The situation right now on Squidoo looks more and more scary. With the Squidtanic that looks like it's sinking, the different and contradictory measures taken, the deletion of a huge number of lenses, the locking of an even bigger number of lenses, the downgrading of lenses back to work in progress status, the decrease in the number of sales... we really feel like 3 years old kids whose parents are punishing them for motives only parents know (though in this instance I'm pretty sure parents are clueless themselves). Or worse...
While reading a forum this morning, I head to a post that made sense to me in that it compared the situation on Squidoo with an abusive relationship. The analogy was perfectly explained and this is really the way we can see things these days.
By the dozens, lensmasters complain in all forums where Squidoo is debated. However, very few of them actually left Squidoo, bringing their lenses along with them in order to move their content else where.
And that is where this looks so much like an abusive relationship.
Let's take the example of a woman living with an abusive partner (bullied or beaten each time the partner gets nuts).
However, this woman doesn't leave her spouse... It's really hard to leave an abusive partner... But why ?
Well, the woman loves her abusive partner with a passion ; and so lensmasters love the abusive Squidoo with a passion.
Although bullied or beaten, the woman has faith in her abusive partner when he promises never doing it again ; and so lensmasters believe Squidoo when they pretend all those changes that drive us nuts and are so tiring and seem to have no head no tail are good for lensmasters or that they're close to the end of all these troubles.
Bullied or beaten women often think they're at the risk of losing everything, from their social situation to their financial assets if they break the link of this abusive relationship ; and so lensmasters also think they're going to lose all their assets if they make the decision of leaving Squidoo.
While living with an abusive partner, the woman doesn't live alone, doesn't do things on her own ; and so, lensmasters think there's nothing good for them outside of Squidoo, there's no life, no hope, outside's risky for them.
Living with an abusive partner might make you think that the woman is adept of masochism, and so staying with Squidoo, endlessly re-doing their lenses to comply to HQ's rules and, for some, simply PLEASE HQ... makes lensmasters practice masochism.
When will it stop? Where is the abusive partner going to go too far for this to come to an end ?
Only the woman knows that. She'll stop loving her abusive partner because she'll understand or "think" that her abusive partner doesn't love her at all. And so, lensmasters will understand that Squidoo doesn't love them for themselves but only for what they bring to it.
Actually, being in love with an abusive partner is more often than not a one-sided relationship. And so lensmasters are involved in a one-sided relashionship with Squidoo: they love it, but Squidoo isn't in love with them. When love isn't shared fifty-fifty, it can't last for long.
When will the lensmasters leave their abusive partner ? When all their lenses will be locked without warning and no explanation, when all greenlight requests will remain dead letters, when they'll see by themselves how much Squidoo doesn't care about them.
And then they'll dare to open the door, see how outside looks like, notice that there's nothing dangerous living outside of Squidoo.
They'll also realize that they worked really hard this year 2013 for next to nothing - the most part of them having worked for really nothing. They'll know they shouldn't have been stuck on it that much, they should have been sleeping at night instead of modifying their lenses to learn the very next day that they had to re-modify them once again. They'll realize that all of this didn't make sense, had no actual and definite direction and that the end result wasn't the one expected.
Yes, this looks like an abusive relationship. Or a sect... led by a guru and his priests.
And that is where this looks so much like an abusive relationship.
Let's take the example of a woman living with an abusive partner (bullied or beaten each time the partner gets nuts).
However, this woman doesn't leave her spouse... It's really hard to leave an abusive partner... But why ?
Well, the woman loves her abusive partner with a passion ; and so lensmasters love the abusive Squidoo with a passion.
Although bullied or beaten, the woman has faith in her abusive partner when he promises never doing it again ; and so lensmasters believe Squidoo when they pretend all those changes that drive us nuts and are so tiring and seem to have no head no tail are good for lensmasters or that they're close to the end of all these troubles.
Bullied or beaten women often think they're at the risk of losing everything, from their social situation to their financial assets if they break the link of this abusive relationship ; and so lensmasters also think they're going to lose all their assets if they make the decision of leaving Squidoo.
While living with an abusive partner, the woman doesn't live alone, doesn't do things on her own ; and so, lensmasters think there's nothing good for them outside of Squidoo, there's no life, no hope, outside's risky for them.
Living with an abusive partner might make you think that the woman is adept of masochism, and so staying with Squidoo, endlessly re-doing their lenses to comply to HQ's rules and, for some, simply PLEASE HQ... makes lensmasters practice masochism.
