Thank you for downrating my poems

Only The Gods know how hard I try to stay away from the main boards but I can't help leaving you-whoever you are- a few words and I promise not to lose my temper this time. I can't understand the reason why you always downrate my poems. It seems to me you really enjoy your attitude but for me, your attitude shows such a cowardice and emotional instability. I know I am a "persona non grata" here but I have never downrated poems and I will never do that to hit a poet because it shows such a poor strength of character. Besides I do believe that if you downrate a work ( and I do that when I correct my students' poems, essays, etc), you should tell why so that person may have the chance to defend himself/herself and prove you how wrong you are.
You are my constant reader and I thank you for that but if you are not satisfied with my presence here, you should be honest enough and tell me but I know how difficult it is for you to expose what you feel about me. I don't hold grudges against people whom I had some arguments. I can't agree with some ideas all the time. Besides I always speak my mind.
Therefore my dear I do think you should find a shrink and open up your heart. You will feel better but if you prefer to tell me why I cause you so much pain, I am all ears.

Hey Karla...I know it's annoying when people downvote you without leaving a reason why but....you have over 100 poems posted and....your overall rating is still 5 so....without counting your downvotes....there can't be that many?

I think that if you downrate a poem, you have to tell why.It happens all the time here and not only with me. It doesnt matter if my overall rating is 5, I simply find this sort of attitude poor.It doesnt matter if it is a hundred or twenty downvotes, I simply despise people who act like that.I am glad that you dont get upset with people who downrate you without giving you a decent reason.I want to know what criteria of judgement was used to downrate my poem because if is a subjective one, it is such a poor show.

Well..I do agree to some extent...I've said it in the past and it's fell on deaf ears...I think no one should be allowed to vote on a poem without leaving a comment but....my suggestion was left to the wind back then and....still is as far as I know!

I support your idea a 100%.It would make people think before acting.Besides it would be a way of improving our poems because you would know the reason why your poem was considered weak.

The voting system should be done away with in my opinion. At least, it should be paid next to no attention to.

90% of votes are 'upvotes' anyway and the downvotes are petty when given without just cause. It's best to laugh them off. Having to give a comment when voting would be a help to cut out stupid downvoting, but all in all the voting system is pretty useless.

The voting system is pretty useless as Colm said.It means nothing so why do we still have it here?

So ...If you agree it's pretty useless why are you upset?

Ah Hellon!!!Come on dont you agree that the ratiing system is useless.Should poems be rated Hellon? Be really honest as a true scorpio huh.
I despise coward people as I told you before.If you are satisfied, good for you.If attitudes like those mean nothing to you, good for you again.I have already told the mods what I think about the rating system, I wont discuss it here. I am talking about downvoting a poem without a reason.I cant laught them off as Colm suggested.If you can, good for you again.

How am I supposed to answer as a true "scorpio' how do you even know my star sign?????

People like that do not bother me in the slightest...they used to yes but...not anymore...

I have been here since 2009 and I have eyes and read the main boards.Birthdays are commemorated, arent they?So it is easy to know star signs.

I am glad you are so superior and is not upset about downvotes but I have asked you about the system and you havent answered me.But dont answer now I need to enjoy my coffee.See ya later.

I've been on this site on and off since 2006 and the first birthday thread that was every put up for me was last year and....I bloody cringed about it...so...good on you if you spotted my birth sign from that one post! A little weird but....yes I'm a scorpio....

I'm not superior...never said I was....I'm just old enough now Karla to not give a shit!

I am old and things like injustice still bothers me and...you star sign caught my attention because Im a scorpio too and it is not the first time here I mention your star sign.And again you havent answered my question about the rating system.

Hellon or the mods can't magically change the voting system. I think almost everyone agrees it sucks, but there is only one person with the power to change that... and you know how that goes.

It seems silly to me to get upset over a 'downvote'. I'm willing to bet 99% of us here really have zero ability to truly critique a poem on a very high level. And most the votes are updated but no one seems to be upset by that. I have had heaps of poems between this account and my other, and I got a ton of 5s. I'm no where near a '5' writer, so those are not truly deserved. It's all just silly and should be ignored. They hold no real merit.

