Squidoo or Hubpages – Which One Is Worth Your Time?

Are you writing on other platforms besides your blog?  When I was an affiliate marketer I was actually writing all over the places, and it’s only later that I started blogging more seriously.  As a matter of fact, I used to use my blogs more like selling platforms where people landed from my online articles.

Today I write more for my own blogs, of course, but that doesn’t mean that I won’t use other article platforms to spread my wings a bit more.

Today I wanted to give you my own review about two article platforms that I’ve been using for years.  Yes, I am referring to Squidoo and Hubpages. I’ve known and used them for some time now, and I totally changed my mind regarding their value since then.  So here is what I’ve found.

Squidoo

I’ve used Squidoo from early 2008 to early 2011.  Out of the some 80 lenses that I’ve created for my main account (I had a few others) where I used my real name, only 45 lenses are now featured, because when Squidoo changed their rules they either blocked some of them, or they were so picky with the ones that they had put on hold for me to edit, that I ended up deleting them myself.

As a matter of fact, I even had a lens about bullying that was absolutely not intended to sell anything with pure original content that they ended up blocking as well.  To this day, I’ve never understood the reason for such action on their part, and when I tried to get an answer by contacting their Help Desk, it was very similar to trying to talk to the walls.

You Can’t Figure Them Out!

I totally understood why they had to put a brake on lenses (that’s how articles are called on Squidoo) that promoted affiliate links and making money online programs.  Granted some abusers had totally messed it up for the rest of us, and it was a big low quality article mess. But I couldn’t understand why in the world they would delete a social issue article which was one hundred percent original content, of course, and sold nothing but a couple of Amazon books.  It made no sense at all. But yet again, Squidoo makes no sense for a lot of people anymore.

Another very annoying thing about Squidoo is that they are very hard to figure out, and I had to really pounder and shake my head as for what is a “good lens” to them.  I’ve seen them rewarded lenses that I didn’t feel deserved it.  Frankly.  And I’ve created some very good pieces that never got the recognition they deserved.  That alone discouraged me to keep on wasting my time publishing original content for Squidoo.

Do they even Rank Anymore?

Another very weird thing is that when I type on Google “Squidoo Sylviane Nuccio” what I am finding on the first page is mind bugling.  What I mean is that the none of the 10 first results even include anything I’ve ever written on Squidoo, but other sites where I’ve written about Squidoo.

  • First two results are EzineArticles
  • Third result is YouTube
  • Fourth result is GoArticles
  • Fifth result is SlideShare
  • Sixth and Seventh results are my own blog right here
  • Eighth result is MySpace (how on earth!)
  • Ninth result is Blogger (can’t believe that one)
  • And tenth result is Linkedin

That tells you something here; doesn’t it? Where is Squidoo?  I have to go on page three to find my first Squidoo lens result.  In my book, this means that Squidoo doesn’t rank well.  Some might say that it’s because I haven’t updated my lenses in over a year.  Yes, that’s true, but when was the last time that I did anything about MySpace or Blogger?  I can’t even remember, but it’s been a few years.

My Conclusion about Squidoo

I’m sure they probably mean well, and like any other article platform they are looking for valuable content, but they are the most confused content place I know.  They don’ t always reward good content, while some not so good content still slide in.

They are impossible to communicate with, and that’s not only my observation, but many people I know as well.  And last, but not least, they don’t seem to rank well anymore.  So, my conclusion about Squidoo is I won’t use it for quite some time, unless they get their act together.

Hubpages

I have used Hubpages in the past using a username instead of my name, and if I Google  “my username hubpages” it’s the first result.  I haven’t edited any of those articles for years either, yet it’s ranking perfectly all right.

I recently started using Hubpages again (on a new account) using my first and last name as username since my name is an important keyword as far as I’m concerned.  If I type “my name hubpages” in Google search I come up in first position with the oldest page I’ve created on this account (which is about 3 weeks old) on second position right after my profile page.

Unlike Squidoo, Hubpages results make sense.

