Anyone else having problems with Stumbleupon?

1. 77

   Shadesbreathposted 16 years ago

   I can't link on that.  Did they block hubpages and I missed the announcement or am I just having a wierd issue all my own?

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2. 64

   Mishaposted 16 years ago

   LOL we had like  three threads on the same topic during last week.
   
   The answer is - don't spam stumbleupon

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3. 68

   crashcromwellposted 16 years ago

   You know Misha, you made the same comment when I posed a similar question earlier this week. Spam means different things to different people. I had no idea that submitting my own hubs to stumbleupon was considered spam, particularly since some sites like Digg will allow us to submit our own sites. People come to these forums asking a question from experienced hubbers, and simply telling people not to spam stumbleupon is not helpful.

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4. 79

   SweetiePieposted 16 years ago

   Stumbleupon it just does not like too many links to one domain, just like here.  Honestly I prefer using mixx more now anyway .

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5. 58

   Mark Knowlesposted 16 years ago

   Crash - you could just try reading the SU FAQ:
   
   http://www.stumbleupon.com/help/#posting_limit
   
   Before you submit all your hubs?
   
   I meant what I said about this earlier. I have seen this question over and over - if we are not careful, the site will get banned - as we have been from other sites including wikipedia and reddit.
   
   You must take some responsibility for your actions. Or at least search the forums before asking this question. No?
   
   http://hubpages.com/forum/search/stumbleupon

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   1. 68

      crashcromwellposted 16 years agoin reply to this

      First of all Mark, I didn't start this thread. I learned what I needed to learn with my own thread, and as far as I was concerned, I was done with the subject. And it sounds like the hubber who did start this thread made an attempt to search the forums for a similar thread without success. Second, the issue to which I was responding was Misha's comment about spamming stumbleupon. I did take responsibility for my inexperience, and I actually found your comments the other day rather educational. I merely felt that in online communities, being accused of being a spammer is something akin to being called a mudblood in J.K. Rowling's world. I felt that if Misha or anyone wants to accuse me or anyone else of being a spammer, it would be appropriate for him to define the term as it applies to stumbleupon.
      
      And so no, Mark, as I said before, I have not attempted to submit any other pages to stumbleupon since I learned the "rules" of submitting to them.
      
      The mere fact that I and two other hubbers have raised this question in recent days would suggest that there is general confusion about netiquette in terms of stumbleupon. When I first started having problems submitting pages there, I thought the issue was that they had so much traffic there that their server was bogging down.
      
      I should also note that in the aftermath of my educational experience earlier, I did go to the frequently asked questions at Mixx, since I was unclear about whether it was appropriate to self-nominate at their site. I didn't find the answer there. I finally found an answer in their terms of use, and even that was somewhat nebulous. At Mixx, they say that it's OK to submit your own site on occasion, but not too often. How's that for clear? Pretty murky to me.
      
      So the long and the short of it is that now I think that hubpages isn't doing anyone any favors by putting the share it link on our hubs, because it gives the false impression that it's OK to submit our hubs to these other sites.

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      1. 86

         Marisa Wrightposted 16 years agoin reply to this

         
         The Share icon is on your Hubs - as it is on blogs, websites and other article sites - so that readers can bookmark things they like.  Not so that the author can bookmark their own.  It's not HubPages's fault that people misinterpret what it's for.   
         
         Do some Googling on how to promote your work, and you'll find oceans of blogs and websites telling you to submit to Digg, Stumbleupon, etc. etc, without ever warning you that it's "illegal" under their terms of service.  And I agree, on Stumble especially, it's hard to find the terms in the first place.  Then, of course, you get on a forum and find other members talking about doing it, and you assume it's all OK. 
         
         Unfortunately, those who come and ask questions about it on forums are not the people we have to worry about - it's all the others who don't bother to ask questions, and just go on gleefully submitting their stuff in vast quantities, and spoiling it for everyone else.

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6. 64

   Mishaposted 16 years ago

   Mark was faster than me
   
   We are all adults here, and supposed to think before we do. And read - if we don't know something.
   
   This is not to say I am better than you - just more experienced I got quite a few accounts banned from quite a few sites for spam until I finally got the lesson

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7. 77

   Shadesbreathposted 16 years ago

   I did search the forums, I even typed in "stumbleupon" in the search window - got a whole crapload of sites explaining how to use stumbleupon to promote your hubs. 
   
   The upside of a large community like this, however, is that if responding to a simple question is too onerous for some, there are others for whom eight seconds is not too valuable a period of time to spend helping someone out. 
   
   I do appreciate the links though.  I am not writing on HP for the sake of selling stuff.  Apparently when I started and was reading all the cross-promoting stuff and the instructions for how to use Stumbleupon, Digg and Mixx and all those  to increase your readership, I just assumed that was what one should do.  I thought that was "the way" of writing on the Internet.  I rather half-heartedly "promoted" mine by using the easy links provided to those places at the bottom of my hubs.  I shant bother anymore.  Spam was never my intent.

