Suggestion For HP Staff: Change the Wording on Public Hub pages

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   R.S. Hutchinsonposted 13 years ago

   HI!
   I have a suggestion for the HP staff. Please change the wording on the public hubpages near the bottom where it asks for comments. Currently next to the comments section it has a little box that reads:
   
   Members and Guests
   Sign in or sign up and post using a hubpages account.
   
   
   So it APPEARS the only way someone can leave a comment is if THEY sign up for an account. I have had many people tell me they wanted to leave a comment but that they didn't want to sign up for Hub pages. Even I thought, intially that the only way to leave a comment was if you were a member. I understand you want to recruit people, but perhaps change the phrase so it is clear that you don't have to be a memeber in order to leave a comment on someone's Hub. The easier it is for our audience, the more likley they will come back. I know on other pages and feeds (not just Hubpages) that I leave comments on I ALWAYS go back to that page to see if anyone repsonded to the comment I left.
   
   Keep it simple: "Leave a comment" and then under the comment section or somewhere else have the option to join.
   
   My two cents for a happier hub planet!

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      Randy Godwinposted 13 years agoin reply to this

      It might be a bit different if they signed up under the account of the author of the page so at least the writer would get the referral.
      
      But I agree about the wording being deceptive or misleading concerning the ability to comment.

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         Michael Willisposted 13 years agoin reply to this

         I like the idea that if someone signs-up when they are brought to HP in our article, that WE get the credit for it, even if they came from a search engine page instead of a referral link we left somewhere.
         I think the signing-in to comment does help to limit spamming on our hubs, but I approve all comments, so I weed out the spam.

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            R.S. Hutchinsonposted 13 years agoin reply to this

            That's just it.. ANYONE can leave a comment. You don't have to sign up. Beacuse we all want comments it's turning people away from leaveing comments. I know I am guilty of it - If I'm on a site that requires me to sign up then I usually won't leave a comment. But at HP you don't have to sign up- which I greatly applaud, but it APPEARS you do have to sign up, so we are all (imo) losing potential comments.

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         R.S. Hutchinsonposted 13 years agoin reply to this

         and absolutely.. maintain a way for the author to get credit if someone decides to sign up.

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   Cagsilposted 13 years ago

   I guess I get to play the supposed bad guy here...there is nothing wrong with the wording.
   
   Your reader does not require to have an account to post a comment on a hub. Not unless YOU FORCED them to do so, by setting your comment capsule to the setting that does force them to have an account to post a comment.
   
   The comment capsule is not defaulted to the must have an account setting. It never has been. On a side note- the comment capsules also has a header, which you can change from the default "comments", to whatever you like. I am sure there is a character limit you will run into in the header box, but nonetheless, you can manually change it. I do it all the time.
   
   Just a thought.

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      R.S. Hutchinsonposted 13 years agoin reply to this

      Yes.. that is what I said.. HOWEVER, it APPEARS to the reader that is not familiar with Hubpages that you DO have to sign up in order to leave a comment. So potentially we are losing comments. A few of my collegues whom are not with HP wanted to leave comments but didn't want to sign up so they just sent me a Facebook message intead. But I'd rather have that comment on my HP

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         Cagsilposted 13 years agoin reply to this

         And, like I said, you have a header to work with.

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         Marisa Wrightposted 13 years agoin reply to this

         I agree - for internet newbies, it does look as though you can't leave a comment unless you sign up first.  It would be good if that could be made clearer.
         
         It's true you could make that clearer using the header, but why should we have to?

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   rebekahELLEposted 13 years ago

   I write a simple header on each comment capsule saying, Thanks for reading and please feel free to leave a comment. I also have it open to allow all comments, as HP does a pretty decent job of noticing spam comments.

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      R.S. Hutchinsonposted 13 years agoin reply to this

      Yes I saw that and though I'd start using it on my hubs.

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