Hubpages’ got More Common Sense

Another advantage I find about Hubpages over Squidoo is that they are easier to figure out.  What “I” think is a good hub (article) seems to be good to them too.  They don’t seem to decide what’s good or not out of the bottom of their hat.

On top of that, back then when I was trying to sell more with my articles I wasn’t receiving very good feedbacks form other users, but now that I share only one hundred percent information articles, people seem to love it, and my score is already in the 70’s and growing after less than a month using it.  I also have been positively surprised with the amount of comments that I’m getting.

My Conclusion about Hubpages

I am glad I decided to rekindle with Hubpages few weeks ago, because I really like what I see, and I feel that it’s an excellent nest to get more traffic to this blogs and business.  Hubpages and Hubages users seem to like what I contribute there, and that’s what I’m looking for.  I would have no problem encouraging you guys to use Hubpages in your spare time to expand your wings and put your business in front of more people.

So, what’s you’re thought on that? Do you have any type of experience with Squidoo and Hubpages you’d like to share. If not you can still tell us what you think about the whole thing!

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61 thoughts on “Squidoo or Hubpages – Which One Is Worth Your Time?”

  1. This was just what i was looking for. I’ve been trying to spread my wings and was looking for article and web 2.0 sites to write for. But everytime i go to squido, i can never figure it out. not because i’m stupid but because it takes so much to figure out how to use it. At first i didn’t even know what a lense was DUH..
    I think if i do any third party writing besides guest posting, it will be on hub pages.

    Great article and great comparrison Syviane.
    thanks..:)
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    1. Hi Annie,

      I’m so glad this article could help you in making your choice. Yes, indeed, I would advise you to pick Hubpages vs. Squidoo for the time being. But I know them both quite well, so if you have any questions to post on there, you can always ask me.

      Have a great week 🙂

    1. Hi Roz,

      Any informative content whether personal or not is OK. You can write about the last handmade sweater that you knitted yourself or how to…. fill the blanks…. Whatever. That would be just fine.

      To have a better idea you can browse Hubpages and Squidoo articles and see what people write about… just about anything and everything. Squidoo, however, really frown upon anything “money making”, “affiliate programs”, “diet programs”, forex and more. In any case, if not sure, always read their rule and regulation pages.

      Hope this help and thanks for coming again 🙂

  2. Hey Sylviane,

    I wonder if it’s okay for me to say that I hate Squidoo! Well, I guess so since I just said it.

    When I first started doing affiliate marketing I was taught to put up Squidoo lens. I did and I started making money by my third day. But, the thing with Squidoo is that they will only rank two lens on the same topic on Google so if you come from behind trying to rank for a particular subject, you’re screwed.

    Then like you, I was writing on topics that were supposedly topics they approved of yet they would block some of my lens too. All that time I spent on them so I just threw in the towel, deleted all my accounts and said to hell with it. You’ll never hear me supporting them ever again.

    Hubpages, I still really don’t like that platform. They’ve become even as picky almost and come back numerous times telling this is wrong or that. Heck, I’m following their guidelines so neither of them are the most user friendly service I’ve used before. Hubpages is by far better then Squidoo though.

    Glad you’re having success and that’s all that really matters. Thanks for sharing your insights with us and glad to know it’s not only me that was having issues with Squidoo.

    ~Adrienne
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    1. Hi Adrienne,

      Yes it’s perfectly OK to say you hate Squidoo, Adrienne. Well deserved etiquette, right? I know some people who are using that very word when speaking about Squidoo as well.

      The fact that they blocked my article about bullying that was actually helping some people who are victim of it, totally made me distrust their judgment. Then, I even started to suspect that they may have their “favorite people”, which is not a good feeling when you’re trying to create valuable content while feeling that you’ll still be screwed.

      Then, oh, yes! That two lenses ONLY ranking that’s another thing, and thank for bringing it up in your comment. So, if there are already 2 lenses ranking with your keywords, yours will never show on a search as long as it’s a Squidoo lens. That puts the cherry on the cake, doesn’t it?

      Thanks for your excellent input, Adrienne 🙂

  3. Hi Sylviane,

    As you know I’m currently off sick (and sick of it) so trying to keep up with my blog alone is a challenge. I’ve never tried either Squidoo or Hubpages but have thought about it in the past.