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   1. 68

      crashcromwellposted 16 years agoin reply to this

      I'm with you Shadesbreath.

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8. 64

   Stacie Naczelnikposted 16 years ago

   I'm entering this with trepidations because I don't want to be part of an argument.
   
   However, if you search for the forums for stumble upon (with the space), you will find more discussion about it too...in case anyone wants to read what others have had to say about their experiences.

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   1. 67

      funrideposted 16 years agoin reply to this

      http://hubpages.com/forum/search/stumble+upon 
      
      ps: it´s nice being here looking at you Stacie

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9. 64

   Mishaposted 16 years ago

   Crash,
   
   There is a difference between saying "you are a spammer" and "you spammed ... site". Every psychologist will explain this to you, if you don't feel it. Being somewhat experienced in online interactions, I consciously avoid former.
   
   It does not matter if you knew it or not - you and TS did break the Stumbleupon rules about being overly promotional - if you prefer that euphemism instead of saying you spammed the site
   
   Every site has its own rules about spamming, and it is not my responsibility to reprint the TOS for you. Considering you did not bother to read it yourself, why should I bother to go and find it and copy and paste it here? I just pointed you in the right direction, and then you are to do your homework, I am not going to babysit you.
   
   You can take an offense on it if you like, but this is an honest attempt to help, proportional to the effort of an asker. I consciously don't spend much time on ill-researched questions from grown-ups. If you didn't research it - it is not a priority to you, why should it be a priority to me?

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10. 64

    Mishaposted 16 years ago

    Shadesbreath,
    
    From what you said, I got a feeling you don't know how to search forums. It is a separate search box, it is located on the forums main screen http://hubpages.com/forum/ , and ONLY there. It took myself a couple of months to find it

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    1. 77

       Shadesbreathposted 16 years agoin reply to this

       Aha!  That would have been good to know earlier.  Thanks.

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11. 68

    crashcromwellposted 16 years ago

    You're splitting hairs Misha.

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12. 64

    Mishaposted 16 years ago

    Crash,
    
    I am not going to argue over this. You feel offended, I feel sorry about that, but there is not much I can do here. I did my best to explain my point, and your reasoning did not change it. I am just letting it go, see you on other threads and hubs

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13. 77

    Shadesbreathposted 16 years ago

    Yeah, Marisa, I've noticed there's a large number of people who only seem to do this for the numbers they can generate.  For me, this is a place for readers and writers.  I don't see this as a viable way to make money.  At least not enough for it to count.  It seems clear that the reason people get the wrong impression about what is proper procedure is that, at least for the casual practitioner, it's not always clear what's what.  I know that I for damn sure am not going to read the TOS of forty different websites to see if it's ok to link some humor article or another so I can add another .0007 cents per day to my adsense wallet and get an extra 20 readers.

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14. 68

    crashcromwellposted 16 years ago

    In my case, I never thought it was a problem, so I didn't investigate the question before I started submitting hubs to these sites. I thought this was just the way things were done, and when I began running into problems submitting pages to stumbleupon, I was curious to know why. That's when I asked my question.
    
    I'm not only in this to make money. If I were, I would be an abysmal failure! As of last night, I have earned a wopping $1.44 from adsense, and nothing from Kontera and the others. Would it be nice if I did? Sure. For me, I'm writing here to establish an audience, so any means I can do to increase traffic, spur on some discussions and debates, and watch my hits increase is cool. Yes, my wife tells me I spend too much time on hubpages, so it would be nice to be able to show her a check that she has no idea is possible, just so she'll get off my back!

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15. 77

    Shadesbreathposted 16 years ago

    Heh, eventually you'll get that check man, then you can show her!!!  I just checked and I've earned $10 and some change.  I guess that's pretty good from what I've heard others say.  I figure at this rate, I can make upwards of $60 a year.  My future is looking so secure right now.

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    1. 86

       Marisa Wrightposted 16 years agoin reply to this

       I'd say you'll do much better than $60 a year.   I had about $2 at the two-month mark, but  I crossed the $100 threshold in June (finally got a cheque for $120 last Monday - they take their time sending you the cash!), and I already have another $42 in the kitty.  The rate of earnings just seems to keep accelerating the longer you're here.

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       1. 77

          Shadesbreathposted 16 years agoin reply to this

          I think the difference in the end though, the one that's gonna hurt me, is that I don't really write anything that's going to be searched.  I just get some inane idea, puke it up, people giggle for a while, but I reckon all of those hubs will die.  I wrote a hub about bachelors degrees, and another about arc flash... those are the ones that are getting TONS of search engine traffic (by "tons" I mean, small numbers but every day).  I'm pretty sure that's how to sustain income, not hubs about bees getting their asses pulled out, poop companies, or women who don't shave their pits LOL.

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