Hub-Hopping: pet peeves?

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   Theresa_Kennedyposted 12 years ago

   Every time I spend time hub-hopping, I come here in hopes of finding a pet peeves topic...so I'm starting one. My pet peeve is in trying to rank or flag hubs with almost-but-not-quite decent use of grammar, spelling and punctuation. I've hopped this type more often than the high quality type hubpages needs.
   
   I'm starting this topic so I can have a place to vent (let me knwo if there's another). But maybe....maybe those with low quality hubs can stop by and see some of the problems in their writing and improve.

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      Greg Sageposted 12 years agoin reply to this

      You could do one on Hubbers ranking and flagging other people's hubs based on grammar, spelling, and punctuation rather than concept, style, and overall execution.
      
      
      
      Mark Twain, e. e. cummings, and a litany of the greatest writers that ever lived would fail your criteria, btw.

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      1. 77

         Theresa_Kennedyposted 12 years agoin reply to this

         Oops sorry, Greg. Didn't see your response earlier. I'm not perfect and understand typos or writing too fast. I understand casual writing, and I'm not a perfectionist (much). I always let slide a few errors, but when it's so bad that I can't read it, that's when I want to write about pet peeves.
         
         It's likely that I've flagged hubs that were rife with spelling and grammatical errors- yet had decent concept, style and overall execution. But I didn't mean this topic to be about "when to flag or not to flag" as there is one like that already. This is a pet peeves while hub-hopping topic.
         
         

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            Greg Sageposted 12 years agoin reply to this

            Oh, don't get me wrong.
            
            There's some real garbage on here....
            
            but I don't think I'd flag something else unless it just seemed like purposeful spam or was advocating violence or something along those lines.
            
            I don't really have too many criticisms of other people's work except maybe for those who write in such enormous text blocks that my eyes just can't follow.
            
            A paragraph break here and there could really help a few folks.

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      2. 78

         Uninvited Writerposted 12 years agoin reply to this

         Wrong... Mark Twain deliberately wrote the way he heard people talk...he pointed out in his introduction that he was doing this...his other writing was completely grammatical, e.e. cummings did not like capitals and did not use them in his poems. Believe me, if Mark Twain were on HubPages he would be venting on this forum about some of the writing.
         
         However...those writers knew and understood the rules of grammar. I'm so sick of that old chestnut of an argument. You have to understand the rules in order to break them. You cannot compare them to some of the atrocious writers on HubPages.
         
         Like others have said, we all make mistakes. But most of us recognize that we have made those mistakes and correct our writing. We don't just slap them up, go on with other things and never visit them again.

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            Greg Sageposted 12 years agoin reply to this

            Those two are obvious examples because their "imperfections" are well known hallmarks of their style.  Mark twain was a good writer because he understood the rules.  He was a great one because he transcended them in a way that showed an expanded yet coherent linguistic paradigm. 
            
            His provincial narrative style is synergistically interwoven with the subject matter to create a coherent whole.  To parrot a literary cliche:  "His narrative style becomes one of the characters."
            
            I never knew the man personally (I'm not quite that old), but I'm fairly sure Mr. Clemens wasn't a 3rd world spammer algorithmically spinning stolen content... nor an incapable and sloppy hack who simply got lucky.
            
            Since you are making my point for me, and have even been so kind as to point out the deliberate intent of the writers I used for examples, I can only assume that you meant "right."
            
            

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               Mark Ewbieposted 12 years agoin reply to this

               Can I just say it's Ewbie, not Twain - but apart from that - all that sinergisticated stuff - that's me to a tee.

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                  Greg Sageposted 12 years agoin reply to this

                  heffalump

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                     Mark Ewbieposted 12 years agoin reply to this

                     Coincidentally Greg, and you won't believe this but...

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                        Greg Sageposted 12 years agoin reply to this

                        Too late.  I wrote an article about you writing an article about it before you ever even wrote the article.
                        
                        Publish or perish.

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            Motown2Chitownposted 12 years agoin reply to this

            Thank you, thank you, and thank you again.

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2. 77

   Theresa_Kennedyposted 12 years ago

   Pet peeve: when sentences lack proper use of indefinate article "a" and definite article "the". I just can't read it, sometimes I flag it, and sometimes I just stop hopping out of irritation.