    This post will save me time trying out Squidoo as I’ll not even bother now but seeing the results you’re getting from Hubpages leads me to think that’s the way to go.

    Thanks for comparing the 2 of them and giving us your results Sylviane. Now all I need to do is get back to work and put it in motion 🙂

    Have a great week Sylviane,
    Barry
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  4. Hi Barry and very nice to see you 🙂

    I hope you are on your way to real recovery and will be back on track soon.

    Yes, dear, don’t bother with Squidoo for now as they are not very user friendly to be sure. I’m sure Hubpages is not perfect either, but I’ve never had any problem with them. Just make sure that your content is original and useful and all that good stuff and you should be fine.

    Have a great week 🙂

  5. Hey Sylviane,

    Appreciate the advice here big time. I’m a lot like you. I published well over 100 articles on other places besides my sites before I realized my own site is much more important. These article directories try to hook sink new bloggers and get them to constantly write for their site, when they should really only be doing so to “spread their wings” a little. As for a lens, I actually found a lens you published on the 2nd page. I’ve noticed when you regularly visit published any of your published works, they automatically rank a little higher than the rest.

    The argument about updating lenses is crap btw. That argument only applies to constantly ranking content in the search engines or ranking your website title. Your activity might have a little to do with how you rank, but places like Squidoo have articles that are published every day by yourself & all the other people on it. So I really don’t think that’s a good argument. For them not making much sense, I agree. There’s a ton of features on there that make it really confusing and there support staff only checks up on questions like once a week on Wednesday I think.

    I think I’m going to do the same you’re doing and use HubPages as well along with my sites. Street Articles is great but I’ve already established a really strong presence on that site. I mean… I’m following 2,355 people 😆 & 237 people are following me. I have 58 published articles on there too, even though all of the articles on there now don’t really relate to my now primary website. On top of that, HubPages allows people to make commissions from there published works. If you’re using HubPages, that’s good enough reason for me to use them.

    *I firmly suggest backing up everything you publish via article directories on Word Document. That way if something happens, you’ve got everything backed up.

    I’ve setup an account on HubPages before, but tell me your affiliate link for HubPages so I can create a new profile so you can make commissions off what I publish. I’ll try to find it on your profile. I’ll probably message you on Facebook if I can’t find it.

    Talk to you later.

    1. Hi Seth,

      Glad you enjoyed this topic. Yes, it seems that most people I know I’ve similar experiences with Squidoo. As far as my Hubpages profle it’s linked right on this post the first time and one of the last time I mentioned the word Hubpages. But I’ll email you through facebook

      I’m glad you could find me on 2nd page. I couldn’t.

      I know you have done fantastic with StreetArticles and I have a few articles there, but I’ve stopped a bit, because I can’t focus everywhere at the same time. Right now I seem to do well with Hubpages and I have a purpose for using it, so I’ll see how it goes.

      Yes, I sure backup everything and anything these days, because once it’s out of your hand you never know what can happen to it.

      Thanks for your excellent feedbacks and advice, Seth 🙂

  6. Hello Sylviane,
    Great Article, I do not use either one of these, but for sure with your recommendation it will be hubpage’s. I do appreciate when people make good recommendations, as it surely saves me allot of time. Very informative artical….and thanks for sharing this information.

    1. Hi Carol,

      I know that if I was hesitating between the two, not knowing which one to use, I would love reading a real user review like this one 🙂 So I thought it could be useful for many.

      I also noticed that Google ranked it almost instantly, so I think the search engines like it too 🙂

      Thanks for your input.

  7. I’m so glad you wrote this. I’ve been trying to puzzle out Squidoo for ages. I never wrote for it because I never quite understood it and I pretty much just gave up. Once in a while I’ll think “I have to figure that thing out…” so now I have a good reason to cross it OFF my list and get on with my life! Seriously, this was nice and helpful. I haven’t tried hubpages either but based on your suggestion I’ll put it ON the list where Squidoo used to be 🙂 Thanks for the education and your opinion. Saved me a lot of time and aggravation!
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    1. Hi Carol,

      I am sure that there are people who like Squidoo, and I used to like it a lot in the past too in the past, but they have taken away all the love that once was there 🙂 In the past I have even written a whole Squidoo Guide eBook that I used to sell. But all that is long gone.

