Are we just interns for HubPages?
With rapidly declining page views, very poor earnings, articles dropped from being featured and daily demands for article maintenance, it is becoming burdensome and time consuming here at HubPages. So, do you feel like an intern who works for free and answers to a demanding boss who keeps changing the rule book? Many exceptional writers have exited HP and I too am giving it serious consideration.
I don't feel like an intern. I have had very few articles that have dropped from being featured and I have to say that in all honesty, they probably do not deserve to be featured in their current form. I do have a couple that are constantly flicking between being featured for engagement and not which I find annoying, but I will edit those in due course.
As for the article maintenance, I feel that is in our best interests in any case. The style tips and goals that HP introduced are good in my humble opinion and make our hubs better. You can choose to ignore those in any case and carry on as before. I choose to ignore the style tip about using too much bold for example, as I use bold to highlight instructions in my how to hubs.
In short, I am happy with HubPages and where they are going and plan to stay here a long time.
No, I don't feel like that at all.
My page views have only dropped by what I'd expect over the summer months, I've had no Hubs dropped from featured status. Article maintenance is a part of online writing -- people should be doing that whether HP demands it or not. And, despite lower CPM, I'm definitely not working for free.
The climate online is changing, and HP must roll with it. That's going to mean stricter guidelines and some decisions many writers aren't going to like.
In the end, it's our own personal choice whether we stay here and keep writing, or move on to some other platform that better meets our needs. Nobody is holding us here. But before people get upset and head for the hills, think about what else is out there. HubPages is about the most open revenue sharing site there is. Most places don't allow poetry, fiction and all the other expressive content HP makes room for. Most places don't pay nearly as well, either.
But I can understand the frustration. If I were thinking of leaving HP I'd probably put up a Blogger blog, slap some ads on there, and write away. That way I'd have control and (mostly) make my own rules.
pagesvoice: I understand your frustration and share much of it. I looked at how long the other two answers have been on HP and how long you've been here, and I have a theory. Those of us who joined more than two years ago were on the leading edge of the (latest) series of changes that have occurred here. We were lured to join HP by the encouragement to write high quality hubs about the subjects we felt strongly about - period. Since then we've been limited by a series of requirements in addition to the initial ones and that never seem to end.
Change is inevitable. Constant change is frustrating. I used to work for an organization whose initials were ACS and the employees said it stood for "Always Changing Something." And the higher ups wondered why they couldn't keep staff. Many of us pre-2010 hubbers feel "if it ain't broke, don't fix it." I can appreciate an always-moving forward philosophy of business. But constant change in the workplace just leads to frustration.
I've been here for awhile and I can understand some of your frustrations certainly. It has been a whirlwind of changes rolled out in the last year especially. I am still earning and my hubs are all featured. The ones that were unfeatured I pulled off of here and have or will publish them elsewhere. I am of the mindset don't ever keep your eggs all in one basket. Things are always going to change and who knows what may come tomorrow.
I know it's not a popular opinion, but I believe HP had to do something drastic to improve its own image with Google and I blame Google and its tantrums more for loss of income etc than HP. Google panda whacked a couple of my websites as well - and they don't engage in spam or have poor quality content. Google is just - well being Google. I don't even use them for searches anymore lol.
That being said, I use HubPages as a sort of online resume and many of my hubs have lead me to well payed freelancing gigs. I feel it has its place and I earn some pocket money each month, while also having a nice place to display articles. Hubs can be made very beautiful with all the capsules - almost like magazine pieces. That I think really helps when it comes to gaining clients for me. I try to keep HP in perspective that way, but if I was depending solely on HP for writing income there's no way I would make it.
I think it's always good to diversify. Monetizing my own blogs/websites has def given me a higher payout, but my paying sites were established long before coming here. They, like HP also took a hit and when that happens, you do what you gotta do to try to survive and thrive. Without the almighty Google, websites fail unfortunately.
I agree with Kathleen, the others that have said they do not mind this have been here slightly over a year. They were not here when writers were being paid more and had twice as many views over the summer. They also were not here when the writers were told to write over 500 quality words. Now we are told that is substandard.
