So, I got DQ'd from a contest yesterday with no warning, because I forgot to put a silly little saying in the AN (author notes). Some contest hosts think putting a little saying in your AN is proof that you've read or haven't their rules, but this isn't so.
You see, I read the rules and simply forgot to go in and edit my pre-write to add the silly little, non-sensical saying to my AN. Again, I was one of the good little poetesses who actually read the rules, which, by the way, consisted of about 4 lines of the typical bullshit. On the other hand, there are those who manage to zero in on those contest words that say something like "put caramel swirl ice cream is dripping from my nose in your AN so that I know you read my rules..." and do so without even reading the rest of the rules. So where's your proof, Einstein?
I was so pissed off. I got into it with this little girl. You can check out my back-n-forth with her here: http://allpoetry.com/contest/show/2430629?ok=1 It's sort of funny. I was in a bad mood to begin with. I've never had a tiff with anyone on AP before. It probably wasn't worth it, but it sure felt good, and it made me think about what's important and prompted me to write this column.
And another thing......If the contest is anonymous, what's the damn point of telling the authors to put their AP names in the AN's??? That's just brilliant. Why make the contest anonymous in the first place? EDIT: Amaranthine Lover (a silver member) has pointed out that unless you're a gold member you have to make the contest anonymous, thus her reason for requesting authors to put their AP names in the AN spot if the contest host doesn't want the contest to be anonymous, so I accept this reason for non-gold members. Thanks for pointing this out. I didn't know this and appreciate the clarification. I think that's unfair to the paying members on this site!!
Finally, why don't we get back to making the AN's count? I mean, seriously. We use it to put prompts in there to let our contest hosts know what we're writing about. Makes sense, yes?? And just the other day, ok yesterday, I used it, upon the hosts wonderfully thoughtful request, to write an encouraging note with a poem to a little boy who lost his sight from a gunshot wound. These notes and poems are to be forwarded and read to him by his family. How much better can it getthan that? How meaningful. Beats the hell out of "caramel swirl ice cream is dripping from my nose."
Enough said.
Kim
Adding your comment:
--It used to aggravate me, but now I accept it for what it is!
LOL I understand the rant. 
....hehe
well said, indeed! 
