Poetry Forum Renovations: What Do You Want?

[poetinahat]

All,

The Poetry Forum presents some unique challenges; it combines discussions, games, resource references, and Share-Your-Work. It may be the only AW forum that has so many different types of thread in one place.

I've heard some comment about problems with the forum. Two of the main ones:
- Poems in the Critique board don't get critiqued as much as those in the main forum
- Discussions and games get lost in the thread

So, I'm planning another update. Here are some options I'm considering (not all of them together):
- Moving *all* poems out of the main forum, into Poetry Critique
- Password-protecting the whole Forum
- Password-protecting the Chapbook
- Creating sub-forums for different categories (discussions, games, etc.)

What do you think -- are there improvements you'd like to see? What would make the Poetry Forum work better for you?

The only other Share-Your-Work forum in AW is entirely password protected; password protection keeps that content out of sight of search engines.

Any changes may wait until after old threads are archived (they'll all still be available online, I'm told; they just won't be in the Forum database).

I look forward to hearing what you have to say. Thanks!

[Angelinity]

i say password-protect - yes to all four.

[Godfather]

i'm up for the password protection, ain't nobody should be reading our stuff.

but i'm not sure it needs to be so organised as having 4 different sub forums. i guess in some ways i'm something of a minimalist. i always thought it worked fine with just one forum. but that's my opinion. so many forums might muddle my mind.

[dclary]

I'd really like to get paid for posting. Can we arrange that?

[dahmnait]

I'm planning another update. Here are some options I'm considering (not all of them together):
- Moving *all* poems out of the main forum, into Poetry Critique
- Password-protecting the whole Forum
- Password-protecting the Chapbook
- Creating sub-forums for different categories (discussions, games, etc.)
The first would take care of the last issue and second would take care of the third, so one and two. Or the the first and the third.

Any other suggestions would require some thought on my part, and since I have declared today as the "Day of No Thought", they will have to wait.

[Rivana]

How about this (my dream scenario):

Password protect everything, ie the whole poetry forum.
Then...

Have three sub-forums -

1) the Critique Room, everything that goes here is looking for heavily constructive criticism and advice.
2) the Poetry Corner, everything here is critquable unless the author begs off constructice criticism, but the only thing one really expects here is feedback, good/bad, in depth or one liners.
3)the Common Room, everything else is here. Games, discussions, etc.

[Shiraz]

Perhaps you could make all the games sticky so they don't get lost in the shuffle?

[ddgryphon]

I like the idea of password protecting the lot of it. Then We just need: Games, Discussions, Poems.

If we want a non-critique Chapbook, that's okay too. But a Single place for all poetry with critiques in mind is best. At this time, it seems to me that the Poetry Critique is passed over frequently.

[Norman D Gutter]

It seems to me it will be very difficult to compete with sites that are exclusively poetry critique sites. There are some good ones out there, both at the beginner level and expert/intermediate level, with all range of critique from mild to abusive. They offer a concentration on developing specific poems through the workshopping process. Any move in this direction is to try to take “market share” from these sites, and may not be sustainable in the long run. Rigorous critique is a time consuming venture, though one of the most thoroughly enjoyable and fulfilling things I have ever done in my life. To ramp AW up to a full fledged critique site is not a goal I would support. Some incremental increase and improvement, yes; full-fledged critique, no.

Yet, who I am to say do this or that? As a newby and one who will never be very active here, my voice should have less weight than the regulars. I think what you have here is something unique among writers sites: a general writing site with a poetry sub-group folded within. The fact that we can share poetry and obtain some critique on our poetic works within the same site where we can discuss our novels and articles and non-fiction books is tremendous. One site fits all. What we give up in rigorous critique we gain in convenience and a broader-based fellowship of writers.

So I don’t see a need for extensive changes, and don’t have an opinion on password protection. I suggest that we keep the three forums, perhaps re-naming them to agree with the following purposes:

1. Poems for showcasing, general comments only.
2. Poems for critique
3. Poetry discussions. Games could probably go here. During an adjustment time, poems meant for critique or comment that get posted to the discussion forum could be moved by the moderator. I doubt that the learning curve would take very long.

I think three active forums along these lines would be find.

NDG

[kdnxdr]

PTH,

I agree with your recommendations; so I vote...........(we could vote) to do what you said.

kid

[Pat~]

I say yes to all 4 things you proposed, Poet (password protection). I also think that "Poetry Critique" gets ignored, possibly because people think a rigorous critique is required. I have a poem there that's had 16 reads, yet only 1 person ventured to comment. (And I'm happy with single sentence comments.)

I suggest a variation of what some others have suggested:

ONE poetry showcase &/or critique thread
ONE discussions thread
ONE games thread

[Eveningsdawn]

I second Rivana and ddgrypon.

[Godfather]

I second rivana

[TeddyG]

Go for it Poet...all of em...it is true the ones in critique do not get as much comments as the ones on the main board (tested by moi :D)

[Unique]

I like to read the poetry. I like having the games protected because that's about the only place I share.

I don't critique poetry because to me, that's like saying: 'How do you like my blood type?

Not everyone thinks that way; critique is where they want to be dissected. Having a separate dissection room is good. It keeps the blood from splashing around the room and scaring off the poetic non-scientists.

