How Google's Algorithm Update Led to a Major Content Cleanup on CiteHR's Humor Section

CiteHR and Google Algorithm Update

Recently, Dinesh Divekar pointed out to me how CiteHR was no longer showing up for many of the major HR keywords. So I did some digging, and it turns out that with the recent Google Algorithm update, sites are ranked according to the signals they emit. The kind of content that exists and the level of quality monitoring play a crucial role. Essentially, anything present on the site is now utilized as an indicator of the network's quality.

Unfortunately, due to this, we have had to take the harsh step of removing a significant amount of material from the Humor Section, I mean tens of thousands of threads.

Our primary goal is to assist professionals in enhancing their work. If anything affects our ability to work towards that goal, it must be prohibited from now on and in the future.

Therefore, my request to all moderators is to please keep track of the content shared on the Humor and other general discussion forums.

Furthermore, it would be fantastic to have more volunteer moderators who have been active members in the community. If you are interested in taking up this role, please review the link in my signature. It won't cause much trouble - it simply provides you with the authority to remove threads or user accounts.

Regards,
Sid

I was really waiting for this kind of initiative and action for a long time, and finally, I can expect a good result soon. For this, I sincerely would like to express my thanks to you, Mr. Sid (CHR), and Mr. Dinesh Divekar, and to all moderators and members who have shown their interest and support in this regard.

"Our core goal is to help professionals improve in their work - if anything affects our ability to work towards that goal, it has to be disallowed from now and in the future."

What is strange is that it took the removal of just 9 user accounts to clear out the forum from those kinds of posts. Of over 27 Lakh accounts - just 9. I am still reviewing the forum though.

Regards,
Sid

The Impact of the HumoR Section on CiteHR

The HumoR section had become a sort of role-playing forum, which can be quite addictive. But just imagine the amount of time wasted (possibly at work) if those users were posting 20-30 posts a day. It was a major issue at many points, but until now, it never affected the overall influence of the community. The HumoR section was removed from the recent and index pages, so it remained kind of like the underground of this community.

Concerns with Google Signals

As I mentioned, this is now an issue with the signals we send out to Google. If it's not controlled, the community will pretty much collapse. One other issue that came to the forefront because of AON Hewitt was the realization that many of the old members who grew in their careers while being part of CiteHR were no longer coming to the site.

Introducing "The Industry Secrets & Insights"

For this, we are going to start a new section called "The Industry Secrets & Insights," which will be a premium forum where only we will post after collecting the material from the contributor. Only contributors will have lifetime access to this section, and all contributions will be anonymous by default but can be personalized if the member wishes so. We are thinking about various kinds of formats like industry reports, interviews, and secret industry incidents for this section.

Regards,
Sid

Personally and professionally, I am happy with the action. This silly and mindless humor was distorting the focus of this forum. I was pained, but I have learned in life to ignore what I disagree with! That way, I steer clear of all possible frictions that sap energy. But you have no choice. You have to take cognizance, incur unpleasantness if need be, but protect the sanity of CiteHR! I sincerely congratulate you for the courage of your stern action! You have cleaned up the forum, as it were!

Regards,
Samvedan
October 28, 2012

Suggestion for Robots.txt File

What about adding "noindex, nofollow" for the said section in the robots.txt file? After all, it's the crawler that comes to the site and collects signals. I hope you know what I mean . I know a little bit about the web.

Regards

Great initiative, seniors! Earlier, I was very much addicted to the Humor section, and that time was good. But now, many members are just making fun of others as if they have a license to pull the legs of others. Also, we can see duplicate posts, hahaha, smileys, and IDs opened with fake names. Now, I can see many threads getting deleted. Some changes are happening.