Followers with no Hubs!

1. 95

   sallybeaposted 9 years ago

   There seems to be an increasing number of people signing up on HubPages whose only activity here, is to add followers to their account, sometimes in their hundreds.    As I understand it, we are penalized for doing precisely this so what is their real purpose in doing this.  Am I missing something?
   I would no dream of asking someone to follow me unless I felt that I had something worth following in the first place!

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      The Examiner-1posted 9 years agoin reply to this

      I wondered the same thing as you a while ago.I looked at a couple of them (maybe not the ones which you did); and after checking a few times I found out that they had no Hubs, but they quite a list of Q&A. Which is why they had followers. Curious though.

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      relacheposted 9 years agoin reply to this

      It just so happens that Paul Edmondson (HubPages CEO) commented on a status post I made yesterday and in that conversation he mentioned HubPages gets about 1000 new signups per day, but implied only a small percentage of those are valid registrations.

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         sallybeaposted 9 years agoin reply to this

         I wonder what the criteria is for a 'valid' registration.

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   3. 79

      kenneth averyposted 9 years agoin reply to this

      I do not know if this has happened to any of you but . . .I have had followers sign-up to follow me and when I go to send them a "Thank you," email, a gesture to show them that I appreciate it, I find this message: THIS USER HAS BEEN BANNED FROM HUBPAGES and they have no followers or hubs. What does this mean?

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   4. 83

      Faith Reaperposted 9 years agoin reply to this

      Seems that has been going on since I joined HP.  I know of some hubbers who just like to read or some hubbers who have moved their hubs elsewhere, but still have an account to read and comment.  Some of them take a while to figure their way around HP by asking questions and reading and deciding who they would like to follow, then finally get around to publishing something, but then there are those who are just spammers it seems.  When I first joined HP, I was a bit naïve and followed anyone who followed me, as I was so thrilled that anyone would want to read what I had written, but then I realized they had no hubs!  Now, when I get a notification that someone is following me, I do not follow them back until I know they have actually read something I have written by leaving a comment.  Then I will go and check out their hubs and follow them back if I like what they write.  Seems there are those who may have multiple accounts for whatever reason too, which is no problem, but more than two accounts seems odd.  Sometimes if someone comments on one of my hubs, I will go and see their profile and if they do not have any hubs, I will comment back on my hub to them, and say "Welcome to HubPages.  I hope you will soon have some hubs published."

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      1. 95

         sallybeaposted 9 years agoin reply to this

         Yet another one today who only joined twelve days ago with no hubs and is steadily working his way through potential followers - already up to 104 potentials with no takers. Nearly all of these new members are from foreign parts.   I really can't see the point.

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         1. 79

            kenneth averyposted 9 years agoin reply to this

            sallybea,
            with all due respect, you and others can follow your own hearts, but NOT ME. I do not have an easy feeling about these hubbers with NO hubs or followers. Why do they go to so much trouble to sign-up? Can't they just read our works or are they putting us under some kind of surveillance? I am not taking any chances.

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            1. 92

               Jodahposted 9 years agoin reply to this

               Sometimes I wonder if these people just join with the intention of stealing hub content to use elsewhere, and follow anyone who writes the type of articles they are interested in stealing.

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                  kenneth averyposted 9 years agoin reply to this

                  Jodah, you may be right. I offer you this friendly advice to tread carefully.

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            2. 95

               sallybeaposted 9 years agoin reply to this

               I completely agree with you, I have had six hubs copied recently and am very suspicious about people who have no hubs and whose only activity here is that of trying to recruit followers in their hundreds.

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            3. 84

               psycheskinnerposted 9 years agoin reply to this

               Many hubbers set their hubs so only members can comment. So it is within the scope of the site to be a reader with membership who never intends to make hubs.

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2. 86

   lovebuglenaposted 9 years ago

   Perhaps they want to establish a big following first before they start writing and sharing their content with others. But they have no control over who follows them. Just because they follow someone doesn't mean that person will follow them back.

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   lovebuglenaposted 9 years ago

   And I am sure no one will follow them if they have no contact.

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4. 86

   lovebuglenaposted 9 years ago

   *content that is.

