Hubpages Image/Reputation

1. 89

   mattforteposted 8 years ago

   Does anybody not find it absolutely ridiculous that anybody that types in hubpages.com is brought to a minimalist homepage, with the words:
   "I agree with Ben Carson, no Muslims as president."
   
   Everybody has a right to their opinion - I'll argue that to the death, no matter how stupid the person or their opinion is. But that's just spewing hate on the FRONT PAGE of your website, and nobody seems to care.
   
   Is the HubPages community OK with first time visitors getting a message of hatred as their first impression? Is the staff OK with this?
   
   I'm certainly not. The forums here are already spewing with toxic hate from certain groups that I will not name - which for the most part turned me off of this community years ago....but to have it shoved in your face when you first visit the site is just bad form.

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   1. 93

      sallybeaposted 8 years agoin reply to this

      Maybe there should be an automatic filter in place to weed out all hate related writing.

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   2. 84

      TIMETRAVELER2posted 8 years agoin reply to this

      I doubt it was the intention of the team to turn people off.  I'm guessing that they really need to tweek their algorithms to do as sallybea said and also remove the Q&A posts from that section.  I often have seen some of those that are really distasteful to me and certainly would not help the reputation we are trying to build here

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   3. 96

      EricDockettposted 8 years agoin reply to this

      First-time visitors would not see it. It is a forum discussion and only signed-in users will see it when they go to that page.
      
      But I get your point.  The topics forums are a mess and have always been. Personally, I'd like to see the topics forums and Q&A gone. They are indexed (at least initially) and make up part of the overall quality reputation for this site. 
      
      But I assume they must  get a certain amount of traffic so HP is unwilling to kill them off.

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      1. 84

         Marisa Wrightposted 8 years agoin reply to this

         Eric, are you absolutely sure only signed-in users can see it?   The forums are public, you don't have to be signed in to read them.

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         1. 92

            SheilaMilneposted 8 years agoin reply to this

            I've just had a look at hubpages.com using an incognito window, and you see all the hubs but not the discussions.  So they'll miss out on "no muslims for president" but they will see the Military Diet, et al.

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         2. 96

            EricDockettposted 8 years agoin reply to this

            That's what it looks like to me. I get a different list when I'm signed in vs signed out. Try it for yourself.
            
            But that doesn't mean visitors can't see forum posts or Q&A if they hunt around the site, or even find them via search. It just means they won't see them on the front page.

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         3. 0

            calculus-geometryposted 8 years agoin reply to this

            He didn't say the forums were inaccessible to logged out people, he said the front page is different for logged in vs logged out viewers. Specifically, forums and Q&A are shown on the front page only to logged in users. Visitors who don't have an account or who are logged out just see hubs on the front page. That difference has been in effect for a very long time, I believe since the front page was redesigned in the first place.

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   4. 0

      Farawaytreeposted 8 years agoin reply to this

      Totally agree. No matter who can see it, it appears as if this is some sort of gossip site for viral threads and trends, not actual useful information, which is what we are told we need to produce on the site (at least to be featured).

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2. 84

   Marisa Wrightposted 8 years ago

   I am also concerned, not so much about specific forum posts but about the mere fact that Q&A posts are appearing on the front page at all.   
   
   After all HubPages' efforts to ensure only quality Hubs are shown to the public, they go and display Q&A which haven't gone through any kind of quality filter at all.  Where's the logic in that?

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   1. 93

      sallybeaposted 8 years agoin reply to this

      No logic at all, plus the related hubs which are sometimes 7 or more years old.

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3. 91

   Ilonagardenposted 8 years ago

   If I were to give one major criticism to the site it would be the front page. It is boring, AND ridiculous. I think it gives an overall poor impression of what might be found here.
   
   Really not sure just what type of reader it appeals to, but I find the navigation annoying, and if I weren't writing here I wouldn't investigate based on that front door to the rest of the site. The pages themselves have more meat to them with the related posts and their thumbnails.
   
   I think a magazine style that is mobile oriented would work much better.

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4. 70

   makingamarkposted 8 years ago

   For the record - I read this thread initially while not signed in.
   
   I think the Front Page of HubPages is absolutely appalling. It irritates me every time I see it.
   
   The purpose of a front page is to get people to click further not run screaming in the other direction. (I'm referring to some of the front pages I've seen on occasion - they vary - and some are completely obnoxious)
   
   I'd make an overhaul of that page a top priority - with a complete veto on all types of titles and images which feel might find distasteful or offensive.

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   1. 89

      mattforteposted 8 years agoin reply to this

      Off topic, but I do agree.
      I get the attempt at being minimalistic, but it looks like one of those shitty parked domains.

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5. 68

   blargablargaposted 8 years ago

   0h god I'm glad that's showing up for everybody.  I totally thought HubPages had some kind of algorithm that marked me as a horrible person!  I don't blog about hate!  My hubs are about knitting and videogames.  So yeah, it /really/ bothered me.  I felt like I was being straight-up insulted to my face.  But that's because I thought it was targeted marketing and not the same for everyone.

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6. 92

   Jodahposted 8 years ago

   I never go to the homepage so have never seen it, but it doesn't seem like a wise thing to have there. I will have to check it out.

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