Is there any way....??

That the site can stop members constantly nominating the same people over and over for the weekly?? I mean...after say three weeks in a row of voting for the same member's poems can there be some sort of time out? I'm just getting totally sick of the same people nominating each other week after week...to the point where I just don't come here so much anymore...just a question and, perhaps the answer will be ..not without Janis....

I remember bringing this point up during my stint as THAT judge. It is not so much the same people nominating each other, it is the regular visitors to the site who do not nominate at all. As a judge I found that people on here tend to read poems by the same group of poets. Naturally they nominate each other, they also tend to be the more active amongst us. It would be nice to see more varied nominations which in turn could produce an open contest.

edit

I am one of the worst for nominating BTW

Well,

if they slay, they slay
and also its a very small group of poets that are so whole heartily dedicated to reading and commenting on one another's work.

they are the people who keep the site alive
that's also why they are more on the front page.

...untz

Yeah, i think there's a way...

how about you go on and set the example? Start nominating every single week different poets. You have three votes.
Go on... be free. Enjoy reading and introducing new poets to the nomination list.

I mean, your actions might just inspire other people...

Or they might not, but at least, you will be content with knowing that you tried your darnest best to find the poems which you deemed front page material and that you gave them your vote.

I'm bad at nominating, too. But I try to vote for ones that aren't already on the list. There are a few that I nominate more often, but it's just because I feel it's a good piece and they deserve it

Luce....I don't think you can be very familiar with my nomination history or you would know that I generally tend to vote for the lesser knows poets of this site if I consider their work worth highlighting.

This was meant as a question and was not directed at any member/members in particular. It was definitely not intended to start an argument among members. I just thought that, by blocking one member from voting another after three or so nominations in a row, it would encourage them to look for alternative poems and, therefore, bring more variety to the nomination board.

I'm guilty of nominating a poem because I absolutely love it even if it already has a nomination. This does make my nomination useless when it would be better served on a poem without a nomination. I'm going to make an effort to change this! I have 2 more votes this week.

What we REALLY need right now is 2 more judges. We only have 3 new judges signed up and this term will be over on Sunday. Hellon, if you agree to judge then you will be instrumental in helping lesser known poets earn recognition. You could be a huge asset to the judging pool. Further, no one ever has to know you're a judge. Even with me saying this now, people will still have no idea if you've agreed or not and we will protect anonymity of all judges unless they wish to reveal themselves at the end of their term(s).

As others have said it is only certain people that vote, comment etc. I for one am a big commenter and yes, I look at certain peoples work but also each day check to see if any new members have arrived and vote on their work if I feel it should be highlighted but I always offer criticism whether it be good or bad.

I do believe you are right though Hellon because certain people are always nominated but I feel that as they are dedicated members they deserve recognition for that at least and are also, great poets. I do wish the site was more active with new members and old alike because that would also help.

Can I just state again that I was not pointing the finger at anyone in particular nor do I think any of you have to defend the reason why you choose who you nominate. It was just a question/suggestion to give more of the lesser know poets on here a fair go...that's all.

For those who may say...hey you don't always use your 3 nominations each week Hellon...that's true for a few reasons. I've been travelling a lot this past year and don't always have internet access...when I do I generally find that the poems I would consider for nomination have already been presented by another member and I think that the judges will read this poem anyway so me using a vote would be kind of pointless...then to find three others becomes more difficult.

Luce....I don't think you can be very familiar with my nomination history or you would know that I generally tend to vote for the lesser knows poets of this site if I consider their work worth highlighting.

^^ hmm, yeah, when I started becoming more familiar with the weekly, I used to noticed that you used to nominate some lesser known poets but also known poets. Recently, (correct me if I am mistaken) I've been noticing that, for the most part, you nominate the same circle of poets that are your favorites to read. (You don't do that week after week, but at least whenever you are around) which is exactly what many of the most active people are doing: Nominating the poets that they read the most because they read their poems and they like them, and they didn't have time to find other poets to read, etc can I blame them for that?)

But truly, it doesn't matter if you nominate most known poets or lesser known poets, ultimately, it's your choice and it's everyone's choice who they want to nominate.

Now just to get something out of my chest that has been semi-bothering me after reading "can I state again that I was not pointing the finger at anyone..."

If you can express how you feel about a certain "issue", then everybody else has the right to express and attempt to defend themselves if they feel that they are being targeted, wouldn't you agree?

What I am trying to say is, if you don't want to hear people attempting to defend themselves, etc plus, finding yourself in the situation where you have to defend your intentions, could you try to make your posts in such a way that they do not sound as if you are picking at other people?

Let me try to narrow this down:

First of all, your problem is that the nomination list is composed of the same poets week after week and that new poets are not given exposure, right?

Your solution is restrict the nominations so that nominators can only vote for a specific poet a number of times, and then afterwards, be put in a timeout, right? That way, the nominator would be force to look for other poets to nominate, while they are in the time out? After the timeout has elapse, then they can nominate that same poet again... or do you mean not ever again? O_O

I think that the easiest solution, and to be fair to everyone (by not restrict anyone's choices as to whom they can nominate), is for those who do not use their nominations to start using them.

I think you are also seeing another problem nominators experience:

". I've been travelling a lot this past year and don't always have internet access...when I do I generally find that the poems I would consider for nomination have already been presented by another member and I think that the judges will read this poem anyway so me using a vote would be kind of pointless...then to find three others becomes more difficult."

