Saying Blah, Blah, Blah to "How To" Hubs.

1. 79

   Don Bobbittposted 13 years ago

   I wish there were a way to filter the Grain from the Chaff. For some reason, the first thing a new Hubber discovers is that if they put HOW TO at the beginning of their Hub, and follow with words like; increase, Views, tags, SEO, links, keywords, ads, etc, then they will get a lot of "Reads" on their Hub.
   Everyone wants to improve, right?
   I, for one, am still a sucker for these Hubs, but after I get into one, it is pretty easy to see that they are actually "Empty Hubs".
   Full of nothing new,and often full of nothing at all.
   Oh, I know that we can flag them down, but I wish we had a BLAH, BLAH, BLAH button or something that would be pasted onto the Hub after there were a certain number of these.  OK, I know this will not be allowed, but what else can we, as Honest, Working Hubbers do to minimize this cheap Chaff?
   Or, is just that I have only had one cup of Coffee, so far today?

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      Xenonlitposted 13 years agoin reply to this

      It looks like quality over quantity. True how to's are a good thing, but garbage is not.  Will I change all my cooking titles? No. But I may start flagging sweatshop junk.

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2. 60

   MelissaBarrettposted 13 years ago

   It might be lack of coffee.  I haven't had any yet this morning and I am completely lacking in both sarcasm and irony. 
   
   So I'll have to agree with you.  There are great SEO articles out there, however most of them are very repetitive and contain no helpful information unless that hub is the first you've ever read on the topic.

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3. 77

   Time Spiralposted 13 years ago

   Some of my "how to" hubs have become authorities on the matter.
   
   I'm enjoying it quite a bit, but I get what you're saying.
   
   The web DOES NOT need another "how to make money online" article, or "how to increase your Google rank" article. I insta-vote them down because (1) the writer is almost never a competent authority on the matter and (2) there is just a voluminous amount of that already in existence. We don't need more.
   
   But, I love how to article that are very specific, and under-served. They are truly ever-green.

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4. 79

   Don Bobbittposted 13 years ago

   On my second cup, now Melissa. Just had an idea!  wouldn't it g=be great if HP started a "HUBPEDIA" and placed excerpts from the "Best of the Best" for all of Hubbers to easily reference.
   Nah! ..... It makes too much sense.

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5. 79

   Don Bobbittposted 13 years ago

   Time Spiral, I agree. It's the Chaff that drives me crazy. I just read through on from a guy in Pakistan that includes over 500 words that say absolutely NOTHING. This is the Chaff I am talking about. He will probably get dozens of readers over the next week or so. ;>(

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      Barbara Kayposted 13 years agoin reply to this

      I think I read that one too. At least I read one this week that had no information in it.

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6. 86

   crazyhorsesghostposted 13 years ago

   I know I keep flagging the 200 - 300 word Hubs that really say nothing. I can not believe that some people would even try to publish some of it. Why? But someone on the net has told them to come here and get rich and then after they publish the 10 200-300 word hubs they start threads saying why don't I get any traffic and why am I not making money yet. But I guess we all had to start some where.

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   1. 79

      Don Bobbittposted 13 years agoin reply to this

      I believe that you have hit right on the problem. HP is a democracy, of sorts, I guess. By that I mean, anyone can TRY to write. But, it has become so obvious that there are people, around the world, who believe that because they had studied English, that they can make big money by writing on HP.
      Sad to say, my VOTE DOWN button finger has developed a callous, and it is just so darn tiresome to do this so much.
      Don't get me wrong, I am not just flying through posts, and arbitrarily pressing the V-Down button. I feel for these people who shoot these little typed bullets out there, hoping for so much and truly not being ready for what they have decided to do.
      With Google, now, you can see a tally of the "+"'s.Should there be a visible tally of the UP and DOWN counts.
      I don't know.

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      1. 77

         Aficionadaposted 13 years agoin reply to this

         
         What would happen if some Hubber had a vendetta against another one and just arbitrarily voted down every Hub?

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         1. 76

            Uninvited Writerposted 13 years agoin reply to this

            Hubpages would notice and do something about it.

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            1. 77

               Aficionadaposted 13 years agoin reply to this

               I hope you're right.  But I had something similar happen on a small scale - not every Hub, but quite a few, voted "funny" all at the same time - immediately after I had deleted a comment from a weird Hubber who has since been banned.  Nothing was ever done about the votes, even though I asked about it in the forum.  I don't know that HP staff have enough time to notice that sort of behavior, unless it is pointed out to them.  I hate the idea that new Hubbers might see a number of Down votes (for their Hubs) that could be nothing more than reactions from some disgruntled person and all of their sock puppets.

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               1. 76

                  Uninvited Writerposted 13 years agoin reply to this

                  You can't see how many down votes you get anyway.

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                  1. 77

                     Aficionadaposted 13 years agoin reply to this

                     
                     UW, my response above was specifically about this post:
                     
                     DB seemed to be suggesting that the counts be visible.  My response related to that suggestion.  I think it would be a bad idea for the Down counts to be visible, even if only to the Hubber involved, because of what I have written previously.
                     
                     But, if some people would like HP to make that change (allowing Hubbers to see the tally of Up and Down votes), at least make it optional for the Hubber.

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7. 76

   Uninvited Writerposted 13 years ago

   I agree, I'm tired of finding hubs that don't say anything.

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   1. 88

      rebekahELLEposted 13 years agoin reply to this

      Not only do they not say anything, they say the same thing over and over again.
      I'm surprised they're not on the list of 'over populated' topics.

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8. 79

   Don Bobbittposted 13 years ago

   Yeah! I guess there are no perfect solutions for something like this. If Only!

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9. 93

   Dolores Monetposted 13 years ago

   Well, I for one, often read how-tos. When I started writing on here, and for many projects at home...if I don't know how to do it. My husband fixed our fridge and has repaired lots of things he could not without how-to articles.

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   1. 79

      Barbara Kayposted 13 years agoin reply to this

      Dolores, I think they are referring more to the how to make money articles. I've found a lot of good how to articles on here. In fact I've written a few myself.

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10. 61

    Mark Ewbieposted 13 years ago

    My how to make money hub doesn't make any money.
    My how to get search engine traffic never has any hits.
    And my how to get laid.. well, it's not been a great success.

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    1. 79

       Don Bobbittposted 13 years agoin reply to this

       Refreshing Perspective, Mark. You Kill me. Thanks for the smile on a rainy day!

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    2. 60

       MelissaBarrettposted 13 years agoin reply to this

       Awwww...
       
       I've got some single friends...
       
       Then you can write your "How to dodge flying lamps" hub

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