Helium Forums for microsites (How To Guides, Topics, Zones) and social networking

How long does it take to get approval of your Zone?

My Card Games Topic (http://card-games.helium.com/topic/3673-card-games) used to have several Helium articles.  They're gone now.

I think this must be some sort of bug, since I think I recall having articles on the Cake Decorating Topic, and they were gone too (I added some new Helium articles). 

If it's not a bug and someone has been editing my Topics, that's fine (it's a community), but why not replace an article with an even better article instead of removing the block?

Raven Lebeau

  Slacktivism-- saving the world one mouse click at a time. 

I cannot upload pics from my image library onto my zone. I need to get my zone updated for November so would appreciate some feedback.

Shaheen

I know the Google image search is one of the required elements for Topics, but I think that requirement needs to change.  This disturbing image is one of the pics that popped up on my Pit Bull topic. 

I don't think we need to be grossing our readers out or depressing them with that kind of content! That's certainly not something I would have chosen to put on the page.

I've never had problems with the Google image search before, but I'd like the option not to use it when it returns results like that.  I think a well-selected Flickr photo would be much better.

Raven Lebeau

  Slacktivism-- saving the world one mouse click at a time. 

It doesnt give me any bottons or anything to delete the zone

Hi, am having difficulties uploading a group logo image. Is this me or a bug? I tried multiple formats and file sizes and received the following error message.

A.W. Berry

I have done 10 Zones and had no problem ...now I am unable to upload a pic for the zone listing area . ?? Bug ??Can someone help me with a review of basic steps please ?

Thank you

Olivia

Even though the HTML Editing section did not expand and all content had to be copied and pasted into the editing section, this Zone is finally complete.  It was quite a challenge.

The Zone provides basic information for those who are looking for auto insurance.

Please take a look and your feedback will be appreciated.

Auto Insurance - The Buying Process

Tried twice to set up another  How to Guide and it went into "freeze" and offered no option to pick channel for topic.

Thanks for any input.

Olivia

I have a couple of concerns:

(1) When I try to edit a block on any zone the text block does not expand, even when I toggle HTML.  I can only see the very first line of the paragraph.  I have been entering the text in my own html design software and then copy and paste into the zone editing box.

Is anyone else having this problem or am I the only lucky one?

(2)  I was surprised when I looked at one of my blog pages on my Domestic Violence Zone and there staring me in the face was a Google ad with a woman in her underwear, advertising printing on panties.  Have we really entered a phase where we will accept any type of advertising for a buck?  I'm disgusted and I will not design pages to host this type of advertising.  We are supposed to be professionals and I just can't do it.

It is somewhat ironic that this ad appeared on a page discussing the abuse of women.

The blog page is:  http://crisis-support.helium.com/zones/blog/698

The URL for the Google ad is: 
http://pagead2.googlesyndication.com/pagead/imgad?id=CIXF36jJj6eQZBCsAhjvATIISw4TLZUXQ04

I was surprised when I looked at one of my blog pages on my Domestic Violence Zone and there staring me in the face was a Google ad with a woman in her scanty underwear, advertising printing on panties.  We must understand that Google is getting desperate because the competition for the control of the internet is getting very keen.  It just isn’t safe to run Google image ads anymore, because they evidently will accept advertising from anyone.

It also isn’t safe to have a Google image search on a Zone page, because you just don’t know what kind of image you will get.  I vote we remove that block from the Zones.

We are supposed to be professionals and I just can’t, in good conscience, spend my time building web pages to run these type ads.

It is somewhat ironic that this ad appeared on a page discussing the abuse of women.

The blog page is:  http://crisis-support.helium.com/zones/blog/698

The URL for the Google ad is: 
http://pagead2.googlesyndication.com/pagead/imgad?id=CIXF36jJj6eQZBCsAhjvATIISw4TLZUXQ04

I started a group and I see Google ads on the side. If I started a group and people join do I get any credit towards payments for those hits?

Also for my published articles is there a way to see if they have been read by anyone?

How do I know when I am close to receiving a payment?

What is the average abount of hits per article?

If I forgot to fill in the key words when submitting an article will that affect my outcome?

In checking my zones, I noticed that my slide show is not working on

 http://face-care.helium.com/zone/2759-beauty-tricks-from-the-fridge

I opened the block in the edit mode and all the pictures are there. This had worked previously.

Please advise,

V

HI GUYS I'M NEW AROUND FROM KENYAN UNIVERSITY UNDERTAKING UNERGRADUATES COURSE IN MICROBIOLOGY AND BIOTECHNOLOGY HOPE WE WILL CHAT MORE.