      On top of that I know many people who had lenses and lenses on Squidoo and who had the same type of experience I had with them, some even worse. So, that post is my honest view on Squidoo based on experience.

      I am really liking Hubpages and I am getting quite a few comments on my hubs so far, so I have to see where this can go. But for now, my score is going up and people like my articles… and that more exposure to me 🙂

      Thanks for coming and giving us your feedbacks 🙂

  8. Hi,

    An interesting comparison. I suspect Squidoo pages are losing ranks in Google – perhaps Squidoo was hit by Google Panda updates which main purpose is to thwart low-quality content. As you mentioned, Squidoo is gamed by marketers and some lenses are not worthy to be featured – all of those say “low quality”

    I’m considering to explore both deeper, but reading your post, now I know which one to choose 🙂

    Thanks for sharing your insight!

    1. Hi Ivan,

      Yes, Squidoo has started to get more strict because of Google, and when they started to get rid of low quality lenses that was all find with me. Where it didn’t make sense, however, was when they got rid of good and valuable content as well and seemingly randomly, and don’t seem to be good communicators with their members.

      Thanks for your input, here 🙂

  9. Sylviane,
    I’m going to admit I’ve had far more experience with Squidoo than with HubPages, and saying that, my experience with Squidoo goes back a few years. I know that Squidoo had aggressively been targeting certain kinds of content they found undesirable, but don’t recall many of the details.

    1. Hi Heather,

      The best thing to do if you use Squidoo is stay miles away from the topics that they are frowning upon, and do not include tool many links. That, however, doesn’t mean that your lens is a sure thing, still, but that will help 🙂

      Thanks for your feedbacks 🙂

  10. Hello Sylviane, i used both of the services and i can confirm your sayings. It’s been a while since i did my first hubpage for a website of mine, the only thing is that they require promotion as well and for me that seemed like a time wasting method of promotion at that time.

    Now, i see that G wants diversity so i may get back on track.

    1. Hi Radu,

      Not sure I understand what you mean by “require promotion”, but you’re not required anything besides good content 🙂

      If you’d like to clarify for the readers and me that’d be great.

      Thanks for coming 🙂

  11. Hi Sylviane,

    While I respect your view and findings, I Much prefer Squidoo over Hubpages. I often get 1st page rankings and quickly plus, very good traffic. It’s Hubpages that confounds me,

    I do need to finally “master”Hubpages but I will still use Squidoo. I have never had a problem with them.

    Thank you for a good article,

    Meredith

    1. Hi Meredith,

      Yes, there are plenty of people that must love Squidoo considering that they have plenty of members, but my experience with them haven’t been as great as yours, and gosh did I tried! I tried for three years, but there was always something, so I gave up on them for the moment for sure. I still make a little money from the lenses that I have though.

      I do appreciate your feedbacks, thought. Thank you 🙂

  12. Hi Sylviane – well, that’s given me some food for thought.

    I’ve experimented a little bit with Squidoo and was planning to set up a lens linked to my website, but you’ve made me think I should explore Hubpages too. I have to admit I’m fairly new to all of this and haven’t yet tried Hubpages at all, so I’ll have to seek out an idiot’s guide. But from what you’re saying, it sounds quite user friendly.

    Many thanks for this review – very interesting,

    Sue
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    1. Hi Sue,

      To be sure I would try both, especially if you haven’t. Nothing is better than your OWN experience at something. But in the case of Squidoo, you need to know what I’ve mention here. So if you create a lens, make sure that you save your content and pictures, so if they delete your lens for no reason, you can always reuse that content.

      You see that lense about children bullying that I had was so “non promotion” that I’ve never thought they would delete it. EVER! but they did.

      So, try it for yourself and see how you do with it, but be aware of what can happen, and save your stuff just in case 🙂

      Thank you for your feedbacks. Much appreciated!

