What happens if you are sick or have a family or work responsibility?

1. 67

   Debby Bruckposted 12 years ago

   Dear friends of Hubpages, which I do adore,
   I find it rather sickening the way the profile scoring erratically bounces up and down. Is this done on purpose, have your blogs here suddenly devalued because you were sick one or two days, or had to take care of family, or have a job responsibility?
   
   Two days ago my score was 93%, now it is at 88%
   
   What happened between then and now?
   
   My last few new hubs were written 01/07/12 and 01/05/12 and 01/03/12 with two new hubs and 01/01/12 and 12/29/11 respectively
   
   Thus, I did not post a hub only in one day, today.
   
   I have continued to comment on the work of other people, plus respond to questions, forums and conversations on hubs.
   
   Something is definitely wrong. Has this happened to other people? What type of response and feelings do you have about these events and scoring system?
   
   As always, blessings to you all
   Debby

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   1. 95

      wildernessposted 12 years agoin reply to this

      You have read the section pertaining to scores in the learning center, right?  Where it plainly says that a part of that score is random?  That the scores will rise and fall for absolutely no reason?
      
      If you are obsessing over 5 points in your hubber score you are paying WAY too much attention to it.  It means less than nothing as long as it is above 75, and then only if you are looking for dofollow links from your hubs.

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   2. 71

      The Blagsmithposted 12 years agoin reply to this

      I suffered an illness recently that involved an emergency operation over the Christmas and New year period. After a week I came out of hospital and was surprised not to see it lower. My lowest since the period I came out of hospital until now was 85 and the highest 92. I am not too sure what the randomness is but I suspect it is not too dissimilar to Google's search engine algorithms.
      
      For those who are concerned my next hub will feature my illness experience.

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      1. 67

         Debby Bruckposted 12 years agoin reply to this

         Let us know when you write your next hub. I hope you are doing much better now. Blessings, Debby

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         1. 71

            The Blagsmithposted 12 years agoin reply to this

            I have Debby. One about my operation and suddenly I got creative writing about creativity itself. I hope you enjoy them.

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      2. 77

         mathiraposted 12 years agoin reply to this

         I too do not understand the fluctuating of my hub score. One day it is 88 and the very next day it is 86. The highest score I have got was 90.

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2. 73

   relacheposted 12 years ago

   The HubScore system is designed to fluctuate.  As long as your score is above 75 (the no-follow/do-follow threshold)  there's no need to stress about it.
   
   http://hubpages.com/faq/#hubscorecalc

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3. 87

   brittanytoddposted 12 years ago

   Yeah, I never really worried about my hubber score as I knew it wasn't a big deal as long as I kept it over 75, but I just started a full-time job and haven't been posting as many hubs as often as I used to.  Just today, my score dropped from 91 to 85, where it is now. 
   
   Although we know it is going to fluctuate, it's somewhat of a bummer to know that if you can't publish a hub for five days, your score will suffer.  It's weird too because I was just in the newsletter and have been getting more traffic and followers since then and I thought my score would go up...nope.  The fluctuation of the hubberscore continues to confuse me.

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4. 75

   barryrutherfordposted 12 years ago

   It would be good for the staff would come up with an algorithm that would not piss hubbers off...

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   1. 74

      WriteAngledposted 12 years agoin reply to this

      The simplest thing is to ignore it totally, which is what I do. It is just another tedious manifestation of the belief that people will only perform if you treat them like 5-year olds with points, gold stars and other senseless "accolades" that do not relate in any way to earning potential, quality of content or any other parameter of relevance and importance.

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5. 60

   anonimuzzposted 12 years ago

   I spent almost a year without logging in here and when I returned, I had it on 85.  Cute.

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6. 58

   WD Curry 111posted 12 years ago

   I have not been here long. I am not on Facebook or Twitter. My score is not that much of a concern for me. I don't have a network, so It doesn't affect my meager earnings much. I don't generate thousands of visits like this kind of effort requires for $. Since I have been around and I am getting older, I am jaded to those kind of carrots. It is good human resource psychology by management to keep you hungry for merit points.
   
   Intermittent, random reward leads to compulsive behavior. It helps to have your human resources compulsive about production.
   
   http://wdcurry111.hubpages.com/hub/why-we-fish

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7. 90

   Pcunixposted 12 years ago

   Whatever causes it, none of us know.  Whenever you think you know, you'll soon find that you were wrong.
   
