Featured Hub back to Pending After Revisions/Update?

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   Denmarkguyposted 11 years ago

   Something happened to me today that I have not experienced before.
   
   I did some "gardening" and revision work on one of my featured Hubs... and I was "done editing" it stopped being "featured" and instead became "pending" with the usual "going through QA process" that typically comes with NEW Hubs.
   
   I've never seen that before... is that something new, or a glitch?
   
   I'd have to say that it would hardly encourage people to keep their content fresh if their featured hubs are going to become "deactivated" as a result of adding fresh content. Or even just fixing typos, or improving some wording.
   
   What gives?
   
   ~Peter

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      Simone Smithposted 11 years agoin reply to this

      Hey Peter!
      When that happens, it means it did not have sufficient quality ratings to be featured after going through the Quality Assessment Process (it had probably never been through the QAP as we have yet to rate everything that has been published on the site).
      the best way to go would be to improve its quality as much as you can: edit it, add more information and media, look for typos, etc.
      Sorry for the unpleasant surprise, and I'm glad you're taking such good care of your Hubs!

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      1. 82

         Denmarkguyposted 11 years agoin reply to this

         Thanks Simone!
         This was an older and not terribly "busy" hub... although it had previously been revised a little back in December.
         
         What gave me pause for concern is that a couple of my older hubs need a little fixing up... but these are the kind that are currently getting 500-1000+ views a month and the thought of them being temporarily de-indexed from Google because I'm sprucing them up a bit... well, gives me heart palpitations.
         
         Would it be reasonable to assume these would NOT go into "pending," as they most likely have been "hopped" a few times already, just because they are broadly read?
         
         Thanks again,
         Peter

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            Barbara Kayposted 11 years agoin reply to this

            This is giving me heart palpitations. I just updated some of my old hubs that had high rankings. I need to check right now that they are still featured.

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               Barbara Kayposted 11 years agoin reply to this

               They are still featured. Whew. I hope they don't start doing this everytime we revise.

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                  paradigmsearchposted 11 years agoin reply to this

                  To noindex a non-junk hub that is getting daily traffic would indeed actually be insane. So far, so good.

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   Glenn Stokposted 11 years ago

   An interesting thing that I noticed about "Pending After Revisions" is with the following experience...
   
   I revised and improved one of my hubs that had been idled. But after the pending period it simply became idle again.
   
   I improved it some more and it again became idle after pending.  Then I wondered if the problem was that I had less than 700 words.
   
   This has been a test I was doing based on something I learned while studying the nature of internet readership. The theory (based on ideas learned from EzineArticles.com) is that people who browse the internet for answers to questions don't want to read a lot. They want quick answers. EzineArticles recommends 500 to 700 words. Most of my hubs are well over 1000 words. Some around 3000. So I tried an experiment with a couple of short, but educational, hubs.
   
   It seems that HubPages  wants a minimum of 700 words. On my third attempt, I increased that hub over 700 and it finally passed inspection and became featured again.
   
   I am not absolutely sure if this is the reason why it finally became featured. Maybe one of the staff can confirm that one way or the other -- if 700 words is a mandatory minimum.

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      topclassposted 11 years agoin reply to this

      We don't know the pass mark
      We don't know what to fix
      We don't know whether the edits we do make a difference
      All we can do is to make stabs in the dark till the offending mystery is killed off
      What a fabulous process that teaches so much.

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   2. 82

      Denmarkguyposted 11 years agoin reply to this

      Ezinearticles likes short pieces because that's their focus. Their whole gig is to (try to) be a portal where people can pick up "quick and easy" articles to use in their newsletters, 'zines and so on. So they are going to say that "it works best."
      
      It depends on your topic. My most read hubs have between 1800 and 4000 words. I write articles that are as long as they need to be to convey the subject material with a level of detail that makes them more valuable to a reader than the majority of other information out there, about that topic.
      
      As a web user, I'm rarely looking for "quick answers" unless my question is something like "when does Safeway close." I can't stand flimsy brief content  because it typically just summarizes the generalities I already KNOW... I'm an "instant bounce" when I land on a page/site like that.
      
      ~Peter

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      1. 95

         Glenn Stokposted 11 years agoin reply to this

         Thanks, Peter, for that explanation as to why Ezinearticles pushes for no more than 700 words. That makes a lot of sense. For that matter, I have always noticed that my very involved Hubs, that require in the range of 3000 words to express the full extent of the subject, do much better with traffic. So I agree with you.

