Hub editor just changed my entire piece. Traffic dropped by 2/3

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   TessSchlesingerposted 4 years ago

   I wondered my the traffic on one piece had dropped by 2/3.
   
   It appears a hub editor had overstepped the mark. She changed the picture to a horrible one, changed the advice I gave, plus used language like 'sexy' and 'turn on.'
   
   Since when do I use language like that?
   
   And why was it changed?
   
   Any ideas?
   
   I'm just fixing it up, but, of course, as the original isn't there, I now cannot compare it and revert  it.
   
   Isn't that overstepping the mark somewhat.
   
   Was it sabotage?

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      OldRosesposted 4 years agoin reply to this

      I had a couple of hubs completely re-written by well-meaning editors.  I was puzzled by their changes.  HP emphasizes that they want in depth magazine style articles, but what the editors who worked on my hubs produced were basically amateur gardening blog entries.  I am a horticulture professional who teaches gardening so I woud never write anything even close to what they came up with.  I was also horrified when they switched out my carefully chosen photos for photos of completely different plants which happened to have similar names.
      
      After those experiences, I was very grateful that I write all of my hubs in Word and store my Word documents in my OneDrive (Microsoft cloud drive) so it was easy to restore my hubs to their original versions.
      
      I would also suggest that you take a few minutes and contact the team about what happened.  Explain to them why the changes were inappropriate.  In my case, I explained that I am a horticultural professional, not an amateur gardener, and that I would prefer that only editors who have gardening experience edit my hubs.  Apparently there are none because I haven't had a problem since!

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         TessSchlesingerposted 4 years agoin reply to this

         Wow. That is something!
         
         I did report it to Hubpages. Never received any response. However, I rewrote and updated the piece, and apart from writing makeup as make up (my error), they pretty much let it through.
         
         I am glad there are editors to pick up things like that. Just get peeved when someone changes something for no good reason. And it affects my figures.
         
         I do keep copies of everything - on an external harddrive. Just a schlep to get it out. I suppose I've never really looked at saving stuff online, because then I have to be online to get the copies. I'm rethinking that.

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      Sherry Hewinsposted 4 years agoin reply to this

      If you click the green pencil icon, you can view the changes with highlighting, you also have the option to view your original article without changes.

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         TessSchlesingerposted 4 years agoin reply to this

         In this particular care, there weren't any green lines. Now there are. )

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      NFHavockposted 4 years agoin reply to this

      GDPR Deleted
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         TessSchlesingerposted 4 years agoin reply to this

         Yes, of  course, Hubpages edits your work. I'm very happy (usually) when they edit my work. All writers have their work edited.
         
         Just now and then someone changes things, and changing something is not editing. - LIke putting a completely new photo in.

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   Ladymermaidposted 4 years ago

   If you type your url into https://archive.org/web/ aka the wayback machine your article will likely turn up in its old version. Virtually everything is saved there and it has been a life saver for me many times. Re sabotage - not likely but definitely ill judgement. My daughter had one reworked that they placed a picture of a big PJ'ed bum on which she promptly removed and reverted back to the original picture she previously had there.

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   TessSchlesingerposted 4 years ago

   Okay. Thank you. I actually just rewrote it and updated it simultaneously. I was wondering why there was such a steep drop in my traffic.
   
   Yup, I can go with that. "Re sabotage - not likely but definitely ill judgement."
   
   From long experience, if the top picture isn't absolutely stunning, your articles doesn't get  clicked on.

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   TessSchlesingerposted 4 years ago

   Actually, I've just checked. It isn't there. Also from experience. It doesn't save everything on the web.

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      theraggededgeposted 4 years agoin reply to this

      Got to save all your articles one way or another. I write in Scrivener, then copy and paste into the hub. Every now and then I work through all my articles and save the individual webpages as well. So I have two versions; a before publication (just text) and after publication (complete with images).

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         TessSchlesingerposted 4 years agoin reply to this

         What an excellent idea. I do have a Word copy, but it means I have to get out my external hardrive. How does scrivener work?

