A few items about Google Panda and Violations

1. STAFF

   Paul Edmondsonposted 13 years ago

   We are always reading the forums, taking feedback and working behind the scenes.  Sometimes Google prefers that we keep some information private if they plan on making a formal announcement.  We are expecting an announcement from Google this week, but it may slip till next.  We believe we've positioned HubPages with the necessary changes for the announcement.  From there we will analyze the results.  We also have a backup plan that we will begin testing at a larger scale (positive small scale tests have been done) if we feel that we are still feeling the effects of "some content impacting the entire domain." 
   
   About the violations.  We are happy to provide support, but it certainly helps if you check the learning center if you have questions - http://hubpages.com/learningcenter/contents Under the HubPages Help Heading you can see entries titled Moderation Help: Violation for most of the violations.  We are continuing to work on them and make them better. If there are specific warnings that you find confusing, let us know here and we will see if we can make them more clear.
   
   Update
   http://googlewebmastercentral.blogspot. … earch.html
   
   This is the announcement I was referring to. HubPages has rel="author" for every Hub.
   
   Here are the details.  http://www.google.com/support/webmaster … er=1229920
   
   We still need to see how it's reflected in the search results.

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      Mutiny92posted 13 years agoin reply to this

      Thanks for the heads-up Paul!  I will keep my fingers crossed for good news!

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      waynetposted 13 years agoin reply to this

      Always welcome news to hear from the boss. Lets wait and see as I've got loads of hubs to publish out of unpublished obscurity real soon if all goes well!
      
      Cheers for the update!

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      Mark Knowlesposted 13 years agoin reply to this

      Awesome.

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         Aficionadaposted 13 years agoin reply to this

         Also awesome to see that Mark Knowles is not lost to HubPages forever.  Good to see you, Mark!

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            Mark Knowlesposted 13 years agoin reply to this

            Sarcasm!
            
            80% loss of income? HP ads will fix this? Sure. Sarcasm. Majik.

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               Aficionadaposted 13 years agoin reply to this

               Ouuuccchhhhh....
               
               Oh, maybe you didn't mean that I was being sarcastic.
               
               Okay.  Well, then.
               
               I assume that the jury is still out on a lot of things.  Seems like the forums are saying we have a hung jury at this point.
               
               I'm with soni2006 - a lot of us are pulling for HP to do the right things, as I'm think you also are, Mark.
               
               I look at financial losses here in the same way as losses in the stock market.  With some stocks, the best thing to do is just sell them and cut your losses.  With others, it's best to wait patiently or impatiently to see if/when they will ever rebound.  In the meantime, though, the losses are real.

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                  Mark Knowlesposted 13 years agoin reply to this

                  No. I was being sarcastic. After 3 months - this is what Paul says?
                  
                  Sure - I will jump all over it to edit my pages. Again.
                  
                  Lets see what Paul sez. I am not into The Giants, so I hope it will not be another Giants thing.
                  
                  Majik that google wants to keep secret?

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                     Aficionadaposted 13 years agoin reply to this

                     
                     
                     Yeh... but back to the stock thing - some that are important to me are still worth only about 50% of what they were a couple of years ago.  They're recovering, but it is obviously slower than anyone would like.

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                        Mark Knowlesposted 13 years agoin reply to this

                        Yeah. Almost like it was not worth the effort I guess. Still - not like You rely on the income is it?
                        
                        Perhaps you are married to a church parasite and you do not need the money?
                        
                        Just a guess. Nothing personal. Lets see wot Paul sez?

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                           jacharlessposted 13 years agoin reply to this

                           Holy Christ Church, you're still alive!
                           
                           `ello Marcus, glad to see you and Google are still with the common folk.
                           
                           ..guess..

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                              Mark Knowlesposted 13 years agoin reply to this

                              Well - seeing as Mr Edmondson came down to speak to us common-folk, I thought I should respond.
                              
                              But - it seems - James- that he was just telling us plebs wot is wot.
                              
                              I could be wrong of course,

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                                 jacharlessposted 13 years agoin reply to this

                                 Eh Bud!
                                 no doubt, no doubt.
                                 imo, the whole Google thing is just out of control.
                                 I hope HP is not putting all their eggs into the Googlism basket, t`wood be a shame. ( ..because: have had way more, if not better  results from Facebook search/visitors (thank you Bing) than from Google.
                                 
                                 James.

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                           Aficionadaposted 13 years agoin reply to this

                           
                           Wow.... ouchity, ouchity, ouch.  No, not the income from HP.  Not yet, and probably not for a long time. The income from stocks, yes.  That's why I brought them up.  I actually do see a comparison.
                           
                           
                           
                           Ah, there's the Mark Knowles that everyone knows and loves.  No matter what the conversation, let's find a way to introduce some contempt for religion.  Sorry, I won't bite here.  If you want to argue religion and parasitism with me, that can be done elsewhere.
                           
