HubPages: Beware of Those Who Will Try to Sabotage Your Hub
To Fellow Hubbers
When I first started writing on HubPages, one of my hubs drew a lot of traffic and a bit of controversy with some people. Traffic is good for a hub even if the reader does not agree with what you are saying. Commenting on the hub is good, too, even if the commenter is proselytizing – or so I thought.
Not too long ago I told a fellow hubber that I did not “deny” comments that disagreed with my hub, and at the time I stood by that believing a little controversy and mature “agreeing to disagree” is good.
We should all be willing to stand behind our hubs, but I had one person who was insisting I “agree” to something I didn’t feel comfortable saying. I refused and stood by my hub and accepted accountability.
My Polly-Annish approach to giving the benefit of the doubt and not expecting anything beyond "agreeing to disagree" has taught me it might be okay to deny a comment. Instead, I tried to reason and back up what I was saying in my hub.
What Happened Next?
I noticed the traffic on the hub was going up. Seemed like a good thing, right? Then, I noticed the hub score for that particular hub was dropping fast. I was curious, but I did not want to jump to conclusions. Today, I was checking my Google Analytics. When I went to the traffic sources, I saw the hubber’s username who disagreed with me. Not only had the hubber directly sent traffic to my hub, but the hubber started to use the personal referral tracking number so a percentage of the impressions would go to this hubber’s account (I am new, so please correct me if this is wrong). I couldn’t believe it. I knew the hubber disagreed with me on one main point in my hub and seemed angry and frustrated that I would not say what the hubber wanted me to say, but I never suspected malicious intent. My only logical conclusion is the hubber was recommending my hub so others could vote it down. I say this is wrong and hateful.
Do controversial hubs make you want to
Final Thoughts
I have read many good hubs and I have voted them up and rated them as “useful,” “awesome,” “funny,” or “beautiful.” The hubs I don’t like, I might leave a short comment disagreeing or say nothing at all. As of yet I have not voted anyone’s hub down. It is up to each individual to comment or vote as they please, but I would never dream of maliciously inviting my followers or friends who I know would side with me to go to a particular hub and hope they would vote it down as this hubber has done to me. Being mean-natured when we do not get our way or the answers we want to hear/see is wrong. Please do not do this to other hubbers. We are hubbing for different reasons: loving to share, loving to write, hoping to inspire or move, trying to help with “how to’s” and lessons learned, and/or hoping to make some money. We should practice professional courtesy when dealing with other hubbers. Please “agree to disagree,” and even vote down if you do not like the hub. Don’t maliciously send out recommendations because of anger. That defeats the cause of the Hub Community.
Here is the hub that created the controversy:
- Christians' Reactions to Gays
When young gays come out, how should Christians react? Can gays be Christians? Does God love them unconditionally? Christians need to look at Jesus' teachings before judging.
© 2011 Susan Holland