Someone is posting links to my hubs on Traffup without my permission.

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   DeborahNeyensposted 13 years ago

   In reviewing my traffic sources recently, I noticed that I was getting traffic from a site called traffup.com, which I had never heard of before.  I went to the site and signed up for it to see what it was all about, and found that someone had posted a link there to one of my hubs. I thought this was something like stumble or digg (also sites I had never heard of until I joined Hubpages) and added a few more links to my articles.  But then, after further research, I learned that Hubpages considers traffup to be a traffic exchange, so I immediately disabled the links I had posted.  But there is still at least one link out there to one of my hubs that someone else posted without my permission.  Why would someone do that, and what can I do to stop it?  Any advice would be appreciated.  Thanks.

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      DeborahNeyensposted 13 years agoin reply to this

      Seems like everyone is as confused as I am about traffup.  I will email HP staff and report back what I hear from them.  Thanks everyone!

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      vexezposted 13 years agoin reply to this

      I don't think you need to bother that much. Like many others has said, everyone can link to everyone or do anything to link to your URL. Even if they post your link in gambling, p*rn or any illegal sites, you cannot do anything to it.
      
      I believe Hubpages wouldn't be so unfair to penalize you for anything related to such situation. Same goes to Google or other search engines. Most search engines, I believe, will just ignore those links and do not take them into considerations.
      
      If any rules or regulations that penalize you for such situation, it's simply unfair and could be abused. It simply means anyone can go spam your URL to all the bad sites and bring your page's value down or even to intentionally get your account penalized.
      
      Don't worry so much. If you feel safer to report it to Hubpages team, go ahead.

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         QuestionMasterposted 13 years agoin reply to this

         Just because it's not "fair" doesn't mean you can't get in trouble.
         
         Traffic exchanges are against Google Adsense ToS, which means it's still possible to lose your account this way.

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      Wesman Todd Shawposted 13 years agoin reply to this

      You shouldn't worry about it - Google knows EXACTLY from what IP address your link was posted to a traffic exchange site from.
      
      I'd venture to guess that Hubpages could find out exactly whether or not you were using an illicit site like that as well.
      
      Truthfully - someone was plugging my links on "plug a link" which I'm sure is similar in that it's a traffic exchange.  So I plugged a few myself.
      
      I got to questioning the legitimacy of the site - just on a huntch and asked Simone, on staff, about it - and she told me that "no" it's not cool to use such sites; and so I stopped.
      
      Google knows who does what - they know your IP address.  I'd not worry about someone else promoting something you published, it only means that they liked it.

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   DeborahNeyensposted 13 years ago

   Clarification: the site is actually traffup.net.

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   RKHenryposted 13 years ago

   People don't need your permission to post  a backlink to something you have published.

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      MelissaBarrettposted 13 years agoin reply to this

      No, but if the link is from a site that violates hp's TOS then they need to at least be aware of it or she could lose her account over someone else's backlink.

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         IntimatEvolutionposted 13 years agoin reply to this

         Melissa, hi.  I think your knowledge of how that all work is incorrect.  The original hubber would not face any known consequences because someone else posted a backlink to her article. In fact it actually helps to boost her over all Google search ranking.  So..., I am not forsure where your insight on the subject came from, but unfortunately I believe it is wrong.

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            MelissaBarrettposted 13 years agoin reply to this

            I was under the impression that if a hubber was found to be using a traffic exchange program that they could have their account removed.  I'm sorry if I was wrong I don't have all the ins and outs down yet.

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   PaulGoodman67posted 13 years ago

   Anybody can link to anything on the web.  You can only complain if they steal or duplicate your content.  I would be glad to get the traffic, myself...  :-)

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      DeborahNeyensposted 13 years agoin reply to this

      But the problem is, as I understand it, if I am getting traffic from a traffic exchange, I am at risk of having my hub unpublished and losing my hubpages account.

