Adopt a Topic Program for HubPages Elite

1. 94

   melbelposted 13 years ago

   I was thinking that the hub hopping tool is great and all, but it doesn't really address hubs that are older and have slipped through the cracks for months and even years.
   
   I was thinking that we could have an adopt a topic program.
   
   For example, I've been writing a lot of hubs on Nepal and have looked at a ton of hubs in the Nepal travel topic and many of them were way substandard, so I flagged them. I found that after going through the Nepal hubs, I dipped a bit into hubs on India and Bhutan flagging there too.
   
   It got me to thinking, maybe there could be a HubPages Elite program that kind of adopts hub topics and check up on them to make sure they're clean. Maybe like as an adoptive ummm "parent" of the Nepal and Bhutan topics, I could receive like a weekly email or something of new hubs published on those topics or heck, even just generally an entire list of ALL hubs published in that topic so that I don't just flag the ones that show up (ones under x hubscore don't seem to show up.)
   
   Just an idea. I've been wandering around flagging a lot lately since HubGreeters doesn't seem to get along with my PC these days.

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   1. 56

      flletchyboyposted 13 years agoin reply to this

      Hi, Why not go and live in Nepal ?

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2. 66

   darksideposted 13 years ago

   That is an excellent idea.

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3. 67

   Pearldiverposted 13 years ago

   Wow... Exactly What Is NEEDED Here... An Self Serving Elitist Level... Fantastic...
   
   Let's give certain entities 'Elite Ownership' of a World of Topics and a Country or two!
   
   Ha... that would be like asking someone from It's Mitch again to understand the accent and protocol of Bumble Town!! Great Idea...
   
   Why don't such Important Ivory Tower Climbers just do something important... You know.. Like Chasing STOLEN CONTENT and Thieves around the net... for all those of us who are Not Elite or Bright Enough to Know What to Do?   - Amazing!

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      darksideposted 13 years agoin reply to this

      So rather than they volunteer to keep things tidy around hubpages.com you'd prefer them to do whatever would directly benefit you?
      
      You don't have to be Elite to be able to lodge your own DMCA applications. In fact, it does fall to the person who owns the copyright to do so.

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      1. 67

         Pearldiverposted 13 years agoin reply to this

         What Are you On about DS?
         
         I Don't Ask for ANYTHING On THIS SITE Mate
         - How Dare You intimate that I do! 
         - I Don't Brown Nose at the expense of others either!
         
         Clean Up the Site?
         - You've got all the answers have you?
         - Oh please don't Bleat at me about DCMAs
         - It might surprise you that I'm Not Quite the Dummy you attempt to make me out to be Darkside!
         
         Here's something for you to do...
         
         http://hubpages.com/forum/post/1579177
         
         I Suggest that you check to see if YOUR WORK is there...
         I find it most interesting that you would 'Play Down' the importance of Stolen Content in favour of taking a swish a me mate! Interesting

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         1. 94

            melbelposted 13 years agoin reply to this

            Actually there are hubbers that steal content from other sites as well. I wasn't meaning "Elite" as in better hubbers or something, but as an addition to the HubPages Elite Program.
            
            I spend a good portion of the day flagging hubs that copy content from elsewhere which brings down the value of ALL our hubs. Furthermore, when I find that someone from another site has copied content from me, I do what I can to get it taken down.
            
            I don't know where all this mud flinging has come from or even what I did to you, but I'm sorry for whatever I did. I always enjoy your hubs and forum posts, apparently we got off on the wrong foot somehow. :S

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            1. 80

               vox vocisposted 13 years agoin reply to this

               I think that's a great idea melbel. If I understood well,  a hubber doesn't have to have an "elite" attribute to do that. I'm in if you ask me

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         2. 66

            darksideposted 13 years agoin reply to this

            I'm sorry, I mistook the sarcasm and snide remarks in your post, and that you would prefer that they so something else for those who are not "Bright Enough to Know What to Do" as a request that they chase up your stolen content.
            
            You do a great job of playing a victim and then get your back up and make accusations that others are calling you the very names that you're calling yourself.
            