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5. 72

   relacheposted 9 years ago

   It means that account was determined to be invalid in some way and was shut down.  What did you think it meant?

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   1. 95

      sallybeaposted 9 years agoin reply to this

      Thank you for all your comments. For what it is worth,  I personally would never follow anyone who has nothing for me to follow.  I tend to think that there should be some 'rule' put in place to ensure that people who don't write anything should be prevented from adding any followers before until they have published their first Hub.

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         psycheskinnerposted 9 years agoin reply to this

         But that would prevent new users from following people who put out great hubs that will help them understand what this site is all about.

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         1. 95

            sallybeaposted 9 years agoin reply to this

            Good point, goes to show that there are always two sides of a story.  One does become concerned when it starts to look as if some of these people have two accounts - two accounts and no Hubs, somehow that sends a signal that something is amiss.

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      2. 79

         kenneth averyposted 9 years agoin reply to this

         @ sallybea,
         You are right. I am the worst at having common sense. I had thought that people who sign on to HP with no hubs/ followers were some type of market research firms. And it looks like I have learned something valuable from you.
         But my last question is this: Have you, or anyone here, ever read a new hubber's work and when you wanted to leave them a comment, you had to scroll down for over 20 minutes due to the book-length comments of others?
         I have. And I stopped it. To my knowledge, there is NO limit to how many words that can be used in a comment, but sometimes I think they should be.
         Just thinking outloud.

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   2. 95

      sallybeaposted 9 years agoin reply to this

      I was simply curious to know if you can think of any reason why Hubpages would deem it appropriate to close an account.  I understand perfectly what the word invalid means.

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         LongTimeMotherposted 9 years agoin reply to this

         Hi sallybea. I can think of a few new hubbers who posted hubs that were 100% copied from elsewhere, were flagged, and presumably banned. I am aware of others who hopped onto the forums, posted spam, were flagged, and presumably banned.
         
         It doesn't take long for experienced hubbers to spot newcomers who drag down the integrity of the site. Whenever someone new follows you, take a look at their activity list and see what they've been up to. If they are spamming, they need to go.

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         relacheposted 9 years agoin reply to this

         There are a lot of reasons I can think of.  The primary being it wasn't a valid registration in the first place.

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6. 91

   dwelburnposted 9 years ago

   That would be a good rule. I sometimes have people follow me who have no hubs, or maybe just one. I don't follow people unless I am interested in their work, and I think a lot of people do the same. So if they are wanting to get a lot of followers before they start writing it probably won't work.

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      PegCole17posted 9 years agoin reply to this

      I like your philosophy on this Dwelburn. It makes no sense to follow people unless they have something of interest to say. But I do have a few family members who follow me who have no intentions of writing hubs, at least, not at the moment.
      Peg

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7. 78

   Kathleen Cochranposted 9 years ago

   I have 3 friends who have accounts and follow me just so they'll get emails to let them know when I've written something.  I don't post every hub to Facebook (don't want to wear out my welcome there) so this is how they keep up.  We learned, after a year of no hubs, they get kicked out, so there are some restrictions.  Didn't know this hurt this hurt the site.?

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   1. 95

      sallybeaposted 9 years agoin reply to this

      From my own experience I have come to realize that if anyone is keen enough to keep up with one's writing, they will come looking anyway, regardless of whether or not they are followers. Seems to me that nothing is 'private' when it gets published on the internet.

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8. 92

   Jodahposted 9 years ago

   Sallybea, I have been notified of a few new followers recently, and when I checked their profiles found they had no, or just one hub. At least they had written a profile so that was something. I don't mind them following me, but won't reciprocate until they have more content.
   I did read a forum post recently offering for everyone who read it to follow each other just to increase their followers. Even though they were advised against this practice a lot agreed to do it.

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9. 60

   The Examiner-1posted 9 years ago

   Unless they have absolutely nothing, others seem to follow them because thy like the questions, or answers, given by them - even though they have no Hubs. I cannot say whether or not they also copy.

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10. 91

    Carola Finchposted 9 years ago

    I have had tons of new followers lately and find that some of them are trying to use HubPages to promote their products, services, and/or websites.  Someone reports them as spam and they get banned.  Wish they would stop wasting my time and theirs.

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