HubPages Banned Me for Life
This is an actual amazing customer service situation. With some research, I found HubPages was a reputable article submission site. I read their terms and conditions statement and tried to follow their guidelines, not ever having worked with HubPages. They want five articles to really approve authors, so I wrote and submitted five. As they sat in draft format, not being approved and published, I started digging, and found out I had been banned for life!
Promoting My First Book with Article Submissions
After publishing my first book, How to NOT Lose Friends and Fight with Other People, I had my web site up, social media accounts up to date, and was building the brand, Phillip J. Stone. My overall objective is to provide communication, sales, and persuasion techniques so people can connect with each other, avoiding the conflict that plaques our world now.
Years ago I learned credible article submission sites would offer search engines paths to my web site, increasing my site’s visibility. If I were to compose unique copy with captivating content appealing to the masses, I could have those sites approve and publish the content I submitted. HubPages looked like a perfect place to start.
These are the titles of the five articles I submitted:
- Our Broken Immigration System Needs Help
- No Escaping Climate Change
- A Customer Service Disaster
- Defending Yourself Leads to Conflict
- “Could” is a Danger Word
I Was Wrong
There are no more than two links in any one article, as they require. Those links lead to my web site, and to pertinent articles in my web site. I used no unowned materials. The articles were all properly laid out with appropriate word count. I was excited to see what HubPages could bring, until days went by and all my articles remained in “draft” status. On their site, in my account, I clicked on “My Profile.” Under the picture of me smiling that I had uploaded, I saw this:
“This author has been banned from HubPages”
What? I couldn’t believe it. I had invested so much time in setting up my account with them, and thought I was abiding by their rules. Digging around, I found an email address I could use to get the scoop—why did they ban me?
My Short Email String with HubPages
Here is the copy of the first email I sent to HubPages:
I have now put 5 articles on HubPages. I click on my profile and it has a warning saying “this author is banned.” Why? How do I correct it?
The next day I got a response from HubPages. Until I read it, I was thrilled they responded at all. Here’s what they said:
Your account has been permanently banned from HubPages for existing solely to promote a third party site or service. We wish you luck in your online marketing ventures.
Shocked, I scrutinized all five articles on their site to see what they found that led them to believe I was promoting third-party works. All looked great to me, so I responded to their email, first by thanking them for responding, then this:
I have written articles to help people communicate without conflict, and to promote my web site and my book- nothing else. Please tell me what third party site or service you refer to.
I appreciate your help. -Phillip J. Stone
Funny, one of the five articles I wrote was about disastrous customer service. Wish HubPages would have read it! The result of great customer service would have been for them to apologize, even if they felt no responsibility, evaluate my writings finding no issues upon close scrutiny, and then reinstate my account. Life would go on.
Here is the response I got from HubPages the next day:
Hello,
Your account cannot be reinstated.
Now Banned Forever
I have been banned from HubPages, and I still have no idea why. There are many article submission sites, and I am hoping to find some who value contributors enough to support them. If you decide to work with HubPages, be cautious!
