I've been on a hub flagging spree...

Jump to Last Post 1-25 of 25 discussions (52 posts)
  1. Edweirdo profile image74
    Edweirdoposted 14 years ago

    I occasionally hub-hop, but most of the time I come away from it feeling like I haven't really accomplished much as far as "improving HubPages" goes.

    So tonight, just for laughs, I decided to type "mesothelioma" into the search box at the top of HubPages' homepage. I then sorted them by date, skipped ahead to page 20, and started reading hubs that were published 6 months ago...

    "mesothelioma" is one of those used-to-death, supposedly $20 keywords, and many of the resulting hubs I found were true cr@p! I went through about 10 pages of search results and flagged about 80% of the hubs I read as Spam or Low Quality. About a third of the hubs I flagged were duplicates and/or poorly spun gibberish, and the rest were 100 words of nonsense with 2 affiliate links and no useful content.

    Many of these hubs were by users with other low quality hubs, which also got flagged.

    After an hour or so of doing this, I felt like I WAS making HubPages a better place!

    So along with hub-hopping - which to me seems to mostly consist of reviewing recently published hubs - I think I will continue to search out spammy keywords like that one and try and prune out some of the truly low quality, garbage hubs that are bringing the whole site down and making us look like a content farm.

    Anyone else doing this? It seems like it could be a very effective addition to hopping.

    And I can already hear the cries of "Here come the thought police". But take a look around HubPages and you'll find a lot of spam related to these types of keywords - but, thanks to the great community of authors here, you'll also find a lot of well-written, informative and helpful hubs that feature those keywords!

    Let's clean this place up so that those who write good content have a chance to see their work thrive rather than drown in a sea of spam smile

    1. relache profile image66
      relacheposted 14 years agoin reply to this

      I've been doing this sort of thing ever since I joined the site.  There are a few "pet peeves" I have when it comes to spam and low-quality, and at least once a week, I ferret them out and flag stuff that needs to go.

      Last week, I took one topical category where I write a lot and which happens to be not too large, and went through a few hundred Hubs really fast.  Hubs that were just a paragraph, or which were mis-categorized were super easy to spot and flag. 

      It's like weeding your garden or cleaning the house.  If you put it off then the problem becomes huge, but if you just spend a few minutes here and a few minutes there, it really tackles it without being a burden.

      1. Edweirdo profile image74
        Edweirdoposted 14 years agoin reply to this

        Relache,

        Do you have any keyword suggestions that others can use for this sort of flagging?

        I love your garden analogy! Since you've been doing this for a while, I'd imagine you could suggest some good keywords for us to check big_smile

        1. relache profile image66
          relacheposted 14 years agoin reply to this

          Pick something you hate.  Better yet, pick something you REALLY hate.

          Maybe it's man boobs.  Maybe it's getting your ex back.  Maybe it's bogus pages for solar and wind power which are really just trying to sell an e-book but aren't actually telling you anything.  Maybe it's turning water into gas.  Maybe it's body part enlargements or acai berries or weight loose. (yes that was spelled that way to make a point!)

          We all know what spam and low-quality looks like.  It's all over the web, those cheesey-rip-off topics that turn up everywhere you look.

          If you aren't sure if something might be flag-worthy, click the flag button AND READ THE VARIOUS REASONS.  Your report doesn't go to admin with just one click, you still have to indicate why you think admin should take a look.  They have a lot of stuff they'd like us to point out to them.

          1. Edweirdo profile image74
            Edweirdoposted 14 years agoin reply to this

            That's a great point - I tried to make sure that I was flagging appropriately. If it was 2 paragraphs and 2 affiliate links, I flagged it as Spam; if it was just short and keyword stuffed, it was Low Quality; if I thought it was spun nonsense I noted that in the additional info.

            We need to keep in mind that our flagging will be reviewed by a hard-working HubPages staff member, so we should at least make an effort to make their job less difficult!

            And for that same reason, we should not be tempted to flag hubs just because we don't like them - if there isn't an actual violation, then all we're doing is wasting a staff member's time when they have to review the flagged hub...

            1. Michael Willis profile image69
              Michael Willisposted 14 years agoin reply to this

              When I find a duplicate I will add the link to the other copy in the brief explanation box. Also any other information that may help the staff with the hub flagged.

