@ohnoo_not_her “Eric Cantu’s videos only got on my nerves” 1000%!!!
@frank Good morning Frank,
Thank you for your reply, Frank, it’s appreciated.
I know that you have been very active on Wealthy Affiliate and a big part of the community. I guess it’s a little bit different for you, if you’re not trying to make a replacement income.
I actually think it’s good to have your own website, Frank, even if you still chat on forums, as you can probably direct people to your website from the forums or have a signature within your profile. But I do understand where you’re coming from.
Maybe if you want to simplify your guitar website, you could pay someone to keep your website updated. I don’t mean with content, but the plug-ins and everything else that goes with it.
I will probably stay with Wealthy Affiliate for another year and see what happens. For the amount I use the platform, it’s not huge amounts of money to pay, as despite what’s happening, it still has a lot of good points.
I like the idea of being able to find WordPress training, for example or being able to ask the question, etc, although, I appreciate that the answers are not always brilliant.
I believe Wealthy Affiliate went downhill when AI became available and then the hubs. Ever since then, the platform appears to have been all over the place. I know you are using AI in the right manner, Frank, but 95% of Wealthy Affiliate users are not!
One of the things that I have noticed in the last few weeks is that when I go to the top ten blog posts, the posts used almost change daily; now they are there for two or three days. I’m now finding myself commenting on very few posts, as there is so little to comment on.
Have a great day.
Roy
@brendamz Good morning Brenda,
Thank you for taking the time to comment, Brenda, it’s appreciated. I must admit I had no idea that you had left the platform, although it does seem like many regular writers on the platform have disappeared. I just said in my comment to Frank that the top 10 posts used to change daily, but now I see them lasting for 2 or 3 days.
It’s a shame they silenced you, Brenda. I can see both sides of the story, but they need to listen to what the users have to say! I wrote something that was slightly negative but genuine and real regarding using AI. The post didn’t make the top 10 normally, all my posts make the top 10! We need to be able to speak freely on the platform, within reason, but it does not seem like that is happening.
I’m glad you had a backup of your blog posts, this is always good practice, as we never know what’s going to happen.
I have never been a fan of AI, however, if I’m honest, the Wealthy Affiliate training helped me to see the benefits. However, I knew that AI would be abused and that many members would write rubbish content. Incidentally, 95% of Wealthy Affiliate reviews are blatantly obvious AI content, this is not a genuine review; it’s an AI review of Wealthy Affiliate!
I think many of us have had some good years at Wealthy Affiliate, so I really don’t want to run the platform down, but they do need to listen to the users or members.
It’s interesting what you’re saying about the hubs and the continuous changes, etc. In my last comment to Kyle, I said these continuous changes are getting too much or words that effect. I notice that when I go back to a hub, I often have to start again at the beginning with training. That’s okay for me, because I’m kind of passed that stage, although I know we never stop learning. But for the new members, it must be absolutely horrendous and extremely confusing.
It’s great to learn about Google ads, but I think, like so many things, it really is quite a deep subject and not particularly straightforward. I was amazed that no one went to Las Vegas through doing the PPC training, that’s not good!
I hear you regarding the training, I know that some people complained about some training with old, but at the same time, a lot of the training was still relevant. It appears to me that the training is being updated too often now, which just adds to confusion.
I do hope that you can find your niche somewhere, Brenda. The great thing is with the Internet is that it offers all sorts of opportunities. I still think one of the main things we need to do is to write fresh content and be consistent. AI cannot write unique content, but as humans we can, especially if we know our niche well.
Over the years, I believe Wealthy Affiliate has very much offered value for money. So I will probably stay for another year and see what happens. Although I have a dedicated server, it’s quite useful to be able to easily build a website on the Wealthy Affiliate platform and then when it grows, I move it to my dedicated server.
I would say that it’s impossible to host a large website at Wealthy Affiliate as it’s just too problematic and the support is not clever, despite what we are led to believe. I have messages with 130 different responses for very simple tasks!
I wish you every success in what you’re doing, Brenda and I look forward to connecting with you on this forum.
All the best.
Roy
@RoyBretton in response to what WA did to kill my interest, it was not all due to them. Of course there was parts of me as well trying to do too much at the same time, spreading myself thin.
But Andy has explained most of it, lack of transparency, poor training and services you got access to that was not aligned with the price tiers, hosting that got poorer and poorer with site support that didn’t have the knowledge or didn’t want to help you with even simple problems.