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         Cagsilposted 13 years agoin reply to this

         Then I would email Staff and let them know that YOU didn't do it. Team@Hubpages.com

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            DeborahNeyensposted 13 years agoin reply to this

            Thanks.  I'll do that.  I also contacted the traffup site.

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               Cagsilposted 13 years agoin reply to this

               You're welcome. And, yes ask that site to remove your link immediately.

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         PaulGoodman67posted 13 years agoin reply to this

         My interpretation was that you couldn't promote traffup  on HP deliberately -  you can't control what traffic comes to your site.  I have had traffup traffic on my Google Blogger sites.  It is done as a way of self promotion, I think.  If you ignore it, it will go away.
         
         Hubpages are concerned about people promoting spammy and dodgy sites.  You are not promoting traffup.  But if you are worried, you could make your comments 'approval only' as suggested by others?

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            DeborahNeyensposted 13 years agoin reply to this

            Thanks, Paul.  I'm not getting the connection to the comments, though.  This wasn't in a comment to my hub.  This was someone posting a link to my hub on the traffup site.  They actually gave it a slightly different title, but when I clicked on the link, it went to my hub.  Now my hub is showing I have a fairly decent amount of traffic from an illegal (per hubpages rules) traffic exchange and I'm concerned my hub will be unpublished as a result.

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   Cagsilposted 13 years ago

   But, you can delete the comment to prevent the links remaining in place. You can also set your comment capsule on each of your hubs by editing them.
   
   You can always set your comments to needing to be approved before posting and that will allow you to get to the comments before they are actually left on the hub.

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      DeborahNeyensposted 13 years agoin reply to this

      This has nothing to do with a comment.  Traffup is a place to generate traffic to your websites through a point system.  Someone went to traffup.net and posted a link to my hub as if it were their own website.

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   QuestionMasterposted 13 years ago

   Although it's impossible to control who links back to your site (and a lot of the time, any backlink is appreciated), it's still important to monitor them.
   
   I know of at least one hubber who had their hub unpublished because someone else was posting links to that hub on "spammy" sites.
   
   Also, if the site is considered a traffic exchange, it's against Adsense ToS.
   
   Hubpages, of course, may be more forgiving if you explain the situation. Adsense often isn't so forgiving.

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   DeborahNeyensposted 13 years ago

   Here's an update:  The Hubpages team has confirmed that it is a violation to link to traffup.net because it's a traffic exchange.  I also heard back from the support people at traffup.net and they've indicated they disabled the link to my hub that was posted there by someone else.
   
   The lesson is to monitor your traffic sources and if you see you are getting views from traffup, understand that someone else may have posted a link there and this may create a problem for you with Hubpages/Google Adsense unless you take action to get the link disabled.  Hope this information is useful to all of you.  Thanks again to all those who responded.
   
   Deb

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      PaulGoodman67posted 13 years agoin reply to this

      Thanks for the info.

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      smcopywriteposted 13 years agoin reply to this

      thank you so much for the information. this would make a great subject for a hub because i am sure a lot of people dont realize this. i will certainly check my traffic sources a lot more closely.

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         Wesman Todd Shawposted 13 years agoin reply to this

         Well, I'd personally like to hear from staff that should someone else backlink someone's hub to a traffic exchange - that they do, in fact, have the IP wherewithal to determine that it's not "us" doing that.
         
         I can be responsible for exactly one person's behavior in this world - mine, and so I can't accept that someone could be penalized on THIS site for what someone else does with anyone's hub links in the black hat traffic arena.
         
         I get all sorts of weirdo traffic sources sometimes, and lots of times I've never looked to see what sort of site it was that sent me traffic.  Obviously, the names of "traffup" and/or "plug a link" - tell the whole story for those places.....but of course if you don't know, then you don't know.
         
         ....so maybe I should e mail staff, or something and ask.