          2. rebekahELLE profile image88
            rebekahELLEposted 14 years agoin reply to this

            a good post, relache.

            what about the 'cure this by doing this' articles written by hubbers with no authority/medical background to write this type of article?  [about serious medical conditions]

      2. Ms Dee profile image82
        Ms Deeposted 14 years agoin reply to this

        Relache, this is a good suggestion I'll go try!

    2. lrohner profile image70
      lrohnerposted 14 years agoin reply to this

      Kudos, Edweirdo!

      Yes, others have been on the case as well. Only we're not called the "thought police." We've all been accused -- by many hubbers -- of being on a "witch hunt." Sigh...

      If those same folks only took a few minutes to really, really look around, they would know that we're not out looking for middle-of-the-road hubs, we're ferreting out the hubs like the guy who had one published for six months that contained nothing but "asdf asdf asdf asdf..." smile

    3. Pandoras Box profile image61
      Pandoras Boxposted 14 years agoin reply to this

      Edweirdo, another winner. Which reminds me that I've gotta get your Chrome plugin for the forums filter. I went to do it once, but couldn't find a link for the chrome edition.

      Anyways. You've got a great idea there, I think your approach would be much more effective and direct than hub-hopping, which does make me feel dirty. Such an ethical toss-up occurs for me when hub-hopping.

      I suggest a list of prime suspect keywords that we might all claim a watch-word or phrase. If someone else didn't already do that.

      I guess now would be a good time to read the rest of the thread.

    4. Ms Dee profile image82
      Ms Deeposted 14 years agoin reply to this

      This is great Edweirdo! Thanks! I'd like to join you, so how do I figure out what are spammy words, so I can search for them? I showing my ignorance.

      1. Edweirdo profile image74
        Edweirdoposted 14 years agoin reply to this

        Read this thread from the start - there are plenty of ideas...

        1. Ms Dee profile image82
          Ms Deeposted 14 years agoin reply to this

          Oh, yes! Duh! Thanks Edweirdo smile

    5. stuff4you profile image59
      stuff4youposted 14 years agoin reply to this

      Yahoo answers is a site which attracts a lot of spammy answers when people ask "How do I make money online".

      Fixing the spam problem on that site would probably be much easier than on this site, yet the spam bots continue to persist on Y!A and lately they've been getting worse.

      I appreciate how pretty hub pages is comparing to rather tacky sites like my space and to a lesser extent, yahoo answers.

      its too bad Hub Pages pretty interface gets tainted by spam and other garbage.

  2. Rafini profile image83
    Rafiniposted 14 years ago

    Great idea!  I'm not a keyword expert, otherwise I'd join you, but I feel the same when I hub hop (unless I have a lucky day!)

    1. Edweirdo profile image74
      Edweirdoposted 14 years agoin reply to this

      In addition to "mesothelioma" here are some other potentially spammy keywords:

      1. Penis Enlargement
      2. Get Your Ex Back
      3. Acai Berry
      4. Reverse Cell Phone Lookup
      5. Credit Card Debt Relief
      6. Male Enhancement Pill
      7. TV for PC

      From h ttp://www.potpiegirl.com/2011/03/my-theory-on-the-google-algo-change/#ixzz1Gp2GgiYW

      1. Mutiny92 profile image66
        Mutiny92posted 14 years agoin reply to this

        FOREX is another doozy

        Insurance is another high paying word that is abused in hubs.

  3. Mikeydoes profile image41
    Mikeydoesposted 14 years ago

    May I also insist that it will be way more worth it if you do it to YOUR keywords. !light bulb

    knock out any keywords you can, haha

    1. lrohner profile image70
      lrohnerposted 14 years agoin reply to this

      None of the hubbers are capable of "knocking out any keywords." That's all up to the HP team.

      1. Edweirdo profile image74
        Edweirdoposted 14 years agoin reply to this

        I assumed (and hope!) that he meant we should try and get rid of the spam that is currently competing with our keywords, and not just try and eliminate the competition wink

        When I flagged for mesothelioma, I actually came across more than a couple of well-written and useful hubs - it's a shame that they have to compete for traffic with a lot of spammy cr@p! Those good hubs are the ones that could (and should!) actually have a chance at a decent CPC for that keyword...