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3. 75

   wheelinalloverposted 12 years ago

   When I am hub hopping I find all kinds of grammar errors, if they are really bad I just leave, or write an email suggesting that a few changes might be in order, if the content was good. I made the mistake of making this kind of suggestion in a comment box and got my ears boxed for it.
   When I was new here I am sure a few people would have liked to throw me out on my rear. I can't tell you how many of my hubs I have gone back and made changes to. Most of them needed some type of grammar or spelling change, a few needed content added. Too many 20 hour days have taken my work to a point where I no longer publish. Some day when the 20 hour days end I will publish again, I quit because I don't want my work to look like the hubs I felt the need to either comment or send emails to the authors of.

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      Theresa_Kennedyposted 12 years agoin reply to this

      Isn't it better to flag the hub rather than ignoring it? Isn't flagging just a way to bring a low quality hub to the attention of those who can make a qualified decision on it?
      
      I would rather see low quality hubs go back to the author for repair, than a plethora of them on hubpages affecting the reputation of the site as a whole.

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4. 78

   Uninvited Writerposted 12 years ago

   My pet peeve is seeing a hub that is obviously spun.

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      DIYweddingplannerposted 12 years agoin reply to this

      Spun and with a hub score higher than mine...what the heck?  Or with a string of comments saying what a great and interesting hub it is... grrrrr.

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         Motown2Chitownposted 12 years agoin reply to this

         YES - I find myself flagging hubs that may already have 20 comments because A) It's obviously spun and B) The translation is so poor that I am convinced I'm STILL reading a foreign language.  Aargh.

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            Greg Sageposted 12 years agoin reply to this

            So.... they're just creating many accounts and commenting on their own stuff?

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               DIYweddingplannerposted 12 years agoin reply to this

               I think so or either there are entire networks of these spinners who are working together.  I've seen them spamming in the forums and reponding to each other.  Could be people working together or multiple accounts by one person.

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5. 77

   Theresa_Kennedyposted 12 years ago

   Another pet peeve of mine: those who do not understand the difference between they’re, their and there. Once or twice, maybe it's a typo or they were in a hurry. More than that and the English major in me wants to tap on the lectern.

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   1. 87

      Cardisaposted 12 years agoin reply to this

      Hi Theresa,
      
      I must say I don't Hub Hop any more for more than one reasons.
      
      The latest and crappiest hubs are what you are likely to see when Hopping.
      
      The next problem I found was that I would lose a Hubber score point whenever I do. I know I should not be watching that score but I can't afford to lose a point every time I read crappy hubs.
      
      What I have been doing is going to the Hubs section and search for interesting hubs to read or look for hubs based on topics.

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6. 77

   Theresa_Kennedyposted 12 years ago

   Hi Cardisa! I understand your feelings about that little number. I tend to get too happy when it goes up and too sad when it goes down. I've never understand exactly why it does that, but can't believe hop-hopping would make it go down? I thought hopping was a good thing, as in being helpful?

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      Cardisaposted 12 years agoin reply to this

      I'm not the only one who experienced this. When it started happening I asked the question if there was anyone who experienced this and the response was yes, yes and yes.
      
      Weird isn't it?

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         Theresa_Kennedyposted 12 years agoin reply to this

         It is weird and sad. But I hope it's not absolute!

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   lorlie6posted 12 years ago

   In a nutshell?  They're generally awful.  Truth.

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8. 82

   Mark Ewbieposted 12 years ago

   Absolutely do not believe that Hub Hopping has an adverse affect on score.  One common mistake people make is believing that the score is affected by the current or most recent action.   I am as sure as I can be that it isn't.  It makes it slightly harder to game if you don't know what does what - so it makes sense they would build a delay, maybe more than one type of delay to actions like hub hopping, comments and so on.
   
   HP want you to hub hop.  They give you points / awards for doing it.
   
   Do good things regularly and your score will rise.  But it doesn't happen straight away.

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      IzzyMposted 12 years agoin reply to this

      This, absolutely.
      
      We should all hub hop. Help the staff get the crap off Hubpages.
      
      I agree with the OP about spelling and grammatical errors. If allowed to remain, our language will eventually become irrevocably changed as people accept new spellings (misspellings) of words.
      
      If there was nothing to edit, editors would be out of a job and communication would be harder, not easier.

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      1. 77

         Theresa_Kennedyposted 12 years agoin reply to this

         I do agree with this, that we need Hubpages to eliminate or request changes done to the low quality hubs. That is the only way high quality hubs can enjoy a good reputation on the web. If we allow the bad ones to remain, or just ignore them, we become low quality by association.
         
         I don't know how Hubpages can get to them all if the community doesn't help by flagging some of them. Maybe I need to hop more than my fair share since a lot of people are afraid to? If so, I'll be posting a lot more pet peeves LOL!

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