RSS - What is allowed and what is not?

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   Peter Dickinsonposted 12 years ago

   I recently had a hub unpublished by HubPages because “Unrelated links or products”. First time I have come across one of these. I read and re-read my hub several times. Every single one of the links was related to the hub. The two Amazon books I promoted were related to it also. I was stumped…what could it be I wondered. I wrote off for clarification. I am not in the habit of linking to unrelated subjects, have never done so knowingly nor any intention of doing so.
   Well I got an answer. It was in the RSS capsule. There was an unrelated link in there. Now I am fully aware that I could play around with Tags and change it so that anything which appears in the RSS capsule is relevant. Sometimes I do just that. At other times I stick with the standard “latest”, “best” and “hot” because as I write on a variety of subjects I want my readers to see just that. That’s why I use the RSS. I know there is the “Read more hubs by Peter Dickinson” but that is at the top right of the Hub. That is why I place the RSS capsule at the bottom just above comments. It is there to get people click on the links to read there and then. There is no guarantee they are going to scroll to the top of the hub again.
   So it seems we have a rule that I have missed. All RSS must apply to the Hub. Anybody else having problems?
   
   Incidentally I was directed to three hubs as per example not publishing “Unrelated links or products”. I was somewhat dismayed to see that one of these had a functioning News Capsule! Why? I had to remove all of mine. Took me forever because I used these a lot….and always relevant to the Hub subject.

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2. 0

   Website Examinerposted 12 years ago

   Indeed, the way it is now, RSS feeds need to be customized to fit the contents of your hub. The standard feeds ("best," "latest" etc.) are no longer safe to use.

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3. 84

   K9keystrokesposted 12 years ago

   Peter, I read your work a lot, and I have always found your links to be related, so the rss thing makes sense. I had to revise some of this type of hub activity as well, time consuming but worth it with all of the changes(I Hope).

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4. 71

   Cagsilposted 12 years ago

   I have had a number of hubs unpublished due to unrelated links in the RSS Feed. As far as I am concerned the RSS Feed is broken and shouldn't be used, because Staff refuses to fix it or even entertain the idea that it is broken.
   
   I have used RSS Feeds, in the specific manner, in which the RSS Feed links could not possibly be unrelated, because of the "keyword" used. However, the RSS Feed continued to pull unrelated links into my hubs.
   
   Now, since Staff refuses to listen or entertain, the problem then I suggest you do not use them at all.
   
   The only other way that the RSS Feeds could be wrong would be to address the unrelated links inside the RSS Feeds and attack those who are improperly using keywords. However, since Staff refuses to address that problem or even see it as a problem, then it goes back to my original thought process and that would be to STOP using RSS feeds.

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5. 84

   K9keystrokesposted 12 years ago

   Cags, I think you bring a really good point my friend. In your opinion do you think this "unrelated" linking problem could be due to some of the Hub Challenges that link to each other through rss feeds, but have very little to do with what each author happens to write about?
   I have ran across tons of this type of rss usage in the past, even participated in a challenge. And honestly it worked really well pre-panda. I have since yanked these types of rss feeds with good results. The contest HP now conducts, stay true to a topic, which I believe has a grand impact on success with the rss feeds. :}

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   1. 71

      Cagsilposted 12 years agoin reply to this

      Hey K9, I don't know what the problem actually is, but I am sick and tired of hearing about it.
      
      I had plenty of hubs that had RSS Feeds there were directly related to hub contents, but the RSS Feed was pulling unrelated content.
      
      Since the unpublished hubs have been republished because, I took the RSS Feeds out of the hubs, it leads to conclude the problem is either a malfunction in the RSS Feed or other hubbers are using "keywords" that are not actually associated with their content.
      I have removed all hubs and tags, and feeds concerning any of the challenges. Jason made a statement that the tags/keywords "60DC" and/or "60 Day Challenge" would not be a problem.
      
      So, any hubs with those on them and inside the RSS Feeds, shouldn't be a problem, unless the moderators are uninformed.

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6. 84

   K9keystrokesposted 12 years ago

   Got it. I think you may be on to something regarding authors using unrelated tags...very frustrating with out a doubt  Glad to hear that the 60DC and/or 60 Day Challenge tags remain in good favor.

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   1. 71

      Cagsilposted 12 years agoin reply to this

      Hey K9,
      
      Almost every single one of my Celebrity hubs had RSS Feeds on them. I setup the RSS Feed, based on the "keyword" of the Celebrity's name.
      
      Example: ht tp://hubpages.com/tag/Pamela+Anderson/hot?rss
      
      I did this with each of the 30+ Celebrities I cover. It should only be pulling hubs based on that keyword. Yet, I had at least a dozen or so hubs unpublished for "unrelated links" which were located inside the RSS Feed.
      
      So, you can see my problem?
      
      Edit: Yes, I realize you understood, but wanted to explain a little bit.

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      1. 84

         K9keystrokesposted 12 years agoin reply to this

         Thanks for the extra info on the matter. That would be really time consuming and surely aggravating. Has HP taken a look at  your struggle with this yet?  It sounds as if you have properly used the rss feed within the topic... I would be bothered as well Cags.
         Hey! Edit worked in this forum for you! 

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      2. 77

         Peter Dickinsonposted 12 years agoin reply to this

         Cagsil - I reckon you could solve your RSS problem by placing a special Tag into each of the hubs that you want your RSS links to specifically apply to. For instance in each of your celebrity hubs place the tag 'Celebrityxxx' and then you can choose 'hot', 'latest' or best as you will. As long as you don't put 'Celebrityxxx' in any other hubs your RSS will always pull them and no other.
         Example: http://  hubpages.com/author/your+name/Celebrityxxx/latest/?rss

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   Website Examinerposted 12 years ago

   Peter Dickinson, I trust that you got an answer to your original question.

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   1. 77

      Peter Dickinsonposted 12 years agoin reply to this

      I was waiting to see if there was further explanation but nothing. Your first reply seems to sum it all up....you must make RSS apply to the hub.
      Pity really because it makes promoting other subjects one writes about quite difficult.

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      1. 77

         Peter Dickinsonposted 12 years agoin reply to this

         Oh and thank you.

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   Website Examinerposted 12 years ago

   You are welcome. I agree, it is a pity with these restrictions, since RSS used to be so convenient.

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