So many questions posted that are from new members with no hubs

1. 74

   SteveoMcposted 12 years ago

   I am starting to wonder about a lot of the questions that are asked.   I'm talking about the ones that are listed in the Answers area.
   They appear to be from people who have new accounts for the purpose of asking questions.
   I personally do not mind, as most of those questions are easy to ignore, but I was wondering if I am missing the point.
   It seems like the questions might be asked by people who do not wish to divulge their id since the questions are either sensitive or moronic.
   Just wondering what everyone's take is on it.

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   1. 77

      Arthur Fontesposted 12 years agoin reply to this

      How about if a hubber makes a second account to ask questions so their main account can write a hub to answer the question?
      
      Thereby maybe creating a link to their hub in the answer section?

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   2. 90

      Marisa Wrightposted 12 years agoin reply to this

      I suspect some of them are simply misunderstanding what HubPages is for.   The same thing happens on the forums - you'll see people join and post material as forum posts instead of as Hubs.
      
      I think some people think they can earn money by posting questions.  It's another reason why there needs to be some kind of hurdle before you're allowed to post them.  And why it should go back to being called "Hub Requests".

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2. 58

   fresnaveeposted 12 years ago

   I've been wondering about this as well. I keep seeing spammish and nonsensical things that look like keywords upon keywords being stuffed into a question.
   
   Generally it's 5-6 users of the same I see doing it over and over.

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3. 74

   SteveoMcposted 12 years ago

   ok just look at the last question posted about someone's wife leaving them...the user joined 15 minutes ago, has no hubs, no followers, but asks a question.   
   It seems strange, but I can't quite figure out what they are doing.
   Both of your suggestions seem plausible.

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   1. 93

      Faceless39posted 12 years agoin reply to this

      whatever you do, don't feed the trolls.  they'll go away.

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4. 72

   thisisoliposted 12 years ago

   I feel as if creating accounts to create questions and nothing else should be against Hubpages ToS, confirmation anyone?

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   1. 64

      ceciliabeltranposted 12 years agoin reply to this

      I agree. the weirdos do this.

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5. 72

   relacheposted 12 years ago

   When you see nonsense, gibberish and spam in the Answer section, Flag It For Admin, PLEASE.  Don't just ignore it and don't presume someone else will handle it.  Both of those methods are unproductive.

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6. 61

   tjhooperposted 12 years ago

   I've been seeing these pop up a lot, and I've only had a hub account for 5 weeks. I never considered the fact of people trolling hubpages before

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7. 84

   earnestshubposted 12 years ago

   I feel as long as we report every one of them, hubpages admin will take care of it.
   Span doesn't hang around long after it is reported.
   
   If you look around the internet at forums and general comments on other sites you will see that comparatively little spam or bad behaviour comes here.
   
   Not too much "Yo ar a *&@! signed fatboy fred" type of comments like many places have, so I think we are pretty well off in that way too.
   It's all good.

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8. 80

   raisingmeposted 12 years ago

   Now that I have two full months under my belt as a Hubber, I have found out a few things that I was ignorant of.  This forum re questions asked by new members covers one of the things that I have learned and that is not to answer questions wherein someone is asking for help with a personal situation.  I think most people want to help others and there are those who use this positive attribute against people and ask the questions only to collect email address or some such.  I can think of no other reason for someone brand new to hubpages with no relationships built up in here to ask such questions.  I fell for one of those and another thing I fell for was another hubber private emailing me to ask a question.  I didn't check until some days after I had answered them after hearing nothing back from them. When I did I found they had been on HubPages a couple of weeks and had no hubs.  The only thing that raised my suspicions as I am not suspicious by nature and am rather new to the internet world was that the spam in my email account increased.  Like I need another email about viagra...geez!
   I am wiser now.

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9. 0

   Website Examinerposted 12 years ago

   I would also suspect that these types of questions can be like a drag net. Those who respond positively may gain a new follower, then a game of cat and mouse begins.

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10. 94

    Susana Sposted 12 years ago

    There are a few hubbers with fairly low hubber scores (probably due to dupe content) who ask tonnes of questions. I think they believe that this will increase their hubber score (which it probably does to some extent). I've wondered whether to report them? What do others think?

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    1. 59

       Lisa HWposted 12 years agoin reply to this

       Someone who is new (or else who already has other accounts and starts a new one under another name) will have a low Hub Score.  A person can have quite a few duplicate content Hubs and still have a decent Hub Score.  I have several (for my own reasons) (maybe not a high percentage and most that don't have a great score, but a couple/few have a really high score).  A lot of people are new and don't really know what they're doing.  Some new people don't realize HubPages isn't a blog and isn't a social site.  If they're "contributions" keep getting reported, they'll eventually figure out what they posted didn't cut it.  I'd think twice about reporting a whole profile unless it was really clear it was spammy.
       
       To me, as long as they're asking "decent" questions, I don't think it should matter if someone asks "a zillion" questions.  The questions that are questionable (and outright dumb/bizarre) are the ones that are space-wasters.
       
       If I see some question that gives me an idea for a Hub, or even if I see one that I'm just in the mood to answer, I don't really care who posted the question.  Whether it serves my purpose as "fuel for a Hub" or just as a time-killer because I'm in the mood for a "mini-brain challenge", it serves my purpose.
       
       I think whatever anyone is considering reporting (a Hub, a question, a profile, whatever..), it should be based on the actual thing involved. I'm not sure this is the "correct" policy (in "official HubPages eyes"), but I think  if someone with a score of 32 and two half-baked Hubs posts 50 decent questions, I don't think it should be the questions that get reported.  If the two half-baked Hubs are horrible I think it's each Hub that should be flagged.  Spammy profiles are usually pretty obvious when you run into one.  Poorly spun articles look a lot different than a Hub that's just poorly written or doesn't have much information in it.  Profiles that are "all links" or nothing but a link to one, big, ad, somewhere; and that don't have any signs of anyone even trying to write are dead giveaways.
       
       Then again, if someone has posted nothing but absurd questions and has nothing else on his profile at all - that may be another thing.
       
       I guess my main point is I, personally, wouldn't try to guess about anyone's motives.  I just judge whatever it is I'm thinking about reporting based on what it is and whether it looks worthy of reporting, by itself.

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       1. 94

          Susana Sposted 12 years agoin reply to this

          I've basically had the same thought process, so that's why I haven't reported them.

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11. 74

    SteveoMcposted 12 years ago

    I am heartened by the fact that most people feel a little confused by some of the questions and who is asking them.   Actually some of them are amusingly entertaining.   
    But a question that I might try to answer sometimes turns out to be bogus and I made the mistake of answering one or two of them and then started getting spam emails.  The problem is that they come through hub pages.  If I mark these as spam, then my filter will put all my hubpages email in the spam folder.   
    Here is an example:
    
    Hi;
    my name is miss Grace koneh
    I saw your profil today at ( http://hubpages.com ) and it really attracted me alot,
    I will like to know you.please Do write back. For more convenient ;It will also be
    nice to writh me through my email adress ( <email snipped> )
    hope you will write back.
    Until then; kisses;
    Miss Grace koneh.
    
    The email Origin:    from    Grace koneh (via HubPages)  <email@hubpages.com>

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