by Kat Apf

Created on: September 05, 2010   Last Updated: October 22, 2011

Helium does delete articles for a variety of reasons.  If you've had one deleted, the best thing to do is understand why, so you won't repeat the mistake.  

That's not to say that every delete is the fault of the member.  At times, Helium deletes an entire title and the articles in it.  This usually happens when a title is outdated or something from back in the dark ages when sometimes, titles were done wrong and they were not caught right away.

Email notification-

The best thing to do, once you notice an article is missing, is to check your email.  Almost every delete comes with an email notification.  The email will explain why your article was deleted.  Sometimes, your email provider dumps a Helium email into your spam box, so if you can't find an email about it in your inbox, check your spam.

There are certain deletes that do not come with an email notification.  When Helium does automated "sweeps" of articles with low word counts, you will not get an email on those.  


Reasons for deletes-

Most articles on Helium are deleted for the following reasons: Off topic, poor quality, duplicate content, all capital lettering, excessive promotional material or foul language. Let's take a look at each type of delete-

Off topic-

You'll want to pay close attention to the titles you are posting your work to.  If a title is fairly general, you don't want your article to be too specific. Yet, if a title is very specific, you don't want your title to be too general.  A good thing to do is not only note the title but the channel it appears in.  How you would approach an article in one channel might be very different from how you'd approach it in another.  

At times, Helium will include a link to a more appropriate title for your work.  This doesn't happen every time, though.  But if they have included a link, check it out to see if you think your work would be better suited to that title.  It doesn't mean you have to submit the article to that title but it's something to think about.  

Poor quality-

Helium wants magazine quality writing.  This means, no chatspeak, no smiley faces, in addition to proper spelling, grammar and punctuation.  If you are struggling with the mechanics of writing, you can contact mentor@helium.com.  Mentor can help you work out the kinks.  

All caps-

All capital lettering in your work does not look professional and is not allowed.  Using caps for emphasis

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