Hello All,
I have a new blog on my zone,Randal Purdy's Profile.Please check it out!

Is anyone else having problems with Flikr images as some of them seem to have disappeared from one of my zones.

Shaheen

Does anyone know what's going on with the strange post - "hi is me"?

This is what it reads in the inbox -

R. Renée Bembry

  Dance Dance Revolution Weight Loss Tips - DDR

Teach Babies to Be Smart HERE

I came across three zones -- all by the same wrter -- each of which includes this statement:

"Help support this webpage and the work of its manager by donating through paypal!"

Is this allowed?

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Dear friends, Do you want to have some different things? Whether you want to give your relatives and friends, Take a few different exotic gifts? Whether you want to buy some cheap benefits of thing?So please, let us begin now!Click on our website
====== http://www.7century.com ====
====== http://www.go-c2c.com ====
====== http://www.ilikemonster.com ====

Will bring you different surprise

Dear friends, Do you want to have some different things? Whether you want to give your relatives and friends, Take a few different exotic gifts? Whether you want to buy some cheap benefits of thing?So please, let us begin now!Click on our website
====== http://www.7century.com ====
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====== http://www.ilikemonster.com ====

This person has been reported and their account has already been removed.

No, it is not. Please report it so it can be taken care of.

Friends, I would love to show you the zone that I created, but i can't find it in all the changes that Helium has instituted on the profile/my home pages.

Apparently, I don't yet understand how to create a Zone and to maintain it.  (It must have been deleted, since it was never fully approved.)

I like Morgan Silver Dollars, and I am a member of the American Numismatic Association.

How do I create and then share my loves with the community?

Thank you for your help in advance.

Sincerely,

Jay O'Toole, nom de plume.  :)

I'm sorry, but the zones have been phased out. They didn't take off like Helium had hoped. What you might do, though, is to apply to become a How To Guide builder. HTGs are a lot like zones, only more structured.

You know this is why people tire of sites such as Helium. The site forgets to tell you that you are a guinea pig when you are working your socks off. Then you are left with a lot of hard work which was for naught. I also know such sites do not like criticism but I am simply stating a fact.

Sites are going to find dips in popularity if they continue this way. Yes we have to learn and grow but a sense of fair play is needed

Happy New Year by the way to all

ethel smith

Actually, this was announced on the community boards several months ago. It has also been brought up a few times since then. There were high hopes for the zones, but that didn't bear out. They just weren't getting the hits to justify the zone editor putting a lot of maintenance effort into it, nor for Helium to continue hosting them.

It's possible that the lack of views was because there were no real strong guidelines like there are with How To Guides. It isn't uncommon for a Guide to get a thousand hits or more in a month, but it was rare to see a zone that came close to that many.

Hi Rex

Whether it was announced or not is not the point. By the time it was people would have invested time and effort in it. It was the same with Helium News articles.

Yes the how to guides have guidelines but many writers find this part of Helium frustrating. It has too many rules and regulations, too many stewards and has morphed from a once great place to write to one of many I'm afraid to say.

I bob on from time to time, like other people but do not see much to entice

Just my humble and honest opinion

Ethel

I understand your feelings on this, however consider it from a different angle. With 40,000 writers, how many do you think wrote news or had zones? Of those who did (probably a lot less than 1%), how many of them made money doing it? Yet, they needed to keep the zones updated or the views dwindled even more.

HTG's are structured, unlike zones, and earn a lot more because of it. The regulations for HTG's haven't changed much since the very early days, though they are more lax now than they were when I wrote my first. Personally, I see it as a very good thing having more leaders to approve guides, because they get approved more quickly.

HTG's are really simple to do, once a person understand what is wanted. Only the first one or two are difficult, usually, and that is because people are still learning what is needed. (My first took 5 tries and something like 16 hours. My last one took 1 try and about 20 minutes, all told.) In fact, a very few people have done HTG's have quit because of difficulty. 

News items have never been that lucrative, since they have such a short shelf life, and I'm surprised that it was even tried.

Still, there are more ideas and promotions coming. It is also great to see that a lot of people that left Helium some time ago are coming back. I'm hoping that 2012 will be better than 2011, all across the board, and the signs point that direction. I did well in 2011, but I'd like to do even better. (Who wouldn't? Haha)

Agreed but.....

There are easier to get to grips with sites now.

Plus many writers such as myself now run their own sites.

Here you have full editorial control.

Sites such as Helium helped inspire that.

In my 5 years plus online I have come across many writers and many who have found Helium not for them due to its restrictions.

For me It was good a few years ago and is now an occasional venture.