        1. lrohner profile image70
          lrohnerposted 14 years agoin reply to this

          Maybe I've just been listening to way too many witch-hunt conspiracy theorists. smile

      2. Mikeydoes profile image41
        Mikeydoesposted 14 years agoin reply to this

        I simply meant check your keywords, there are certainly ones that need to be flagged. I found 3-4 above me on one of my keywords.

  4. wilderness profile image75
    wildernessposted 14 years ago

    I like it, edweirdo - a good idea smile

  5. sofs profile image71
    sofsposted 14 years ago

    The joys of Hub hopping.. I used to do it a couple of times a week now I hubhop everyday... I guess we need to do our bit too smile
    Happy flagging!! I found a few Indian aunties this morning!!

    1. Edweirdo profile image74
      Edweirdoposted 14 years agoin reply to this

      The cool thing about keyword-specific flagging vs hopping is that you aren't at the mercy of whatever happens to be in the hopper - you can seek out the truly lousy stuff that's out there...

      1. sofs profile image71
        sofsposted 14 years agoin reply to this

        I  will try some today...:thanks Edweirdo smile

  6. wilderness profile image75
    wildernessposted 14 years ago

    Hah!  You were right, edweirdo.  I searched for acai berry, chose one at random and found that the author had 4 hubs, all duplicates.  Flagged all four plus the profile.

  7. earnestshub profile image72
    earnestshubposted 14 years ago

    Nice idea, never thought of that, thanks Edweirdo. smile

  8. Mutiny92 profile image66
    Mutiny92posted 14 years ago

    I did something similar with gambling

    http://hubpages.com/forum/topic/70504

    Some of these might hopefully be addressed via a script.

  9. Rafini profile image83
    Rafiniposted 14 years ago

    Something else I do occasionally - when I click on forum topics that are obviously spam I check the profile (to double check) and then flag the profile also if it meets the definition of spam.

  10. rebekahELLE profile image88
    rebekahELLEposted 14 years ago

    yes! with all of the flagging talk in the forums, I'm sure it gets a little crazy. I think Paul or Maddie made mention of that in one of these threads.

  11. andromida profile image57
    andromidaposted 14 years ago

    Great work.Thank you so much.

  12. profile image0
    Home Girlposted 14 years ago

    Are we still a writing site?
    Or just flogging and whipping each other and ourselves site?
    Just wondering...

    http://s3.hubimg.com/u/4784582_f248.jpg

    1. Misha profile image67
      Mishaposted 14 years agoin reply to this

      Алла, они не врубаются. Их стучать ещё в школе учат, и родители это поддерживают. Видимо им самим надо через лубянку и гестапо пройти, чтобы понять. sad

  13. profile image0
    Home Girlposted 14 years ago

    I know, Misha, I know... Not everybody can handle a free world... Almost 20 years here, still wondering...
    http://s1.hubimg.com/u/4784656_f248.jpg

    1. Misha profile image67
      Mishaposted 14 years agoin reply to this

      LOL Me too big_smile

  14. Pandoras Box profile image61
    Pandoras Boxposted 14 years ago

    Alright I'll take Penis Enlargement. wink

    And thanks to the others for tips on watching your own keywords. I never thought of that either.

  15. jaymelee23 profile image66
    jaymelee23posted 14 years ago

    http://www.snoitulosten.com/2009-list-of-spam-keywords/
    2009 List of Spam Keywords

    http://www.wilsonweb.com/wmt8/spamfilter_phrases.htm
    Words and Phrases that Trigger Some Spam Filters

    Copy and paste these into the Hubpages search to find all of the gems; there are plenty of them.

    Reverse aging
    Removes wrinkles
    Free offer
    Free money
    No investment <------- good one on Hubpages
    Unsecured credit
    Eliminate bad credit
    erase bad credit
    Work at home
    Direct marketing
    Consolidate debt
    Lower interest rates
    Free grant money
    Viagra
    Cialis
    Levitra
    cure
    weight loss
    lose weight
    All natural
    Call free
    Free offer

  16. Patty Inglish, MS profile image82
    Patty Inglish, MSposted 14 years ago

    This is a very useful thread, 1,000 times!