I worked for an hour on a hub, that had 511 words, and then found out that it would not pass muster until I added another 1000. I said what needed to be said in the first 500 and there was no way to pad it with another 1000 words. I was reminding people to use the spell check and proof read before publishing. The hub that started my little rant was a HOTD with 19 run together words in the first paragraph.. I have noticed more quality has not been added with more words. I had comments from over 150 people that they had seen the problem and agreed with me. I had views right up until the day they unpublished it. Spellcheck is still not used and grammar is out the window.
We were told to write things we were passionate about, and our fiction and poetry were appreciated. The writers from before are leaving in droves or just not writing. A friend that has over 2000 hubs and has been on here for over 4 years, has quit writing. He said he did not feel appreciated. His income has dwindled way down and he is tired of editing hubs also. He just started moving them.
Another received the 'Best Fiction Writer' award recently, he has started pulling his outstanding fiction from HubPages. I not only understand you being ready to leave, but have taken the step that many of my friends have, and am shopping for an alternate venue. I am fed up also and have just been here for two years. I no longer feel appreciated and am only waiting to claim my payout, before withdrawing.
Dennis....I can understand your concern and your question is one that many have wondered about. I am of the mindset that the way each of us looks at the current situation, is pretty much related to why we joined in the first place. It also has a lot to do with our own "expectations." I will guess that for as many hubbers as have something to say, there are as many varied opinions. Don't you find this to be true?
I never thought of myself as an "intern," working for free. Perhaps we are, but I do believe there are many who have my attitude.....with the passive income being a secondary motive for writing here.
I can understand and respect the disappointment for those of our fellow-hubbers who have reached a point of disillusionment. How I hate seeing our friends leaving here by the dozen. Writers have to do what is necessary to further their goals and intentions. Personally, for the time being, I'm fairly comfortable here at HP. However, just like anyone else....should the time arrive I am extremely unhappy or feel my time and efforts are being wasted, it would be time to make a serious decision.
Maybe. It would seem that what was good for Hubpages two years ago, is not longer adequate. I am gradually moving my stuff out and am making money elsewhere - something I was not able to do here.
I started with hubpages two months back and since then i have come across many hubpages users complain about decline in page views. I too have noticed the same for my hubpages. Dont know the reason for it... but would give some time on hubpages.
by Don Bobbitt 9 years ago
After over a month of careful watching, here is what I have observed as an HP writer;1- My "reads" on HP are steady at 400+ daily.2- Google (US, AU, NE, UK, CA, etc) have all but abandoned my articles with a dramatic decrease in Google Traffic. 3- All of my other sources of traffic are...
by Shauna L Bowling 8 years ago
I recently had a hub un-featured for engagement, as the half-circle indicates. I think this is an unfair practice and should be eliminated entirely. Here's why I feel this way:Our hub traffic is often affected by the time of year, holidays, seasons, and current events to name a few. If left alone,...
by Lizzie Edenfield 8 years ago
Lately I have noticed how most of my articles that have been there for a long time, are being marked as not featured. And even after trying to "fix" them they are placed in the same stage over and over again. Considering the kind of "pay" we get for our effort, it seems kind of...
by Lela Cargill 10 years ago
"Writers write - Sites that want to exploit writers need to do the marketing and promotions, as well as PAY the writers for their product."From WillStarr:Bingo!It would benefit both parties if each did what they do best...writers should write, and the internet gurus (at HP) should then...
by Dale Hyde 2 years ago
I am experiencing an overall average off 66 percent less page views per day, for seven days versus a week previous and for the past two months. Such a huge drop in page views makes me think that Google has tuned up something again. I do know that I don't have the time and energy to keep...
by ShailaSheshadri 10 months ago
I am writing articles for this website since past 3 months. At present, I have 38 featured and published hubs. I have joined for Amazon and google Adsense program. Past two months I earned like very less amount, less than 1/2 dollar. If I continue writing and publishing at the rate of one article...
Copyright © 2024 The Arena Media Brands, LLC and respective content providers on this website. HubPages® is a registered trademark of The Arena Platform, Inc. Other product and company names shown may be trademarks of their respective owners. The Arena Media Brands, LLC and respective content providers to this website may receive compensation for some links to products and services on this website.
Copyright © 2024 Maven Media Brands, LLC and respective owners.
As a user in the EEA, your approval is needed on a few things. To provide a better website experience, hubpages.com uses cookies (and other similar technologies) and may collect, process, and share personal data. Please choose which areas of our service you consent to our doing so.