   One of the most likely things that  seldom gets mentioned is that it is most likely "on the curve".  That is, the top performers are going to get 100, but what constitutes top is constantly changing.  Therefore, even if nothing actually changes with my factors, changes to someone else can push me up or down.
   
   In other words, you aren't just in competition with yourself,  we are all in competition with each other.  That's why it is impossible to say "do this and your score will change".  It might, but the changes caused by everyone else can magnify that or diminish it.
   
   Final take:  don't sweat it.  It is what it is.

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8. 93

   vocalcoachposted 12 years ago

   I would be less than truthful if I said that I don't check my score, because I do.  However, my own satisfaction comes from writing material that will help someone else in some way. The act of writing is all that I care about...and of course my hubfriends mean a great deal to me.

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9. 67

   Debby Bruckposted 12 years ago

   Dear @wilderness @relache @brittanytodd @barryrutherford @WriteAngled @anonimuzz @WD Curry 111 @Pcunix @vocalcoach
   
   Thank you all for your sage advice and personal experiences with this matter.
   
   In my mind, the administration would not have a profile score for any of us if they did not want us to look at it, or to use it as feedback of our involvement and performance, nor would we have it there in the first place for outsiders to view supposedly how we place rank in this author community.
   
   As a performer and one who takes a critique in order to improve, then an author here would create a system to work at peak performance and gain rewards. The same for all the badges. What are these? Hokey pokey?
   
   This Pavlovian method, like grades in school, provides for us a motivation to return again and again, to strive to do better, to write creative and original hubs, to participate in the different aspects of the network.
   
   This up and down bla-bla-bla total illogical scoring is like manic polar disorder as in the roller coaster ride.
   
   Perhaps part of my New Year's resolution is to put blinders on that aspect of my profile? I could put a piece of tape on my computer screen in the corner. What baloney.
   
   Sorry, for the outrage. I was at 93% and striving to keep a steady balance in the nineties. Hello out there! Yes. I want the "A" grade.
   
   Okay. I'm a bit calmer now. Thanks for all your support. And, if anyone ever figures out some logic behind all this nonsense just give me a buzz.
   
   Blessings,
   Debby

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   1. 58

      WD Curry 111posted 12 years agoin reply to this

      Your score does not reflect your writing ability or your prowess at the gig. It is off the chart.

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      1. 67

         Debby Bruckposted 12 years agoin reply to this

         I appreciate the vote of confidence

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   2. 86

      Marisa Wrightposted 12 years agoin reply to this

      I think that's a big assumption.  Hubber Score was created right back in the early days of HubPages. It is completely irrelevant to the business of earning income and has become largely irrelevant otherwise.  At one time, having a high score meant you were featured on the front page but no longer. 
      
      Of course, one could be cynical and say the randomness of it is a way to keep us striving to improve it - if we knew exactly how to keep it high, it would all be too easy, wouldn't it?
      
      
      
      Outsiders have no idea what the numbers mean.  Most of them don't even notice them, and if they do, they misunderstand them (one of my friends thought the 97 on my photo meant I was ranked 97th).
      
      Most readers do not come to HubPages and browse around the community. They arrive at the site via a search engine looking for information on one specific topic, and they are so focussed on that topic, they often don't even notice who the author is, let alone wonder what the numbers are.

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      1. 67

         Debby Bruckposted 12 years agoin reply to this

         Debby replies --- I really don't know for sure what outsiders think when they see the profile number. It could mean any number of things. But, to me, when I see something that appears one out of one-hundred in value, and I would guess that is what those numbers represent, then it means something out of 100 score value. I'm an old fuddy duddy being way past half a century old and was brought up to think in this manner. Perhaps I'm also thinking like an older generation that doesn't know a thing.

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         1. 86

            Marisa Wrightposted 12 years agoin reply to this

            Well, I'm past my half century too!  I hadn't given much thought to how outsiders see it, until one of my friends made that comment about me being ranked 97th.  Since then, I've asked several people who've read my Hubs, and most of them say they didn't even notice the number.  Those that did, had no idea what it meant.