    Last night I flagged at least 50 Hubs and a dozen fake/spammy "Questions". I've been remiss on doing this regularly, but am joining you others starting last night.

    How about young people (some probably in middle school, too young to be here) asking for homework answers? Some of these Q's can make a useful Hub not already written somehere on HP, but a lot of these are ... well, I HATE these Q's. Short answers, easily looked up.

    Anyway, thank you for this thread.

    Patty

  17. Laura du Toit profile image68
    Laura du Toitposted 14 years ago

    I have been hub-hopping on a daily basis and have flagged many poor quality hubs but never thought of searching for particular spammy keywords. Great idea. Now more than ever we need to stand together and weed out the cr@p that is giving HP a bad image.

    As Patty says - this is a very useful thread, 1000 times! smile

  18. paradigmsearch profile image59
    paradigmsearchposted 14 years ago

    Well, I just did a Viagra search. We appear to still have over 800 hubs in that category…

    Edit: Make that 793.

  19. NateSean profile image82
    NateSeanposted 14 years ago

    I've been targeting fanfiction, primarily. Mostly because fan fiction is questionable at best, especially when the thoughts of the original copyright holder aren't really known.

    But as there are documented incidents of authors suing people who post fanfiction of their work, I think it's only a matter of time before someone irks the wrong writer and Hubpages comes under fire.

    1. Patty Inglish, MS profile image82
      Patty Inglish, MSposted 14 years agoin reply to this

      I had not thought of that. Thanks for the info!

      1. NateSean profile image82
        NateSeanposted 14 years agoin reply to this

        Mind you, reviews of someone else's work isn't the same as fanfiction. So if you write a review of Twilight, I don't have an issue with that. If you write a story that involves Bella as a vampire biting whoever, then I have an issue. (And yes, if the characters are named Bella and Edward, who are also vampires, but you try to claim that it is an original story, I will flag it.)

  20. tritrain profile image74
    tritrainposted 14 years ago

    Edwierdo,

    Finding inspiration from your wonderful forum plugin, what if we had a plugin to help us seek out commonly abused topics/keywords?

    Maybe a list of topics/keywords and prebuilt searches?

    Maybe some stats to help inspire us and show if we are making a dent?

    **HubPages could/should have an accolade for Hub Hopping, don't you think?

    1. Edweirdo profile image74
      Edweirdoposted 14 years agoin reply to this

      That would be far too complex for me to do externally - it's something that HubPages would have to do themselves, since they have much better access to the data on their servers than anyone outside the company would...

      Perhaps you could make a suggestion in the "Suggest a feature" forum topic!

      1. tritrain profile image74
        tritrainposted 14 years agoin reply to this

        Will do!

        Thanks for the suggestion.  smile

        {edit}  I created a Suggestion for a HubHopping tool - http://hubpages.com/forum/topic/70883

  21. paradigmsearch profile image59
    paradigmsearchposted 14 years ago

    We have 3 hubbers named nookie and apparently 60 nookie hubs.

  22. pedrog profile image60
    pedrogposted 14 years ago

    Hello fellow Hubbers.

    Thank you Edwierdo for the Firefox Add-on, now i enjoy coming to the forum without all the religious and politics topics.

    About the topic, this weekend i "flagged" a complete topic, "electronic cigarettes", i'm currently developing a blog and shopping cart to sell this product in my country and i was wondering if i could monetize with Adsense also, i discovered that this topic is does not comply with Adsense Content Guidelines, did a search on Hubpages about this particular topics and there are tons of Hubs about this particular subject, i send a message to the staff warning about this, was informed that they are taking measures to purge the site about this.

  23. paradigmsearch profile image59
    paradigmsearchposted 14 years ago

    Well, well… We only have 455 hubs on blackjack….