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      MelissaBarrettposted 11 years agoin reply to this

      To my knowledge, there is no real minimum word count, at least Turkers aren't told to count words during QAP.
      
      I'm pretty sure there would be a mass-bitchfest of the highest order if it was suddenly required.
      
      Everything below this sentence is general and not directed at a specific person...
      
      To "pass the mark" look at the slide meter in the hopper.  Do an honest evaluation of your hub...  Make sure you hit at least five or sixes on all three things.  Then submit.
      
      No I have no idea what the minimum "number" is to pass.  Aim for getting straight tens but don't submit anything that looks like it would be under a five.  Don't try to skate by with some idea of minimum that even the paid QAPers don't know.
      
      There are sample articles in the hopper directions.
      
      In addition, I have never seen a hub written to the "stellar" standards that I have QAPed that wasn't published.
      
      http://hubpages.com/learningcenter/Elem … tellar-Hub
      
      They are telling you what they want.  They are telling you how to fix things. 
      
      If you want a quick and dirty, here it is...
      
      Add photos and subheadings for Organization. Paragraphs are peachy.  If your whole article is one paragraph then things have gone awry.  Dozens of links/underlining/bolding for no apparent reason whatsoever is also going to lower scores. Basically anything that makes your hub hard to read or ugly is going to lower the score.
      
      Have a point and enough text/videos/maps/tables to explain that point for Substance.  Grammar is factored into this too... If your hub is unreadable, then it doesn't say anything.  If your hub is basically an advertisement, then it doesn't say anything.  I've never seen a hub with substance (barring some video hubs/and a very few recipes) have less than 200 words. 
      
      Make sure you have paragraphs for grammar... An article with 40 one sentence paragraphs is as bad as an article with one 800 word paragraph. That, coupled with complete sentences, correct spelling/punctuation and appropriate English word choice (including subject/verb agreement) are really all that's needed for a 5 or a 6.  Higher scores come from cohesion, transitions, appropriate adjective/adverb use... etc.
      
      The learning center has examples and tips for turkers to rate hubs.  These are the only instructions that we are given outside of individual odd questions that are communicated.  If you read these instructions to US then YOU'LL know what we are looking for.

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         Glenn Stokposted 11 years agoin reply to this

         That is extremely helpful information Melissa. I'm going to review all these points every time I write a new Hub and also when I update old Hubs. This could also explain why certain Hubs become idle. Thanks so much for posting this.

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      Victoria Lynnposted 11 years agoin reply to this

      Hi, Glenn. I was in the AP, and we had to write at least 500 words. Of course, the info in the Learning Center about stellar hubs recommends over 1000 words. Like you, though, I think most people want to read shorter articles when looking for answers, so that does confuse me. Anyway, I just thought I'd share that 500 minimum since you mentioned 700. :-)

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         Glenn Stokposted 11 years agoin reply to this

         Hi Victoria.  I became confused too when I studied rules that Ezinearticles had taught. But as Peter clarified above, they have their own reasons. And that may not be the same for all platforms. I have some very long Hubs that work just as well as short ones. I avoid rambling on just to add fluff, but I do end up with some long Hubs when something requires a lot of explanation.  I'm noticing that some of my  older hubs that once did well, have been chosen to go idle. Some of those I've been updating, and others (many others) I've been deleting if I feel they just don't meet the new standards. Unfortunately, a lot of that has been guesswork.

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   paradigmsearchposted 11 years ago

   Uh-oh... Are my tweaking days done...? If a noindex ever gets slapped on one of my hubs that's getting regular traffic..., it will be a grim day indeed...

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      Jenn-Anneposted 11 years agoin reply to this

      It is this kind of uncertainty that has me afraid to do any tweaking or editing to my featured hubs. I did tweak one hub that had gone idle just to see what might happen. It is featured again but has no traffic. It is somewhat seasonal though so hopefully it will pick up steam soon.

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   LucidDreamsposted 11 years ago

   I was curious about that as I was getting ready to do some fix-ups myself. I don't like the way that works at all.

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   xstaticposted 11 years ago

   It should be back in circulation within 24 hours. That has happened to me too. I just revised another one and the same thing happened.

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      paradigmsearchposted 11 years agoin reply to this

      Could you check the source code and see if a noindex tag is there?

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   paradigmsearchposted 11 years ago

   Consider this my good deed post of the xxx. Lately what I do is as follows...
   
   Give basics.
   
   Give intermediate.
   
   Give advanced.

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