Why are my hubs being unfeatured after editing?

1. 88

   AnnaMKBposted 8 years ago

   First off, my hubs are transferred from Squidoo, and I am aware of various issues there.  I'd already checked and edited hubs after the transition, so this is all post transfer.
   
   What I don't understand is why some of my hubs get unfeatured after I've edited them?  One even got unpublished.  As it's the most recent example, this is the Hub.
   http://annamkb.hubpages.com/hub/redisco … mdm-benoit
   I had edited it for some typos I'd found, rearranged the Amazon capsules for easier reading and added a text box talking about her cookbooks.
   
   While other hubs I've edited ended up being unfeatured immediately after editing, this one got unpublished.  The email I got said it was "overly promotional" and included this list.
   
   Overly Promotional means that one or more of the following is true about your Hub. It:
   *Solely or excessively promotes another site, product, or service
   *Over-uses words or phrases that disrupt the Hub’s readability, which may include repeated emphasis of phrases with bold or italics
   *Links more than 2 times to a single domain
   *Gives a short teaser and a link to "read more" or "continue"
   *Links to a page that contains largely the same content as your Hub
   *Has excessive Amazon or eBay capsules
   
   This was written to commemorate an historical person.  There were links within the article that took people to other sites (none mine) for more information.  I don't recall any domain being linked to more than once.  I had Amazon capsules to her 5 cookbooks; not any more than I have on other Hubs I've got, such as my crafting ones.  They were all topical.  I had edited the hub before, again after finding typos, and it had been fine.  Why was it suddenly so bad, it got unpublished?
   
   In the end, I took out all the Amazon capsules, and all but 2 external links. I then got this email:
   
   Your Hub has been cleared for publication, and published. Please keep in mind that while your Hub is published, it still needs to be evaluated by the Quality Assessment Process to determine if it will be Featured.
   
   Why?  I don't understand what was wrong with the hub in the first place.  However, I've noted with other hubs that got unpublished (with a very long, general, list of possible reasons for it, but nothing that tells me what is wrong with the actual hub in question), I have found that they get featured again after removing all Amazon capsules, even though they were related to the hub and there weren't many (in some cases, only 1).
   
   I'm getting the impression that Amazon sales (I don't use ebay) are actively discouraged.  But its inconsistent. 
   
   Whatever is going on, it's gotten to the point where I'm loath to edit any of my hubs, or even write new ones.
   
   Can someone explain it to me, please?

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   1. 88

      AnnaMKBposted 8 years agoin reply to this

      Oh, I just remembered.  I did link to a "how to" on a personal blog that was related to the subject.  I did remove that part completely, and that wasn't enough.

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      Marisa Wrightposted 8 years agoin reply to this

      It is frustrating, especially as it is often only ONE link that was the problem, but because you can't tell, you end up taking the nuclear option and removing the lot!
      
      I don't see how the cookbooks could be deemed not relevant. Are you sure your other links were all relevant? For instance if you had a link to a site about a colleague of hers, or her home town, or her teacher, those would all be seen as tangential and not allowed

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      1. 88

         AnnaMKBposted 8 years agoin reply to this

         The links I removed were all related to her or more about her, including Canadain history links that were just about her, her shows, a complete listing of her cookbooks (she wrote a LOT of them!).  One I've kept is a link to explain the French Canadian traditional Christmas Eve meal that is part of my husband's culture. 
         It would be a lot more useful if they'd say *why* a hub has been flagged.  I've had the unfeatred email with a link that lists all the things that 'might' be why it was flagged, but it doesn't help me in regards to the specific hub.  I've never had one unpublished before, and I've edited it a few times as I've noticed typos I've missed.  I've never added more links or Amazon capsules, and it had never been a problem before.
         *sigh*  I just don't get it.

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      2. 75

         WriteAngledposted 8 years agoin reply to this

         It is this attitude of HP that gets me so mad! Who is to say what might or might not be seen as relevant by the reader. That depends entirely on the reader's purpose in searching for the article and also on his/her other interests.
         
         There is that lovely word, serendipity, first used by Horace Walpole in the 18th century, which he referred back to a Persian story about three princes of a land called Serendip, who were "always making discoveries, by accidents and sagacity, of things which they were not in quest of".
         
         All through my life, serendipity has led me to finding out new knowledge and interesting facts, some of which have in turn led me to lasting interests and/or wondrous experiences. In the old days, I would sometimes be looking up something in a paper encyclopaedia. have an unrelated entry on the opposite page catch my eye and follow through the references leading from that entry. Today, the same happens following tangential links.
         
         What a huge pity that the thought police have decided that offering such chances places too much of a burden on the uneducated, attention-deficit masses of this digital generation! The same thought police also refuse to accept the concept of "Renaissance Man (or Woman)", namely that a person can have and desire to have knowledge of many unrelated subjects.
         
         Without serendipity and polymathy, it is little wonder that so many people nowadays are such boring company!