                           Did I say "good to see you"?     What was I thinking???    ({[{(facepalm)}]}) 
                                          

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      Mark Knowlesposted 13 years agoin reply to this

      How about a list of banned affiliate links? And maybe some rationale for 3 months of changes that have made utterly ZERO difference?
      
      
      
      That would be awesome as well.
      
      Thanks.

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         CASE1WORKERposted 13 years agoin reply to this

         just a thought. it might be that  the changes demsonstrated a willingness to change which enabled HP to start a dialogue with Mr Google- I think this will be the make or break change- where "trustworthy" authors are marked up so that "spam" is left floating around. If so, i expect the site to bounce back quite quickly, so maybe we could be looking at a different picture next month. It would be lovely if we were as so many people either depend on their income to pay bills or are hoping that in the future it will pay the bills-

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         Bendo13posted 13 years agoin reply to this

         Yeah my traffic stats look that too... funny I write more and more and I STILL haven't been able to keep my traffic from falling.
         
         I keep hoping something will bring the traffic back, but I don't know.
         As of write now I post twice a day and that's running me down.

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            Marisa Wrightposted 13 years agoin reply to this

            Then it sounds like lack of content isn't your problem, doesn't it?
            
            Have you checked your site speed with Firebug? Have you made sure you don't have any "low quality" (i.e. short) posts?  Have you looked at your Google Webmaster tools? 
            
            My sites aren't hugely successful so I'm no expert.  But I did have one website which got completely sandboxed after Panda, and I couldn't work out why.  It's not intended to be a blog so it's never had new content added regularly, and I didn't want to start having to do that.  I want my sites to be passive income, thank you!
            
            I read that Google doesn't like multiple posts with similar titles, so where I had a series of articles (how to tie pointe shoes #1, #2 etc), I consolidated them into one larger article.  I had one or two posts which were just a video - I added text.   I did some work on speeding up my site, as speed is very important these days. 
            
            I'm still not getting much Google traffic but at least I'm back to pagerank 0 (it had become N/A).

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               Bendo13posted 13 years agoin reply to this

               They load pretty quick, they're all 500+ words some are 1000+ words and are all on pretty good topics.
               
               It's surprising how some of my newest internet marketing hubs outrank 4 year old posts on here, but yet they're getting no real traffic from google yet.  One has like 40 "tweets" and I wrote it within the past few weeks.
               
               The content isn't the problem.. it's the algorithm.  I use to write like this last year on similar topics and would be pulling in Google traffic from day one.  I'm just going to chug on through, write a lot and hope that eventually HubPages will come back out on top and I'll be sitting pretty with like 600 hubs.

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                  Marisa Wrightposted 13 years agoin reply to this

                  Oops, sorry Bendo - for some reason I thought you were talking about your blog(s), not Hubs. 
                  
                  By the way, you have a link to your website on your profile, but it's broken.

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                     Bendo13posted 13 years agoin reply to this

                     Thanks for the heads up... been having issues with my host for a week or so with WordPress... off to go complain again.

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         whoisbidposted 13 years agoin reply to this

         Wow, that graph looks familiar. I have friends suffering a similar thing and they have no idea what is wrong with their sites.

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      mistyhorizon2003posted 13 years agoin reply to this

      Hi Paul,
      
      So can we assume from your post that you have been in 'direct', one to one contact with Google (not through any forums etc), and have reason to believe the update may improve things for most quality writers who are still here?
      
      If so this has potential, but I am sure may of us who have seen postings online (away from Hubpages) between Google and Hubpage Staff on forums, might well wonder why on earth Hubpages were restricted to forum interactions, and not considered important enough to be allowed personal meetings with Google staff!
      
      Hope this is a sign you are in direct, face to face, one to one, meetings with Google staff. Awaiting your confirmation, which I am sure will be forthcoming.

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      Hauntyposted 13 years agoin reply to this

      Ok. So it's good to know that HubPages has this markup for hubs, but it's not the rel="author" itself that will improve search results. I'm afraid this change will not get anything back to HubPages.

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      sunforgedposted 13 years agoin reply to this

      Damn, thats kind of annoying
      
      
      http://blog.hubpages.com/2011/05/addressing-panda/
      
      
      CHeck out the second comment..
      
      
      
      
      Couldnt come back and respond to any of the posts - not even drop a link?

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      deblippposted 13 years agoin reply to this

      I *sincerely* hope this improves search for Hubs.

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      ngurecoposted 13 years agoin reply to this

      Not much seems to have happened – still waiting patiently.

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   Aficionadaposted 13 years ago

   Thanks for this, Paul.   I look forward to reading more of what this is all about, when the Google announcement breaks.
   
   IMO this thread should be in the sticky section.

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   wildernessposted 13 years ago

   Thanks, Paul.  It is always encouraging to hear something like this.

