My Author Score

1. 74

   fastfretaposted 13 years ago

   Can someone please give me a clue as to why my Author score continues to plummet?  I've been writing on HubPages since May, '09 and I've not seen my score in this range since about six months after I began. I know they say the score is not that important as long as you stay above 75, but that's no consolation.  My confidence is shaken.  I'm obviously doing something wrong, please help!

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   1. 60

      Randy Godwinposted 13 years agoin reply to this

      You are welcome to have some of my points, Fastfreda!  I'm not using them at the moment! 

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2. 84

   camloposted 13 years ago

   You used to always be at around 100.
   
   I remember something similar happening to another Hubber, and it turned out he had too many tags on his Hubs, or innapropriate ones.
   
   Could this have started happening to you when you began to publish your Cosmetic Surgery Hubs?

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   1. 74

      fastfretaposted 13 years agoin reply to this

      Camlo, you're right, I was always lingering somewhere around 100.  And yes I did go through and add a bunch of tags to all of my hubs.  I hope that's it.  Thanks for the heads up. 
      
      Thanks Randy, you're sweet, I wish it was that easy.

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      1. 84

         camloposted 13 years agoin reply to this

         I'm sure there's a more knowledgable Hubber who could probably tell you for sure what the problem is.

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      2. 78

         Sally's Troveposted 13 years agoin reply to this

         For the first time ever, while scanning Hubs to remove news and RSS feeds, I saw a warning at the top of one Hub that said something to the effect that it had too many tags and to remove some "if possible". (Unfortunately, I didn't copy that warning, so I can't say exactly what else it said.)
         
         I wonder, have you seen that warning on any of your Hubs?

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         1. 74

            fastfretaposted 13 years agoin reply to this

            Actually Sally, it was applied to a couple of my hubs, but I removed some and the hubs were okay. But now I'm actively removing tags, because I had gone through and added multiple tags to all of my hubs.

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3. 84

   rebekahELLEposted 13 years ago

   FF, when did you notice your score going down? Since HP laid out the changes? I looked at a few of your hubs, and all I can see is that maybe you need to make your top images smaller, so there is room for ads with the new ad layout.  Did you see that thread from Paul Deeds? I'm not sure if that would have anything to do with your hubber score, but it might help. I'm sure it's nothing that can't be fixed easily.

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   1. 84

      camloposted 13 years agoin reply to this

      I remember FF being concerned about her Hubber Score before the changes, but it wasn't quite this bad then.

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   2. 74

      fastfretaposted 13 years agoin reply to this

      rebekahELLE, it started to drop before that, but now it's falling like a stone.  I've already begun to implement Camlo's suggestion.  So I'll be back periodically to check for any more suggestions.  Thanks guys so much for your help. Although I don't claim to be a writer in the truest sense of the word, I am beginning to enjoy it.  My author score was a validation of sorts of my budding abilities, and I don't want to see that end.

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      1. 84

         camloposted 13 years agoin reply to this

         It was Hubber soni2006 who had a similar problem. Here's the thread: http://hubpages.com/forum/topic/42550

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         1. 74

            fastfretaposted 13 years agoin reply to this

            Thanks camlo, I'll go over and take a look.

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            1. 84

               camloposted 13 years agoin reply to this

               You've already gone up a point to 90.

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               1. 74

                  fastfretaposted 13 years agoin reply to this

                  I noticed camlo, I'm removing excessive tags from my hubs.  Hope that's what working. See you a little later for an update.

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                  1. 84

                     camloposted 13 years agoin reply to this

                     I'm watching your score with interest.

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                     1. 74

                        fastfretaposted 13 years agoin reply to this

                        Just got back to my computer, camlo, and still stuck at 90, but I'm going to go back to removing tags. I'll be back here later to check for more suggestions.

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                        1. 87

                           IzzyMposted 13 years agoin reply to this

                           If it's any help, someone else had a problem with a dropping author score, and it turned out to be caused by following too many people with low scores, so you might want to check who you are following too.

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                           1. 78

                              Sally's Troveposted 13 years agoin reply to this

                              That was tonymac04, Izzy. I believe he posted somewhere here that he'd reduced the number of the folks he followed (at HP's advice), but his profile score is continuing to hover too near that 75 mark. He's an outstanding writer with an admirable body of Hubs here, and his profile score's been dropping from the 90s for some time. Reducing the number of those he follows doesn't seem to be the answer.