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   3. 61

      tom hellertposted 12 years agoin reply to this

      BEB,
      I gotta say its seems to be a puzzle all over My hubscore got up to 93 once but in general im between 87 -91 occassionally I dip to 85 or 83 but I really think thatHP exects more out of good writers LIKE YOU  compared to somebody like me. Comparitively Im a jingle writer to your concert piece compositions... They are probably like "good boy Tom only 7 spelling mistakes ...hey he used a comma!!! Was that a semicolon in paragraph 3??? He must have hit the wrong key...naaah he got lucky. LOOK ERE 10 PEOPLE READ THIS ONE NICE ONE tOM.." Good boy Tom heres a cookie"
      But you have real talent ..."What's THIS DEB YPOUR PARTICIPAL WAS DANGLING...HOW DARE YOU??? "THAT DEB SHE IS SLIPPING ONLY GOT 85 PEOPLE READING THAT ONE, WE BETTER KNOCK HER DOWN A PEG..." OH NO A MISPLACES OUMLOUT.. SHE SHOULD NOT QUOTE gERMAN SO HAP HAZARDLY"  BUT SERIOUSLY- Ive said this before they take a dart throw it at the board for every letter of the alphabet they toss it a a special dart board that has multiple outcomes
      Score raises by 5 score down by 4.... stay same  raise/drop 1,2,3
      ask again later....ban for a week, ban for 2 weeks give out writing awards
      so yet again you thought maybe Tom will have an idea about this and in the end realized at best you snickered at a few of my quips and will never get that time back
      Live well and proper Deb-
      TH

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      1. 67

         Debby Bruckposted 12 years agoin reply to this

         Tom - That was the cutest thing I ever read and really made me smile. To tell the truth this is the daily conversation around here and my husband thinks its a sham. Just so that I shouldn't walk around depressed the day the ball drops, I will remember they take the dart board out and throw the dart where ever it lands.
         
         Blessings to you young man!
         Debby

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10. 87

    Bill Yovinoposted 12 years ago

    The hubscore was designed to alienate.

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    1. 67

       Debby Bruckposted 12 years agoin reply to this

       It does appear that way in many instances.

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11. 81

    homesteadboundposted 12 years ago

    I know someone who has made one comment in the last two weeks, has not written a hub in months, and who typically rated right with me when they were active. Even though they are not active, they still rank the same as me. You just never know!

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12. 87

    Bill Yovinoposted 12 years ago

    Hubscores should not be visible to the outside world. They should be viewable to the account owner and maybe other hubbers via a menu choice.  They serve no useful purpose and in many cases are downright discouraging. I wish they would disappear.

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    1. 67

       Debby Bruckposted 12 years agoin reply to this

       This is a brilliant idea. Has anyone ever told the Hubpages Team in a suggestion box? In this case, it would be the inner motivation of the individual author who reaps the rewards, rather than an external competition and perhaps even fear or embarrassment of what the public views.

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    2. 86

       Marisa Wrightposted 12 years agoin reply to this

       Excellent suggestion.  I don't mind them being visible to other Hubbers but they serve no useful purpose for outsiders.

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       1. 67

          Debby Bruckposted 12 years agoin reply to this

          
          Hello Dear Marisa ~ This is a surprise comment from you. I like it! Blessings, Debby

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          1. 86

             Marisa Wrightposted 12 years agoin reply to this

             I'm not sure why you'd think so?  Like I said, my experience is that outsiders misunderstand the numbers so they're serving no useful purpose outside the community.

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             1. 61

                BakingBread-101posted 12 years agoin reply to this

                For me it doesn't matter.  I tried to start on Hub Pages when I decided to move my website BakingBread-101, which is a dot com site.  I couldn't get anything published because Hub Pages said it was duplicate content.  It was so frustrating to me because I wanted to move my stuff over that I ended up moving it to a different host instead.  I don't care about the score, I just wanted to share and I can't.  I'm still trying to rewrite my original post and have to change it as much as possible, but I'm still getting that it might be considered substandard or duplicate content.  Oh well.  I think you forum posters are great, but I don't think the score means much.  And I'm starting to think it's almost impossible to write content that doesn't somewhat duplicate a subject somewhere.

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                1. 86

                   Marisa Wrightposted 12 years agoin reply to this

                   Are you sure the warning is about duplicate content?  "Substandard" can mean lots of things - length is one possibility.
                   
                   HubPages is not a blogging site, so a Hub is much longer than a typical blog post.  If, for instance, you want to publish a recipe, then you'll need to add a story about the recipe and some images, otherwise it simply won't be long enough to be acceptable.  Aim for at least 400 words.
                   
                   It's very possible to write content that "doesn't somewhat duplicate a subject somewhere".  The HubPages filter isn't checking the sense of the text, it's checking actual words.  So if you've changed all the words, even if you're saying exactly the same thing, it will be OK.

