Warning: This hub appears to be commercial

1. 88

   Paragliderposted 13 years ago

   The above warning appears on a couple of my hubs, maybe more, but doesn't show on the stats page. So, short of checking all 115 one by one, how am I supposed to know the warning is there?
   
   More to the point, the warning is wrong. Occasionally I set the ads level to low or none because I don't want the reader distracted.
   
   The hub does contain a link to a blog, but that too is not a commercial blog. I think we're getting a bit trigger happy with some of these automatic warnings.

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   Uninvited Writerposted 13 years ago

   I thought that if a hub had any links at all it was considered commercial?

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      Paragliderposted 13 years agoin reply to this

      The irony is, the warning appears on an essay against consumerism that links to a blog against consumerism.
      
      How do I get it through that I'm not trying to make money out of this??

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         ryankettposted 13 years agoin reply to this

         Provide the URL to the blog but don't make it a hyperlink... then you should be fine?

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            Paragliderposted 13 years agoin reply to this

            I suppose so, but that's less convenient for the readers. I've also used an rss capsule to the blogs 3 recent posts. That's not going to work except by displaying the hyperlinks.

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               Pcunixposted 13 years agoin reply to this

               Which article is this?  I like reading your posts, but I don't want to go pawing through all of them looking for this either :-)

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                  Paragliderposted 13 years agoin reply to this

                  It's this one http://hubpages.com/hub/bloodless-revolution and its partner hub on the same subject. (You won't be able to see the warning though - they are only visible to the owner). Thanks for your interest

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                     china manposted 13 years agoin reply to this

                     Naughty boy!  now you have gone and promoted your hub as well - the Hubpolice are gonna get you ! 
                     
                     Now I am off to look at it as well- sounds like my kind of thing

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                        Paragliderposted 13 years agoin reply to this

                        But not until I was asked to - anyway, the hub police owe me one

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                     Pcunixposted 13 years agoin reply to this

                     I had read that and the other.
                     
                     I started a comment but just got overwhelmed by a feeling of hopelessness.  Too much greed, too much bread and circus, too much ignorance.
                     
                     I decided that I really had nothing to say except "I agree", which didn't make for much of a comment.

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                        Paragliderposted 13 years agoin reply to this

                        Pcunix - 'I agree' is just fine. What we can't change globally we can still opt out of personally. And if enough of us do that, we become the global norm.

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                           Pcunixposted 13 years agoin reply to this

                           I'm afraid I know far too many people who wouldn't even read what you wrote, never mind agree with it.
                           
                           One of the reasons I love HubPages so much is the concentration of intelligence.  Yes, of course we have our bozos, but the percentage of bright people (on all points of the political compass) is much higher.  Even when I find myself in solid opposition, I can often appreciate the intelligence behind the argument.
                           
                           In the real world, however,  the diamonds are scarce and barely visible.  Their voices are drowned out, ridiculed, ignored.   It's rare to find intelligent conversation or, failing that, even *interesting* conversation.
                           
                           I want to thank you for contributing to both.  Of course there are many others; my New Hubs email is starting to get far too long and I'm going to have to risk insulting a few by un-following.  You will never be cut :-)

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                              Aficionadaposted 13 years agoin reply to this

                              This is so beautifully expressed!  Thank you, Pcunix, for what you have said and the way you said it!

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         psycheskinnerposted 13 years agoin reply to this

         I think that warning applies with three of more links to the same site?

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   CYBERSUPEposted 13 years ago

   I wish you the very best in finding your problem.  I am sure that HubPages would happy to explain this situation to you.

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      Paragliderposted 13 years agoin reply to this

      The easy solution is just to enable ads, but as the hub was ad-free  for a long time with no flag, it must be a new policy that has caused the change.

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   lrohnerposted 13 years ago

   You said you have an RSS feed that links to the blog's 3 latest posts. You also have a hyperlink to the blog in the hub itself. That's 4 links to the same domain, and is most likely the reason why your hub received the message. I believe we're not supposed to have more than two links to the same domain in any hub.

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      Paragliderposted 13 years agoin reply to this

      I was under the impression that an RSS capsule counted as a single link. If not, why does HP allow more than two stories per capsule?
      
      A grey area, (or a gray one in the US)

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         Marisa Wrightposted 13 years agoin reply to this

         Paraglider, the policy on RSS feeds has definitely changed.  I noticed it myself.
         
         A RSS feed used to count as one link, so you could have one other link in the text.   I used to have several Hubs with that set-up and never got a flag.
         
         Now, if you include the RSS feed, you can't have any other links in the text.  So, the new rule appears to be that it's either two links or the RSS feed.

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            Paragliderposted 13 years agoin reply to this

            Thanks Marisa - that's what I suspected, that there had been a change. But without a warning in the stats page, how do we know if we've been warned?

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               Marisa Wrightposted 13 years agoin reply to this

               I'm not sure that it matters.  If they get to the point of unpublishing it, they'll let you know!

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   Mishaposted 13 years ago

   Just read the rules Dave. ANY link makes a hub commercial - no matter where it points to, this was in the rules from the very start.

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      Aya Katzposted 13 years agoin reply to this

      But commercial isn't bad, right?

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         Mishaposted 13 years agoin reply to this

         Not bad for me. Can't say for sure about Paraglider though, and considering his political views it likely bears at least mildly negative connotation for him.
         
         However HP uses it as a neutral word, and all it's purpose is to define hubs that have to have ads enabled - for the reason of being used for more than just publishing content.

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            Paragliderposted 13 years agoin reply to this

            But Misha - my views are not political; they're just rational
            
            Aya - commercial isn't bad, but sometimes I just don't want adverts spoiling the reader's experience. Especially flashing adverts! I'd rather forego the odd 2-cent click.
            
            Kirstenblog - it wasn't the over-promotional flag. I've never had that one. It just says that because the hub is 'commercial' I am supposed to set adverts to 'high'. I don't much care for that.

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               Pcunixposted 13 years agoin reply to this

               Ahh, so that's the issue.
               
               Remember, you have a partner here who takes 40% of impressions to pay the nice staff people.  You are taking the milk from their teeny mouths!

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                  Paragliderposted 13 years agoin reply to this

                  True, but without writers there would be nobody reading and clicking.
                  
                  Anyway, I've gone along with the request and set the ads to high. It's not worth the appeal process

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   kirstenblogposted 13 years ago

   RSS is a B*tch for flagging a hub as overly promotional or commercial or whatever. I had this happen to a hub I wrote and removing the RSS was my only option to get rid of that warning. Sucks but I can understand it, I may not wish to abuse the system/site but there are those who would and do abuse it all the time. I guess I prefer a site that makes it hard to impossible to spam the net that also makes it hard for me to promote myself and my works. I just have to work harder but it also means my promotion is more tasteful and useful to the net. Nothing wrong with promoting yourself, just spamming is wrong

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   Fiction Tellerposted 13 years ago

   Hi Paraglider,
   
   http://hubpages.com/faq/#commercial
   
   To paraphrase:
   
   Commercial just means that either:
   
   1) you have an outbound link to a .com (or .info?) website, whether or not it's owned by you,
   
   2) there's an affiliate text link, or
   
   3) it promotes a business.

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8. 88

   Paragliderposted 13 years ago

   true!

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