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   Mark Ewbieposted 13 years ago

   "We are expecting an announcement from Google this week, but it may slip till next.  We believe we've positioned HubPages with the necessary changes for the announcement."
   
   I hope I'm not getting hopes too high but this sounds very exciting.  Er.  I never thought I would get excited about algortihms, big business and that sort of stuff but...

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5. STAFF

   Paul Edmondsonposted 13 years ago

   As announcements get made, sometimes the search results reflect the changes right away, other times it takes a bit.  For the HubPages community, I just wanted to give people a heads up that we are very engaged on Panda and that we are continuing to work on it through many channels.
   
   My expectation is that there will be a settling in period post announcement and that we'll need to do additional analysis to understand the impact. 
   
   Ideally we will see a shift in rankings where high quality authors see a benefit.

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      Mark Ewbieposted 13 years agoin reply to this

      "Ideally we will see a shift in rankings where high quality authors see a benefit."
      
      Oh well.  Maybe next time.

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         Aficionadaposted 13 years agoin reply to this

         Hey, is there some way Mark Ewbie and I can become high-quality authors in the next fifteen minutes?
         
         Seriously, are there any steps some of us could be taking to boost our chances - I mean, anything that we haven't already been informed about?

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         wildernessposted 13 years agoin reply to this

           Mark, you kill me.  There is definite advantage in knowing how to laugh at ourselves and you have taught me better how to do that since entering the forums.  Thank you.

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      paulisfullofshitposted 13 years agoin reply to this

      Deleted
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         CASE1WORKERposted 13 years agoin reply to this

         Just to let all genuine hubbers know. I have flagged this hubbers name as I find it distasteful. Hopefully the moderators will agree.  If notI shall just have to avoid the insightful comments that this hubber is making, although in a rather ridiculous way.

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            Randy Godwinposted 13 years agoin reply to this

            The anonymous voice is often that of an a$$#0!e!
            
            
            
                                snakespeer

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            CMHypnoposted 13 years agoin reply to this

            Totally agree with you Case1worker, there have been a few of these socks with offensive names floating around the forums lately being aggressive.
            
            I think that everyone can understand and share the frustrations of many hubbers, but if you have got something to say have the guts to let people know who you are.
            
            A lot of good points are probably not being read because the abusive language and childish user names are just turning people off

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               Mark Ewbieposted 13 years agoin reply to this

               I agree with both of you.
               
               I have resolved to stop doing it.

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                  CASE1WORKERposted 13 years agoin reply to this

                  if it was you, i am disappointed as you would have come up with a more imaginative name!

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   soni2006posted 13 years ago

   Thank you so much for the news Paul. I am publishing my next hub straight away. I always believed in HP and now I am glad that I was always right.

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   Peggy Wposted 13 years ago

   This sounds like good news.  I've been spending a lot of time going back and tweaking my older hubs hopefully making them better and adhering to the new standards.  Thanks for the heads up regarding upcoming announcements.  Will cross my fingers that we will see increased views and potentially more money coming our way.

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8. STAFF

   Paul Edmondsonposted 13 years ago

   @soni2006 Let's see how the update goes before drawing conclusions, but over time, I fully expect HP to successfully address Panda issues.

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      soni2006posted 13 years agoin reply to this

      That's a very good step Paul. We are with you.

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      Michael Willisposted 13 years agoin reply to this

      Thanks for the update Paul. And especially for the "let's see how the update goes before drawing conclusions..." Can't be more honest than that.

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   CASE1WORKERposted 13 years ago

   i think that this is the anouncement we have been waiting for, so lets just see- i think there has been a tremendous amount of work done- perhaps not always presented clearly, but it has been going on and all those who have left, when they see the site rising will be back

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    WryLiltposted 13 years ago

    I've learnt something - words don't mean much unless there are actual facts & results. And there wasn't a single concrete fact in that announcement.
    
    Actually we don't all assume you sit around doing nothing about Panda. We just assume that it hasn't (or won't) work yet.
    
    You've already lost dozens of the top quality writers on the site as well as at least partially alienated many more. People with thousands of hubs had to go through multiple times and fix minor errors, only to have the same hubs unpublished a few days later.
    
    So whatever it is, I hope it's not just an ignis fatuus.

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       Mutiny92posted 13 years agoin reply to this

       Wry, I had to google that one "phosphorescent light that hovers or flits over swampy ground at night, possibly caused by spontaneous combustion of gases emitted by rotting organic matter"
       
       I hope it is not ignis fatuus as well - that sounds dreadful!

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          WriteAngledposted 13 years agoin reply to this

          An ignis flatus would be even worse...

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    Mishaposted 13 years ago

    http://www.seroundtable.com/google-panda-22-13532.html

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       earnestshubposted 13 years agoin reply to this

       So they don't know anything either Misha?