I havent said that Hellon or the mods can change the system and I havent started this thread to criticize the system either.
Whenever I come here to complain, you guys say"Oh!Ignore it!".I was expecting you all to tell me that.
I am not saying either that I am a"5" writer.I just think and it is my opinion that this someone who keeps downrating me should at least tell me why but since s/he doesnt do that, I assume s/he either is too coward to express her/his opinion or too weak to critique any poem and that includes my pieces.And above all I do think that the system should only allow a downvote if it is spported by an in-depth comment.

Gotta agree with you karla, if someone down votes the least they can do is explain why...not to do so is just stupid.

Edit: i would also like to say that if it makes some one feel annoyed or offended in any way it shouldnt be referred to as 'silly' their feelings should be respected and not dissmissed

Thank you Naughtymouse.

Your welcome karla, i think it's a valid point your making and i support it.

This site has this downvoting conversation once every six months or so, so after seeing the same thing, and ultimately people agreeing it sucks but there is nothing we can do about it, sorry that I find it silly. This is a constant discussion.. and seriously there is NOTHING we can do.

Britt, I know people can't do anything about that.I dont care if it is a constant discussion.You guys discuss religion all the time too and there is nothing you can do about it either.I started this thread not to cause any kind of polemic but to tell the one who keeps downvoting me that s/he needs some help and above all that her/his attitude is so regrettable.
Ps: it is not because nothing can be done now that things wont change in the future.

Hmm..

I like when people leave reasons of what parts they didn't like about the poem, it helps one grow as a writer. So yeah, Karla. I see your point.

Nice thread. I hope whoever leaves a low rate sees it so that later on, he/she can leave her reasons For downrating and be supportive that way.

Well, not everyone has been here so long that they have seen this conversation before so some of us would like to see it discussed.

Edit: apparently this post got delayed lol i agree with luce, i hope the downvoter reads this and decides to leave you a reason karla x

I hope too but not only leave me a comment but for everyone who has had his poems downrated too.As far as I am concerned I am not the first to face such a situation and I wont be the last one either because things never change fast neither people.It takes time to admit mistakes.

Dare i ask .....but...why can nothing be done exactly? My understanding of websites is basic but i know that it wouldnt be difficult to add some coding so that when some one down votes a poem a comment box appears, then, if the comment box isnt filled in the vote cannot be applied. This isnt a difficult thing to do so why cant it be done?

Thats a good question Ben.

It just seems like a simple solution to deal with something that apparently is disscussed constantly. Like i say my knowledge is pretty basic but even i know this is a relativly quick fix.

It can't be done because the only person that can change anything is Janis, the site owner. He came back after years of absence and fixed some things, but there are a lot of things left to fix. The mods don't have coding abilities. So the only thing we as a site can do without Janis around is put it on Janis' to do list when he decides to show up again.

Ahh i see, so its not that NOTHING can be done about it then is it? It CAN be fixed, not straight away , but it can be fixed...

You have too much faith in Janis :) lol. Im pretty sure this issue has been on his to do list (it was when I was a mod, current mods can let us know), and it shouldve been there when he came back. Ultimately its his decision if he wants to get rid of, or change something. It would make sense to change it as we all deal daily with it, but he isn't around enough to really see what an annoyance it is. It's like a CEO of a major company at disconnect with their workers because they aren't in the field, hands on.

What you said Britt reminded me of that ridiculous episode of plagiarism here.There was no mod to help us or to listen to our complaints in that site.

So we are left at our own devices here.It is sad we can't count on anybody to fix this specific problem of downvoting.

We are at the mercy of fate.Hope The Gods may help us!

Yeah, thankfully were a great community here... If we got word of a plagiarizer, our members and mods alike would be on that in seconds. Even with all our faults, we are still pretty damn awesome here lol.

If Janis would show up more consistently then things would move so much more smoothly. I don't know if the mods have heard anything from him since his last showing.. I doubt so, they're usually good about letting us know when he graces us with his presence lol

Thats true: we are a great community and we have great poets here.Because of that I can't understand a person who acts behind the curtains. I still have faith in human beings though.

So you're upset that the rating system is made useless by misuse and you want the rating system eliminated because it's useless.
Modifying the rating system a bit could help, but one fix could create other pitfalls. We have 2 main problems: downvoting and upvoting. They make the uses of the voting system useless. If you receive 4s and 5s, your ego is bloated. If you receive 1s and 2s without explanation, your ego is popped like a balloon, but have no constructive criticism to use for improvement.
A possible solution is to make it impossible to vote on a poem without leaving a comment with a minimum # of words. This would make votes more accurate, commenters more thoughtful, and it would give our poetry community a classier, more academic vibe.