  24. DaNoblest profile image60
    DaNoblestposted 14 years ago

    Great idea Edweirdo! This thread inspired me to make a comment which grew into a new hub. =]

  25. IzzyM profile image74
    IzzyMposted 14 years ago

    This thread inspired me to go have a look at what has been written already in my latest niche (have 8 hubs in the planning so far - well they are written but still in Word) and I was shocked at what I found. Several people, all 20 months ago which makes me suspect it is the same person, have written one hub each using my new keywords but full of nonsensical content that has nothing to do with the topic and is totally inaccurate, as well as having really poor English. Flagged the lot of them, and this time I hope team remove them because I don't want them showing up in my 'related hubs' section.

 
working

This website uses cookies

As a user in the EEA, your approval is needed on a few things. To provide a better website experience, hubpages.com uses cookies (and other similar technologies) and may collect, process, and share personal data. Please choose which areas of our service you consent to our doing so.

For more information on managing or withdrawing consents and how we handle data, visit our Privacy Policy at: https://corp.maven.io/privacy-policy

Show Details
Necessary
HubPages Device IDThis is used to identify particular browsers or devices when the access the service, and is used for security reasons.
LoginThis is necessary to sign in to the HubPages Service.
Google RecaptchaThis is used to prevent bots and spam. (Privacy Policy)
AkismetThis is used to detect comment spam. (Privacy Policy)
HubPages Google AnalyticsThis is used to provide data on traffic to our website, all personally identifyable data is anonymized. (Privacy Policy)
HubPages Traffic PixelThis is used to collect data on traffic to articles and other pages on our site. Unless you are signed in to a HubPages account, all personally identifiable information is anonymized.
Amazon Web ServicesThis is a cloud services platform that we used to host our service. (Privacy Policy)
CloudflareThis is a cloud CDN service that we use to efficiently deliver files required for our service to operate such as javascript, cascading style sheets, images, and videos. (Privacy Policy)
Google Hosted LibrariesJavascript software libraries such as jQuery are loaded at endpoints on the googleapis.com or gstatic.com domains, for performance and efficiency reasons. (Privacy Policy)
Features
Google Custom SearchThis is feature allows you to search the site. (Privacy Policy)
Google MapsSome articles have Google Maps embedded in them. (Privacy Policy)
Google ChartsThis is used to display charts and graphs on articles and the author center. (Privacy Policy)
Google AdSense Host APIThis service allows you to sign up for or associate a Google AdSense account with HubPages, so that you can earn money from ads on your articles. No data is shared unless you engage with this feature. (Privacy Policy)
Google YouTubeSome articles have YouTube videos embedded in them. (Privacy Policy)
VimeoSome articles have Vimeo videos embedded in them. (Privacy Policy)
PaypalThis is used for a registered author who enrolls in the HubPages Earnings program and requests to be paid via PayPal. No data is shared with Paypal unless you engage with this feature. (Privacy Policy)
Facebook LoginYou can use this to streamline signing up for, or signing in to your Hubpages account. No data is shared with Facebook unless you engage with this feature. (Privacy Policy)
MavenThis supports the Maven widget and search functionality. (Privacy Policy)
Marketing
Google AdSenseThis is an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
Google DoubleClickGoogle provides ad serving technology and runs an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
Index ExchangeThis is an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
SovrnThis is an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
Facebook AdsThis is an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
Amazon Unified Ad MarketplaceThis is an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
AppNexusThis is an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
OpenxThis is an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
Rubicon ProjectThis is an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
TripleLiftThis is an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
Say MediaWe partner with Say Media to deliver ad campaigns on our sites. (Privacy Policy)
Remarketing PixelsWe may use remarketing pixels from advertising networks such as Google AdWords, Bing Ads, and Facebook in order to advertise the HubPages Service to people that have visited our sites.
Conversion Tracking PixelsWe may use conversion tracking pixels from advertising networks such as Google AdWords, Bing Ads, and Facebook in order to identify when an advertisement has successfully resulted in the desired action, such as signing up for the HubPages Service or publishing an article on the HubPages Service.
Statistics
Author Google AnalyticsThis is used to provide traffic data and reports to the authors of articles on the HubPages Service. (Privacy Policy)
ComscoreComScore is a media measurement and analytics company providing marketing data and analytics to enterprises, media and advertising agencies, and publishers. Non-consent will result in ComScore only processing obfuscated personal data. (Privacy Policy)
Amazon Tracking PixelSome articles display amazon products as part of the Amazon Affiliate program, this pixel provides traffic statistics for those products (Privacy Policy)
ClickscoThis is a data management platform studying reader behavior (Privacy Policy)