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          Mishaposted 13 years agoin reply to this

          They you mean other webmasters, Earnest? No they don't. Google does not tell anybody. Interesting fact is this blog post was posted three hours before Paul opened this thread.

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             earnestshubposted 13 years agoin reply to this

             Interesting. I have read heaps about the Panda thing, as many of us have, a lot of it contradictory and so far nothing much to go home with.

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12. STAFF

    Paul Edmondsonposted 13 years ago

    We have communicated one to one with folks at Google about Panda. I've also posted a few things in the public forums and written a piece on my thoughts about Panda and open publishing.

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       mistyhorizon2003posted 13 years agoin reply to this

       Can you be more specific Paul, as in were you in a room together, on a conference call etc? I think most of us would be more reassured if we knew what your definition of 'one to one' is.
       
       I am sure you can reassure us all that you are on close terms with Google Senior Staff and have met up with them regarding this.
       
       Thanks

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          Marisa Wrightposted 13 years agoin reply to this

          Misty, why do you think Google would give HubPages special treatment?  Did you see the dismissive comment they made about Suite101 some time ago? 
          
          It's slightly unclear, but I think Paul is ONLY talking about the rel="author" announcement, nothing else.

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             mistyhorizon2003posted 13 years agoin reply to this

             Errrrm, possibly because Paul stated in his post:
             
             "sometimes Google prefers that we keep some information private if they plan on making a formal announcement.  We are expecting an announcement from Google this week, but it may slip till next.  We believe we've positioned HubPages with the necessary changes for the announcement."
             
             This lead me to believe they had a 'special' relationship with Google.

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             Mutiny92posted 13 years agoin reply to this

             MW, what rel="author" announcement are you referring to?

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          mistyhorizon2003posted 13 years agoin reply to this

          Sorry Paul, not sure if you saw this first time, so bumping it.

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             mistyhorizon2003posted 13 years agoin reply to this

             Bumping Again Paul, no response as yet, but you could easily have missed this.

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          mistyhorizon2003posted 13 years agoin reply to this

          Sorry, I meant to 'bump' this Paul.

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    Cagsilposted 13 years ago

    It appears as if HP is trying to save face amongst the writers that are actually still here. Unfortunately, what staff fails to realize is that they were fore-warned by many other experienced online writers that the actions taken were meaningless and/or useless.
    
    And, now members get this type of forum thread. I certainly hope HP is actually in communications with Google. If not, then any changes that have been made, will only make the other experienced writers look even better, which I am more inclined to see happening.
    
    Oh well.....another wait and see. No new news. Not surprising.

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    lrohnerposted 13 years ago

    So let me get this straight....HP learned about a change in the algorithm from the Google webmaster forums, and was actually already in compliance with this one. Huh. What's Plan B again?

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       WryLiltposted 13 years agoin reply to this

       So basically... Hubpages can read an announcement that's available to anyone online. That doesn't indicate a special relationship with Google.

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          Jason Menayanposted 13 years agoin reply to this

          The announcement was today.
          
          We rolled out the rel="author" tag on Hubs more than 2 weeks ago.
          http://blog.hubpages.com/2011/05/addressing-panda/
          
          Maybe we're psychic!

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             WryLiltposted 13 years agoin reply to this

             If you're psychic, why don't we have +1 buttons yet, like all the other big sites?

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    Jason Menayanposted 13 years ago

    Maybe some of you missed the blog post where Paul mentioned the rel="author" tag from a couple of weeks ago:
    
    http://blog.hubpages.com/2011/05/addressing-panda/

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       mistyhorizon2003posted 13 years agoin reply to this

       "Most changes we’ve made you don’t see, like the hidden rel=”author” tag we’ve added to Hubs that designates the Hub’s author.",
       
       Sorry to be an idiot Jason, but can you explain how this works, as the post you linked to only seems to say the above quote, and doesn't appear to elaborate on what it actually means (unless I missed something)!
       
       Thanks

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          Jason Menayanposted 13 years agoin reply to this

          Paul mentions this link which went live today in an update to the OP:
          
          http://www.google.com/support/webmaster … er=1229920

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             mistyhorizon2003posted 13 years agoin reply to this

             Read it Jason, and could do with an layman's guide to what it means in English. If I am struggling to work it out, I am guessing any newbies will not have a clue as to how it helps. I get the basics, but don't really get the bigger picture.

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                WryLiltposted 13 years agoin reply to this

                I don't see the big deal. If we want to be well known authors we have to have this tag on every site we write on? What about people new to writing? What about people without official accreditation? Sounds more like it applies to big time "real life" writers.

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       sunforgedposted 13 years agoin reply to this

       What we missed was any responses to questions - including my direct one asking about the author property
       
       a simple "hey its a microformat' would have been helpful.
       