  13. I found Squidoo before HubPages, but could not figure it out properly. Then I started writing on HubPages. I found the site user friendly and love the community there. I have been quite successful in branding myself and creating better visibility for my content.

    1. Hi Anamika,

      I have to agree with you. Like you I’ve known Squidoo before Hubpages, then I didn’t really take to Hubpages and now I just started a new account there and I’m loving the community and my score keeps going up. I will stick with Hubpages for now.

      Thanks for your input, Ananmika 🙂

  14. I have used both of them and have liked both. From a reader’s perspective both the platforms are useful for knowledge. But if you talk about earning, probably lenses have the easier options.
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    1. Hi Mariella,

      I understand totally. If you remember (or knew) Squidoo 4 years ago the lenses looked quite different back then, now they sure added quite a few commercial banners in a lot of places. A lot of people didn’t like that change either. Maybe that’s the format you’re talking about.

      Thanks for your input.

  15. LOL even Myspace is on the results but not Squidoo. Amusing. I’ve never been a fan of Squidoo myself, I used to use it but now they have gotten just so.. weird. I try writing perfectly good articles but Squidoo keeps rejecting them and I publish same on Hubpage and I get a great feedback. I’ve found its linking value from SEO perspective to be quite beneficial too. 🙂

    1. Hi Kate,

      I love your feedbacks here. Very interesting. Squidoo rejecting perfectly OK content, hum, heard that before. Then seems that Hubpages is OK with it! I know…

      That’s the same as deleting perfectly OK content lenses. I know they don’t make sense a lot of times, that’s why I wrote this article here 🙂

      Thanks for coming 🙂

  16. Hi Sylviane!
    i have never heard about squidoo .as you defined about this both squidoo and hubpages equally same work.now i think i will try to use squidoo and see the result of it.
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    1. Hi Anshul,

      Oh, you never heard about Squidoo? 🙂 Interesting. Well, you can hop over there and see what they’re about. Nothing like trying for yourself.

      Thanks for coming 🙂

  17. Sylvian,

    I love Squidoo because it’s fun to write articles on. I like all the ready-to-use options that it offers and the various fun ways you can write your message. However, with only three articles there, I have limited experience with actually using the website because I do not have the time. I would rather share information on my own website as well. I get amazing traffic from Google and Yahoo, as well as social media, so I will stick with what works for now.

    Thanks for sharing this article.
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    1. Hi Joanne,

      I’m glad that you’ve enjoyed writing articles there. I have for a long time myself too, until I got tired of them deleting my content. That’s why I would advise you to always save what you publish there.

      Thanks for your feedbacks, Joanne 🙂

  18. Thank god, someone finally explained what Squidoo was in the first place. I didn’t get it (sorry I am slow) and it didn’t make much sense to me anyway. I am happy that I now get what it was all about and what is wrong with it. Time saved here and I won’t be visiting that site. Now Hubpages, I heard of, but never gave it much thought. Thanks for the explanation because there are tons more out there like me that didn’t understand it either.
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    1. Hi Sonia,

      Being on line for so long now I am finding out that the online world has different types of “clans” there are the affiliate marketers who know about all the article platforms out there, and those for sure know for years what Squidoo, Hubpages and hundreds of others. And then you have the bloggers who seem to not know much about such platforms.

      Then, you have the affiliates that don’t know much about professional blogging 🙂

      Somehow, I’ve touched at so many areas of the online world that I guess I can be a “mediator” and try to help both sides.

      Thank you for coming Sonia 🙂

  19. I have never tried any of these two tools. But after reading this post, I got a sufficient amount of knowledge about these tools. Therefore will surely give them a shot. Thanks for introducing me to a new tool.

  20. Thanks for this detailed analysis, Sylviane. I have used both squidoo and hub pages and as far as squidoo is concerned I have not faced any problem as of now. I have a website too dedicated to lenses, where I create lenses for my clients. So far, my experience have been good, but still its good to read about the problems people have faced with a particular tool as it helps to be cautious.
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    1. Hi Abhishek,

      It could be said that there are two groups of people as Squidoo is concerned. Those who have never had any problems whatsoever, and those who had since the first day Squidoo started moderating lenses.

