Let's Try to Get the Poetry Section Active

As the title says, we need to get the Poetry Section active. Let's post some ideas of how we could get it more active. Meybe we should host a contest for a Pokemon-related theam.

Moving this to the Poetry section then. I'll be looking forward to replies to the topic.

^^; I love reading what everyone writes here, although I never post my stuff. *shot*
But really, I adore this section =D

Ikasu, I like the idea of contests. But instead of always a Pokemon contest, you could put on a seasonal contest. (Edit: n.n Lord94, you posted just before me~!)

Examples:

Christmas poetry
Holiday poetry
Valentines poetry
Spring poetry

...

Another way could be with different types of poems. I noticed that most people here tend to do, erm "Story or rhyming" poems. With long stanzas and repeating rhythms.
You could show examples of poems like Haiku's/ Ballads/ Limericks, etc...

~~~

The only bad thing about contests is there needs to be a judge... unless you just have a free-write thing, where there is no winner~ ^_^

O.o" Heh, that's all I've got for you. But I really do like the idea because I want to see more people write stuff~ <3

Yeah, if would be great if the Poetry section became active enough for a moderater, and things like that, and other rules. I also like the idea of seasonal contests.

Couldn't we let the readers pick, and just have a poll for each contest and like a week period for the poll to one to find out the winners?

I mean I think if people were honest about it and didn't just like vote for their poem or tell all their friends to come vote for their stuff, but the people who actually read the poetry here in the forums and the other writers who entered the contest, if they just were honest and the picked the that they truly thought should win and voted on it, it would be quite fair don't you think?

*steps out of her own section* Just to toss an idea out here, why not just do prompts at certain intervals? Like every week (which might be too much for some writers), pick a word and members could write a poem with that word as inspiration. Or you could even just pick a form of poetry if you wanted to give people a real challenge on what to write.

By just using prompts, people can be inspired without the extra thought and worry of trying to win a competition. They can still write for fun, you don't have to worry about finding judges, and the section will see more activity. There's also no competition or possible hurt feelings if there's always a winner. It's just everyone being inspired by a word and writing poetry.

That's a good idea too! I'm in a club on another account that's like that!

but I think it should be every two weeks maybe because I know that I personally have a had time doing every week because sometimes it take a while for right inspiration or motivation to come! Or you just get real picky with poetry and spend forever editing it and sounds worse in the end than it did in the beginning! Lol! Anyways, one week would be doable, I just don't know how many writer's around here would be that committed, I know I would try, but don't think I would be. So if we went with that idea then my suggestion would be for every two weeks.

But then that leads to the question of, who's' going to pick the prompts?

I suppose we could make out a sort of schedule, and every other week it would be someone else's turn to pick a prompt/theme to write on or something. Or we could all compile a list before we start this thing and keep adding onto it as we go or something...

I don't know, but I do like that idea better because I am not competitive at all and I would the thought or people writing just because they want to win, rather than because they just want to write and get their thoughts and ideas out there! =D

I've done a myriad of creative things for the poetry section, like Poketry and posting your favorite poems by famous/non-famous writers. I thought my Poketry thread was a hit... but still, not much people are coming here.

something I'm thinking of right now (sorry if someone already did this) is something like a theme-of-the-week. And people would try their best to match their creativity to that theme.

Seriously... not even the mods pay attention here. If you look, there's a double thread post that's been there for a while now.

Seriously... not even the mods pay attention here. If you look, there's a double thread post that's been there for a while now.

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Have you, perchance, reported the double thread to bring it to Oni Pichu's attention? Most staff don't check every section, so it's up to the regular members to report anything that needs attention. And yes, "anything" is used here as a broad term, so you could report a doubled thread and have it taken care of.

something I'm thinking of right now (sorry if someone already did this) is something like a theme-of-the-week.

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That's kind of like my idea, with a particular word being the source of inspiration for the poets. I am in agreement with moody_cow_ that it should be given over a longer time period than just one week. I know from a poetry class I took in college that it takes more than a week for some people to write a good poem. For other people, it can be easily done in that amount of time. To make it easy on others, it should be at least a two-week deal. If one finishes their poem early, then they can post it before the two weeks are up, but it wouldn't be fair to rush others to finish their poems in a week.

something I'm thinking of right now (sorry if someone already did this) is something like a theme-of-the-week.

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I'm thinking that either one or two people should be chosen to watch over this, or perhaps a list of words to use should be compiled beforehand. I'm leaning towards the later, only because this way, the prompts could be looked over before posting and the semi-horrible ones could be disregarded. For example, if someone suggest a prompt of "cheese" for one week, if no one feels like having humorous poems, then that prompt could be gotten rid off. The list could be easily moderated.

