Praised comments & stewardship

"But it is this kind of superficiality we promote here which makes the air of this site so stale. ... Now let take a look at those prais worthy comments we are talking about: They are mostly measured by length and quantity of their lines not by their quality, by their appearance not by their quiddity. Just stretch your sentences and put few line from the poem itself and voila! you have got a praise worthy comment."

From Gadfly's complaint on another thread.

Compare to the sticky thread regarding praised comments:
"Mere glowing praise for a poem, however long, should not be approved, even where the poem is extensively quoted. There must be some cogent analysis, some meaningful feedback or at least substantial suggestions for improvement. Each comment is assessed on a case-by-case basis. With seven mods and since it is a subjective process, the results must vary."

(http://www.poems-and-quotes.com/discussion/topic.html?topic_id=144914)

Personally I have declined scores, perhaps hundreds, of long glowing comments that merely gush. There are times I have nominated comments that do only one thing, yet contribute to the improvement of the poem.

I'd love to see a few of your comments you think should have been praised. If I think they are praiseworthy I'll put them up myself.

As to attacking other members with sweet gentility, length of time on here is relative. Everyone has to discover the sight on their own. They have to decide how to take part. It is like pulling teeth to get judges every term so it bugs me that the very people who complain either never judge or drop out of the term in the first few weeks.

The site is entirely what each of us make of it. Step up and help out.

What we put there as guideline no matter with how much good intention ,in reality changes. So we have to be always critical of ourselves and one another in a constructive way. In constant pampering environment we do not produce anything but brats.
I can not tell you abut my comments because they are mostly in my previous accounts. Sometimes even the person who I commented lunched after me: thank you very much, but I know what I am doing, this and that. Sometime I even censored my comment noticing the person do not appreciate it.

Most of the time the emptiness you feel after reading these praised cliche of comments. most of the time they are not healthy. Of course to a free spirit.

I totally agree, Ddavidd, that these praised comments are more often than not unworthy of praise. However, that's why the mods are more stringent about what we approve. I am not saying that it is perfect, or that we get it right all the time. However, as you say, we strive to improve.

Edit: I approve about one in four comments that I review. If you don't like the ones I approve, imagine what each other three were like

This is one of mine would you approve it??

commented at 2015-07-21

Love this. This is very similar to one of my poems. The surreal fiber is so real to me. It is what I call poetical reality. The platonic weave:
"Words would disappear,
only meaning will be left."
gives it a vivid poetic sensibility. The one that is out of reach in 'sensible reality.'

"The interval ceases to be" is profound reveals the arbitrary aspect of space. Though I am confused in the use of 'wasness'
Once more it is a platonic theme that death is kind of relief for the "lost childe whose burden was his taste." This works either way, whether if the taste itself is unbearable, or if regardless of being unbearable or pleasant, still, in itself, is a burden.

And perhaps the death is the morning star, a wake up in " The City of Utopia"

I would & give me about an hour I will say exactly why

(In a meeting)

EDIT:

Here's my analysis of your comment. I bracket out The portions that are significant and ignore the rest.

"Love this. This is very similar to one of my poems. [The surreal fiber is so real to me. It is what I call poetical reality. (By opening the awareness of reality versus poetic reality, you raise the level of discussion)] The platonic weave:
'Words would disappear,
only meaning will be left.'
gives it a vivid poetic sensibility. The one that is out of reach in 'sensible reality.'

"'The interval ceases to be' is profound [reveals the arbitrary aspect of space. (Provides insight into the poem beyond what is actually contained within the work itself)] [Though I am confused in the use of 'wasness' (gives constructive criticism)]
Once more [it is a platonic theme that death is kind of relief for the "lost childe whose burden was his taste." (provides significant feedback as to your interpretation of the poem)] This works either way, whether [if the taste itself is unbearable, or if regardless of being unbearable or pleasant, still, in itself, is a burden. (raises alternate interpretations of the poem in an intriguing proposition)]

And [perhaps the death is the morning star (provides more feedback as to potential interpretation)], a wake up in 'The City of Utopia'"

EDITED for grammar & spelling.

I try really hard to be overly selective and choosy about the praises I let go through. You should see some of the stuff we get.

I would accept the above comment. Mmhm. That's a good one.

Thanks Larry.
Thanks Birtt but nobody praises these kind of comments. Never mined the writer (Satish Verma, he does not respond to these) but the visitors, they don't care because they do not benefit. So after a while you give up and get discouraged. I can never compete with those who sell candies or addictive dugs of compliments.

I personally never praise someone else's comment on another persons poem, because it will take away the notification. I think most people quit doing that once we realized how many missed comments there were. I wish we could remedy that.

Good point, Britt. Another change for Janis: allow someone other than the poem's author to praise the comment without canceling the notice of the comment to the poem's author

We used to be able to do that. I remember senior members used to ...

I used this comment of mine as an example. I wrote so many of them and they all went un noticed while the one above or behind, got praised due to the quantity or sugar coding volume. So I gave up, my C box stayed pink forever. You cannot sell Hamlet to those who are used to watch: "The Love Boat"
But this is beside the point. You now are communicating. I love the level of maturity shown by the mods, both of you, and the ones behind the door perhaps
It is the first time I feel proud that I am a P&Q er

It doesn't matter if I am right or wrong. It is important that we in "the marriage of true minds*" search for The real meaning, or at least try, instead of accepting things the way they are.

