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User	mae | 2005-03-06 |
Subject	untitled
Message	Umm, R....F, I did. I wrote the handbook. You can find it in the library, non-fiction, under S for SheWhoKnowsEverything. Just thought you’d like to know. mae

User	Rukiya Faizah | 2005-03-03 |
Subject	just responding
Message	Well, first of all, i do agree with the fact that no one has the right to put anyone else’s poetry down. Not one person on this site invented poetry or has written the handbook. Poetry is a free form of expression to be related the way the author see’s fit. That’s the beauty of poetry, you can write traditionally using the given forms or you can just write what you feel. The main thing is that you write and find ways to express yourself. So who ever thinks that they have to right to determine what "real" poetry is and is not needs to self-check. As far as the the other issue of people getting mad at being critiqued. Let ’em get mad, anything you share with the public will be critiqued both positively and negatively. So if they don’t want feedback then they should either state that or just deal with the consequences of sharing poetry. But anyone expecting a response to thier poetry needs to wake up and recognize that everything said may not be to thier liking. Oh well, poets have been getting critiqued since the beginning of time...if they can’t stand the heat then they know what to do. lol....i am serious though. ONE.

User	mae | 2005-02-26 |
Subject	untitled
Message	The problem I have with many of the younger writers on ES is not so much that their writing is not any good, but that they don’t want to hear suggestions for improvement. They argue with you, call you names and insult you for daring to suggest that something they’ve written needs improvement. That sort of thing has caused me to skip over many younger writers. Even if they aren’t insulting, they seem to think that what they’ve written is gold and should not be criticized. It’s discouraging. This, of course, does not describe ALL young writers, but it does describe very many of them. mae

User	Mister Fizzle | 2005-02-20 |
Subject	untitled
Message	what is it about the word "drivel" that makes someone want to say "FUCK YOU!!" lol peace from the beast, mister fizzle

User	Learah | 2005-02-02 |
Subject	untitled
Message	That’s a great way of looking at it, Joey... and even a progidy needs to learn the technicalities of a violin in order to play their best!

User	cuddledumplin | 2005-02-01 |
Subject	untitled
Message	Aw, you’re sweet, Cat. You know I think you’re gifted too.

User	joeyalphabet | 2005-02-01 |
Subject	untitled
Message	a lot of people on this site seem to be young and inexperienced. they have to learn their craft, the same way that virtually no one except a prodigy is going to pick up a violin and start playing it well.

User	Yousef | 2005-01-28 |
Subject	I think...
Message	I think we must admit first that what you don’t like may be a favorite to someone else!! I mean we all have different tastes and we all have different views, and like the old quote says "A book read by 100 people has a 100 different review", anyway when I read something that I totally don’t like I do my best to give a useful advice so that the writer can use it in his / her future posts and this advices must carry no insults what so ever because that will only make things worse! So I talk about the spelling mistakes, the metaphores, the rhyme (if any), the flow, the images, everything so that the comment be helpful and usable! Anyway that is my opinion and that’s what I do. Yousef Hani

User	magnicat | 2005-01-26 |
Subject	untitled
Message	i am sure that we have all written crap poetry in our day. this site is a place for people to come and learn what the art of poetry is about. to fine-tune our skills if we are really serious about being writers. kudos are great, but i’ve found that i am learning a lot and am becoming more open to re-writing and re-fining my work with the help of some very gifted poets on this site (cuddledumplin, you among them!). i know there are a lot of teen writers here who write simple cliche poetry that i find myself rolling my eyes at, but perhaps i wrote such drivel when i was young, too. i don’t know if poets are born or bred, but perhaps there is a gifted poet in there somewhere just waiting for a little guidance. who knows?

User	cuddledumplin | 2005-01-26 |
Subject	untitled
Message	Writing off something because it’s depressing offends me because I suffer from clinical depression.

User	cuddledumplin | 2005-01-26 |
Subject	untitled
Message	I don’t understand why people complain about this. If you don’t like someone’s work, don’t read anymore of it. I’m sure many people hate my work, but I’m happy with it. One person’s crap is another’s masterpiece. Who died and made you the critic who gets to decide the value of work on this site? Depressing doesn’t equal bad either. Leonard Cohen is about as morbid as a person can get, but he’s a VERY talented poet and songwriter.

User	mae | 2004-12-14 |
Subject	untitled
Message	This whole site is set up to judge others’ poetry. If you don’t think you should judge, then you really don’t belong on this particular site. What is a critique but judging someone else’s submission? You’re deciding what is good or bad, what needs to be changed, etc., and you’re giving the benefit of your "insight" to the author of that submission. Now others may not agree with your opinions, but they are also judging. If you want others to comment on your poetry, how can you, in the next breath, decry their right to judge? Makes no sense.

