

    ...As a doornail

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