Apparently I Don't Get It!
By Wayne Brown
When I first found the link to HubPages, as an aspiring writer, I was elated. I had finally found a site on the Internet that would allow me to showcase some material, get some feedback possibly, and maybe actually improve my ability to serve up some higher quality in my offerings. I quickly set up an account and added some of my past work to the mix hoping it would inspire me to do more.
As with all sites, I began to learn my way around the place at HubPages checking my writing scores, number of viewings, comments, and overall writer rating. I also started looking at the high end of the writer offerings in order to expand my knowledge of those writing characteristics and techniques that might help me to grow my skills and raise my scores. That is when the awareness kicked in along with frustration.
Now don’t get me wrong, there are some very good writers offering up material on the HP and they deserve every bit of the praise they receive and likely more. It does not take long to spot them nor to notice that their material continues to show up. Not only are they prolific in their offerings but they are also talented enough to offer almost any subject up in a new perspective. For me, that is the true talent in writing…the ability to take any subject and give it a new and interesting look for the reader that keeps his involvement right down to the last word. That is the essence of my goal as a writer and I promise you that I will get there given time and opportunity. For those who write at that level and share it on the Hub, I offer my thanks for your generosity and your courage to take things on from a totally new angle.
Now, let’s get to the part that I don’t get. Remember when you signed up for your account on the Hub and you agreed to the terms of use? Remember the part about not posting porn, or distasteful, slanderous, material on your account? Remember the part that indicated that if you could grow your skills and attract enough traffic, you could actually reap some potential monetary rewards for your efforts? Okay…you remember all that? Well, me too! Well, I don’t get it! So if you do, please drop me a line and explain it to me so that I can get on with my focus on the things that I enjoy….like writing!
Why are there are so many articles that seem to dominate the feature boards, dominate the scoreboards, dominate, dominate, dominate yet their content is totally focused around little or no writing orientation. The content is focused totally on pictures of women, pictures of my naked auntie down in India, pictures of my cousin in New Delhi wearing a two-piece, pictures of women from places that I have heard little of and did not realize was populated by women who were so willing to scantily clad themselves for pictures. Why is that? Is this some new type of “writing style” that I have yet to learn? If so, I need to get out of the business right now and find some other method to express myself as I do not have enough aunties and cousins in this country or any other for that matter who are willing to take their clothes off and pose for my publications. Besides, you probably would not want to see them anyway.
Now, don’t get me wrong. I got nothing against looking at beautiful women and I enjoy a nice picture of one as much as the next guy. At the same time, I also enjoy good writing by others and I like to see them get their just reward as such. Too often, this is not the case as they take a second seat to the photo galleries of yet another wanna-a-be international model or someone’s frustrated half-naked auntie spread across a vast array of unusual suggestive poses. All that is fine in the proper venue but I think it sucks here. There, I have finally said it so let’s get it all out. It sucks!
There’s an old adage that goes something like “it’s what sells newspapers…” Well, apparently that is the case here. Greed trumps anything else. Folks use sexual allure or the suggestion thereof to lure the traffic. As the traffic builds so does the potential to reap that “monetary reward” so mentioned early on under the terms of use. Oh, I get that part and I see that the Hub is more than willing to let it go because the site reaps that monetary reward as well. Okay, fine, capitalism at work. I get all that. Find the easiest and most efficient method to satisfy and feed your greed…I get it.
Now, let’s get back to what I don’t get. I don’t get why all that I have pointed out above is mixed into what would otherwise be legitimate writing efforts. Material that many writers have researched, organized, worked, reworked, read, re-read, and tweaked until they finally have something they feel is worthy and that shows not only their skills but also the level of effort that went into creating this unusual work. So they post it only to have it play second-fiddle to that “stuff that sells newspapers” that ends up getting touted as a top-notch work. Considering the low text level in most of those submissions, I would guess the so-called writer did not stay up all night searching for just the right word.
No, I apparently don’t get it. I don’t understand why the Aussies are not posting more pictures of their “Shelia” for our writing enjoyment. I know, “you hope the dingoes eat my baby”. Well, they might, but I'll not cave to my greed and post pictures of it here!
(Copyright) WBrown2010