When will it stop? Where is the abusive partner going to go too far for this to come to an end ?
Only the woman knows that. She'll stop loving her abusive partner because she'll understand or "think" that her abusive partner doesn't love her at all. And so, lensmasters will understand that Squidoo doesn't love them for themselves but only for what they bring to it.
Actually, being in love with an abusive partner is more often than not a one-sided relationship. And so lensmasters are involved in a one-sided relashionship with Squidoo: they love it, but Squidoo isn't in love with them. When love isn't shared fifty-fifty, it can't last for long.
When will the lensmasters leave their abusive partner ? When all their lenses will be locked without warning and no explanation, when all greenlight requests will remain dead letters, when they'll see by themselves how much Squidoo doesn't care about them.
And then they'll dare to open the door, see how outside looks like, notice that there's nothing dangerous living outside of Squidoo.
They'll also realize that they worked really hard this year 2013 for next to nothing - the most part of them having worked for really nothing. They'll know they shouldn't have been stuck on it that much, they should have been sleeping at night instead of modifying their lenses to learn the very next day that they had to re-modify them once again. They'll realize that all of this didn't make sense, had no actual and definite direction and that the end result wasn't the one expected.
Yes, this looks like an abusive relationship. Or a sect... led by a guru and his priests.
Posted by Squidoo Angel Prosperity66
After trying to guess about why my lenses get locked occasionally, I have decided to move on. As each lens gets locked, I'm just going to move them, instead of guessing at why and trying to fix. I'll be moving lenses to my websites, hubpages, and blogs.
ReplyDeleteI would probably stick it out if they would give me specific actions on what to fix each time, but without that, you're right...It's taking abuse for unknown reasons.
After having deleted a bunch of lenses, it took me some weeks before starting to recreate them else where but I started now. I just hope the pages will get some traffic just like they did on Squidoo although I know they weren't welcome on there anymore (never locked, though).
DeleteLike you I just don't know what to do to please HQ. Problem is that I write for my readers, not for Squidoo's staff nor Mr Godin... and that doesn't seem important on there any more.
Great post, and so relevant. I had two of my top performing lenses locked last week... no notice and no reason given for why. They were ranked within the top 100 and 300 respectively, and the top lens had over 27,000 lifetime views and gobs of social shares, likes and interaction on page. Visitors loved the lenses and the information I was sharing. And NOW they have a problem with it?
ReplyDeleteMy other paracord bracelet lens is still ranking in the top 100 so not sure if or when I'll move it. I do plan to move ALL of my other low-performing lenses to my own blog.
I'm throwing in the towel. As a Giant Squid (and former Angel) I expect to be treated with more fairness and integrity than that. I've started a new blog with a domain name relevant to these top lenses and an moving them now, trying to copy them exactly as they were on Squidoo.
I'll delete the Squidoo lenses a day or so before I publish my blog versions, but does anyone know of a way to let Google know these are the same articles which were previously ranked by them, short of a 301 redirect, which Squidoo doesn't even have the decency to give locked lenses. Is there any way at all to salvage some of the work I put into these lenses in terms of ranking? I know I'll get some new social love from followers, and I can get backlinks from a few relevant blogs I interact with, but it was really hard to get ranked on page 1 and that's precisely the reason I feel betrayed by Squidoo... I've lost so many hours of hard work that it's sickening!
Current and former lensmasters need a Class Action lawsuit.
Hi Bob,
ReplyDeleteI'd like to tell you that, yes, there's some kind of 301 redirect for locked lenses but sadly, there's nothing we can do. However, from what I've read here and there, former lenses that were popular on Squidoo and that have been moved to their own domains do pretty will very quickly on their own.
This does mean only one thing: Google knows what quality is, that's what matters.
Best of luck with your new domain!
Just a quick update regarding my issues and progress.
ReplyDeleteI opened a new domain as I mentioned previously, deleted the old Squidoo lenses, republished them on my new blog, did some social networking and got a few new backlinks.... within two weeks (actually just over one week later) my articles were on page one and two of search results for various KW's and since then they've climbed steadily. I'll have regained my old ranking in no time and not have to play the Squidoo games.
As you suggested, after moving them they did well on their own. Thanks for the great site and added motivation to start moving some of my lenses. I'm grateful!
I'm delighted to hear that your lenses perform so well outside of Squidoo! After all you could have used it to learn the "how to" and now, like grownup Squid, live your life on your own. Congrats on your achievement ;)
Delete