Back in the merry month of May in 2013 there was a buzzing sound on Bubblews that seemed to grow louder and louder. This particular buzz centered around a question that pertained to whether or not Bubblews writers should provide links from their particular Bubblews posts to other versions of that same work that appeared on other sites.

One reason that supported that practice was the fact that on January 22, 2013 BubblewsModerator2 made the following post: “ATTENTION ALL USERS -Posts Previously Done On Other Sites (FYI).”
This post stated, “If you belong to another blog and choose to share material you’ve written already could you kindly add the link as your source? Some way for us to identify YOU were the one that wrote this article in another blog.”

However, this raised the concern that this protocol ran counter to the Bubblews TOS which states: “Bubblews.com authorizes you to use this Site only for your personal, non-commercial use.” Therefore, this caused the yellow flag of caution to wave in the wind, because sometimes providing a link to other versions of the same work can create a commercial activity if the author is paid per view of that article.

There was a period of confusion which included The Bubblews Bank suddenly gaining a Rule #8 without notification and BubblewsSupport1 releasing a post about Bubblews Rules which without explanation was shortly there after deleted along all of its comments. However, on May 23, 2013 BubblewsSupport1 did release another post about the “Bubblews.com-Rules.” The message was coherent and clarified the issue at hand. It stated:

“8. Posting links within your bubbles to cite/source/enhance your work is fine, but please do not post links to places where you financially gain or for commercial purpose. Use your best discretion and if you are unsure please email in.
CLARIFICATION: You are allowed to post links of your articles/posts on other websites, but you are not allowed to post Affiliate links and Referral links of other websites.”

With this clarification jubilation ensued in the Bubblews community as claims that everything now made sense could be heard in Bubbles of all sizes and in the comments that followed. However, in all the excitement, I am not sure that if people noticed that at some point in the days that followed the official Bubblews TOS and the Bubblews Bank Rules ultimately were not revised with such specificity. This remains true to this day the 18th day of June in the year of 2013. Both the Bubblews TOS and the Bubblews Bank Rules state the following.

“8. Posting links within your bubbles to cite/source/enhance your work is fine, but please do not post Referral or Affiliate links to other websites. Use your best discretion and if you are unsure please email in.”

This is clearly more ambiguous language than what BubblewsSupport1 used in its announcement. This raises several questions. Why when such clear and understandable language was initially used in the announcement; why was it changed, why was it made more ambiguous and why were Bubblews users not notified of this change?

June 21, 2013: Important Update from BubblewsSupport: Bubblews Support Staff Update Bubblews Post “8. Posting links within your bubbles to cite/source/enhance your work is fine, but please do not post Referral or Affiliate links to other websites. Use your best discretion and if you are unsure please email in.” It now agrees with the the wording of the Bubblews Bank and TOS.

Also, please note that the May 23, 2013 BubblewsSupport1 post that was referenced here: “Bubblews.com-Rules.app” appears to no longer exist. For now Rule #8 on Bubblews as it pertains to duplicate content seems consistent in all the Bubbles communication channels. For those that relish ambiguity, this development should be welcome news. For those seeking clarity, it is sad day. How will you play your hand of crazy eights on Bubblews?

Original  published on FullofKnowledge on June 18, 2013 and updated on June 21, 2013. Also published on Bubbles on June 18, 2013 and updated on June 21, 2013

I deleted all of my content from FullofKnowledge. However, this piece disappeared from Bubblews when my first account on that site vanished without explanation.

Note 1: The Bubblews Learning Center provides these current statements.

“Reposting from Other Websites”: “You may repost your own, original content that you have previously published elsewhere if you add at least 400 characters of new material.”

“Reposting from Other Websites”:  You are allowed to use links in your post. However, you may not post affiliate or commercial links.”

Between these statements there seem to be no clues that offer insight to what Bubblews feels about the use of links that direct to the original source of content that are commercial in nature.

Note 2: How have you played your hand of Crazy Eights on Bubblews? Do you feel Bubblews haas consistently treated all bubblers the same under the terms of this ambiguous policy with regards to linking to previously published content. Do you think Bubblews has compensated all Bubblers equally when it has come to to whether or not they provided a link that was previously posted content that was was also commercial in nature?

Old Sources:
http://www.bubblews.com/terms
http://www.bubblews.com/account/bank

Updated Sources:
http://support.bubblews.com/knowledgebase/articles/454311-reposting-from-other-sites
http://support.bubblews.com/knowledgebase/articles/453091-links-in-posts

Gentle readers, let me ask all of you this question. Is Bubblews a scam or legit site?

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