      The sad part is that many of such people have had problems with “good quality” lenses, and that’s when Squidoo doesn’t make sense.

      I am glad that you are among those who never had problem though!

      Thank you for your feedbacks.

  21. Hello Sylvaine,

    Thank you for the informative post. I happen to be one of the ones who likes Squidoo better and have had no problems with them whatsoever. I have nothing against Hubpages, except for some reason I did not find their platform as user friendly as Squidoo is for me but I am not against trying Hubpages again.

    That is the best part of commenting on other blogs, we can express our own opinions for everyone to read and evaluate but in the end it is up to “you” what works best for you.

    I will be trying Hubpages again. Thanks for the reminder of them. I had forgotten they were there. Another hazard of being online; so many things to work with.

    Monna
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    1. Hi Monna,

      I certainly appreciate your comments. Among the many comments that this post has brought on there are those who like more Squidoo and those who like more Hubpages. Yet those who don’t know either still.

      I have myself tons of lenses and some of them have never had any problem while some did for no good reason, and that’s what makes me mad with Squidoo 🙂 However, as you said it’s up to each individual to see for themselves what works for them.

    1. Hi Michael,

      I can’t blame you and you’re right, working on your own blog is MORE important. I use Hubpages now to spread my wings and get backlinks, but my blog has priority, always 🙂

      Thank you for your feedbacks.

  22. I do appreciate when people make good recommendations. On top of that, HubPages allows people to make commissions from there published works. Now i think i will try to use squidoo and see the result of it.

    1. Yes, you can even make commission from your content, however, it takes time and a LOT of articles, so you might not want to do it just for this, unless you’re ready to have hundreds of pages.

      Thanks for your feedbacks.

  23. I couldn’t help nodding my head as I read your post. I was on Squidoo some years ago when I was more involved with affiliate marketing and running a static website. However, I must say, just as you observed, my experience was not really encouraging. After creating about a dozen lenses without any measurable results, I simply abandoned all of them and for the past 3yrs or so, I’ve never even called to check on them.

    I must say your post is an eye-opener for me because I’ve been thinking of going back to Squidoo and using it for spreading some of my content. But with this clear revelation, I’m not definitely going to waste my time.

    I’ve never used hubpages before though I’ve taken a look at the site a few times. I may have to go learn a few things on how to do that very soon. Thanks for this insightful post.
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    1. Hi Chadrack,

      Nice to see you here and I’m glad you appreciated the post.

      When I first started, I preferred Squidoo to Hubpages, but all that changed since Squidoo became “bipolar”. I have no problem with them having rules, but my problem is when it seems that not all rules NOT are equal for everyone. That’s when I want to say, OK, I’m not losing my time with you guys anymore.

      Thanks for your feedbacks.

  24. Sylviane, I have used both platforms and they were not very easy for me to maintain because I do have a blog and posting twice is not what I want to do.

    I am not sure about their ranking abilities. I know Seth Godin has a typepad blog but it does not accept comments. I was told he is the brain behind Squidoo.

    You wrote a honest review and I think you are right on all aspects.

    1. Hi Michael,

      Yes, Seth Godin is actually the creator of Squidoo. The way you would want to use Squidoo and/or Hubpages is to spread your wings. You can’t post the same post you did on your blog there, it has to be a totally different article.

      I know it’s extra work, but while I do not use Squidoo anymore at this time I started a brand new Hubpages account that’s doing pretty well 🙂 on both Squidoo and Hubpages people can leave comment about your article. Just another source to get traffic to your blog/business.

  25. I really appreciate you for very straight forward recommendation. I have never used but was thinking which to use out of two.
    And fortunately came across you article and saved me from Squidoo.
    Thanks again

    1. Hi Vin,

      I’m glad you found this post and that it was useful to you. I think that such post was really needed to help people like you. I’ve got quite a few people telling me that they didn’t know what to do and this post helped them.

  26. Hwy Sylviane, Good comparison of squidoo and hubpages. I was shocked to find out squidoo was bought out by hubpages. I am giving them a try. Thanks

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