Poetry Board Etiquette

Refrain from posting all of your work in one day. Check the rules of the board or forum you are visiting to find out what their requirements are. One poem per day or week is a good rule, especially on a new board. Be sure you are willing to respond to several poems of other artists for each that you post. If you are posting in more than one forum, follow these guidelines (or the posted ones) for each forum.

Make sure your post is appropriate for the forum. There is nothing more disconcerting than finding adult content in the children's forum. Check for a rhyming forum if you have a tendency to follow a rhyme scheme. Posting in the incorrect forum may lead to alienation and, possibly even, deletion.

Share your opinions and you might find people willing to sharing theirs with you as well. Expect to spend some time on the board in order to gain acceptance. New posters tend to go through an initiation phase no matter where you land your pen. Persistence in responding, restraint in posting, and pleasantness in attitude will go a long way.

Be courteous! If you don't like a poem, you are entitled to your opinion, but don't be nasty about it. State your reasons, if you must, and suggest how it might be done differently. Just do it nicely! Possibly start your comment with something like "this is not my cup of tea, but I liked how you...."

Please add a title to your work. Some sites use titles as their link to the poem. If you don't add a title, your piece may not be read. Also, your title is the first thing that a reader sees. Use your title to attract your audience! Of course, it should be appropriate to the poem, but creativity is what it is all about.

Learn to edit your work. Editing is your key to perfection. Use this function to fix spelling errors or to make other corrections (including adding a title!). You can even do a full-fledged edit with this handy function as well. Use it!

Finally, always, always, always keep a copy of your work. The internet is a wonderful thing and poetry boards are great; but technology, conflicting personalities, and accidents can cause havoc without proper protection. If you write directly onto a site, one suggestion might be to cut and paste your creation into an email and send it to yourself. Otherwise, it is a good practice to create your work in a wordprocessor, save it to your hard-drive, and then cut and paste to the site.
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National Poetry Month

Never underestimate
A word of kindness.
This shared smile
Is possibly the
One gift--
Never expensive,
Always welcomed--
Loved by all.

People seldom
Offer words of praise.
Everyone has complaints;
Those we hear often.
Realize the impact
Your words will have.

May the sun suffuse
Our universe and remove
Negativity; may
The moon guide your
Heavy thoughts.