Hub Content and Author Content?

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   R.P. Clarkposted 13 years ago

   Hello.  Does anyone know what the difference is between "Hub Content" and "Author Content?"  I understand in the HubPages guidelines it states that you can remove Hub Content at your discretion, but you are not allowed to remove your Author Content from the service.  Thanks.

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      Rochelle Frankposted 13 years agoin reply to this

      You need to wait for someone with more authority to answer this.
      I think it may mean that you have to request the HP team to remove your profile page, if that is what you would wish to do.
      You can remove (or edit) your own content, yourself

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   2. 76

      Aficionadaposted 13 years agoin reply to this

      Could you provide a link to where you read that?  I don't recall hearing those two distinct terms, so I would need to have my memory jogged!
      
      Rochelle's explanation sounds good.

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      1. 60

         R.P. Clarkposted 13 years agoin reply to this

         This is found on the HubPages "Terms of Use" page.   It's written in section number 6. PROPRIETARY RIGHTS; CONTENT OWNERSHIP.  Here is the link:  <http://hubpages.com/help/user_agreement>.  I think I found the explanation, but I'm still unsure.

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   3. 70

      Cagsilposted 13 years agoin reply to this

      Hub Content- it is what you put up, is what you can take down or delete at your own choosing.
      
      Author Content- is your main account and/or any other account you create, must be taken down by staff. You cannot delete your own account.

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      1. 76

         Aficionadaposted 13 years agoin reply to this

         Did you read the thread and the link RPC gave in their text?

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         1. 70

            Cagsilposted 13 years agoin reply to this

            No I didn't read the link.
            
            I know what I can do and what I am unable to do.
            
            As a writer on Hubpages, it is made obvious that we can publish and unpublish(delete) content as we see fit(within the rules).
            
            However, not a single person can close their account without assistance from staff. Which led me to what I said.

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            1. 76

               Aficionadaposted 13 years agoin reply to this

               Okay, but there is more to Author Content than simply your "account."
               
               In answering the OP's question last week, Rochelle and I came across some information that was new to us and somewhat confusing. Because it was near the weekend, I let the thread fizzle out for a while.  Now I have revived it, as you see, to try to find an answer to the questions we had about our photographs.
               
               Which led me to what I said.

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               1. 70

                  Cagsilposted 13 years agoin reply to this

                  Your photographs are your content, it's both, Hub Content and Author Content. The photographs are maintained in your photo profile and stored on HP servers for easy accessibility. You can delete them at anytime and remove them from HP servers.
                  
                  ALL content you put on HP is yours. If you cannot delete a photograph from HP servers, then that would be a problem, because it's copyright protected. HP has no right to keep them on their servers, for whatever reasons.
                  
                  From what I am to understand, any and all photographs, can be deleted and they are gone from HP servers. Again, if this isn't the case, then HP is breaking the law, by stealing an author's content and I, personally do not think HP would want to be caught with stolen copyrighted material.
                  
                  Just my thoughts on it.

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2. 76

   Aficionadaposted 13 years ago

   Thanks for posting the link.  I understand the terms (better) now, and I also understand how they would be extra-confusing when you are new.
   
   This post that I am typing now would be a part of my Author Content.  All of my forum posts are.  The questions that I ask and the answers that I give (in the Answers section) are part of my Author Content.  Comments to hubs and everything that is NOT one of my Hubs, that I post on HP, belongs to my Author Content.
   
   My Hubs, and almost everything that I include in them, are Hub Content.
   
   The exception is the photographs that we post anywhere on HP, including in our Hubs.  I don't know exactly why that exception was made, other than the difficulty of monitoring the ownership of photographs.  So many photos come from Google and other online sources, so those are not the property of the Hubber in the first place; and so, of course, we are not allowed to move them elsewhere and claim that they are ours.  There may be more to the story than that, but that's a start with the photos.
   
   Anyway, you should consider Author Content as everything that you do in HubPages that is not an actual Hub.  Plus, photographs.

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   1. 95

      Rochelle Frankposted 13 years agoin reply to this

      I did not know about the photos. I use a lot of my own, so I'm not too crazy about that idea. Shouldn't we have a copyright on our own photos?

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      1. 76

         Aficionadaposted 13 years agoin reply to this

         
         
         I feel the same way, and I'm hoping it will be possible to get some real clarification about this.  Being the weekend already, it may not be possible to learn about this until next week.
         
         But, here is one more paragraph from the User Agreement, in "Recent Changes" (actually a collection of changes dating back a couple of years).
         