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   Azure11posted 13 years ago

   This is interesting as I have a few websites that I set up and int he beginning I got links from something like this - I'm not sure of the exact name of the site but this sounds familiar - and I didn't put the links there.
   
   So this makes me wonder if someone else has put the links there to sabotage my site and put it down the rankings - I will have to look into this further...

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      DeborahNeyensposted 13 years agoin reply to this

      My husband's theory is that it was someone to traffup doing it to try to drive traffic to their site.  It almost worked, too, because I started posting my own links until I realized it was a HP violation!

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         PaulGoodman67posted 13 years agoin reply to this

         Your husband is almost certainly right.  I have just ignored Traffup in the past, though, and nothing has happened.  They normally stop sending you traffic after a while and you are very unlikely to be punished if you are a completely innocent party.

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   charliegrumplesposted 13 years ago

   sounds like a good place to link to sites you want downgraded if that's the case ... If HP and google can prove that you put it there yourself then fair enough but it is so open to others posting links to their competitors so I can't see how you can be punished for that .. I can think of a few sites I'd like to post links too ;-)

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    LindaSmith1posted 13 years ago

    Certainly you can contact Traffup and give them as much info as you can on the member of the site that did that. Also contact Hub pages.

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    LindaSmith1posted 13 years ago

    I am curious about one thing though. Why would you be upset of someone is posting links to your articles. I often find articles that are relevant to my site that are full of information. I will write a short intro and then provide link to where the full article is. 
    
    Now I have done two things: I have provided great information to my site or blog visitors that choose to click on link to read the article
    
    I may even copy the article and post it. Of course, their name and where the article came from is always included. I never claim another persons work as my own.
    
    Secondly, I have directed traffic to where the aricle is posted.
    
    But, the one thing I do not do, is take somebody's link and put it on a free traffic exchange like Traffic Ad Bar and others where people do nothing but surf for points.

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       DeborahNeyensposted 13 years agoin reply to this

       I wasn't upset that someone posted a link to my article.  Like you, I welcome people sharing my articles with others.  I was upset that the link was posted to a traffic exchange, which jeopardized my status with Hubpages and Google Adsense.

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          LindaSmith1posted 13 years agoin reply to this

          I would complain to both the exchange and let hub pages know for sure.
          
          Why would they even do that, since it is no benefit to them at all.
          It is nuts.

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             DeborahNeyensposted 13 years agoin reply to this

             I've done both.  The more I think about it, it probably was someone from traffup trolling hubpages to get hubbers over to their site.  I just want everyone to be aware and monitor their own traffic sources in case it happens to them.

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    LindaSmith1posted 13 years ago

    Pesonally, I don't even know why anybody uses Traffup. I signed up for it. But, I will not go back to it. What is there, is there and I will leave it. But, for those who want to waste time trying to figure it out, having your computer totally go in freeze mode, knock yourself out.
    
    It is a waste of time. I went onto internet and looked for reviews. Same complaints, hard to use, very limited even worse than google blogger, and it freezes, freezes, and freezes again.

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    psycheskinnerposted 13 years ago

    I would not assume to much about what google knows or refers to before summarily closing your account. Better safe....

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    RishSabposted 11 years ago

    @LindaSmith1 - I am using Traffup and it doesn't freeze my computer. People can have different opinions about it, but at least don't make things up.
    
    @Deborah - Was it actually someone from traffup trolling hubpages to get hubbers over to their site? Had it been the case, we would have seen more such complaints. Don't you think so?

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       Marisa Wrightposted 11 years agoin reply to this

       If you're using Traffup, you're taking a risk.  Hubbers have been banned for using it.  Traffic exchanges are against Google's TOS.

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       psycheskinnerposted 11 years agoin reply to this

       1) You risk losing your Hubpages and Adsense accounts
       
       2) There have been at  least three previous threads here about people having problems with traffic from exchange traffic being sent to them by a third party. It is actually not that uncommon as a troll practice (see #1).

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