^ it is difficult to find poems by lesser known poets that one may deem front page material, isn't it? Just as yourself, not everyone has the luxury of time to read other poems, than those who are in our circles. Everyone has some type of priority... the priority for the most active, I would assume (not sure) is to read those poems from the poets they received comments from. Afterwards, if they have time they greet the newest members. Or some like myself, read here and there... whenever I have some time

( sorry, I have to name some people here to give an example) My newsfeed usually show Ben's, Em's, Mr. Darcy who are the ones that are usually in nomination list, commenting on the newer poets week after week plus also on the ones that are on their circle. So really the easiest solution is for those not using their nominations to start using them. I lost my thought process, so I'll just say ... thanks for the concern and for trying to bring forth some solution.

I also don't think your solution can be implement without Janis as it would required modifying the code...

But may be others can pop in and try to state what they think the problem is or just bring forth other solutions

Also thanks to those active people, thanks to those volunteering...
I'm hungry. See ya.

I understand what the former post was trying to highlight, but again, really the poems read and nominated are brought to light (in my opinion) by their own writers.. Those who only submit their poems, without engaging in reading other people's work or even being active on the forum, most probably will go un-noticed..even if it was because of lack of time or whatever.

I used to be a very active member, both on the forum and in my own club, the number of people who used to read my work started to decrease gradually as my activity went dull over time. It's just normal.. I am not being active. By the same token, I reached the top list of best critiques, not cause I was th best, but cause I read in hunger and commented in mass.. I started to fall back when I simply stopped reading and commenting and others went ahead as they kept their activity and enrollement vibrant.

Maybe people are guilty of not using their votes but I don't think anyone is misusing it by voting for the same people..the poems are not the same ones after all, and the voters have been touched most probably when they nominated..

Poets who feel like they want to be read and nominated will need to bring themselves out, it's an online community here, not a blog..

But it's just how I see things.

I've been noticing that, for the most part, you nominate the same circle of poets that are your favorites to read.
^^^^

Can you give me an example of this? I'd love to see who you think I consider as favourites....I don't have and never have had a favourites list.

First of all, your problem is that the nomination list is composed of the same poets week after week and that new poets are not given exposure, right

^^^

I don't have a problem...it was just an observation that the same members appear to nominate each other and, therefore, are limiting the potential for lesser know poets to have a chance of the judges reading their work. I was simply suggesting a possible solution to make it more of an open contest. The mods are supposed to check that the judges are not favouring one member every week so why not check the nominations page also?

Time out? You make it sound like some sort of punishment and that was not what I was saying...

Your post was really long and I think I've only covered half of it...perhaps I'll come back later.

Sure, I'll send you a Pm with the example.

"I don't have a problem...it was just an observation that the same members appear to nominate each other and, therefore"

Oh I thought you might had had a problem because in your original post you mentioned something like "I'm sick or getting sick... to the point where I don't come here as much anymore" I don't remember exact words) Oh well, since there's no problem, and it was just an observation...

and haha looking back at that one post I made, you are right it's too long, can't believe I wrote it via my phone, so to make this one short..

I'm glad there's no problem.

Everlasting you made that post by phone.. Jeez girl, how did you do it without mistakes lol??

Just for the record (in case anyone is interested) the pm I received suggested two members that I appear to favour. The first one left the site yonks ago and the second....well there is a 5 month gap and 20 poems in between each of my comments so, I hardly think this would be classed as favouritism.

Em, lol it has a lot of spelling mistakes in there... many.

Hellon, it's okay to have favorites to read. You make it sound as it is a bad thing to have. I have many favorites to read, I don't often comment on them nor nominate them... when I read them. (Guilty) I might not read them all the time either, but they are favorites to me because whenever I do read them, I enjoy their words and their works. It's like it happens all the time I read them, they capture me.

The pm I sent suggested all the regular members and two that stands out. There might be more, who knows? Those are the ones that I noticed and who come to mind ... may be a few others could pop on my head later on, may be not? It doesn't really matter.

But anyhow, I am moving forward from this thread and might not come back to reply, that's why I sent the pm to keep that topic separate from this one and to continue that one conversation on the message.

My thoughts on this thread were that your problem was ... etc but you said that you don't have a problem. Then, I'll go and employ my time in something else. (Just stating the reason why I'm moving forward, if anyone is interested).

Everyone have nice day.

The pm I sent suggested all the regular members and two that stands out. There might be more, who knows? Those are the ones that I noticed and who come to mind ... may be a few others could pop on my head later on, may be not? It doesn't really matter.
^^

It may not matter to you but it does to me..
You really need to explain why they stand out to you because...I'm very confused right now as to why you are thinking that way? As I've already stated...one member has long since gone and the other I had not commented on for 5 months...

I think we could all take something from this thread..

Firstly, if we like a poem comment on it
Secondly, all of us when we come on could comment on a random newbie.

I for one do have favourites 1) because they are always around and we have become friends and 2) because they write well but I do go out of my comfort zone a lot and comment on all the newbies. The thing is if I like a poem and feel if it worthy of front page (whether or not they have been nominated or are my faves) then I will nominate it.

I think a way forward for all of us with our 3 votes would be to venture out of our favourites zone even if one day a week and possibly put the ones we feel worthy of nomination into our favourites then nominate once we have a few though this may make it much more difficult for the judges... Just a suggestion.