         "September 20, 2010: We revised the definitions of Author Content and HubContent in Section 2, to make all photographs uploaded to the Service Author Content. (We did this because the technology we use to upload photos permits you to remove photographs from your gallery, but not from the Service itself.)"
         
         I don't exactly follow what they are saying.  It may (may!) mean that we do own the copyright to our own photos, and we can remove them from our galleries, but that there would still be a copy remaining here on the Service, due to the technology they use.  I'm honestly just guessing, and I'm hoping whatever can of worms I've opened can be contained until we get an official explanation of what it actually means.

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3. 76

   Aficionadaposted 13 years ago

   Does anyone else know about this matter with photographs?
   
   Staff?
   
   Another thought I have had is that this means that we ourselves do not have the ability to do the removing of our photos from The Service, even though we can remove them from our gallery.  But the staff might be able to do the removing, if that is needed and desired. 
   
   It's just a thought, and I'm hoping someone will come along and clarify it.    Please?

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4. 61

   Jason Menayanposted 13 years ago

   The TOU defines both terms in section 2:
   
   “Author Content”: Any content, including without limitation questions, answers, forum posts, ratings, votes, and Hub comments, that Authors post on the Service other than on the Author’s Hub, and all photographs that Authors post on the Service (including on the Author’s Hub).
   
   “Hub Content”: Any content, including without limitation text, data, video, and links, but excluding photographs, that an Author posts on the Author’s Hub.

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   1. 95

      Rochelle Frankposted 13 years agoin reply to this

      So when we post our own photos, or photos used by permission of another person, in our hub we are, in effect, giving them to HubPages? I don't see why this should be so.  Can you explain?

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      1. 76

         Aficionadaposted 13 years agoin reply to this

         Here again, is quoted directly from the TOU (emphasis mine):
         
         "HubPages does not claim ownership of Your Hub Content or Author Content. Such content will be owned by You or a third party from whom You got permission to post the content."
         
         If I am understanding it correctly, they are not saying that the author content cannot be removed, period; rather (if I understand) that it is not possible for us as authors to take that step and that if it is to be done it must be done by HP.  In other words, it's not a matter of whether it gets removed but how it is possible for it to be done.
         
         The TOU also has a big paragraph on the fact that we are giving HP permission for their use, but not giving the photos to HP.  I'll copy and paste that, if you wish.

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            Rochelle Frankposted 13 years agoin reply to this

            Thank you, Aficionada, for making that clearer. I feel better.

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            1. 76

               Aficionadaposted 13 years agoin reply to this

               You're welcome, Rochelle.  I felt weird and uncertain about it too, and I definitely feel better now.  What I thought I was reading (at first) really didn't seem in character with the HP I have seen before, and I figured there was an explanation that would make sense.  I do believe it's just an issue of technology and method, not permission.

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         2. 61

            Jason Menayanposted 13 years agoin reply to this

            Yes, with respect to Author Content, it can't necessarily be removed from the site (unlike Hubs). For example, if you ask a Question and get a bunch of replies, then you can't remove that Question, because it would destroy all the other people's content. Author Content is too enmeshed into our site architecture, unlike Hubs which are stand-alone.
            
            HubPages is relatively unusual in allowing users to retain ownership of their money-generating content (Hubs); you can unpublish and even delete it if you like.

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               Rochelle Frankposted 13 years agoin reply to this

               And that is one of its best features.

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               wildernessposted 13 years agoin reply to this

               I agree with Rochelle - maintaining ownership of my work is one of HPs best features and one of the reasons I remain here.
               
               I am a little concerned about the photos, though.  When I started there was no gallery (that I was aware of anyway) and I just assumed the photo was a part of the hub - all mine.  When the gallery came into being I never thought twice about it.
               
               As 95% of the photos I use are my own and not intended for use by anyone else it is cause for some concern.

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               1. 61

                  Jason Menayanposted 13 years agoin reply to this

                  The change was that photos collectively can be used elsewhere on the site (like in Answers and the Forums), so we can not easily remove its "entangled" use.
                  
                  That said, of course, we don't make private photos available to anyone.

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                  1. 69

                     Michael Willisposted 13 years agoin reply to this

                     On the photo issue...as long as I still have my rights to my own produced photo to use anywhere I choose outside of Hubpages, I don't see a problem with this. But, if HP tells us we are infringing on their photo rights, (since OUR photos are on HP),then there is a problem.

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                     1. 61

                        Jason Menayanposted 13 years agoin reply to this

                        No, that's not the case.

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                        1. 69

                           Michael Willisposted 13 years agoin reply to this

                           OK, thanks for clearing that up Jason!

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