User	sweet-fire | 2004-12-08 |
Subject	bla bla bla...
Message	first of all not all people are poetically talented but no one has the right to judge them. this site can easily help them to grow in their poetry...keep in mind that what you think is shit might just be treasure to someone else. everyone is different and pissed off cuz other people arent like them. second of all there isnt anything wrong with depressed or dark poetry. i do think that sometimes dark and depressing poetry can be often written badly and so it is taken the wrong way yet it can also still be written beautifully. poetry isnt just about the sun and the pretty little birds and bambie for gods sake! its whats in the sould and the mind...its peoples perspective on the world-how they see things...emily dickinson was one of the greatest writers of all time and she wrote about death and depression and so on...my only suggestion to you is that if you dont like to read about sad and dark things then check the type before you read it and skip it rather than put people down for it just because you dont like those sort of things! -sweet

User	mae | 2004-12-07 |
Subject	Re Amanda Elaine
Message	Clayton has just as much right to judge poetry as art or not as you, I or anyone else does. You’ve proved that yourself. And just because someone can write down their emotions or swear and use vulgar language does NOT make it art. Not all writing is art - sorry, but it just isn’t. Some of the writing here is just plain bad writing. I’m not saying the writers won’t improve with practice. The problem that I see with many writers on this site is that they don’t really want suggestions for improvement. They only want to write they way they FEEL - which is not necessarily art or good writing. Art of any type is a craft that requires study and practice - ask a singer, an actor, a painter, a dancer. Writing is no different. The youth of every generation like to push at the edges, so to speak. At this site, unfortunately, there are no rules or guidelines as to what is appropriate language. Many of us, myself included, do not find that type of language to be at all poetic, expressive or pleasant. There are many more artistic ways of expressing yourself. If our business is words, why not use them? Those who resort to vulgar language tend to stop developing their vocabularies. Whether this generation swears more than the last generation is a matter for debate. But just because they might, does not make it a good thing. Changes in our society are not always for the better. That is one that is not.

User	nansofast | 2004-11-06 |
Subject	untitled
Message	I just wrote a comment on a poem so full of emotion, and rightfully so. My comment was simple "there’s so much emotion here that I lose the story. This is difficult to write, etc." But imagine that no one helped you learn and encouraged you in the beginning. Poetry might be an art of intelligence, but it’s also an art with a tradition of compassion. Unless I absolutely cannot design an subjective statement that is constructive, I comment. How else would this problem improve?

User	Emerging Soul | 2004-10-27 |
Subject	Crap Votes?
Message	I agree that some of the stuff posted here is nothing but crap, but the only way to indicate that it is just crap is to not post any response to it. Sure, I could post a long dissertation on each one, telling them WHY I think it’s crap, but who has that kind of time? I only respond, for the most part, to pieces that I feel have merit of some kind. The only other way would be to simply cast a "vote" for the pieces of crap instead of posting a response to it, and if any piece gets a certain number of "crap votes" the webmaster or other administratively-privaleged users could delete it.

User	angela~ | 2004-10-02 |
Subject	untitled
Message	How true beadsman! Everyone has different tastes and different ideas of what art consists of.

User	realpoet | 2004-09-10 |
Subject	to:clayton
Message	I agree. Poetry is not some unsuitable slop you would give to a dog. Poetry is not a mishap of prose. Poetry is prophetic is its language,style and composition. Poetry from its very beginning was a means to praise the human condition, to lift the standard of language out of the mire. Never is its history have you read in its content the awkwardness of four letter sex words or cursing. These words were descretely described with other words so as not to confuse or offend the reader who is more than capable to know when bedside manners are tastefully described.

User	wondereric | 2004-09-05 |
Subject	untitled
Message	I’ve always been taught that art(that is the general not the specfic) is that which provokes emotion whether it negative or positive. The simple fact that you have responded with such emototion tells me that this is art. To me your definition of "classic" sounds old and out dated. Afterall, many that paved the way were considered "vulgar" or "unprofessional". Offer your critque with an open mind and don’t try to shut down others minds from being open.

User	realpoet | 2004-09-03 |
Subject	reply to angela
Message	I don’t think being the mother-type to an offender is the path to improvement. All of the poets in the Classic past have written,written and rewritten their work before going public. They were artists of the language keeping it pure and ethereal. Does not a computer have a delete key to create the sweet sound and sense of perfection that a language demands .