            Someone has stepped up to the plate and made a suggestion. Do they really need you to cry over the word "elite" and how they can better spend their own time?

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            1. 94

               melbelposted 13 years agoin reply to this

               I've actually been doing a lot to fight off the 68articles guy and I know it can be really emotional to have your hubs copied, but I legally can't do ANYTHING to fight that guy off until he copies my hubs again. Until then, I wish them the best of luck. I think he's angry because I suggested to keep it to one thread so that everyone involved in the past would be notified.
               
               I don't know, I refuse to get angry about someone being angry at me because there's nothing I can do against the 68articles.com guy. It has something to do with that or I don't know, he attacked me about software I'm writing... I'm not sure, forum drama. I just continue to do what's best for my hubs and really just can't do anything to the 68articles.com guy. I'll be ready to pounce when I can but, legally, I cannot.
               
               In the meantime, there really IS a lot to clean-up on HubPages and since I can't do anything with the 68articles guy, I'll focus my efforts where they are the most help.
               
               It's nothing special being a HubPages Elite. It's just a title. Anyone can be a HubPages elite, you just gotta email HubPages with what you want to do.
               
               I was just suggesting this as a program so that more people can be HubPages Elites.

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                  vox vocisposted 13 years agoin reply to this

                  @melbel: Oh, I didn't know it was that easy to get the elite attribute lol I don't care about it but I'm ready to help the cause. It would be great if you posted a hub with guidelines for this program (will you develop the program to make it more clear how exactly to contribute, I mean so that we know exactly what we are looking for or it goes like before - we check length, spelling, grammar, trustworthiness, etc?)

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   2. 67

      Pearldiverposted 13 years agoin reply to this

      You guys LOL
      
      OMG - DS Have you got your Glasses on Back-The-Front?
      
      I Do Not Believe that anything in my post cries out Victim or anything else that is So Lunar!   Kindly Don't INVENT To Force a Bad Point, and/or to emphasis your own ability to be Sarcastic and Irrelevant!
      
      I Certainly made No appeal for help to deal with any stolen content For ME.. Along with getting dressed.. I can do that myself!
      
      If you readjust either your glasses or your attitude and take the post in the Context it was made...
      You will Surely Understand that I was Saying: HubHopping should NOT be more of a priority on this site atm given that 1000s of articles have been scraped and the thieves have the ability to Destroy Not only the site but also the futures of the hubbers here!
      
      Attack me anyway you like mate... But you will not prove me wrong on the points that I have made!
      
      And I think, for the futures of everyone who has tried so hard to be loyal to this site.. it's also a bit of joke to watch some of the 'experts' jointly establishing New Ways to have a Dollar Each Way on the Outcome!  
      Amazing how differently people view the term 'Vested Interests'
      But Hey.... I hope I'm wrong!!!
      I would Love to See Better Hubs come Out of Tibet!
      Sir Ed would sit up in his grave if he knew how badly they write hubs there! After all, it has for 50 years, been Kiwis who built the schooling system in Tibet!    Sheessh.. vested interests eh?   Maybe someone could publish a new hub called www. Yahoooooo In Tibet!

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      1. 94

         melbelposted 13 years agoin reply to this

         Pearl, as of right now, I cannot legally do anything to fight the content copying going on at 68articles.
         
         Until then, I will do what I can here on HubPages. I HAVE come across a lot of content in the category I was flagging, however, that was copied from other sources so I did do SOMETHING about people stealing content.
         
         I don't know why you're so angry with me, but it really almost makes me not care about the 68articles guy at all. You come to all the threads I post in and bring up the topic of the 68articles guy. This thread isn't even remotely related to 68articles, please stop following me and attacking me. I don't know what I did to you. I dislike what the 68articles guy does, too. But HubPages isn't 100% about 68articles right now. Why don't you post in the religion topic and ask why they are talking about religion and not 68articles?
         
         I didn't choose the Nepal topic to flag because I write hubs on the same topic... it's because Nepal is interesting to me so I don't mind spending a lot of time in the topic, plus it gives me an opportunity to learn more. I just flag hubs, ultimately it's up to the mods to decide if the hub should be unpublished. Even if my hubs were the ONLY hubs to be featured in the Nepal topic, it wouldn't increase my earnings as it all has to do with SEO... and last time I checked Nepal was all that of a competitive topic in AdSense earnings.