Now all we need is for Janis to come back. He's been gone for awhile again.

So lets hope he can come back soon and save us from the bad wolf.

Hi Karla

So why do you think its a down vote? maybe that person just didn't like your poem. Everybody has different tastes after all. I mean not everybody that gave you a 5 has left a comment either.

As much as the voting system is inaccurate as very few on here would be classified as experts, it is still a feature. And I defy anybody on here to say they don't take some small amount of pride if there poems have a score of 5?
I agree with Jane that the comments and votes should be linked. Yet I feel that may result in more 5's as members who don't like a poem may not leave a comment for fear of criticism.

Oh! I dont expect people to like my poems.I expect them to understand what I write. I expect them to leave me honest comments. I expect them to downrate me if they want and tell me why so that I can improve my writing. How would you feel if I gave you a 2 and when you asked me why, I simply tell you"Oh I didnt like your poem!"Would you like the criteria of judgement? If you do, I dont. Poetry has nothing to do with tastes. As far as I am concerned those who gave/give me 5 always comment my work.There are also those who comment me but dont rate me and my pride or whatever doesnt go down drain because of that.I disagree about members ' fear of criticism. This system would force people to leave a honest comment and show his reason to downrate you.So do you think it is fair to downrate a poet without telling him why just because " you didnt like the poem"? If you do, I dont. What is worst the fear of criticism or downrate a poet to hit him/her as so many people do? Rating a poem is like using a weapon and you know that pretty well.

Just remember.. that ..(well atleast I think)....
We do not write for votes, or comments.
we write to release emotion, to feel better.
to get those thoughts out of our heads so they stop bugging us. that's the beauty of writing.. that whether
you write an amazing poem, or a crappy one.
you're writing out of emotion and that in itself is never wrong no matter how much 1's and 2's the poem gets.

they are far worse things people can do to you
Than simply down voting a poem.. dust it off your shoulder because a number ain't worth all that time..and all that typing.

...work for self-fullfilment not for the applause.
you can't force people to give you good comments all the time and as I see it a "1" is as bad as
"oh what a sweet poem xoxo"...

so..

I expect them to understand what I write.
^^^^

I think you are expecting too much Karla...there are many poets on here that I will tell them upfront that I don't understand everything they are trying to put on the page but....isn't that the beauty of poetry...we can interprete the words of someone else to suit our own lives? Let me give you an example....a comment by me left on a poem by Jordan...I know I was totally wrong with my interpretation but...as I say in my comment....once the thought is there is very hard to erase it...

Hellon ( F C D ) at 2012-09-07

Your poetry alway intriges me and...I haven't commented in this past while but...your title caught my eye so....here I am... Looking for a clue in your title...What wakes you Up...but...many things wakes me up or...none at all....my sleep pattern varies a whole lot so..from my perspective....nothing in the title relates to me haha!!!

Acoustics reign supreme
down here in
the lab where
people speak echoes
and nobody hears
past intrusive percussion.
^^^^

I know I'll be really off here but....I'm sure I'll make you laugh at least with my interpetation...are you talking about the pipes and some other rude noises from a toilet that's not your own...weird I know :)

There's a crooked corner
where light doesn't reach;
cobwebs prey and make hosts of
the nightmares of
supreme beings
over there in the dark.

^^^^

It's got to be your toilet....maybe you share it with someone? OMG...my mind will not take me to another place so....sticking with my thoughts here!

Silly, I know,
but if you stand back
and look very closely
you won't see a lick of light
in that room. You won't see.

^^^^

The phantom farted has disappeared or...he S***'s in the dark?

Just a man in dead space,
heaped in a pile,
shivering.

^^^^

Had a really hot vindaloo????

I'm sorry Jordan....I'm probably totally off the wall with this but....hey...it's what came into my mind totally....

Well Hellon, at least you gave him your honest comment whether you undestood it or not and that is what matters.
Thats the point: you interpret and that has nothing to do with likes or dislikes as Nicko mentioned.So why not leave a comment when you downrate a poem huh?Don't you think the poet needs an explanation too?

Now you Yaki,

I have never worked for applause because just a few people comment my work here and they are always the same. You shouldn't come here to tell me that because your argument is wrong and you know that. I suppose you didint understand the reason why I am complaining and I am not going to explain it here again.I don't write to release emotions either. I understand poetry in a different way.