When they decided to restrict plugins we could use on our own websites, without any warning beforehand, I decided to leave. The worst thing was Kyle’s explanation that all serious hosting providers do the same thing, which is not true.
@RoyBretton I am glad you made the decision. I hope it works out. Thanks for sharing. I agree with everyone here stated about whats happening there at WA. I hope your year in 2025 will work out for you if you get fed up and have had it then you know it’s time to go. Take care!
@RoyBretton
Hi Roy
Yeah, I’ll probably keep my website, but I’ll write on it the way I want, not for search engines or any other traffic-generating entity. Lol 
I am curious as to where you have your dedicated server and the approximate cost.
When I was a WA starter member, I think I would have been much happier with the “Hubs” design. I thought the learning environment was too drawn out for such simple methodology and the WordPress classic editor was a total joke, but I went with the flow.
As for AI, I don’t use the WA AI writer. I have my own custom GPTS that produce much better content (IMO) and in my writing style. I love the beta ChatGPT 4o with Canvas.
I hardly ever use Google or any other traditional search engine platform except for professional (e.g., medicine, biomedical engineering, and medical informatics) work, typically on places like Google Scholar, Google Patents, etc. Instead, I use the OpenAI app on my phone and typically get more direct answers. I also believe the info is generally more accurate and useful than what Google is ranking on Reddit and Quora.
AI will change the world in ways that we can’t even imagine over the next decade.
Rock On! 
Frank 
@roy Good morning Roy,
Thank you for your response, it’s appreciated.
I think we can all be guilty of trying to do too much at the same time. Eric made a short video on the subject a couple of weeks ago about people trying to do too much rather than focusing on one website at a time.
I must admit I have always found the hosting poor at Wealthy Affiliate, along with website support. They should really say that the hosting is really just to get you started and off the ground. When I was using the hosting several years ago, I was losing huge amounts of traffic as Wealthy Affiliate was limiting my usage. As soon as I changed my hosting to a dedicated server, everything changed for the better.
All the best.
Roy
@brendamz Good morning Brenda,
Let’s see what happens, I will try and keep you posted. I don’t want to make it a Wealthy Affiliate bashing thread, but I do want to be honest about the subject.
That’s very true, Brenda, 100% right; “if you get fed up with it, then you know it’s time to go”! Let’s see what happens.
Have a great day.
Roy
@frank Good morning Frank,
Do you know, Frank, I really think that’s the best thing you could do. Sometimes, I think when we just write from the heart and within reason, rather than trying to make everything search engine friendly, it actually works better!
The time that it takes to go through all the search engine stuff, we could have written another blog post, which would be more beneficial. I have seen websites where people just right genuine articles from the heart that rank well, just because they are genuine and unique. I think that you have more than enough knowledge to do exactly that, Frank. People would really benefit from your knowledge. I think you ought to start right now!
I think I pay around $80 monthly, Frank, for my dedicated server. I have a Webmaster in the US who is now a very good friend, who has helped me a lot over the years. He uses someone who covers all that type of thing. I believe he may have given me a special deal, due to our friendship, but please let me know if you need any more info.
I believe that different things on Wealthy Affiliate work for different people, Frank. I have never used the Wealthy Affiliate writer, I mean the writer that came out before the AI writer, it never worked for me. I know there are some people who love it, but for others, I know it does not work for them. I’m all for keeping things as simple as possible and not to overcomplicate.
I believe that you are one of the few people, Frank, who uses AI correctly. I know you have a lot of knowledge on the subject, which is great. It’s great that you are taking advantage of technology and using it in the correct way.
Thank you for your input and have a great day.
Roy
[quote data-userid=“31” data-postid=“2002154”]
@RoyBretton
Hi Roy
Yeah, I'll probably keep my website, but I'll write on it the way I want, not for search engines or any other traffic-generating entity. Lol 😎
I am curious as to where you have your dedicated server and the approximate cost.
When I was a WA starter member, I think I would have been much happier with the "Hubs" design. I thought the learning environment was too drawn out for such simple methodology and the WordPress classic editor was a total joke, but I went with the flow.
As for AI, I don't use the WA AI writer. I have my own custom GPTS that produce much better content (IMO) and in my writing style. I love the beta ChatGPT 4o with Canvas.
==> I love that as well, the beta ChatGPT with Canvas, although it sometimes acts weird haha!