Just to throw it out there again, would anyone be interested in having the forms of poetry be used as a challenge? It would be different from just writing free-form poems all the time, but I don't want anyone to think that they are limited on how they can write poetry.

I'm up for becoming an observer of a poetry event. I write, but I need to brush up on my formality. Otherwise, sign me up. You can count on me to do a credible job on it.

Oh, and about the report, I'd thought that something like that was not reportable >< or even though it's there as something odd, it wasn't that important to you.

A month is a seriously long time to write a poem. Sure, there might be the people who want to write more than one poem on the same prompt. (Whitman and Poe come to my mind, both writing about birds talking about death.) But two weeks is a good enough time to write and polish a poem.

A month is too long to wait for a new prompt for those who can write poetry in a matter of days, and with a month between prompts, people might get disinterested in the whole idea. Two weeks, on the other hand, is perfect. Not too long, not too short. It is also starting to be the agreed upon time limit by the majority of those posting in this thread.

On the downside, I'm not the mod of this section, so I don't want to step on Oni Pichu's toes and make any decision he won't agree with. You just have to wait for him to make an appearance. I will, however, volunteer my services in picking prompts (since I have 400 prompts from different writing communities strewn about my room/laptop) or helping to oversee the event.

How is it messy though?

Let's say that Romance Hero (since right now, he is the most capable and most willing) is in charge of the thing. He decides that every second Sunday, at a specific time (given in a well-known time zone, perhaps UTC) the new prompt will be posted. Then people can know that at that time, the new prompt will be posted. They also know that they have to post their poems before that time on the Sunday two weeks from now.

It's very clear-cut, and I can't see any way that it could become disorganized. How ever you see it to become disorganized, please tell us so that the problems can be worked out in the planning stages. We just want to hear all opinions of this to make this work the best that we can.

So it is happining then?

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But the problem would be (and this is from past experiance) that everybody (well, no, not everybody, but most) would submit within the last hour or so. If you can come up with something to stop that, or don't think it's going to happen or whatever, I'd still be willing to help.

^_^ I like the idea, I think it sounds fun, plus entertaining. It's also a good way to beat writer's block (err, with poetry... but it still helps your brain to think =3)

I totally say "Go for it!"

People who wish to submit can, and it'll give us all a chance to read them and see how others think about the subject. >-o It'll be cool~

I agree with the two week period also. One week is too short, and a month is far too lengthy.

edit: Hanako, I just barely read your post above! Lol~ sorry, I just barely stated the same thing. So I agree with you.

Lord94 said:

But the problem would be (and this is from past experiance) that everybody (well, no, not everybody, but most) would submit within the last hour or so. If you can come up with something to stop that, or don't think it's going to happen or whatever, I'd still be willing to help.

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^ ... I actually don't understand why posting within the last hour would be a problem. At least the person posted. It just means it took them that long to write something that they were comfortable with sharing~ n.n" you can't rush art.

D; sorry I'm done!

I think the whole thing a is great idea too, if a huge list (well not huge, but you know a list of considerable length so that it would keep us going for a while...) was complied and there was a new prompt every two weeks.

We could create a new thread for each prompt and people could just post their poem for that theme in that thread so they wouldn't get all mixed up and stuff. I don't know just an idea!

But really I'm all for it, I'll try my hardest to participate on every one, but I'll admit that I'm rather lazy and a bit undependable when it comes to being consistent... But I do love writing and would love to write more, I just can't seem to get motivated... So anyways, my point was that if we do go ahead with this idea, I'll give it my all! =D

So yes I guess the only thing we need now would be a list, and I guess a team or whatnot to oversee the whole thing! But other than that I don't seen anything stopping us! =D

*feels all excited because she's easily amused* =D

I'm suprised that this thread is getting any attention, concidering it is in the Poetry fourm. But I'd love to help out in contests, and help decide on a prompt. I love to write and read poetry. Maybe if this thread does get a mod, it should be Hanonko, because she is the Fan-Fic mod. But Oni does spend tons of time here.

You could say this is still my forum. And then, you have also all the right to say I have been not paying this section as much attention as I probably should.

But if you accept my apology, I'll be glad to contribute. I need votes.

-Contests every fourteen days, varying in theme and types of poetry.
-Hanako & I as judges and hosts

Any more ideas, or details I miss?

Uh, "judges" to me implies that there will be some sort of contest. But that's just my take on the word.

Other than that, at the moment, I can't think of anything to add. I am glad that I will be providing my services to this section as well.

Sounds good, but the main problem is getting PC's attention. If this takes place, I'll attempt to use propaganda(?) and bring some attention to this area.:D