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            theraggededgeposted 4 years agoin reply to this

            It's a program specifically aimed at writers.There's a bit of a learning curve to begin with, but I've been using it for years. I gather all my articles into one project.
            
            It's at https://www.literatureandlatte.com/scrivener/overview and there's a free trial.
            
            I find it so easy because I can access research right on the page, if I need to.
            
            However, if you want something free, then YWriter is good. http://www.spacejock.com/yWriter6.html
            
            Don't be put off by the fact they keep mentioning novel writing - one chapter = one article
            
            All my storage is in DropBox, but you could use GoogleDrive and/or OneDrive - much easier than lugging out an external hard drive.

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               TessSchlesingerposted 4 years agoin reply to this

               Thank you so very, very much. That is actually a superb idea. I don't know how much it costs, but at the moment, pennies are precious.
               
               I have a good feeling about the future, though.
               
               Will do the free trial and then use one of the others.

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                  theraggededgeposted 4 years agoin reply to this

                  You are welcome. I think Scrivener is about USD$48 for a lifetime licence plus you should get a free upgrade to the latest Windows version when they release it. If you have a Mac, then the new release is already out.
                  
                  I think YWriter would serve you just as well

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                     TessSchlesingerposted 4 years agoin reply to this

                     Thank you. Much appreciated.

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                  promisemposted 4 years agoin reply to this

                  If you don't want to spend the money, just use Google Docs. It's free and saves everything forever.

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                     TessSchlesingerposted 4 years agoin reply to this

                     Don't they have a limit on how much space one can use?

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                        promisemposted 4 years agoin reply to this

                        It's 15GB. I have been using the product from the beginning and haven't even come close to the limit.

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                           TessSchlesingerposted 4 years agoin reply to this

                           Let me try that and see. Thanks.

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   theraggededgeposted 4 years ago

   You can get a free trial:
   
   https://www.literatureandlatte.com/
   
   There's a learning curve, as with all these things.
   
   You could also use Ywriter, which is free and has similar functionality. It describes itself as novel writing software, but think chapter = article.
   
   For backup and storage I use DropBox, but you could use OneDrive and/or Google Drive and consign the hard drive to a cupboard

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   bhattucposted 4 years ago

   It is really strange to note that so much editing is done on your content. Normally editors will ask you to do that. In this case it did not happen so. I am surprised.

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      TessSchlesingerposted 4 years agoin reply to this

      Oh, this doesn't happen often. It's happened to me twice - where something was not edited so much as rewritten, and both times the artwork was changed. The resultant change of the artwork killed the traffic.
      
      I am convinced that the artwork is the thing that draws people to your piece. So when people replace an attractive eye catching first picture with something that no one is interested in, it kills traffic.
      
      Mostly, my stuff is edited. A couple of times, I've been asked to change it. And a couple of times I've been told my piece is not acceptable. Never understood why.

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   Robinposted 4 years ago

   Hi Tessa. Hope you had a good Thanksgiving! Which article are you referring to, and I’ll take a look. I see one edit on your green eyes article, but that was a type of edit that we call an impact edit, which only takes a few minutes.

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      TessSchlesingerposted 4 years agoin reply to this

      Robin, it's sorted. I fixed it, and while I was fixing it, I happened to update it (I was planning to anyway). The editor then came back and corrected some things (good edits), so it was fine, in the end. Not to worry. All sorted.
      
      What the editor did was change the photo right at the top, and from long experience, if people don't like the picture right at the top, then they don't click on the link. So I put back the picture that worked, updated it by labeling it with some info, and hopefully, it will improve my traffic even more.

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   Robinposted 4 years ago

   Okay! Thanks for letting me know.

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   TessSchlesingerposted 4 years ago

   Robin, sorry. I have just received another email saying that my article is 'slotted for editing, that is in the queue, and that it takes a long time.'
   
   I am very confused.
   
   This has been one of my top performing articles, and it was only edited last week after I had improved it.
   
   I don't understand.
   
   https://bellatory.com/makeup/how-to-mak … more-green

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