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      2. 66

         darksideposted 13 years agoin reply to this

         Okay, everybody stop what you're doing!
         
         Listen up everyone, despite the fact that you're all not telling everyone else what they should be doing but rather making a suggestion to HP HQ and saying what you're going to do, you've got to stop it right now.
         
         Everyone must do what Pearldiver wants. No ifs, no buts, no questions.
         
         To do anything else will have your motives questioned and your attitude scrutinised.
         
         Please, no more threads about anything else, just ones about what concerns Pearldiver.
         
         Apparently Kiwis built the schooling system in Tibet.
         
         That is all.

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         1. 57

            TerryGlposted 13 years agoin reply to this

            I thought you would know better then to travel down such a road as you have..
            
            Why would you say that? Is it because PD is a New Zealander. To me that sounded like a two finger salute!
            
            And Mabel, while your at it, maybe you could email Hubapges and ask them for a dedicated elite forum so you won't have to bother with the rest of us.
            
            Maybe that was the wrong thing to say, so now you can come and flag my 104 hubs or have the "elite" internet marketer do it. I am pretty sure that is the gist of what your saying here.
            
            So I write a hub about Nepal food, you see it as a bit of competition, but because your elite you flag it so you have no competition.
            
            Is that what your saying. Just like DMOZ, they did the same thing and look where they are now.
            
            You have basically stated that you have used your postiion to flag nepal type hubs because "you" thought they were substandard. What your really saying is you have cleared the way for your own hubs to climb over the top of them.
            
            That's an old blackhat trick, join a site, delete links and put your own in. That's what your doing, you have openly admitted it and to me you have lost one boat load of credibility here.

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            1. 66

               darksideposted 13 years agoin reply to this

               I didn't realise that it was a road I was traveling.
               
               PD said a lot of things in his replies. Most of which I didn't understand, and not from lack of trying. I can't see how taking a random snippet of someone elses random off-topic remark could be seen as a two fingered salute. What I did see was a constant one fingered salute the whole way through this thread that was a deliberate thread hijack from the third post.

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            2. 68

               lrohnerposted 13 years agoin reply to this

               Anyone can flag hubs -- not just elite. And even if a hub is flagged, all that does is get a moderator to eventually look at it. If the hub is in order, there's no harm, no foul.
               
               So, the short answer is no. Flagging a hub does not "clear the way" for anything.
               
               I've invited anyone at any time to flag any or all of my hubs as many times as you wish. It doesn't bother me one bit as my hubs are in order. It might piss off the moderators who have tons of garbage to wade through, but that's about it.

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            3. 85

               Marisa Wrightposted 13 years agoin reply to this

               Terry, cool down!  I think you've misunderstood Mel here.
               
               First, as you well know, flagging is not moderating.  A Hub  can only be "taken down" by a HubPages staffer - a flag only alerts the staff to a possible substandard Hub.  So playing the game you suggest is not possible on HP.
               
               Secondly, as I'm sure you know, the Elite (which I think is a bad name BTW), are a bunch of volunteers who make people feel welcome or run projects like HubNuggets.  Mel is simply suggesting another project they could take on. 
               
               The way I see it, Mel suggested this because the Elite are all more experienced Hubbers with a good understanding of HubPages, so they are well qualified to judge what does or doesn't need attention, especially if they choose a subject they know something about.
               
               It's unfortunate the thread was hijacked by all that name-calling earlier, perhaps we can get back on topic now?

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4. 74

   Hauntyposted 13 years ago

   I second the motion, melbel. I am adopting unofficial and pagan holidays for now.
   
   Also, I'm going through Pearldiver's hubs in the coming days, because I feel he has something to hide.

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   1. 67

      Pearldiverposted 13 years agoin reply to this

      hahaha... clearly you enjoyed your caning the other day
      Sorry to see you on your knees like that!