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                              1. 70

                                 tonymac04posted 13 years agoin reply to this

                                 Yes my score is now 73 and I'm really worried. I'm now removing rss feeds from all my Hubs to see if that will help. I am getting almost double the number of page reads now than I was getting when when my score was in the 90s!
                                 I have emailed the Hub Team and even Paul Edmondson to try to get an answer for this plunge in my score but have not as yet received an answer from anyone.
                                 Will come back to this discussion when I do get an answer.

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                                 1. 93

                                    jo millerposted 13 years agoin reply to this

                                    Hope you find an answer to this, Tony.  I, too, have noticed your drop in score and wondered why.  I thought it proved my assumption that the score was not in any way correlated to the quality of the writing.  Yours is always excellent.  Good luck.

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                                    1. 70

                                       tonymac04posted 13 years agoin reply to this

                                       Thanks Jo. I think the issue is rss feeds, though I have never had a warning about these on any of my Hubs. I'm just continuing to remove them. It's taking a lot of time, though!

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4. 84

   rebekahELLEposted 13 years ago

   well, I'm certainly not an expert here, but I don't think it's your writing at all. I think it might help if you reduce those pic sizes and move the video on your 'enabler' hub. Do some experimenting and see what happens. I'll sure it will start moving up again.

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   1. 74

      fastfretaposted 13 years agoin reply to this

      Thanks rebekahELLE, I'll use your suggestions also.  Again thanks for your help.  I'll continue to check back for more suggestions.

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5. 59

   MyMastiffPuppiesposted 13 years ago

   I was wondering about the same question. I have never reached 100 but have been as high as 96. This past week I have seen it fluctuate between 90-96 and I really have only made the corrections that were requested on my hubs. I had a few that had ads as the first capsule but have corrected all of those. I may go back and look at the tags though, I think I might have quite a few on some of my hubs. Thanks for the thread!

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6. 74

   fastfretaposted 13 years ago

   tonymac04, I just went through and removed excessive tags, rss feeds, Amazon, and new capsules.  I've gained 4 points, but I still don't think that was the total problem, because I can't seem to get past 93, I used to always stay above 96 at all times. But I can't seem to get past 93 under any circumstances. I know some will say it doesn't matter, but we all know we do pay attention to it.

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   1. 84

      camloposted 13 years agoin reply to this

      I think you've moved up pretty quickly, and think (hope) your score will rise further.
      I remember noticing a change in your score when I also noticed you'd written some Hubs on cosmetic surgery (after treatment and the such). Are you sure it hasn't got anything to do with those Hubs?

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      1. 74

         fastfretaposted 13 years agoin reply to this

         I'm not sure camlo, however I did notice that I am making a little money since I put those up.  But you know what, I might just perform a little experiment on those hubs. Thanks for the insight.

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         1. 84

            camloposted 13 years agoin reply to this

            Well, good luck with it. You're still on 93 ... hope it goes up again soon.

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         2. 84

            camloposted 13 years agoin reply to this

            Fastfreta, you are down to 89 again. What did you do? Your 'little experiment'?
            Have you written to the team@hubpages?

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            1. 74

               fastfretaposted 13 years agoin reply to this

               I see camlo, my experiment was to make some of my pictures smaller, in addition to all of the other changes that I made when my score was on the rise. Yes I did write the team today, and hope to hear something soon. I wish the scores weren't there, because I pay too much attention to them. Thanks camlo for your support.

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               1. 84

                  camloposted 13 years agoin reply to this

                  I must admit, I pay a lot of attention to scores, even though I know they're not really important unless they fall to 'no follow' level.
                  Anyway, I see you've risen to 91 over night. Maybe it was the normal fluctuation. Mine was at 97 at the beginning of the week, now it's down to 93 - that happens all the time.
                  Will you let us know what the team has to say?

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                  1. 74

                     fastfretaposted 13 years agoin reply to this

                     I pay more attention than I should, and I'm going to try not to in the future.  Well if you notice now it is 90 again, I give up. Thank you camlo for keeping up with me.  I haven't heard anything from the team yet, but I will let you know when I do.

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                  2. 74

                     fastfretaposted 13 years agoin reply to this

                     This is the response to my communication with the HubPages Team, about my author score:
                     
                     "Fluctuations in Hubber score are natural.  As long as you continue to write good new hubs occasionally and participate actively in the community, I don't think you'll have anything to worry about.  I'm sure you'll be back in the 90s in no time."
                     
