HubPages Review After My First Week

My first week on HubPages has been quite a roller coaster. On my first day I was falsely accused of spamming, but by day 5 I got the HubPages Team to implement a new feature and by day 6 I was a featured author. I wrote 3 posts, started a lively forum topic, and my Hub Author Score ranged from 18 to 74. I “met” some rather rude and arrogant Hubbers, and I also met some super friendly ones that made me feel very welcome.

Accused of Being Spammy

My first Hub was about my first workout on a Precor elliptical machine. My biggest complaint about the Precor was that the workout felt very choppy. Postulating that it was due to a short elliptical machine stride length combined with my height, I included a link to an external site that talked about the longer than average stride length on the Sole E35 elliptical trainer.

It seems that because I had set the ad level to low or medium and I included an external link, I promptly got a courteous but somewhat threatening warning email from the HubPages team saying that I had violated the user agreement. They set my ad level to high and warned me not to change it.

My First Forum Topic

This really surprised me, since the article really was not at all commercial. Also, I thought the Hub edit page was quite unclear. It did not explain that one external link automatically makes any page “commercial.” It also did not explain how the ad levels worked. It seemed quite intuitive to me that if I am given an option to choose from several ad levels, that I should in fact be able to chose any level that I want.

I wrote back to the HubPages Team voicing my complaint that the edit page and the policy were a bit unclear. I also found the Report a Problem or Suggest a New Feature section in the forums and started up a new topic Feature Enhancement: Add help link for "ads" level settings tab suggesting an easy to implement new “feature” that would make the edit page more clear for new Hubbers.

Met Rude Hubbers Who Were Also WRONG!

My new topic got some quick comments and replies from veteran Hubbers with quite high author scores. (I assume they comment often on everything.) Unfortunately, these veterans were quite rude and unfriendly, suggesting that I was lazy for not reading the entire user agreement and following the rules. Apparently, they carefully read entire user agreement for every website and service that they use.

As it turns out, when I went back and actually did read the user agreement, I discovered that the “wise” veteran Hubbers were actually quite wrong. In all fairness, it seems the HubPages Team hat sent me the warning email was also wrong. The theory was that if any Hub has external links, it must have the ad level set to high. But if you actually read the user agreement, that rule only applies if you are monetizing your Hub with your own AdWords account (or some other monetization method). Since I am not monetizing my hub, the rule does not apply and I am technically allowed to set the ad level to whatever I want.

I should be clear that as soon as I discovered the intended Hub policy, I didn’t mind setting the ad level to high. I was NOT trying to skirt the rules and somehow be allowed to set the level lower. I will eventually monetize my hubs anyway, so I’m not trying to change the policy. I was just trying to make it more clear for other new Hubbers. And I wanted to point out that the actual legal policy is not what everyone thinks. I also mentioned this to the HubPages team and suggested that they review their user agreement and policies.

Met Some Very Friendly Hubbers

Luckily, my follow up comments on the post got some additoinal veteran Hubbers to post some comments and replies. These friendly folks, who also have absurdly (and deservedly) high Hub Author Scores, posted some VERY friendly and VERY welcoming comments and restored my optimistic view that HubPages is a community worth joining. Many thanks to darkside, lakeerieartists, and rebekahELLE!

Got a New Feature Implemented

And then something really cool happened. It turns out that the HubPages Team actually read and listened to my comments and suggestions. They apparently discussed them at a team meeting, and then they instantly implemented the new feature that I had suggested. WOW! I was (and am) really impressed that they would both listen and act so quickly. The HubPages Team rocks! Thanks to HubPages Team member Maddie Ruud for listening and updating me on what happened. It's quite amazing and super cool that the HubPages Staff takes time to interact directly with the HubPages community.

2 More Hubs and Suddenly I’m a Featured Author

With the mess caused by my first post now resolved and behind me, I felt energized and I wrote a two more hubs. One was another health and fitness related hub on running outdoors vs. running on a treadmill. The other was about some crazy kiteboarders who went out in a gale and jumped Worthing pier in England. Luckily, these Hubs did not create any controversy or generate any warnings.

To my pleasant surprise, I noticed that my kiteboarding Hub got me included as a Featured Author in the Kite Sports section. But while I was certainly happy and while I think my kiteboarding post was quite good, I’m pretty sure that my jump to Featured Author has less to do with my writing and more to do with the lack of kiteboarding articles on HubPages. It seems that kiters have yet to discover HubPages :-)

Roller Coaster Hub Author Score

Throughout the process, I saw my Hub Author score vary wildly. It started at 30, where it seems that all new Hubbers start. Then it dropped steadily down to 18, and then a slow but steady rise. Near day six it hit 74, but by day seven I had gone back to the high 60’s. Hopefully as I become a more seasoned Hubber it will remain a bit more stable. And hopefully on the high side!

HubPages Overall Review

With one week behind me as a new Hubber, I must say that I’ve already grown to like HubPages.

Technically, the interface is pretty good and allows most anyone to quickly write and post a well structured Hub. And I’m quite impressed with the HubPages team. The proof is in the pudding, and it seems clear that they listen to their users and constantly strive to improve the HubPages tool.

The HubPages platform and concepts (Hubs, hub scores, author scores, ad levels, monetization, forums, fans, fan mail, comments, etc.) take a little time to understand, but the concepts make sense. It’s all well thought-out and once you start to understand the framework, it becomes increasingly intuitive.

And the community of Hubbers seems to reflect the real world. Some grumpy, arrogant, unfriendly people, some super friendly and kind folks, and undoubtedly many people (like me) who fall somewhere in the middle.

So overall, HubPages looks like a good place to do some of my writing and I’m looking forward to my continued exploration and participation in this new-to-me community.