* Shakespeare Sonnet: 116

To clarify. You can always praise a comment posted to someone else's account. The problem is that when you do, the notification to that person that they have a new comment is canceled.

When several people were praising comments on other members' poems the authors began complaining that they never knew they even had the comment.

Someone, I believe it was Hellon, or perhaps Sibs, suggested that the post be allowed to stay a few days. Then , if was not praised it could be safely done by another. I suppose that waiting a few days also caused a lot of praiseworthy comments to go unpraised.

Also, the mere praising of a comment is out of our control. It is up to us to accept or not.

To be honest, it bothers me to see others praising comments on my own page, I think no one but the authors themselves can really evaluate the comment, simply because it's their own writing.

GB I agree with you it should be the author's right and only his/her right to praise the comments left on his/her page and NO ONE Else!

You people have not seen the kind of comments we Mods go through each day to get a praise worthy. Some of them are soooo miserable!

The point is comments must be in a way helpful and or give insight to what the author is saying. Just quoting some lines and saying "I like it" is not praise worthy!

When I hit the praise button on one of my comments, I ask myself... did this comment help me? Did it inspire me? Or did they give great insight into my words? My eyes are getting old and I really do appreciate it when a fellow poet tells me I have a grammar or spelling error so I'm going to praise that for sure... or when they give me some helpful hints to enhance my poem... I may not always take their advice but I do appreciate it... that's when I praise. Even if a mod rejects it... its ok...because in my mind it helped me and that's all that matters. I'm very appreciative. Even with general comments... they stopped by to read... and that makes me smile.

Just recently I wrote a sonnet and everlasting pointed out I had 9 syllables instead of 10 in my last line... that meant a great deal to me... I've had other members do that for me as well... it means a ton to the writer. If you have written a formed poem with a syllable count, you want it to be correct... she felt her comment was lame... I disagreed.. and praised it.... whether or not the mods agree with me doesn't matter... it helped me and I was grateful for her saying something. :-)

edit: Her comment praise was approved :-)

Members online have complained about my antidotal anecdotes , but I feel compelled to share one I am not sure of its accuracy
When I joined this site in 2004-07-06 gold was the highest award and there were no praised comments . The last time and possibly the only time I was beaten senseless by thugs comes back to me in flashbacks.
On 3/22/08 I had two black eyes , two cracked ribs , and one broken heart . When the thugs were leaving I thought I heard one say , lets finish him. as my life flashed before my eyes I thought to myself I will never go solid platinum on poems and quotes lol
I am not complaining about my gold comment award ,I want to quote ddavidd

"So after a while you give up and get discouraged. I can never compete with those who sell candies or addictive dugs of compliments."
I don't believe I have an antidote to passed over poems , if I did I would share it lol

It seems my fellow mods are faster than me these days and I rarely get a chance to approve/decline praised comments. Every time I check mod tools, the list of tasks reads zero! Need to step up my game.

Anyway, I'm sure I've approved my fair share of subpar comments, and I apologize if I've upset anyone because of it. It's hard to define what makes a comment praise-worthy with so many different minds asserting they know what's best.

I will say it's a pain in the butt that only praised comments or number of poems deem senior status. Seems there should be other avenues. I don't often comment on poems and I almost never submit poetry these days, but boy do I love this site, its members, and PnQ poetry. Maybe the standard by which we judge praise-worthy comments would be higher without the connection to senior status.

Perhaps one of the best features of this site is the ability to comment on poems, threads and gives us 'free voice' The fact that this is encouraged by rewarding a 'decent' commented poem with a praise is incentive to many. If the criteria of rewarding such decent comments is raised, then this can only be a good thing. Like learning how to write poetry, offering a quality comment/ critique also takes time to get it right. I am still learning and find myself reading others to get tips, because a good comment feels good to receive, especially if it has helped or they have clearly understood your point.

I often find that unless I allow myself sufficient time to read through and offer my feeling, experience and advice (if necessary) I don't fully appreciate the work. I gain a deeper understanding of the work, just by reading closely and pondering over the content. I actually enjoy this process and only wish I had more time.

In short praising comments encourages more comments which we all appreciate and need to affirm our passion of poetry.

Poetry is subjective and apparently now so are comments on poetry. Just how deep down the rabbit hole of subjectivity do we want to go? How much time do you darlings have on your hands that some of you want to start analyzing not only the poems but the comments too?

Next up on the P&Q show, we all get a chance to phone in our comments on the Moderators comments about our poem comments about the poems.

Here here, Michael - I agree completely.

^^
Next up on the P&Q show, we all get a chance to phone in our comments on the Moderators comments about our poem comments about the poems.
***********

Kevin, perhaps we can persuade Janis to kick in for a 800 line to the mod account

;8-)

"To be honest, it bothers me to see others praising comments on my own page, I think no one but the authors themselves can really evaluate the comment, simply because it's their own writing."

^^amen to that!