All New Hubbers Should Be Required to Have a Profile/Biography

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   LearnFromMeposted 13 years ago

   I have noticed in the past few days while Hub Hopping and scanning my feed that there are a plethora of new hubs and hubbers joining the site and publishing low quality or poorly translated/spun hubs. When I click on the profile after flagging the hubs, I notice that there is no information about the hubber, suggesting to me that the accounts were just set up to promote those particular hubs. Would it be beneficial to make it mandatory for new hubbers to have a profile to prove that they are real people who can indeed write in English and that they're not using a translator/spinner?

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      relacheposted 13 years agoin reply to this

      How would requiring a profile bio prove those things?  I've seen plenty of junk/unintelligible/spam bios too.

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         Rochelle Frankposted 13 years agoin reply to this

         That's true, but it might cut down the volume, some. I think it would be a good start.

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            LearnFromMeposted 13 years agoin reply to this

            I didn't think of the spam bios, relache. Good point! But like Rochelle said, would it cut down the volume of the low quality/spun hubs? It would be great to think it would...

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               Cardisaposted 13 years agoin reply to this

               I agree and a good profile page looks so professional. I too have encountered quite a lot of these spun articles.

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   LuisEGonzalezposted 13 years ago

   Posting a profile bio will not stop spammers but will help to deter some if they would have to take the time to actually write, so as far as the suggestion it can be of some usefulness and worth considering.....

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   princess gposted 13 years ago

   They should do like Infobarrel. You have to have ten reviewed articles before you can publish other articles without review. It weeds out a lot of that nonsense.

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      Mark Ewbieposted 13 years agoin reply to this

      Absolutely agree. It would save everybodies time - hubhoppers and moderators.

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   Vinaya Ghimireposted 13 years ago

   I strongly believe that when we contribute to an online writing sites like hubpages, we must also give our nice profile (I knew about writing interesting profile in a podcast hosted by hubpages).  We must not only write search friendly hubs but also profile, which really helps us to grow as a writer.

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   Cheeky Girlposted 13 years ago

   I have to admit, I kind of like reading about the person in their bio. It gives a better picture of what the person is about, and enables us to view them in the broader sense. The Bio kind of is a big giveaway. And no bio is sort of unusual...
   
   There are some hubbers who have many hubs and also have almost no bio as well. So it's a bit of all sorts in here

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   DoorMattnomoreposted 13 years ago

   I understand what the OP is getting at, if you were required to write a bio it might keep some spam down. But its pretty simple to type up a fake bio. And I like the fact that I do not have to reveal anything about myself if I dont want to.

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      Rochelle Frankposted 13 years agoin reply to this

      It's ok to write a fake bio-- but if a person does not understand English they may not be able to read the directions or suggestions and the bio won't make much sense.

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         mega1posted 13 years agoin reply to this

         You are always so darn sensible!  Of course, that is the reason incapable hubbers have below par hubs!  I was thinking here would be an example of profile of the substandard hubber:
         
         "O hiya! I is making of these hub for you.  Pleez read a lot of mine.  I will follow you.  I live on earth but I uzilly sound like from outer space. You be good.  Writing many things to make you hubber happy!  I have wife and kids somewhere.  Work in street.  Love to make hubber happy! Good to meet."

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            wildernessposted 13 years agoin reply to this

            
            
            I would definitely read THAT!  Not.

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            Jonathan Jancoposted 13 years agoin reply to this

            
            I never wrote that badly even when I was addicted to hard drugs! "Make you hubber happy" is going to stick in my head for a while.
            

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            shoganposted 13 years agoin reply to this

            I can't believe you posted my profile in such a mocking way, mega.

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      mega1posted 13 years agoin reply to this

      Yes, that's pretty much the way it is with me.  I am so fake and everybody can tell.  Don't make me be honest.  Please! 

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         Rochelle Frankposted 13 years agoin reply to this

         As i said before, I don't think it necessarily has to be true-- just more like yours than the one you just cited (or invented).

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         Bubblegum Senpaiposted 13 years agoin reply to this

         I use a fake name and avatar, and do somewhat shamelessly promote myself in my profile, but I also have links in my profile to three of my favourite hubbers - related to topics I write about - Just to prove I'm actually participate in the community.
         
         I also do give people an idea of what to expect when reading my writing, like the fact I listen to a certain type of music and enjoy watching certain shows.

