by John McDevitt

Created on: April 10, 2009

Don't panic. Unless Helium deleted your article for plagiarism or because it's a duplicate, your article is safe and accessible from your My Helium page. Simply click on the My Articles button on the left side My Helium menu, choose "deleted" from the "Show Only:" drop down menu and any deleted articles will be displayed.

Your article hasn't been deleted, it's been placed on the non-active list. The only thing changed is the article will no longer be displayed under the original title. You always have access and are encouraged to repair the problem and resubmit your article.

Resubmitting your corrected article is actually much simpler than using a leapfrog. With a leapfrog you're never certain the raters will accept your changes. When you submit a corrected article it's always treated as a new submission.

If you didn't receive an e-mail notification from Helium that your article has been deleted it's because Helium is systematically removing articles in bulk that for one reason or another no longer meet Helium's quality standards.

The most common reason for deletion is because your article falls below the minimum word count for Helium articles. For some articles, the one's you've wished would simply disappear, and we all have at least one of those, you're done. It's gone and won't trouble you again.

But most articles we've written are worth saving. The fix is simple. Either copy the text of your article from your My Articles page and paste into your text editor, or use your original if you have it saved (always sound advice). Expand your article to meet the 400 word, 2400 character minimum then go to the original title and republish as new.

If your article was deleted because of poor quality, be honest, take an objective look at your article and use the opportunity to create a winning, high ranked piece. Be sure you proof your final product carefully for grammar and spelling errors and resubmit your improved product to the original title using the write now icon.

Sometimes, either because we misinterpret or misread a title, we put our articles in the wrong place. If Helium finds one of your articles under the wrong title, you'll receive an e-mail message explaining that your article was deleted because it was off topic.

There's nothing wrong with your article, it simply doesn't address the topic. All you need to do in this case is use the Title Finder on your My Helium menu to look for an appropriate title. Once you find a good title, use the write now option and republish your article under the new title.

If you have trouble finding the right title, you have the option to create a new title and submit it for approval using the Suggest Title option on your My Helium menu. Another approach would be to contact one of Helium's stewards and ask for their help.

You might receive notification that your article has been deleted because it's a promo. Using your name or other personally identifying information in an article is a user agreement violation. You have the option of sanitizing your article to remove all personal information and republishing.

You're welcome and encouraged to use your About Me page to promote your business interests, but never in one of your articles.

Remember. An article deletion notice from Helium doesn't mean your article is gone. You always have the opportunity to correct and republish and if you have questions or need help, contact the help desk or better yet, contact a Helium steward.

Learn more about this author, John McDevitt.
Click here to send this author comments or questions.