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            Snakesmumposted 8 years agoin reply to this

            Ooh, a new word!   Thanks for using polymathy - had to look it up, but I like to learn things. :-)
            
            Off topic, I know, so I'll go now........

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            AnnaMKBposted 8 years agoin reply to this

            Writeangled, that was an awesome post!! :-D

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            samjhaimposted 8 years agoin reply to this

            Damn. VIa serendipity I found your post. I got this message before replying to your post:
            
            "The post you are replying to is over two months old. Please DO NOT reply UNLESS you have truly new information to add to this conversation. Consider creating a new forum discussion instead. "
            
            Geesh. Today I posted my first hub. I wonder if I am in the right place.
            
            sam

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            1. 82

               psycheskinnerposted 8 years agoin reply to this

               I am not sure why you are offended by an automated message letting you know this is an old thread.  Things being as they are, 5 month old information is no longer very useful around here.

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                  Jesse Drzalposted 8 years agoin reply to this

                  You see people pull up stuff from like 5 years ago sometimes lol.

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   3. 76

      Sandyspiderposted 8 years agoin reply to this

      I have been busy with POD products and put my articles here on hold. To find that the rules changed again. I too came from Squidoo, but already had a HubPage account and knew the differences. But now it is extreme.

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2. 62

   favoredposted 8 years ago

   Anna it's quite discouraging. Every article I've updated gets the same message that something else needs fixing.  Fixing the same ones over and over makes it hard to do anything else, especially new writing.
   
   I removed outside links, deleted product, etc. as well.  Makes me not want to edit some of the ones I haven't gotten to yet, especially my recipes.  At least your number hasn't gone down. Mine has dropped a great deal; wish they didn't have that number plastered on the bio pic. I think it discourages readers as well as the author.
   
   Don't know what to tell you other than keep writing about what you love.  Somehow it will work out in the end.

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   1. 88

      AnnaMKBposted 8 years agoin reply to this

      Thanks.  With how this is going, I'm wondering if it's worth it to keep writing here, or if I should find other avenues.

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3. 85

   Marisa Wrightposted 8 years ago

   The stupid thing is, 5 relevant Amazon capsules is well within the rules patrolled by the automated filters, so while you left your Hubs sitting untouched, they were fine.
   
   However the moment you edit one, that automatically sends the Hub through the QAP where it's judged by a human moderator, who is just someone hired through Mechanical Turk on piece rates.  Their results are monitored for quality but I wonder if that leads to some of them being over zealous.

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   1. 88

      AnnaMKBposted 8 years agoin reply to this

      Mechanical Turk?  Really?  I would imagine that would explain the inconsistencies!

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4. 69

   makingamarkposted 8 years ago

   Anna - don't worry about it.  I can find no good reason to decimate evergreen sites which we know have worked in the past.
   
   The HubPages rules are NOT Google rules.
   
   Hence if you are dissatisfied with the HubPages judgement about what is "overly promotional" and hence what does not merit publication you can always remove your unfeatured or unpublished content and put it on another site.
   
   Experience to date amongst MANY ex Squidoo people suggests that many of their sites flourish and get even more traffic when you do this.
   
   For me the bottom line is whether or not it is old evergreen content which consistently got traffic and interest on Squidoo. If it did then I'd recommend having a long hard think about another appropriate location if HubPages sends out a signal that it doesn't want it.
   
   Put more simply - would you rather put effort into exercising more control over your content or put effort into trying to make a site fit in with HubPages rules which are less than transparent in terms of their applicability to individual sites?
   
   Personally speaking I get very bored by guessing games.

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   1. 88

      AnnaMKBposted 8 years agoin reply to this

      Thanks for your thoughts.  Before the transfer, most of my lenses got at least *some* traffic, but now a lot of them get none at all.  I can understand it for the product review hubs (only 5 of 17 are featured).  They were part of Squidoo challanges, and not the sort of writing I normally do.  I have no real desire to expand on them to get them featured.  I barely have enough time to keep on top of the ones I have, and it's taken me weeks to put together a new one.  I've got too much going on in real life that is keeping me from writing.  Which sucks, big time.
      
      I'm going to get this new hub up and see how it goes.  It's on a controversial topic, so will likely get more traffic.  This is going to be my tester that will help me decide if I need to just move on to somewhere else.

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      1. 88

         AnnaMKBposted 8 years agoin reply to this

         Well, I've gone and done it.  My first hub since the transfer from Squidoo.  It's still awaiting quality assessment.  We shall see how it goes.

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5. 79

   Lynne-Modranskiposted 8 years ago

   That is helpful information.  I was at a loss too.  I will have 8 hubs all with almost exactly the same kind of content and four will get through and four won't.  Fortunately, I have links to relevant hubs on all of my hubs, so the interested reader can find the featured ones and then go to the unfeatured from there.

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   1. 88

      AnnaMKBposted 8 years agoin reply to this

      It all seems to arbitrary!

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