Need help with a Hub topic

1. 64

   hotwebideasposted 12 years ago

   Hey everyone, I am a little confused about one of Hubpage's rules on writing hubs and I am sure you can give me the answer. I started to write a hub on Blackjack strategies. Some people can argue that this is about gambling money and that is fine, but my hub is not about making or gambling money. It does not even mention the word "money" once . However, I do see hubs about blackjack, roulette and other casino games.
   
   When I started to write my hub, I got the "This hub is at risk of not being approved, because it is about  gambling money" or something like that.
   
   What I am so confused about is that there are so many of these hubs out there. How did they get through this "risk" warning? As I mentioned, my content is not about making or gambling money, but more about the strategies used to play Blackjack as a card game. I do not mention money at all.
   
   Please advise.

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   1. 74

      TIMETRAVELER2posted 12 years agoin reply to this

      You're in a gray area here and it is probably best to avoid it as HP does not like any articles that deal with gambling, casinos, etc...even though they may seem innocent enough.  Those who have snuck through will probably get caught sooner or later.  Personally, I stay away from such topics, but I could write a ton of articles about them if I chose to take the chance.  I don't.

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      1. 64

         hotwebideasposted 12 years agoin reply to this

         Thanks, TIMETRAVELER2.
         
         I am just curious how long it will take them to get caught. I found two hubs on Blackjack that were up there for over 2 years.

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2. 0

   Arlene V. Pomaposted 12 years ago

   You can always flag those two Hubs that you mentioned and explain that you see them as topics suggesting gambling.  You don't have to wonder when these Hub authors will be "caught."  As for your own Hub, you can always contact HubPages ADM about it.  If you have any questions and explain away why you feel your Hub has merit for publication, a moderator will set you straight.  For instance, I have this Hub on mail order brides, and have been approached twice about it because it is against policy to write about international dating/mail order bride or grooms.  I wrote about a friend who chose to marry a mail order bride.  I think the reason why this Hub was not deleted was because I wasn't suggesting any agencies or pushing the mail order bride experience.  There may be a way around this for you, but you won't know unless you ask.  I've got a lot of gamblers in my family, but I don't gamble.  I know enough on the subject, but I prefer not to write about it on any online site.  This also includes my knowledge of firearms.  I prefer to stick with tamer subjects.  Otherwise, I've wasted my time putting together a Hub that won't be allowed for publication.

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3. 75

   Rfordinposted 12 years ago

   I agree with TimeTraveller2, I think this is a very gray area. I have seen many hubs myself on different gambling related topics, some were nicely done others were a clear violation of HP rules.
   
   If your article is as "safe" as you claim it is you may not be in violation so to speak. Hubpages editor tools are looking for possible violations since there is not a "real person" looking over everyone's hubs before their allowed to be published. Sometimes your hub can have the keywords that trigger the automatic response of "this hub may be ______" but the hub is "legal" on HP.
   
   You can always drop a line to someone in admin asking more questions to better clarify as Arlene suggested or you can continue writting your hub and wait and see what happens as far as being in violation goes.
   
   I had a hub go into viloation ONE time. I was given a warning and it was unpublished. I was able to revamp it and re-publish it onces it was up to par with HP stnadards. So all hope is not lost, just may need some tailoring to avoid total loss. Good luck.

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4. 61

   William Youngposted 12 years ago

   I had a similar thing happen recently. I wrote an article about how I feel predator drones should be used to combat the Mexican Drug Cartels. Well, either Google or Hubpages didn't like something that I wrote and they pulled the advertising of that hub. Apparently it was the fact that I started talking about specific weaponry and I included a picture of a drone. So I deleted the hub and re-wrote it. This time instead of calling it a predator drone, every time I referred to it in the hub, I called it "that remote controlled thing that flies through the air that is not very nice to terrorists"...Well that cured my problem because there was no warnings on the hub and my ads were right there at the bottom where they usually are. I hope you have a better experience on here.

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5. 80

   spartucusjonesposted 12 years ago

   The key point you need to keep in mind is that the warning states it is at risk. Being at risk does not automatically mean that it won't be approved (which means some of the other hubs that you have referred to may of received the same warning). It just means that the moderators will pay close attention to it.
   
   For example I wrote a hub on how free downloads where good for the music industry. I got the same warning, and the hub did go through a review period. But the moderators ended up approving it because the hub was not promoting file sharing sites of questionable legality. Instead it focused on how individual music artists and labels have chosen free downloads as part of their marketing strategy.
   
   Also as the others suggest, you can feel free to contact the moderators and explain why your hub does not violate hubpages policy.

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   1. 64

      hotwebideasposted 12 years agoin reply to this

      Hey spartucusjones, funny you mention that. I just released a new rock album on Itunes today. LOL
      
      Bruce

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6. 56

   Dame Scribeposted 12 years ago

   I would suggest you list it as a 'card game rules and/or strategies, games and entertainment' rather than listing anywhere near 'gambling' it may help

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   1. 64

      hotwebideasposted 12 years agoin reply to this

      Thanks, Dame Scribe, That's exactly what I did, list it as a card game and I still got the warning.

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7. 56

   Dame Scribeposted 12 years ago

   Well, one other way to look around is check your competition. Look at their 'keywords' and use the same and while at it, check their backlinks and see if you can get one there too just a thought.

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8. 67

   relacheposted 12 years ago

   The gambling prohibition comes from AdSense's TOS. 
   
   http://support.google.com/adsense/bin/a … swer=48182
   
   The wording they show is
   
   "Sites with Google ads may not include or link to:...Gambling or casino-related content..."
   
   How are you going to interpret "gambling content?"  Talking about blackjack strategies is gambling content in my interpretation... is it in yours?  It doesn't matter what either of us think, it matters what Google thinks and via their rules, what HubPages thinks and how they act.

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