I hardly ever use Google or any other traditional search engine platform except for professional (e.g., medicine, biomedical engineering, and medical informatics) work, typically on places like Google Scholar, Google Patents, etc. Instead, I use the OpenAI app on my phone and typically get more direct answers. I also believe the info is generally more accurate and useful than what Google is ranking on Reddit and Quora.
==> YeS!! (although for my niche, I still look at what Reddit says as well,and tell chatGPT to implement that into the article (if correct, of course)
AI will change the world in ways that we can't even imagine over the next decade.
==> ChatGPT search has now linked to my website over 12 times since its introduction, I just noticed on GA4 lol! And even a recent- very amateur- Youtube video of mine was referred to by GPT
WA can't keep up at all at the moment! It is more about NOW, the coming months then the coming decade. They would need to give sooo much more classes and hire more people to teach about socials/chatGPT search ao, in a shorter time frame, because they'll be left behind, they are way too slow now! It doesn't make any sense to focus on those 'HUBS', any of that can be done by AI , even better!
Rock On! 🤘
Frank 🎸
[/quote]
rock on lol!
Lizzy
@RoyBretton
Hi Roy
I super appreciate the confidence you have in me. 🙏
I never wrote directly in Site Content on WA. I wrote in the Classic Editor and then changed to the Block Editor as soon as it became available. I couldn't see the point of writing in a simple text editor and then converting it to blocks:
Much slower and too much work = Less time to play guitars! Lol 😎
Thank's for the info on the dedicated server. My guitar site runs pretty quick on WA, so I'm good for now.
Frank 🎸
@ohnoo_not_her
Hi Lizzy
I fully agree with all the points you made.
Congrats on ChatGPT Search pulling in info from your website! 👍👍
Yeah, the problem with the beta version of ChatGPT 4o With Canvas is that it is not up to date. They built it of an older large language model, from 2021 if memory serves me correctly. What I do for a very technical article is have Chat GPT 4o write it and then paste that into ChatGPT 4o With Canvas to do the editing and add additional pertinent info and things based on my own knowledge and experience.
It's hilarious reading some of the stuff that people write as "gospel" on Reddit pertaining to guitars and other musical equipment! It reminds me of when I was a teenager in high school, blowing out 12-inch speakers and creating all sorts of musical havoc because I had no idea what I was doing, but having a tremendous amount of fun doing it! Lol 😎
But, as you say, Reddit and other social media platforms can give us an idea of what people really want to know.
Unfortunately, AI has made everyone on the planet an instant expert on everything. I have seen WA members post an extensive, totally AI-written article, and then ask a very simple question about the same topic when the answer is actually in the article they previously posted!
Eventually, the only way we will know who we are truly dealing with will be to have an offline face-to-face conversation with them! Lol 😆
I earned my expertise the old-fashioned way - by attending college and medical school, doing an internship & residency (post-doctorate training), and getting board-certified in Internal Medicine. A process that took twelve years to accomplish!
Keep On Rockin' It! 🤘
Frank 🎸
Hi, Roy, I just recently came back to WA to save my website and to find a decently price hosting platform to transfer it out too. Everything here confuses me with this new WA. It almost resembles to me at least, YouTube. I see they have helpful short videos and a lot of other new stuff. The writer thing, i am not going to lie, I do not use it except for helping me create outlines and title ideas. since i am getting my B.B.A and Associates in Digital Marketing this feels like a lot of people will be heart broken. I had to learn the different ways of research, fundamentals of marketing and the psychology.
It would appear to me, base off of what you have said that those who are new to this field do not have the time or do not want to make time to do this the human way. I have only been back for 2 days so, i havent seen the ai posts yet. Im restructuring my website now, so that is where my focus is. But yeaaaa...my professors would literally have their post and write ups for breakfast.
They are not against Ai tools but against the abuse of them and using the ai tools as a crutch or dependency because said student doesn't want to use their brain and wants everything easy. This does not help one learn how to implement the fundamentals of marketing on their own but it just gives half or partial answers as i have come to find out myself.
None of the tools are perfect. So, I would have to agree with you. The Ai deal is over saturating the market and way over used for quick answers and write ups. It also gives the feeling of a "get rich quick scheme" through Ai. People are getting desperate now a days for money as the economy in the usa and the world over tightens and get worse.
All people like you can do Roy is warn them about their mistakes and it is up to that person to listen or dont. If you like the environment you are around then stay. If the Ai articles and post are ruining the platform for you then make your decision to leave or stay and not respond to those write ups.