       Seems like a trap to me - connect all your writing together via a htag which will then invalidate any of that interlinking that previously would have been seen as unconnected:) So I hope Google really did give that suggestion in good faith, as the hrecipe tag isnt all that powerful outside of the recipe search. Will there be an 'author search"

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    Mutiny92posted 13 years ago

    One big happy family, I see!!! 

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       Eric Graudinsposted 13 years agoin reply to this

       More like a farmer and a crop of mushrooms, methinks.

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    Michael Willisposted 13 years ago

    I don't understand the rel=author tag either Misty. From what I see from Paul's blog is that HP chooses which authors to add this tag to (those HP considers top authors) and this is to help promote these authors in search engines. Guess if we do not fit in the chosen, then we are at the bottom of the pile.
    That is my take. IMO

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       mistyhorizon2003posted 13 years agoin reply to this

       You could well be right Michael, if I understood the concept fully (which I don't) and saw it really was beneficial to the author, I would sure like to know if I was one of the 'chosen few' to have this 'rel=author' tag.

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          Michael Willisposted 13 years agoin reply to this

          I also read the links that Paul provided. It sounds like the Author page could become a bigger factor with Google. If that is the case, then HP needs to develop a larger format for our Author page.

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18. STAFF

    Paul Edmondsonposted 13 years ago

    Every author gets a rel=author tag on their Hubs.  I'm working on a post with more info soon.

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       Michael Willisposted 13 years agoin reply to this

       Thanks Paul. More information is needed. I commented on by how I read the previous blog you made.

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       jacharlessposted 13 years agoin reply to this

       Meta rel by author, page, a preset javascript hook or rss?
       
       Even still, nice. This could definitely give high quality writers better positioning under the HP umbrella. Very bot friendly. Question (in my head) is how often are the bots set to revisit pages, should an authors pubs begin to rank higher, more follows, etc?
       
       I mean if an author ranks 75 overall and jumps to 88 in say a few days -their hubs only, how soon can they get better positioning based on the crawl rate and page depth?
       
       
       
       James.

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    KiaKitoriposted 13 years ago

    As I understand, if an author is in grace of Google, then doesn't matter where he/she writes as long as it has this rel - author link. Google will find this author's content.
    So, I'm wondering if someone has a great site and great traffic outside HP and comes here (at HP) for backlinks...how's that going to work?

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    SHENLILIposted 13 years ago

    GOOD

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    RedElfposted 13 years ago

    We live in hope!

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    Hendrikaposted 13 years ago

    I'm afraid I have had substantial losses. As I am not all that technically able (I'm am really technically challenged) I will have to see what happens, here as well on my other pages all over the net. Thanks for letting us know what is going on. It is really becoming harder and harder to make money on the net, even though my articles are not rubbish.

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       CASE1WORKERposted 13 years agoin reply to this

       you can say that again- just read your hub on jewellery making- superb! will follow you and spend some time reading your work- very well done

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    K9keystrokesposted 13 years ago

    Keeping the faith in HubPages Team!

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    Lisa HWposted 13 years ago

    Appreciate the announcement and the efforts.   

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    Glenn Stokposted 13 years ago

    This is wonderful news Paul. I read the details on Google's site. I tried Google's "Rich Snippets Testing Tool" to test my HubPages Profile and it came back as "verified."  I tried the same test on my profile on Amazon's site and that wasn't verified. Wow! HubPages is keeping up with things better than Amazon! Thank you Paul Deeds for keeping up to date with Google requirements so well!

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       ponxposted 13 years agoin reply to this

       Yes I tried this too right after reading this announcement in the forums. and it did come back as verified. Thanks for the update Paul.

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    ProCWposted 13 years ago

    Thanks for the hard work and dedication Paul and HubPages Staff. Whether or not some of us Hubbers show it, we certainly appreciate everything that you all do to benefit our work. May we all have continued and/or future success per your dedication.
    
    Thanks a bunch!!!

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    frogdroppingposted 13 years ago

    I am going to stop earning £0.60 a day on HP and go back to being able to pay my rent?
    
    I,I,I. I mean we. You, me, us. I sorely hope so because I've never seen anything so good get trashed so badly before.

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       Mutiny92posted 13 years agoin reply to this

       Ain't that the truth!  I had been putting my HP money on my mortgage pre-panda.
       
       I haven't seen you in a while FD!  How are you?

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          frogdroppingposted 13 years agoin reply to this

          I'm fine thank you Trying to stem the backward cashflow. It really did pay my rent etc. Gone in a snap. I didn't (and still don't) have a bricks and mortar job to fall back on. Been very tough.
          
          Thank *whomever* that I had someone step in that's helped me keep the wolves from the door.

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    Peggy Wposted 13 years ago

    So after testing, if we come back as "verified" we need do nothing else?  Is it automatically entered each time we write something new?  Thanks for any extra clarifications.

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       Jason Menayanposted 13 years agoin reply to this

       No testing is necessary - the tag is automatically added to all Hubs and will be added to any new Hubs you publish.

