Affiliate and Promotional Links Standards

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   David Stoneposted 14 years ago

   It seems strange the rule for affiliate links is the same for every hub. For example, I have a hub with over 2,200 words, plenty of links to other hubs, and after getting a warning going over it numerous times, I finally gave up, stopped wasting my time and deleted the single affiliate link I could find.
   
   First, this sort of thing makes HP increasingly less attractive because of the hassles not found other places, and I will honestly tell you that HP is no longer my first (or second) choice for this reason alone. The automated, schoolmarmish, demanding threats is taking the fun out of writing.
   
   But let's look at this a different reason. If it's okay for a writer with only 400 hundred words in their hub to have two Amazon links, why is it still the same limit for 2,200 words. This is illogical and discourages longer, more detailed hubs. If the hub is about NYC, for instance, after that much writing, I can think of a half-dozen Amazon books and records that make since for fleshing out the subject, old movies, Sinatra records, guidebooks, maybe some photos. As it stands now, longer, more developed hubs are essentially penalized, and this encourages simple, nonliterary commercial hubs with no other intention than to post affiliate links. Only blurb writers will make money. Is this a wise policy to enforce so strictly and, I should add, rudely and, apparently from the other messages I see, arbitrarily? I didn't even get my rude notice for nearly six months, and it blocked me from updating. Why update when you may be pulled down without appeal?

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   1. 66

      relacheposted 14 years agoin reply to this

      Did you bother to contact admin for further explanation or a manual review?  You absolutely have the right to "an appeal" but not if you don't ask for one...

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      1. 72

         David Stoneposted 14 years agoin reply to this

         I know nothing about a review process, and since I've been all around this site for a month, if there is one, it isn't evident.
         
         Nevertheless, I'm not at all interested in appealing one by one. It isn't necessary other places with all the same benefits and more, so why make the extra effort here?
         
         If the rules are relaxed, I'm interested. If they're not, I'm less so.
         
         I have had a back and forth with them and came away with the impression that understaffing was a major issue, not an impression I consistently get elsewhere. Without making an issue of that site against this one, the two sites I now use first are responsive, generous and more eager to help than enforce across the board rules.
         
         I write a lot and publish a lot. The publishing site should not be the most frustrating or irritating issue. For the record, if you don't publish elsewhere, I suggest you try it and sample the response for comparison.

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         1. 66

            relacheposted 14 years agoin reply to this

            For a guy whose profile says he's been here for a year, if you can't be bothered to read the FAQ, then maybe it would be better if you published someplace where you are more content.
            
            http://hubpages.com/faq/#what_is_allowed

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            1. 60

               SuziGravenstukposted 14 years agoin reply to this

               Your comment seemed unduly rude.

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   2. 95

      Susana Sposted 14 years agoin reply to this

      
      
      You can add as many products as you like within amazon and ebay capsules (well I think you can add a maximum of 8 to one capsule but you can put as many capsules as you want to). The two outgoing affiliate links rule doesn't apply to the capsules.

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   3. 85

      Marisa Wrightposted 14 years agoin reply to this

      David, I'm sorry you're having trouble.  Personally, I don't find the limits onerous.  After all, the two link limit is PER DOMAIN - so you can have links to 150 different websites if you liked, so long as there's no more than two links to each one. 
      
      As for Amazon - if you're using the Amazon capsules, there's no limit to how many capsules you can have, so you can have unlimited links to Amazon. Same with eBay capsules.
      
      The two-link limit is to deter spammers. Besides, HubPages makes its income by sharing the income on our affiliate links to Adsense, Amazon and eBay - so it's not in their interests to allow heaps of other affiliate links which will steal clicks  from those. 
      
      The reason you've only recently got the warnings is that HubPages is constantly improving its automated filters, so Hubs that previously escaped notice get picked up.
      
      I know it's annoying to get a notice from a faceless, automated service - but think about this.  If HubPages relied absolutely on human moderators, it would need a much bigger staff.  More staff cost more, so our share of HubPages income would be that much smaller.  Isn't a bit more income worth trading for a little inconvenience?
      
      You shouldn't have to "appeal" each of your flagged Hubs one by one - you should just be able to send HubPages an email and ask them to explain the lot.  If they haven't responded correctly, I'm disappointed - and I'd encourage you to try again.

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2. 75

   Uninvited Writerposted 14 years ago

   While not always successful, these rules make is harder for spammers to take over the site with their crap articles.

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   1. 72

      David Stoneposted 14 years agoin reply to this

      Other sites do that with vastly more relaxed policies.
      
      And, relache, since you are so self-righteous about it, you might want to go back and read the point that going to other resources is exactly what I've done. And if playing kissy kissy with management is what gets you a 97, I'll stick with my 91-92. I already know what's allowed. The point of the request was to request a more relaxed and logical standard. Read before you write. It helps.

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