Saturday, January 25, 2014

Let’s Talk Squidoo - Squidoo Forums



Talk to Others!

Find Help with your Online Writing


One of the best places to hone your skills in online writing used to be a great forum site run by the website Squidoo called SquidU, the Lensmaster Lounge. 

This site was especially loved by freelance writers who utilized Squidoo because the people commenting on the forum were not only helpful, but direct, honest, and spoke their minds.  You would really feel plugged in when you participated at SquidU.    

But in August 2012, Squidoo Headquarters closed that great SquidU site, and moved what they could of the knowledge onto another site they administer. 

You can access the current site here: 

While not as open and free spirited as the earlier site, you’ll still find the Squidoo HQ site quite useful.  You’ll see when you visit that it has a lot of different options for tracking down information pertinent to writing on Squidoo. 

Just click on the drop down arrow box at the top center of the page to choose between subjects like their Learning Center, Squidoo News, Squidoo Tips, or visit their current Forum.  The latest HQ site offers a good amount of information.  There are many people reaching out and participating on the forum who are willing to help you.  Make sure you check it out.

If you’ll be using the forum, it’s important to remember that this site is administered by the staff at Squidoo and HQ is monitoring what is going on. 


A Word of Caution

The Squidoo HQ site is not the forum site to voice any frustration you might be having with Squidoo.   The HQ staff does not have much of a sense of humor when it comes to dissention among the ranks.  Writers report having comments, being blocked from forums, and even having their Squidoo account closed for posting even vaguely negative comments.  So keep this in mind and use the official Squidoo Headquarters forum for questions you have, or to voice upbeat comments only.


Airing Your Grievances

So where do you go when you just have to vent or when you need to talk to others to commiserate? 

Check out the Squidoo writers-moderated forum on Yuku.com.    The forum is called Squid (or Squid Upside-Down) - and you will find it at: 


This informal message board type forum is a community of experienced Squidoo writers—many who are the old guard of regular forum commenters.  They are ready to talk about web writing issues, whether on Squidoo or any of the other online writing websites.   These folks have the credentials and they walk the walk.

It’s important to note that this forum was started by writers and is unaffiliated with Squidoo, LLC or its staff.  


So what will you find on Squid?

Squid Upside-down is a very flexible forum where you can do things such as share your writing successes, voice your concerns, or even ask for a critique of your work. 

There are free tutorials available from web writing veterans. 

You can buy or sell articles on the site’s Marketplace thread. 
   
There are also forum threads that help answer questions about writing on sites other than Squidoo such as Hubpages, Zujava, and Wizzley. 

There’s a forum thread for those interested in talking about self-publishing whether that be blogs, websites, or e-books. 

There’s a forum thread devoted to e-commerce shops and pages such as Zazzle, Cafepress, Etsy, and Amazon. 

To join this unofficial group, just set up a Yuku.com profile, log in, and introduce yourself.   

You’ll find that they’re a pretty friendly bunch.