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          earnestshubposted 13 years agoin reply to this

          Thanks Jason, that is very nice. The tools you guys build save us a heap of time.

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29. 66

    Cheeky Girlposted 13 years ago

    As far as this Cheeky Girl is concerned, I am happy to support whatever it is. Hub Pages is doing a great job. And What I say here goes for hubber Astra Nomik too. Thank you Paul!

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30. 85

    Rik Ravadoposted 13 years ago

    Good News on the traffic front?
    
    I've kept a fairly low profile during the 'Pandamonium'.  Like many others, my traffic and earnings have dropped by at least 50% of what they were at the beginning of the year.  However, I do appreciate that the HubPages staff have had a really tough time in addressing the issues of low quality content here.  Their efforts have not always been helped by a little negativity by some members of the HP community.
    
    My traffic has been pretty consistent for the last couple of months (ie on the floor) but today there are changes for the better - traffic is climbing significantly and my hub positions in the Google SERPS are improving.  Of course it could be a a blip but I think so called Panda 2.2 is really shaking things up for the better.
    
    Anyone else seeing any light at the end of the tunnel?
    
    Anyway thanks to Paul and the team for their sterling efforts!

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    1. 76

       Aficionadaposted 13 years agoin reply to this

       
       
       My traffic was inching up a tiny bit before today, but it is definitely significantly better today.  I'm excited that I'm not the only one.
       
       As for Mark Ewbie's question - oh, boy, he scares me!

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       1. 76

          Aficionadaposted 13 years agoin reply to this

          
          
          Oh dear - it just occurred to me that the higher traffic could partly be due to the addition of the rel tags. Is that a possibility?  Sigh.
          
          I'm still pleased with improvements, just a bit less excited.

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31. 61

    Mark Ewbieposted 13 years ago

    Well, I tried out the new Google "Measure your Author Quality" site.  You put your rel tag in and a couple of lines of HTML5 - then it forms a judgement based on a complex algobot.
    
    Apparently I scored 3 out of a possible 1,000 and they are sending the camera van up my street to take my Adsense account away.

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    1. 69

       Angie Jardineposted 13 years agoin reply to this

       Is this gobbledegook, our Mark? Or are you just joshing as usual?

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          Mark Ewbieposted 13 years agoin reply to this

          Yes, I'm just fooling around.  What else to do?

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32. 85

    Rik Ravadoposted 13 years ago

    Good one Mark!   It puts a fresh spin on 'we know where you live' - my house is there on google maps too!

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33. 68

    lrohnerposted 13 years ago

    I think what you're seeing is just the normal ebb and flow of HP traffic, which seems to increase midweek and drop off on the weekend for a lot of keywords.
    
    

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    1. 76

       Aficionadaposted 13 years agoin reply to this

       Not sure whether you were responding to me, to Rik, or to HP at large, but....
       
       My numbers for the past 24 hours are the highest they have been since mid-March.  Not quite back to pre-Panda level, but much higher than any midweek bump I've seen.  This may be temporary, but I'm enjoying it nevertheless.  Also, come to think of it, I've tended to have a Friday-Saturday bump as a rule, rather than a midweek one.
       
       My comment about it possibly being due to the addition of rel tags wasn't specific enough.  I didn't mean that it might be the result of the tags, as we are all hoping.  Rather, I meant that each time that tag was added to a Hub it would count as a page view, perhaps.  That would not be so exciting!

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       1. 53

          janderson99posted 13 years agoin reply to this

          Not much has happened - still waiting.
          Its like a Cargo Cult - beat the drum and look to the heavens.
          All will be delivered. Did I hear a distant plane? A rumble perhaps?
          The Techies will deliver with Google on our side.

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34. 69

    Angie Jardineposted 13 years ago

    Must admit I am living in hope that HP will sort this.
    
    I'm not as cynical as some of the big names on this thread so maybe I'm just gullible but I do believe that the HP staff have worked hard on the Panda problem and for that I sincerely thank them.
    
    I know I am repeating myself here from other forum threads but if we want rid of the rubbish on HP we should all take the time to Hub Hop and flag the garbage for the staff to work on. A few hops each could make all the difference. There are too few of them to monitor all the dross that comes in.
    
    Once the work here is better quality perhaps Google will look favourably on HP again.  No?

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       janderson99posted 13 years agoin reply to this

       see http://searchengineland.com/coming-soon … -2-2-80848
       
       and  http://www.zdnet.com/blog/seo/google-pa … inent/3256 extract below
       
       ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
       Matt McGee, executive news editor for Search Engine Land, has provided additional information on just how Panda is implemented:
       
           In particular…the Panda algorithm is run against Google’s entire index of pages on an infrequent basis, in order to tag certain sites that should be dinged by it, as opposed to some of its automatic spam detection tools.
       