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            Bubblegum Senpaiposted 13 years agoin reply to this

            Okay, i know I made a few gramatical errors in there, but unfortunately it won't let me edit forum posts

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   Lisa HWposted 13 years ago

   Another approach (the "more-effort approach") is that some people use a name that sounds about as middle-American as it could sound, they say they're from some middle-American sounding town/state, and put up a cliche-type picture that looks like a picture from a 1960's Sears Catalog (presumably because they think being a stereotypical, middle-American, might get them more credibility); and then say they're - like - a stay-at-home of 5 kids and they're interests are knitting and volunteering.
   
   Then they'll post a zillion Hubs (some spun, some stolen) either all on how to make money or software - or else of so many different subjects it's clear the person hasn't zero'd in on any particular writing style or interests.  Or else, the Hubs are all written in language that makes it clear that English is about as far as from the person's first language as it gets.
   
   Well, I once signed up with an outfit that said they matched writers with jobs.  Some of those assignments were to write fake profiles. I wasn't interested, but I was amazed that writing fake profiles actually showed up as assignments.    Guess that explains that hypothetical-example, stay-at-home mom's OK English in her profile and the struggling English everywhere but the profile.  I almost trust the no-profile Hubber (or Internet writer somewhere else) than some of "too hollow"/"too shallow" ones with profiles.

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      LearnFromMeposted 13 years agoin reply to this

      That's actually someone's job, to write fake profiles? That's crazy...but I guess there are some out there who need the money and would do something like that.

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         Lisa HWposted 13 years agoin reply to this

         What I ran into wasn't one person's job, but it was a place where writers/project-do-ers take assignments (and a ton of the assignments were from countries where paying $3 a project was apparently considered "acceptable"  lol.  I made the mistake of signing up for one that said something like "write a 500-word article" for - I don't know - $5 or $10.  They wanted someone who had strong grammar skills, so I figured it would be an easy couple of dollars until I found better projects.  (I was new there.)  It was only after getting the "project" that I discovered what it was.
         
         THEN (same place), a guy wanted me to create a fake profile and then use my own Yahoo account to start posting links "all over the world".  When I said I was concerned my account would be shut down he got really nasty and said, "Come on.  You weren't born yesterday!!"  (He was correct.  I wasn't.  I want and need whatever accounts I have for my own purposes and wasn't about to lose them for his lousy few dollars that would have bought me a few of cups of coffee in the U.S. )

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            melbelposted 13 years agoin reply to this

            I hate people who treat people like that. I get that a LOT in freelance. It's ridiculous. I was contacted on my HubPages account by someone who wanted me to write them an article.
            
            It took a lot of back and forth before I found out that he wanted me to write a hub to put on my own HubPages account and put his site url as a link and out of the honesty that he has as an affiliate marketer, he'll let me know when an incoming visitor buys something and then when they make a purchase I get $10.
            
            When I swiftly rejected this he was like, "But you get $10 per sale and on top of that, if your article gets a million views you'll make a fortune with AdSense!" (Apparently he's new at this.)
            
            I just deleted the email, but yeah what a great idea, though, right? Write an article about vitamins, or whatever and then get a million views... what a novel idea... I've not thought about this before.... I've been going about it all wrong! I thought people wanted to read interesting things.
            
            See ya' guys! I'm off to write about mesothelioma lawyers and then I'm going to get a million views so I can make a fortune on AdSense! I wish I had an affiliate link to add to my hubs so I can have a little side income to the fortune I'm going to make with AdSense.

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8. 93

   Urbane Chaosposted 13 years ago

   All this talk about Hubbers creating professional bios got me thinking, and experimenting.  It's been a long time since I did anything with my profile page, so it's about time anyway.
   
   The problem that I have with the profile page is that it's very limited on what can be done.  So, I spent about an hour just looking through different profiles on here to get some ideas.  I think I came up with something that works - for me, at least.
   
   Basically, I kept the profile page very simple.  Personally, I like to see that nice little list of hubs up front and center, but it's hard to do that if you're forced to put your entire bio on the profile page.
   
   Instead, I simply listed what I do and kept everything short.  Immediately under that, separated by an ASCII divider, I added links to a professional bio page as well a link to a personal bio page.  I also added a link to my Facebook page.
   
   Finally, separated by another divider, I added a link to my main sales hub.  The last link goes directly to Amazon, and includes my affiliate information.
   
   When I get a little more time, I'll add a link section to each of those pages (except Amazon, of course) that goes back to the profile page.
   
   My thought is this: By separating out my profile like that I can accomplish several things.  First, it gives me more hubs, which means more earnings.  Second, it allows the reader to get to know what I do a little more.  And third, it allows the reader to dive right into the hubs since their more easily accessible.  Also, by adding the Amazon links front and center, it should encourage more people to click on those links.
   
   I don't know yet how it'll work out, but I think it's a decent set up.

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