In a recent post, I covered an introduction to HubPages and what I felt are some of its positive aspects. In this post, I share my opinions on the worst aspects of HP.
Let me start by saying (once again) that this is purely subjective, and what I dislike may be exactly what draws others to write for HP.
The Comments Feature
I’m not a big fan of article sites that allow comments. I blame MySpace and other sites like them that have created a culture with an almost insatiable appetite to instantly comment on someone’s work without even digesting it fully.
I understand this feature in a blog. The writer creates an opinion piece and puts it out there in the blogosphere to be commented upon. I still don’t quite get it on content sites. There are people who also write such long (and many times rude) comments that they could turn into hubs and earn cash. Maybe I’m just a big mean capitalist, but if I have the time to refute someone’s hub, I’m going to do it in my own hub and try to earn money. But I’m also not big on the “community” aspect of HubPages. Some people just like to hang out and comment on hubs.
Luckily, HP allows writers to delete comments and report spam as well as not use the feature at all. My complaint is more along the lines of “eh, it’s not my bag, but maybe it’s yours.”
“Artists and Commentators” vs. Article Writers
I see HP as a content writing platform. Others see it as a place to put their art or political or religious commentary on the web. The problem is that these artists can have an attitude against writers who are there for what they see as purely for monetary gain. It’s my understanding that HP was actually intended from the onset to be for articles but morphed into something else.
Recently, I participated in a 30 hubs in 30 days challenge. Apparently, these challenges upset people who claim they cause an influx of poor quality hubs. Quite frankly, I think these people need to pull the sticks out of their rears. There are a lot of poor quality hubs, but that may or may not have anything to do with the writing challenges.
My goal is to become better at writing short, tightly focused, content rich, evergreen articles for HP. I may sometimes publish opinion pieces, but I will always try to monetize them the best I can.
In fact, many topics lend themselves to sharing personal experiences. For example, I recently published a hub on medical transcription based on my experience in the field.
I don’t have a personal problem with hubs that are basically opinions and commentary. My complaint is more with the “us vs. them” mentality. I don’t think a hub on someone’s opinion about the most current political issue is necessarily any better than a hub on trees of the northeast USA for instance.
HubPages and Creative Writing
I don’t think HP is the best outlet for creative writing. If I want to publish a story or poetry, I would try outlets online and in print that targeted the correct audience for the genre of my story or poems.
Hub Quality
This is where I will start sounding like the artists. HP prides itself on only allowing quality content. Yet, they allow hubs that are sometimes barely readable written by non-native English speakers or are simply a collection of soft porn pictures.
I can tune these hubs out, but if writers want to point potential employers to their work, they may want to consider if they want their work seen just a few clicks away from “My Hot Indian Aunties, Part 6.” There is a page ranking system that is supposed to help put crap at the bottom of searches, but I’m not sure if that really works as well as it should.
The HubPages Forums
This is the worst part of HP. I don’t know how the forums were in the beginning, but they seem to have been taken over by people who were never taught about those two things you don’t bring up in polite conversation – politics and religion.
I write about religion at HP, so this may seem hypocritical. But if you glance in the forums, decorum is thrown out the window. It seems these threads are populated by the following extremes:
- Right wingers who just think everyone should get back to “gawd.”
- Left wingers and atheists who think that anyone who disagrees with them is an uneducated, mouth-breathing, knuckle-dragging, racist, homophobic moron.
There are attempts at civil discourse, but on the internet, that rarely is the status quo for long. Again, I just try to stay clear of these threads, but it’s unfortunate that HP allows this type of behavior.
I’ve even seen hubs where hubbers personally attacked each other. It makes me appreciate Suite 101 that much more as the forums there are geared towards writing and how we can further our craft and web writing skills.
The Good Forums at HubPages
I recommend avoiding the general forums for your sanity. But the Knowledge Exchange and Need Help? Ask Here sections are excellent places to learn more about HP by experienced and usually very helpful hubbers.
My Future With HubPages
I still plan on publishing more hubs, but I will never put all my eggs in that basket. That’s partly because I’ve been self-employed for ages, and counting on one source for your daily bread isn’t very smart. But I admit that I don’t completely trust a company that allows some of the crap that goes on in the forums.
HP Does Have Potential
HP has income potential and some good writers. It’s also free and easy to use without editors checking our work. With things as they are now, HubPages will continue to attract more good writers and some really bad apples.