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   2. 94

      melbelposted 13 years agoin reply to this

      Sounds great, I'll adopt under the travel heading: Nepal, Bhutan, and India since they are of interest to me. Hopefully this spreads to more hubbers and we can keep the community clean to benefit us all.
      
      I'm writing some software that may be of help in this, I'll keep you posted on how it goes.
      
      My adopted hubs:
      Travel and Places > Visiting Asia > Southern Asia > Nepal
      Travel and Places > Visiting Asia > Southern Asia > Bhutan
      Travel and Places > Visiting Asia > Southern Asia > India

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      1. 61

         SunSevenposted 13 years agoin reply to this

         I have a few hubs on Nepal, Bhutan and India. You are welcome to flag them
         
         I agree with pearldiver's views, though.

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         1. 94

            melbelposted 13 years agoin reply to this

            Sun, I have always enjoyed your hubs. I don't think I flagged anything of yours in the Nepal topic.

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5. 66

   darksideposted 13 years ago

   I'm not playing down anything. It's funny how hard you've tried to take this thread off-topic, and then make it all about you.
   
   If you want to get back to the original intent of the OP, without the name-calling, then I'll be happy to continue a discussion with you in this thread.

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6. 74

   WriteAngledposted 13 years ago

   I have a biomedical background and it has become second nature to me to research the medical and scientific literature before posting on any medical topics. However, I have seen some absolutely appalling treatment of medical matters here!
   
   Unfortunately, to police this stuff would be a full-time job for more than one person. Since I joined over a year ago, Hubpages has only brought me in the equivalent of two hours-worth or so of the earnings I get from translation  so I'm afraid I have to carry on translating as a priority rather than volunteer for such duties. 
   
   I do hub hop as and when I can and usually end up flagging 75-90% of what I see as substandard, over-promotional or duplicated (nb I hop over poetry/fiction without comment!). With respect to my own activity, I've put a moratorium on producing any more hubs until I am definitely in the HP ads programme. I'm afraid vague promises that everyone will be included some day don't cut with me. Yes, I know I have very few hubs and am therefore a bottom-feeder by HP standards and so last in any queue, but I have to work long hours on my translations.

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   rebekahELLEposted 13 years ago

   As you have mentioned, anyone can be Elite, it's only a title, so I'm not sure why there would need to be a special program. Maddie made a thread about flagging for all hubbers, and look at the issues popping up in that thread. Honestly, from what I've observed the past few weeks in the forums, there is still too much subjective reasoning as to what is acceptable and what isn't. And some of it comes from those with an E on their avatar.
   I'm not so sure it's the best idea for the current HP climate.
   [I understand your intent, but it could rise to more uneasiness among hubbers.]
   
   
   my 2 cents.

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   1. 94

      melbelposted 13 years agoin reply to this

      Oh yeah, I agree... there are times when I see a hub and I'm like "eh, not sure" so I don't flag it. I'm talking about those hubs that are like:
      
      Nepal
      Nepal is a country
      I like Nepal
      It is good
      Travel Nepal
      Nepal Airline Tickets
      Another nepal keyword
      Here's a link to my site that's about iPhone accessories.

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8. 87

   IzzyMposted 13 years ago

   If the title of this thread had just been 'Adopt a Topic Program' then there would have been no problem.
   I fail to see why the word 'Elite' was even mentioned?

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      WriteAngledposted 13 years agoin reply to this

      Because some people like to see themselves as being elite.
      
      I remember the elite business caused rancour when it was first introduced. A number of people commented then that while the concept of having people volunteer to act as guides or welcomers was good, using the word "elite" in that context was not a good idea at all.
      
      This thread has proved them right.

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9. 87

   IzzyMposted 13 years ago

   "the Elite are all more experienced Hubbers with a good understanding of HubPages, so they are well qualified to judge what does or doesn't need attention, especially if they choose a subject they know something about."
   
   When distinctions like this are made, this suggests ordinary experienced hubbers are somehow less qualified or less reliable.
   
   Elite should not have been mentioned on this thread, and of course it is going to rub hubbers up the wrong way.
   
