Aha, there is a secret order!The Poets said:
Some of those people commenting may simply want to let you know they read your story. It's way to show their support, I suppose. I have a tendency to comment on poems that don't particularly appeal to me, but I like the poet. So, I try to avoid actually saying anything specific about the poem, and instead I just talk about something else. "Wow. You wrote a poem. That's great. Great like the weather here today.sack said:So I was away from Lit. for a couple of days. Secret initiation? oooh, do tell, that sounds exciting!
As far as blanket praise goes, I know some of my stories suck, so I do get a little suspicious when I get the same vague pleasantries that say little, or nothing about the story itself. I have told one person not to comment on my stories since his comments were so vague they could have been true of ANY story. Of course it is great that people want to be helpful. But building up a poem or story into something it is not just to avoid "hurting someone's feelings" strikes me as pure phoniness, and to masquerade that as "helpfulness" says more about the commenter than the "commentee"
Sack
" I know it's bad, but I want to let the writer know that I'm not ignoring them or their poem. And yes, I could give some constructive feedback, but some of those poems are fine. They just don't appeal to me, and I have nothing much to say about it. Haven't you read poems you like, but you don't know specifically what you like about it? You want to let the poet know you like it, but you do feel lame just saying, "I like it." I guess that's better than nothing.
sack said:So I was away from Lit. for a couple of days. Secret initiation? oooh, do tell, that sounds exciting!
As far as blanket praise goes, I know some of my stories suck, so I do get a little suspicious when I get the same vague pleasantries that say little, or nothing about the story itself. I have told one person not to comment on my stories since his comments were so vague they could have been true of ANY story. Of course it is great that people want to be helpful. But building up a poem or story into something it is not just to avoid "hurting someone's feelings" strikes me as pure phoniness, and to masquerade that as "helpfulness" says more about the commenter than the "commentee"
Sack
The Poets said:
sack said:To extend what Angeline said so well, another issue is the sheer number of new poems each day. I find I have to be reasonably critical to determine the 5-10 that catch my fancy, and I always try to stress the positive in my comments. Most people have reacted well to my observations, there are always those that will disagree and that doesn't bother me at all. I'm sure I've had some of my comments deleted just as I occasionally delete comments. The point I have been trying to make throughout this thread is that everyone has their own unique style of commenting which works for them. The person who "likes everything" makes him/herself less believable because that is just not real life. Do you like every movie you've seen, every book you've read, every stranger you've met? Of course not, and there is nothing wrong with that. I think if a poem did absolutely nothing for me I wouldn't comment on it, but there are many others with potential that may have a minor structural problem, etc., and I always comment on those. I personally don't mind reading something about my poems I may have missed or overlooked....no one is a walking robot after all! But sometimes I wonder, should there be a daily limit to the poems that are submitted to Lit., say 2 a day max? It's difficult to read 10 new entries by a particular poet, and often such entries tend to blend into one another as you go over them. Guess it comes down to quality vs. quantity in some instances.
Sack
sack said:To extend what Angeline said so well, another issue is the sheer number of new poems each day. I find I have to be reasonably critical to determine the 5-10 that catch my fancy, and I always try to stress the positive in my comments. Most people have reacted well to my observations, there are always those that will disagree and that doesn't bother me at all. I'm sure I've had some of my comments deleted just as I occasionally delete comments. The point I have been trying to make throughout this thread is that everyone has their own unique style of commenting which works for them. The person who "likes everything" makes him/herself less believable because that is just not real life. Do you like every movie you've seen, every book you've read, every stranger you've met? Of course not, and there is nothing wrong with that. I think if a poem did absolutely nothing for me I wouldn't comment on it, but there are many others with potential that may have a minor structural problem, etc., and I always comment on those. I personally don't mind reading something about my poems I may have missed or overlooked....no one is a walking robot after all! But sometimes I wonder, should there be a daily limit to the poems that are submitted to Lit., say 2 a day max? It's difficult to read 10 new entries by a particular poet, and often such entries tend to blend into one another as you go over them. Guess it comes down to quality vs. quantity in some instances.
Sack
Angeline said:Well, me, I'm goin to sleep.
Sweet dreams all.
Annora said:
Angeline said:
My Erotic Tale said:
Depends on what the fuck you mean by "vague" - everyone seems to make a different interpretation of the word in this thread.Randi Grail said:My goodness. This was some headache thread indeed. It was an interresting first post -- in how it, by raising a question makes an opinion into face value, and how everyone takes the conversation bait and chews on.
Are Lit poems vague? I must have read them wrong all this time.
Randi Grail said:My goodness. This was some headache thread indeed. It was an interresting first post -- in how it, by raising a question makes an opinion into face value, and how everyone takes the conversation bait and chews on.
Are Lit poems vague? I must have read them wrong all this time.