I do agree with Godfather in that less is more. Brevity is beautiful.

[KTC]

I think it's a great idea to password protect the whole show, Rob.

On another note, if you plan on doing any other redecorations, I'm partial to gingham and chintz. (Paisley: not so much.)

[MacAllister]

The password protection is essentially just to keep Google 'bots from crawling and caching the pages. That's why SYW is passworded, too. I imagine we'd post the password right on the front page, much the same as SYW, as well.

[P.H.Delarran]

I'm for three main categories; Poetry, Discussions, Games and Prompts. with subdvisions if needed. (like poetry crit and poetry chapbook).
I'd say password protect it all, but would that discourage cross board use? Poetry discussions would not come up if an AW member clicked on 'new posts'.

[louisgodwin]

Keep it as simple as possible. I know others here have suggested this, but I'll do it again.

Main board: Discussions, announcments, games, rate-a-poems, etc.

Critique: Keep as is.

AW Chapbook: Keep as is, though it wouldn't bother me if it was password protected.

I guess the only real change I would make would be a new rule that if you are going to post a poem, you must do so in one of the 2 sub-forums.

[Sarita]

Simple is better, I agree.

How about a Sticky with all the games listed in it (maybe that's already there?) Password protection for the whole lot sounds like a great idea.

[TeddyG]

Anything that Sara says I immediately agree with
swooningggggggggggggggggg


HEY MOMMY .. HOW IS THE KID??????????????

(and my friend is coming to Israel soon so he is putting in the order for the book this weekend :D)

[poetinahat]

Simple is better, I agree.

How about a Sticky with all the games listed in it (maybe that's already there?) Password protection for the whole lot sounds like a great idea.
Already there. Check out the TABLE OF CONTENTS (http://www.absolutewrite.com/forums/showthread.php?t=40892) Sticky. It's got everything.

[rhymegirl]

What about a section on where to submit your poetry for publication?

We don't have this here on the poetry board, do we?

[MacAllister]

I suspect a markets sticky in the one of the subforums will probably best serve that function--not sure it merits its own subforum.

Okay, folks, I built the addition. PoetinaHat has to move all the furniture up the stairs and rearrange, though. :)

[poetinahat]

Thanks, Mac!

I'll do the moving and update the signs (Table of Contents, etc.) over the next week or so. I'll work as fast as I can. Meanwhile, let me know if you have questions.

Thanks, all -- I hope the new arrangement works for you!

[Bravo]

this is much more organized.

i like how all critiques are in one area now.

good job.

[P.H.Delarran]

Ooooh, I like it.


P.H., moving her favorite chair under the biggest window in the room.

[Bret]

[quote=Godfather]i'm up for the password protection, ain't nobody should be reading our stuff.

quote]


I'm late to the party. Why is having no one read your stuff even remotely desirable?

[Bravo]

I'm late to the party. Why is having no one read your stuff even remotely desirable?

so that it doesnt show up in google after a person submits it.

[Godfather]

I'm late to the party. Why is having no one read your stuff even remotely desirable?

what bravo said.

[aspier]

You do a good job Poetinhat - I ran boards too and am very aware of the fragility and challence cum problems of it. Moving ALL poems into critique ... mm good idea? We need a solid crit office where its ball play only - hard ball, work such, on some level.

Shares, games, discussion and poet related stuff (that doesn't fit into Office Party really) could be fun to have under the same roof.

Warning! Watch out for too many stickies ... oee one's got to scroll down a long while then to find any real stuff. Smile!

Running boards are not that easy, I know. I had an academic thing. The biggest hassle for a mod is that groupy thing. You even get it among the so-called intellectuals! Oh, so predictable etc. But it hampers. I don't know why I say this. I feel quite comfortable with your ideas. I think you are a good mod.

aspier

[poetinahat]

Thanks, all, for your constructive comments. Keep it up!

Warning! Watch out for too many stickies ... oee one's got to scroll down a long while then to find any real stuff. Smile!
I completely agree, aspier. That's why I built the Table of Contents thread in the first place. Over time, I'll restructure the stickies to keep the main page open.

What about a section on where to submit your poetry for publication?

We don't have this here on the poetry board, do we?
There are two stickies, one each for paying and non-paying markets. They're listed in the Table of Contents thread as well. If they've been that far out of sight, that's a sign they could use some new posts! Thanks, Kathy.

[aspier]

Poetinhat, being in bed still this morning I thought ... very good idea to have poetry discussions in a seperate thread. Ther only thing is it shouldn't become a wise-crack semi-offic party. There shouldn't be too many discussions going on at the same time. See one's got to maximise hit quantity in order to strive for the quality of the discussions. I'd say have a monthly maximum of say 10 discussions going on. How one is to work this practically (as I don't think you can lock a gate etc.) I don't know. But yes, the mod's got to kill whatever is not up to standard. Must be rethorical and universal (academic) topics.

Anyway ... I am a boatsman ... Argoboat. And you know what they say? The best Captains are standing on the quay!

(Ok let me sneek some quick advertisement for the Boat in as well - Here = http://users.skynet.be/spier/argoboatindex.htm )

Cool eh?