   The basic idea was sound, but not just for the Elite, for all of us.
   We're a team, remember?

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   1. 74

      Hauntyposted 13 years agoin reply to this

      The OP is a call for a new elite category, much like the Greeters, etc, the members of which can adopt a topic and "maintain" it. If such a category existed, anyone wishing to do this could apply for "membership." This looks like the extension of the elite program to new members. It's not saying only the elite can do this, it's saying anyone can do this and become recognized elite.
      
      Stats: word count: 100, "elite" mentioned 5 times (5%).

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10. 78

    Charluposted 13 years ago

    I agree with Izzy when it comes to the use of the "label" elite as though anything less is substandard. There are writers that may be new to HP but are quite knowledgeable when it comes to everything from key and adwords to content in hubs that will help them stay on the first page for years not just days, which will in turn help everyone make more money.  Maybe if everyone concentrated on helping hubbers improve their writing opposed to spending most of their time flagging them and making them feel inadequate we would also all get along better.  EX Article flagged for basically over selling (to many amazon ads all boots not different products just variety of boots)#1 first page for months Then directed to go to another "elite" hub where there was more ads and less word count. Please dont tell me thats not a slap in the face
    
    Sorry my 2 cents

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11. 94

    melbelposted 13 years ago

    I meant it more as a new program to include more people in the elite program, not something for those who are already in the elite program.
    
    Hubbers without the "elite" attached to their profile are not any "lesser" than hubbers who do. It's just an idea for those hubbers who are dedicated to cleaning up the HubPages community to come and be an elite hubber too, if they would like.
    
    And this doesn't doesn't just mean you have to be an elite hubber, either. Like the HubGreeters program which is an elite program, any non-elite hubber is still free to welcome any new hubber to the site. All the elite thing is is a promise that we will meet a certain quota. (x greets in a week, or in this case, visit x hubs in a week or whatever the case may be.)
    
    Any hubber, obviously, is welcome to flag any hub.
    
    And again, my choice of flagging the Nepal category wasn't because of the hubs I have in the category, but because of the interest I have in Nepal. This just also happens to be the reason why I write about Nepal, because it's an interest of mine.
    
    I have little interest in categories such as cars so would find little joy spending a ton of time in that category reading those types of hubs. Furthermore, as stated before, just because I flag a hub doesn't mean it gets removed. Only HubPages staff members can do this. I have NO control over moderation whatsoever, not even as an elite hubber. The ONLY thing I have as an Elite hubber versus any other hubber is an extra panel that tells me who the new members are.
    
    Someone said that elite isn't the greatest terminology and I agree, perhaps if we were called HubPages Volunteers and perhaps this wouldn't catch so much heat. I just used the word elite because that's what our program was called, not because I think I'm an elite hubber. Heck, I've even re-read some of my hubs and thought "What the heck was I thinking when I wrote this crap?" and deleted it!
    
    Hubbers like Kathryn Vercillo, Chuck, Marye Audet, and habee are some of tons of members who write fantastic content are ones I would truly call elite hubbers and NONE of those mentioned hubbers are in the elite program. I couldn't dream of the accomplishments many of those hubbers have achieved. It's just a program. That's it. Open enrollment, really. All you have to do to qualify is just be a member that doesn't break the TOS (as well as actually publish content so you can show you've applied stuff from the learning center or something, I don't really remember.)
    
    All I'm suggesting here is a program for those knowledgeable in how HubPages works to join those who already are elite hubbers (or HubPages Volunteers) adopt-a-topic. All this is is an adopt-a-topic program, really. My usage of the term elite was meant to bring more people to the elite program, not to serve as something particularly for elite hubbers. If people want to flag hubs, but not have an e by their name or promise to read x amount of hubs in a week, that's fine. It was JUST an idea for a new elite program to bring more hubbers to said program...

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    tsmogposted 13 years ago

    wow , , ,after reading this forum I'm scared. I think I will publish slowly and do a lot of auditing to understand this "brave new world." I mean that is a positive way. I didn't realize things to consider were being copied etc or stolen or ???? I will have to research copyright I guess. Thank you everyone for the enlightening information and discussion.

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