Hope you have a healthy and weathy 2012.

Rex, how long does one have to wait before he may be allowed to join the How-To Guide community?

In 2010, I spent months improving my writing percentage levels.  I gained the one star required for admission to the community.  Yet, when that application was being reviewed, my percentage dropped a few hundredths of a point, being just enough to lose the star.

I was denied admission.

I tried a second time with a star.  Same result for same reason.

I tried a third time.  Same song, third verse.

Now, every time I attempt to join, I get this response, "You've already been denied multiple times."

In the spring of 2012, I will have been with Helium for five years, faithfully.  Helium is the only writer's website on which I post.  I come pretty much daily.  

During my tenure here, I have earned less than $100 total.

I understand about popularity of thought gaining percentage points and money more rapidly.  I have lived with those terms, since I am a principled writer, compromising truth with no one for love nor money.

However, it would be nice to earn a little something for all the myriad hours that i invest in writing for Helium.com.

Do you have any pull with management?  

Do you know where to forward these words in order to get me another chance to write How-To Guides?

Thanks,

Jay  :)

Rex this is the problem that some members have these days.

I am not getting at anyone but Helium needs to understand why it loses some people and deters others from participating

thanks

ethel

Jay, I suspect that this has to do with more than just the writing star, but this is something that would be best discussed off the boards. I'd be happy to discuss it with you, though. Just send me a message through my contact writer link.

Ethel, I'm unsure what "problem" you are referring to. People have come, gone and come back for at least since 2007. I don't think a person could say that there is any one reason people chose to leave OR to come back. I've heard from a number of great writers who've come back, though, and almost to the person, they are extremely pleased with the direction Helium is taking.

Never mind Rex

And yes I know Helium does not like public discussions on the boards :)

That is unless it is a glowing report

Oh well

End of subject from me

For clarification, Helium loves PUBLIC discussions on the boards, but anything that is a private discussion, such as that relating to a person's account, should not be discussed on the boards. 

I have a couple of questions about Zones. First, are we only allowed 3 Zones? Can we raise that? I remember when Pets & Animals channel had an empty title zone. That would be helpful with the way the Helium system is now. I would like to do one for all of my channels.

Next, how do I delete a Zone? My writing portfolio no longer serves a purpose as to the fact that I have my own website now. Can I have it deleted?

Earth Science Channel Manager

Zoology Channel Manager

Ghosts and Paranormal Phenomena Channel Manager

Local Guides Channel Manager

http://www.helium.com/users/397765

http://lindawatts.yolasite.com

Dear L.S.,

"Zones" were one of my fondest memories of the "old Helium." So many of us got SO creative; it was fun. The old base-Zones, however, never worked out the way Helium wanted them to. They are being phased out, though the ones we created do seem to still exist.

Yes, the limit (set well over a year ago) is three, and will not be raised. You can always re-do any one of those 3 COMPLETELY -- as in, Start Over. That fulfills the concept of deletion.

The hot zones these days are How-To Guides. Those do indeed earn money -- two of mine, top rated, earn me a couple/three bucks every month. (The old zones earn just a penny or two). If you can find ways to create solid, usefull HTG's, those are well worth doing.

Sounds like you've been an extremely active Helium volunteer, L.S., and I hope you've found it rewarding. There's still plenty of room for creativity here, long's you follow the constraints. 

Best of luck to you!

~Jim Bessey 

-  see more about me: My Portfolio

blogging at Just Camping Out

on Facebook  -and-  Twitter

Thanks for the response, Jim! It's been awhile since I have done a zone so I thought I would ask. I will definitely look into revamping the three I already have. It wasn't for making money but to try to promote more writing in my channels.

I admit, I need to do more HTGs. I am also working on building more Topics.

Thanks again. Very helpful.

Linda

Earth Science Channel Manager

Zoology Channel Manager

Ghosts and Paranormal Phenomena Channel Manager

Local Guides Channel Manager

http://www.helium.com/users/397765

http://lindawatts.yolasite.com

Hi Linda

I think Topics too have been discarded.

I think it is a great shame because I found them very challenging and a lot of fun to create. I do hope topic pages will be resurrected when Helium has time/staff/resources etc to sustain them.

Best of luck with HTGs though.

Gulrukh

Islam Channel Manager

I'm new to Helium and am wondering if I can use affiliate links in my articles from amazon.com. I have one link I would like to post in an article I'm working on and it is directly related to my article topic. Is there a page with affiliate link guidlines I could read perhaps? So far I haven't been able to find anything about affiliate links in the support section of the site. Thanks for any help in advance - it is appreciated.