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                   1. 61

                      BakingBread-101posted 12 years agoin reply to this

                      Thanks Marissa.  The one that was supposedly substandard was 495 words.  And I substantially changed my wording while trying to keep the jist of the content.  Interestingly enough, I couldn't call the people who post here Hubbers, nor could I name the host I moved my site to -- both were considered "advertising".  Yet I've read other hubs that mention authors, names of books, places of interest, etc.  It's just very strange to me.

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    3. 87

       brittanytoddposted 12 years agoin reply to this

       This is a fabulous idea!

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13. 59

    Cassie Smithposted 12 years ago

    You can influence your hubscore but ultimately it is arrived at by some weird algorithm which also includes the popularity of your hubs.  I wouldn't worry about them, but what do I know, my hubscore isn't that great and yours is better than mine.

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14. 60

    Randy Godwinposted 12 years ago

    I think it works perfectly! 

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    1. 87

       brittanytoddposted 12 years agoin reply to this

       Hahaha!

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       1. 60

          Randy Godwinposted 12 years agoin reply to this

          I'm glad you understood I was only joking, BT! 

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          1. 87

             brittanytoddposted 12 years agoin reply to this

             Well with that score, you must be doing something right...

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15. 80

    mega1posted 12 years ago

    Although we keep saying this - it always helps to know your Hubber score will have nothing to do with your earnings unless it swoops down under 75.  OK?  people keep wondering these things - I think that's spelled out in the instructions to new hubbers, but maybe not.  Better to pay attention to which hubs are doing extra well with an individual hub score of 80 or more and try to duplicate that kind of effort.

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    1. 87

       Bill Yovinoposted 12 years agoin reply to this

       Understood, but when you're on a diet it's a bad idea to weigh yourself every day. I would prefer to see my hubscore when i want to and not have it staring back on every page.

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       1. 80

          mega1posted 12 years agoin reply to this

          what I mean is, I look at the statistics page and put them order of highest scoring - when hubs consistently stay at the top of the list, I look at those and see if I can do similar hubs on different subjects to get the same consistent high scores - because those high scores do bring more views and a higher ranking in the SEOs.  The lesser hubs I make a mental note of what I probably did wrong with them or whether they're just not popular subjects.  Sometimes you can fix those up to make them better.  So the hub score combined with the number of views is what I pay attention to.  But also, I love it when I get in the high 90s or even get a 100 - I think its good for my wee ego!
          
          this is all pretty much theory lately, since I've been so blocked I haven't written a new hub for quite awhile.  I seem to get my ideas when I'm driving somebody else and can't stop to write them down, or when I'm having a dream or otherwise doing something else.  I think I'll remember the ideas = but I usually don't remember much of them.

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          1. 87

             Bill Yovinoposted 12 years agoin reply to this

             The topic is about a Hubber's overall score, not about the scores assigned to undividual hubs. There is value in seeing how your individual hubs are rated, but I don't think those numbers should be shown to readers.

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             1. 80

                mega1posted 12 years agoin reply to this

                I think you're looking for a bit of an arguement.  Not with me!  won't bite!  There's nothing to disagree with about what I said - I'm just describing what the hubber score means to me and how I use it - whether it has value.  If you have issues with how HP is set up, then that'syour problem.  They assign a value as they see it to Hubbers and their work - that's how they've set it up.  I see the hubber score as a kind of challenge - if you're doing the right things it goes up - so do your earnings to some extent, but they're not dependent on your score.  It's just there as an indicator for you.  If it bothers you, then why?  (I don't really care why, just asking you to ask yourself)
                
                Also if you look at the hubs of the people who get 100s you see pretty much what HubPages values in hubs and if you want, you can imitate their success.  Lots of people don't care at all about their scores or earnings and just write for the pleasure of it.  It doesn't have to be a competition, at all, but it can be if you make it one.

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                1. 87

                   Bill Yovinoposted 12 years agoin reply to this

                   My point was that your reply was mostly off-topic.

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16. 0

    Home Girlposted 12 years ago

    We all need our carrot from time to time. Personal score is as good as any.
    
    

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    1. 87

       Bill Yovinoposted 12 years agoin reply to this

       Exactly - "from time to time", not constantly in your face.

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17. 87

    Bill Yovinoposted 12 years ago

    I don't know of any other blogging platform that displays a rating system for all the world to see. This is ridiculous.

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