Here's the latest on my exit from WA.
I transferred all pertinent websites, and deleted the others. I can always create a either one, a curse at times, lol, and how I got to have so many...
I transferred those websites to WPX, and transferred my domains as well.
Once moved, backuo links created and sent, I went to my profile to cancel my subscription.
Lo and behold, there was a questionnaire waiting for me, and I politely gave them my thoughts and suggestions.
I proceeded to post a Farewell and only one person left a comment. I found that surprising, yet the traffic slows a bit on the weekends, so no biggie.
However, when hours had passed, and still no emails with comments, instead I received comments to a previous post, with comments telling me that the farewell post was gone, disappeared.
Did they do the same thing to you, Diane, when you created your post to let people know you had csncelled your subscription and were leaving WA?
Not only did they pull my post, I asked a general question, why was my post deleted, and apparently that was also pulled.
Nowhere in the communications with Carson or Kyle was I informed that my access would be minimized to only my website manager access.
They did not say that my communications with the community were restricted in any way, yet, I'm being punished for writing anything, even though my last day is the 29th of Nov.
I will be retrieving some of my posts and all of my trainings to reuse somehow...
Fortunately, I still have access to private messages and have privately contacted a few friends I've made at WA.
Many of you are already here....grin.
Rudy
@rudy I recently came back to save my website from deletion and to peek around and look into the new features.
I don’t know if this feels this way to you Rudy, but this new WA platform feels a bit like YouTube. Especially with all of the Ai guard bots running free.
I didn’t see your post either, the one that was deleted or hidden. Crazy how WA has changed so, and not for the better.
As soon as I get some free money I’ll be transferring my site from WA as well.
@rudy My post wasn't deleted, but it certainly didn't appear in the Top 10, and I suspect it wasn't sent out as a notification to my followers.
That was 3 months ago, and a lot of long-term members have left since then, and I presume it's not sending out the right message!
It wouldn't surprise me if they are now deleting all "farewell" posts and effectively silencing people, in case they are asked why by other members they are leaving!
So I had to go straight to the source and ask if it was okay to write a farewell post. This is how the conversation went down:
[attach]1194[/attach] [attach]1193[/attach]I think this just solidifies what we all already knew - because this is an open forum, Kyle (and/or others) are reading everything that is here.
Suffice it to say, I don't think they are allowing 'farewell' posts any more, and if they are, definitely not from any one who has created a profile here on this site.
Kyle, when you read this - everything that I've said to you and about WA I stand behind - even within the comments and telling you that you guys taught me how to initially make money. Really, thanks for that.
Having said that though, the reason we have all left (and here is some constructive criticism) is because you chose not to change during the times, and so we all had to pivot and change without you.
I have yet to see you guys issue any sort of apology for anything, and every time you do have an issue, you sweep it under the rug. If that's how you want to run your company, that's fine, but that's not a business model I want to be a part of (or tell others to be a part of).
If you fix your hosting, actually teach things that are beneficial to your audience, and are transparent with BOTH all the 'new coming changes" as well as all the issues that have happened, then I would consider promoting you or at least talking about you guys in a positive light. Until then, I'll promote something else, and/or create my own site how to teach others to make money.
But in any regard, I digress. Just my two cents as usual.
@diane -
Yeah, I even asked a question, and that got deleted as well. Too bad they feel so threatened that they have to delete comments...
If that is a problem, then they need to stipulate that as art of the exit plan. Otherwise, I'm sitting idle for 12 more days if I can't post or ask a question.
I have posted a few comments, as far as I know, those still remain.
WA provided me with a survey/questionnaire as part of the exit, on why I was leaving, so I told them...maybe they didn't like what I said...I was nice...grin.
Anyway, All my sites are moved, rather easily once I understood the process, every host is different...And I'm happy that my sites are up and running...
@andy -
Slagging? He said Slagging? What an ASSumption...I haven't seen any bad mouthing of W, only true statements about their practices.
I offered my suggestions as well, to what effect, who knows.
Slagging? Geez...I can't believe he said that in LIVE CHAT..
@keydah_keys -
Yeah, instead of investing and hire people who really know what to do, they seemingly try to do everything themselves, and the rinsing isn't removing the guck anymore.
(Rinse, repeat)
My 'That's All folks' post ( a la Warner brothers cartoon ending...grin) simply stated that I was leaving after 5 years, and I shared some trinkets of the things learned while being there at WA.
On to better things!