                     I truly don't know what to make of that! The reason, I see hubbers with far fewer hubs than I have, then others with no real participation in the community, and their scores are still in the 90's.  I thought I was participating enough. So all I say is I give up, because I can't do anymore on my own to raise my score. I'm finished with this, I won't visit this issue again. 

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                     1. 84

                        camloposted 13 years agoin reply to this

                        I suppose they're saying there's not actually anything wrong.
                        I see that you write Hubs more than just occasionally, and you are quite active. I really can't understand this scoring system - my second account hasn't written a Hub in almost a year, never participates in the community, and has a score constantly in the mid- to latter nineties.
                        Unless we're actually doing something wrong that can be detected and then corrected, I don't think there's any way of influencing the score.
                        Anyway, you're back to 91 today - let's hope it takes on an upward tendency from now on.

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                        1. 74

                           fastfretaposted 13 years agoin reply to this

                           Thank you camlo for your support.  I respectfully beg to differ, there is something wrong when an author performs all the requirements, and the score drastically drops to the extent that mine, and tonymac's did, however as I said I'm no longer going to address it.
                           
                           Oh, and by the way getting to 92 does not excite me, because as you've seen I can get to 94 and drop back down to 89 within days. I guess the reason it bothers me so much is because I used to maintain a score of 97 plus at all times. I don't think it would have bothered me if I had always had a score in the low 90's and never rose above that, but I did.
                           
                           As has been said, and I can see now, the score is not really a validation of the writers ability. I can say that because, I've been reading hubs lately, and I've found some very good writers with scores in the 80's, and conversely some not so good writers in the 90's.  I'm glad I took the time to read those hubs, because I've found hubbers with lower scores that I am now following, and will continue to search out such ones.
                           
                           WOW! I guess I had a lot of steam to blow off!  LOL!

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                           1. 84

                              camloposted 13 years agoin reply to this

                              I mean "...they're saying there's not actually anything wrong."  I actually think there's something not quite right about the scoring system. How can I have a higher score than you when I haven't written a Hub since the beginning of January? All I do is participate on the Forums each day when I get a spare moment. And how can my other account retain such a good score when the last Hub was written about a year ago, and has not been active in any way for just as long? My other account makes more money, but I know another Hubber who has a constant 99-100 score who has hardly made a cent on HubPages.
                              And what about Hub Score? My most viewed Hub on this account has a score in the mid-seventies. My highest scoring Hub gets hardly any views.
                              It's a mystery.
                              Shame this mystery can get in the way of our enjoyment here.

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                              1. 74

                                 fastfretaposted 13 years agoin reply to this

                                 Thanks again camlo, you're right, Mystery, among mysteries!
                                 As I said I'm going to "try" to move on, however with me, I'm sometimes like a bulldog with a bone, and other times I become the proverbial "why child." So when I say "try" that's what I mean. So, until later, I leave this issue.

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   2. 70

      tonymac04posted 13 years agoin reply to this

      Thanks for that, Fastfreta. My score is climbing painfully slowly up to 80 - and I used to be in the early to mid 90s!
      I am still completely at a loss abour what cuased my score to drop so suddenly and so far - more than 20 points in a matter of days!
      And I have no idea what is making it go up again except for taking out all the rss feeds maybe.
      At this stage I am leaving the few Amazon capsules I have on my Hubs. If the score doesn't climb further in the next day or two maybe I'll get rid of them too.
      Just finding it difficult to get enthusiatic about writing just now. Hope that will get better soon too!

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      1. 74

         fastfretaposted 13 years agoin reply to this

         tonymac, I'm glad to see that you're already at 80.  But I know how you feel about your enthusiasm, I seem to have lost mine to some extent too.  I was on a roll, but now I can't seem to get back in the groove.  I guess if these scores were never there it wouldn't make a difference, however I think that's why I wrote as many hubs as I did.

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         1. 78

            Sally's Troveposted 13 years agoin reply to this

            Even though my profile score didn't plunge like yours and Tony's, my page views and earnings did. I'm down to about 50% of the traffic and earnings I had before the google schnoozle.
            
            This is by way of saying that I'm dispirited, too. What we came to expect here on HP is now being taken away. It's like having a trusted relative who pats you on the back one day for something you did well, and then the next day tells you that very thing you did wasn't so smart because, today, that thing goes against the relative's objectives.
            
            It is a roller coaster ride here now. And also a time for re-assessing our objectives as well as our understanding of how this online writing game works.