           For example, Google’s constantly scanning for pages that might use hidden text. If it spots them, then it may assess a penalty.
       
           Google is not constantly scanning for pages that might get hit by its Panda penalty. Instead, Google manually runs that algorithm, which then determines which web sites should be hit by it.
       
       This all just goes to show that as Google continues to grow and deal with spam, the company continues to get manually involved with their index much more so than ever — at least, more than they’ve ever been willing to publicly admit, that is.
       --------------------------------------------------------------
       
       Hopefully HP is off the HITLIST !!!!

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35. 76

    Aficionadaposted 13 years ago

    Also, from the ZDNet article:
    
    "For those of you who are aware of Panda and its reach, have you experienced any drawbacks with your pages or noticed continual ranking issues? What about those of you who search Google frequently; have you noticed improved results in your searches?"
    
    Can we hear the pitter-patter of little Hubber feet rushing over to tell ZDNet, NO!  We have not noticed improved results! ?

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    1. 87

       Marisa Wrightposted 13 years agoin reply to this

       Me first!

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36. 61

    C.V.Rajanposted 13 years ago

    Can someone explain to an idiot like me how tagging the author's name is going to increase (or decrease) traffic? Does Google have a "Great web author's directory" somewhere and if the tagged name is found there, it will immediately rank up the article in Google search?!

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    1. 76

       Aficionadaposted 13 years agoin reply to this

       From a previous post in this thread:
       
       
       
       And Paul E. linked these two articles:
       
       http://googlewebmastercentral.blogspot. … earch.html
       
       http://www.google.com/support/webmaster … er=1229920
       
       One of those explains that one author may have various profiles across the web; this author-tag will help Google to recognize that it is the same author, despite the differing profiles.
       
       One positive advantage is that if a good author is published on a so-so or questionable site, Google would see the author tag and overlook the site's less-than-stellar rating.  That would be an advantage in situations where entire sites have been downgraded due to some spammy-spinning-scammers.
       
       So, once Google sees the author-tag and lists the article high up in the SERPs, the traffic should start improving.

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          janderson99posted 13 years agoin reply to this

          The opposite outcome is more probable. Three strikes and you're out!
          Three bad articles (or so) or associating with bad sites, and you're branded a 'bad guy' and a 'nuisance'. You will be banished to the outer galaxy for ever. There is no escape you will have to pay for you sins. And Google is the judge, jury and executioner. There's no appeal. The good, the bad and the ugly - all become BAD - very BAD. That's what happened to HP!

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37. 60

    Gaming Rhinocerosposted 13 years ago

    Pardon my n00b question, but how would I discover my author tag to that I could add it to my blog?

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    1. 76

       Aficionadaposted 13 years agoin reply to this

       That's something the staff may have to answer, but the information you need may possibly be in the second of the links I posted (originally from Paul E.).  It's beyond me right now, but you may be able to figure it out. 

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       1. 60

          Gaming Rhinocerosposted 13 years agoin reply to this

          Thanks for pointing a nice rhino in the right direction.  I think what they're saying is that you use two reciprocal html author tags to point site A towards site B and vice-versa...  Implying that this will cause Google to recognize that the two pages are authored by the same person.  Thing is, I'm not sure how to properly add said tag to my profile here nor at my blog.  (And what do you do if you write at more than two sites?  Use a pile of author tags to web them all to one another?  Use one site's profile as a "hub" (heh heh) and link the others to it like spokes in a wheel?)
          
          I'll mess with it later and report if I figure anything out.

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          1. 53

             janderson99posted 13 years agoin reply to this

             I don't think its that complicated. Its all done through two tags
             
             see  http://www.google.com/support/webmaster … er=1229920
             
             extract below:
             ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
             To identify the author of an article or page, include a link to an author page on your domain and add rel="author" to that link, like this:
             
             Written by <a rel="author" href="../authors/mattcutts">Matt Cutts</a>.
             This tells search engines: "The linked person is an author of this linking page." The rel="author" link must point to an author page on the same site as the content page.
             
             An author page on a site can often link to other web pages about the same author, such as the author’s home page or a social networking profile.
             
             To tell Google that all these profiles represent the same person, use a rel="me" link to establish a link between profile pages.
             
             Say that Matt is a frequent contributor to http://example.com. Here’s a link from his http://example.com author page to the page he maintains on http://mattcutts.com:
             <a rel="me" href="http://mattcutts.com">Read more about Matt</a>
             In turn, Matt’s profile on http://mattcutts.com points back to his author page on http://example.com, like this:
             Matt has also written <a rel="me" href="http://example.com/contributors/mattcutts">lots of articles for the Foo Times</a>.
             The reciprocal rel="me" links tell Google that the profiles at http://mattcutts.com and http://example.com/contributors/mattcutts represent the same person.
             -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

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          2. 79

             mskillsposted 13 years agoin reply to this

             Hey Rhino,
             
             Google has already added the author tag to Youtube and Blogger content (which I believe is where BlogSpot blogs now reside), as noted in the second-to-last paragraph in the Google Webmaster link. 
             