For more information on managing or withdrawing consents and how we handle data, visit our Privacy Policy at: https://corp.maven.io/privacy-policy
Show DetailsNecessary | |
---|---|
HubPages Device ID | This is used to identify particular browsers or devices when the access the service, and is used for security reasons. |
Login | This is necessary to sign in to the HubPages Service. |
Google Recaptcha | This is used to prevent bots and spam. (Privacy Policy) |
Akismet | This is used to detect comment spam. (Privacy Policy) |
HubPages Google Analytics | This is used to provide data on traffic to our website, all personally identifyable data is anonymized. (Privacy Policy) |
HubPages Traffic Pixel | This is used to collect data on traffic to articles and other pages on our site. Unless you are signed in to a HubPages account, all personally identifiable information is anonymized. |
Amazon Web Services | This is a cloud services platform that we used to host our service. (Privacy Policy) |
Cloudflare | This is a cloud CDN service that we use to efficiently deliver files required for our service to operate such as javascript, cascading style sheets, images, and videos. (Privacy Policy) |
Google Hosted Libraries | Javascript software libraries such as jQuery are loaded at endpoints on the googleapis.com or gstatic.com domains, for performance and efficiency reasons. (Privacy Policy) |
Features | |
---|---|
Google Custom Search | This is feature allows you to search the site. (Privacy Policy) |
Google Maps | Some articles have Google Maps embedded in them. (Privacy Policy) |
Google Charts | This is used to display charts and graphs on articles and the author center. (Privacy Policy) |
Google AdSense Host API | This service allows you to sign up for or associate a Google AdSense account with HubPages, so that you can earn money from ads on your articles. No data is shared unless you engage with this feature. (Privacy Policy) |
Google YouTube | Some articles have YouTube videos embedded in them. (Privacy Policy) |
Vimeo | Some articles have Vimeo videos embedded in them. (Privacy Policy) |
Paypal | This is used for a registered author who enrolls in the HubPages Earnings program and requests to be paid via PayPal. No data is shared with Paypal unless you engage with this feature. (Privacy Policy) |
Facebook Login | You can use this to streamline signing up for, or signing in to your Hubpages account. No data is shared with Facebook unless you engage with this feature. (Privacy Policy) |
Maven | This supports the Maven widget and search functionality. (Privacy Policy) |
Marketing | |
---|---|
Google AdSense | This is an ad network. (Privacy Policy) |
Google DoubleClick | Google provides ad serving technology and runs an ad network. (Privacy Policy) |
Index Exchange | This is an ad network. (Privacy Policy) |
Sovrn | This is an ad network. (Privacy Policy) |
Facebook Ads | This is an ad network. (Privacy Policy) |
Amazon Unified Ad Marketplace | This is an ad network. (Privacy Policy) |
AppNexus | This is an ad network. (Privacy Policy) |
Openx | This is an ad network. (Privacy Policy) |
Rubicon Project | This is an ad network. (Privacy Policy) |
TripleLift | This is an ad network. (Privacy Policy) |
Say Media | We partner with Say Media to deliver ad campaigns on our sites. (Privacy Policy) |
Remarketing Pixels | We may use remarketing pixels from advertising networks such as Google AdWords, Bing Ads, and Facebook in order to advertise the HubPages Service to people that have visited our sites. |
Conversion Tracking Pixels | We may use conversion tracking pixels from advertising networks such as Google AdWords, Bing Ads, and Facebook in order to identify when an advertisement has successfully resulted in the desired action, such as signing up for the HubPages Service or publishing an article on the HubPages Service. |
Statistics | |
---|---|
Author Google Analytics | This is used to provide traffic data and reports to the authors of articles on the HubPages Service. (Privacy Policy) |
Comscore | ComScore is a media measurement and analytics company providing marketing data and analytics to enterprises, media and advertising agencies, and publishers. Non-consent will result in ComScore only processing obfuscated personal data. (Privacy Policy) |
Amazon Tracking Pixel | Some articles display amazon products as part of the Amazon Affiliate program, this pixel provides traffic statistics for those products (Privacy Policy) |
Clicksco | This is a data management platform studying reader behavior (Privacy Policy) |