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            1. 70

               tonymac04posted 13 years agoin reply to this

               Indeed! HubPages doesn't feel the same any more - so I can fully understand why Ralwus left. I know it is a business and that has implications. I just thought that it was as much about the writing as the business before, but now it seems to be much more about the business and much less about the writing. Even the latest contest doesn't feel good to me.
               I have so much writing I want to do - so many ideas - but I just can't seem to get up the energy to write. I have spent hours removing rss feeds and doing a bit of promotion on my Hubs, which seems to be working in that my page views have gone up quite a lot. Just wish the score would too!

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               1. 78

                  Sally's Troveposted 13 years agoin reply to this

                  Tony, I'm doing the same things you are...removing the RSS feeds, doing the backlinking. Acting on current advice.
                  
                  The good news for you is that your profile score is rising (it should never have been below a 95+, IMO), while my earnings and views continue to tank.
                  
                  The latest contest doesn't sit well with me, either...So you think you can write online? How is it that HP might be in a position to judge the quality of those entries when so much of the online writing done by some of the best writers is now penalized on HP in terms of profile score, earnings, and traffic?
                  
                  On the other hand, I know that HP is looking to the future, and like any good business, it is not going to advertise its strategy.
                  
                  I'm here for the long-haul, but I wish I felt better about it at this moment.

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                  1. 70

                     tonymac04posted 13 years agoin reply to this

                     I too have no plans to leave anytime soon. Will keep on pegging away at it.
                     Thanks for the kind words!

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7. 89

   RedElfposted 13 years ago

   My score has fluctuated from 95 to 100 for the last year almost. I think the fluctuation is the rule here, but yours and tony's do seem to be extreme.
   I have not ever had more than 15 - 20 tags on a hub since I came across several threads with comments by a number of successful hubbers the gist of which was that it was better to target the tags than use everything possible, but to keep the tags below thirty for sure - some said below 20 - 25.
   I've removed all the news capsules after following several threads about the pros and cons of that, too, but not the rss feeds as I only have feeds linking to my own hubs or to the various HubMobs in which I've taken part. I still have Amazon and Adsense capsules on all but two hubs.
   I only have two hubs on "grey area" topics - one on Viagra, and one on breast enhancement (dangers, reasons, etc.) - both written for HubMobs, and flagged LONG after they were published (1 was flagged 9 months later, and 1 was flagged over a year after publishing). They have had the ads disabled, but are still published and neither seems to have damaged my score.
   Right now I am more concerned about my pages views and AdSense drop -
   I find my author score fluctuations are linked to my activity in forums and commenting on hubs (mostly forums, as I tend to read a lot of threads but don't often comment).
   I have no ideas on why tony's score is so low, but hopefully he will hear something soon.
   Don't know if any of this is helpful, freta - good luck sorting it all out.

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8. 78

   donnatruposted 13 years ago

   Hp was better before the changes with google. The whole idea isn't the same. I'm blocked I hope it's temporary.
   Has hp lost their groove, or is it just me?
   
   The author scores help determine good work versus poor work. It's like college G.P.A, scores staying at 95-100 are on the well deserved deans list.
   
   The individual who post he isn't signing up with the new hp add plan til everyone can, I say bravo! Thats good character, to speak up for what you believe is right, even if many others dissagree.
   
   I hope everyone who desires to make the deans list, does.
   Still hanging in there!

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9. 84

   rebekahELLEposted 13 years ago

   FF, don't stress about it, you're doing fine. The scores fluctuate quite sporadically. I can almost guarantee that the times I do reach 100, within 48 hrs, I drop to 96.. even though I'm usually at 97,98.  Most of us aren't sitting on HP 24 hrs a day, just enjoy what you do here and don't pay attention to it..

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   1. 74

      fastfretaposted 13 years agoin reply to this

      Thanks rebekahELLE, you're sweet. But a sporadic drop to me is not 100 to 89, (which is what happened to me), for "no reason," as the teams says. But, as I said I'm going to leave it alone, and concentrate on my writing. I'm learning to write and loving it, and, I don't want to be distracted by this score thing, so, I'm going to "try" to put it behind me. Notice I said "try."

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10. 69

    Karen Nposted 13 years ago

    Mine has also dropped quite a bit lately.
    But I thought that it might have something to do with the fact that I've not published any new hubs lately. Instead I've been trying to bring my other hubs into compliance for the new rules.

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