             I took a look at your blog and found the following line in your page template source code:
             
             <a class='profile-name-link' href='http://www.blogger.com/profile/16136663900689714357' rel='author'>Pete</a>
             
             This is the author tag.  Every blog post you make will have this line of code that points to your profile.  How to cross-reference between HP and your other sites, however, remains to be seen.

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38. 0

    writeronlineposted 13 years ago

    Call me stupid, (wouldn't be the first time), but isn't the basic HubPages covenant that we no-cost suppliers write sensational work, that makes HP the kind of must-read source that Google can allegedly spot, and allegedly values, then we give up most of the supposedly consequentially 'sensational' AdSense earnings, in exchange for not having to understand all the arcane programmer-level details like the ones in the exchange between mskills and Rhino directly above me? (NOT being rude, just that it's a good exmaple of what I'm talking about, but don't understand, and don't want to have to learn..)
    
    Where's the HP 'fair value exchange' gone, if we are required to know how to do all this, just to earn a share of revenue? Might we then be as well to just say "Sayonara HP", and set out on our own...?

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       EmpressFelicityposted 13 years agoin reply to this

       LOL - well put. 
       
       I'm also thinking that if it's possible to link with your own sites in the way that mskills describes, then surely (in today's post-Panda, anti-content farm climate) it would actually *hurt* your work on other sites rather than benefit it.

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    2. 87

       Marisa Wrightposted 13 years agoin reply to this

       You're not required to know how to "do all this" on HubPages, it's already done for us.  The explanation is for those who are curious to know, or who would like to use it on their own sites.

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39. 84

    Pcunixposted 13 years ago

    I don't see how the author tag is going to help anything unless you also have the'rel="me" to point to your other sites.
    
    I'm not even sure it is always advisable.  Certainly, if I'm writing about titanium Ding Bat Bolts ("Just Crooked Enough To Drive You Nuts") here and also at my main site, I can see how reciprocal tags (which is NOT what HP is doing) could help Google decide I have more credibility as an expert at those infuriating bolts. 
    
    But if I'm writing about Ding-bat bolts here and Linux at my main site, linking by way of these tags wouldn't help Google see me as anything but the scatter-brained dilettante that I am, so I'm not sure I'd want to help them make that relationship.
    
    The reality is that I might write about several subjects here and may or may not have other places where I do or do not want that linking, so, without being able to control tags on a page by page basis (which I can do at my own sites, of course), I am failing to see the value.
    
    I ASSUME (but do not know) that there would be little or no benefit from a one way link - for example, if I refer to my profile page here with a 'rel="me"' tag at my main site.  Without the corroborating rel="me"  back to my main site from here, why should Google believe that really is me and not some impersonator?
    
    Am I confused?

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       Marisa Wrightposted 13 years agoin reply to this

       Gee, if you're confused, what hope is there for the rest of us?  I have to be honest, I looked at this, thought about doing it for my own sites, then gave up because I wouldn't know how.

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       1. 84

          Pcunixposted 13 years agoin reply to this

          The HOW is simple - well, assuming you know how to edit raw html, of course but if not, that's easy enough to learn.
          
          It's what it means that is confusing.  Certainly what HP did will help Google identify specific authors here at HP, but whether that's good, bad or indifferent is what I'm confused about.  It is likely good if you are focused, but I have no idea what it might mean otherwise.
          
          As to identifying authors elsewhere, that's not part of what HP is doing, but that could be valuable if (again) you are focused and are writing at multiple sites where you can contril these tags.

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             lrohnerposted 13 years agoin reply to this

             Gee, I think I'll go tag all of my stuff with <a rel="author" href="../authors/mattcutts">Matt Cutts</a>. Sounds to me like I can be anybody I want on the Internet now.

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                Mark Ewbieposted 13 years agoin reply to this

                Yes, I wondered that.  What concerns me more is Matt Cutts might tag his crap with my name.

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                   lrohnerposted 13 years agoin reply to this

                   He should. His stuff is a little bit, um, dry.

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             2. 84

                Pcunixposted 13 years agoin reply to this

                That's what I meant by the need for a reciprocal tag.  Google certainly isn't going to accept you as Matt Cutts unlessTHAT page had a rel="me" pointing back to your profile here.

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                   lrohnerposted 13 years agoin reply to this

                   Gotcha. Thanks for explaining!

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40. 61

    SunSevenposted 13 years ago

    Paul is well known for his sense of humor.
    
    You dont have to take it to your heart.

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41. 84

    Pcunixposted 13 years ago

    IHmm.. I think he's often amusing  (with the qualification that you do need to be a bit geekish to appreciate him).

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