One would think that on a poetry site like this one
someone could find the time to rightfully acknowledge
good poetry? Sorry folks, that's not going to happen.
Point of example, recently, I joined one of these
contests for "Best Prewrites" and not only was I shocked
to find a political fiasco hatching, but also that the poems
that did win were obviously 'arranged'. Yes folks a rigged
contest. Woah, how shocking, sounds like a job
for Spuna Dooby Doob and the Mystery Machicanos.
Now granted, it's true, the majority of people that
come onto this site are young, and not yet adept
at the art of writing. So of course it's become a fad
amongst these 'kids' to award one another points
and 'trophies' under the garb of other innuendos
than 'said poetry'. For instance: You think so and so
is cute, coincidentally they win, although their
poem resembles an exploding dung soaked
poodle on high fluff in a Whirlpool Dryer.
Or the infamous lure of love for a trophy.
Which goes something like:
"Anti Emo Twit -- uh half you red me poem "Shitsnack"?
Hot Angle 14 -- no is it dope?
Anti Emo Twit -- Well, yah... An it's true.
Hot Angle 14 -- Oh you should enter it my contest "true stories
from the trailer park" you might win, because, well (I want
you to like me?)"
Now don't get me wrong, there's nothing wrong with
that. If you are into being a "what if, maybe like poet",
and enjoy learning how to do things the wrong way.
Then have the decency to warn people at the door.
So they don't waste an hour joining your contest, and
typing in stupid catch phrases at your request in
their author comments ruining the seriousness of their work
by typing in "Like, Blink 182 are my bedbuddies, like!"
and obeying 5,000 other pointless rules for nought.
See, what's happened in our culture is what I would like to
call Uncle Spacelitis of the 'Whatevers, what ifs and maybes?'
in American literary circles,
or in other words "whatever, blah, blah, who cares?".
Which, if that is your attitude, you're not a serious writer.
So quit pretending that you are, and wasting every -
- one's time, and just say that out the gate, who are you
kidding? Is this All.poetry.com, or partime-poets.com
You certainly are not fooling the writers that care enough
not to waste one another's time. The most valuable
thing in a writer's world, is time, after all.
I mean come on people?
We have lives? Must we wait three days to find out
that "Angle 14" and "Anti Emo Twit" are in Love, and
deserve one another, and this has nothing to do
with poetry, and everything to do with politics,
and just bad manners, and them? Not your
poetry, or their half cocked plainly rigged contests.
Well what do you do now? You know they've cheated,
everyone knows, but be careful if you raise the issue
with them because then you might find yourself in
the dreaded IM of stupidity. Where one can find
themselves talking in lost circles for days with
people that really don't care about poetry, or time.
They care about puppy love, favouritism, and money.
Yes money, "why money?" you may ask.
Because, it's obvious, there are 30,000 poets
on this site half of which are paying customers.
The other half of which are not even poets,
but imposters, wannabees, and hacks.
People using a poetry site for the ancient
art of making friends and finding love.
So why would management want to
rock the poetry boat?
I mean "You can't change the world"?
I got that quote from the horse's mouth.
I however, disagree, and think that is exactly
what real poetry is about, changing the world,
if only for one person, still change all the same.
In the real world of poetry, contests are judged,
by third parties, for a reason. Otherwise, it's
not a contest, it's a bad joke on slow motion.
Is it so hard to keep your friends and loved
ones, and still maintain your ability to
rate and judge poetry in a respectable manner?
If, say, you are holding a contest where other people's
work and time are at stake, and not just
your puppy-love-life, and your low self esteem?
God I hope so, otherwise,
the rapid decompression of our culture,
and all that we've been taught might as
well be flushed. And we wonder how asshats
like Bush could be running amuck upon the
globe picking and choosing without so
much as a howdy doody pardon me.
It's obvious, look around you.
The same kind of bad
politics occur right here at all.poetry,
and not many care enough to stand up
here, for anything. So why shouldn't
we all just sit on our hands while idiots
that we elect, ruin the way the rest of the
world views Americans, or how your poetic
peers view you as a poet.
"You can't change the world".
So why have a contest about Bush Sucking bung.
To turn around and do the same thing he does?
Giving the good jobs and prizes
to his 'friends' and letting the real talent and
deserving slip on down the sewer with a helpful
boot in their face. Of course, he doesn't mean it?
It was an accident, I wasn't serious, it's only poetry?
It's only the internet, what does it matter.
It matters plenty.
Al Pacino in Scarface said "I always tell the truth,
even when I'm lying" That's conviction, see? Why
pretend, what are you afraid of? Just have the balls
to say "Look I'm judging this contest for all the
wrong reasons, so It's more than likely, the better
your poetry is, the more inclined I am to ignore it".
At least that way you're being an idiot, but an honest
idiot. So no matter if your contest is a charade or
not, you will have the respect of the convicted artists.
It's impossible not to respect honesty, even among
those that think poetry can't change the world.
As Emilio Estavez said in Young Guns,
"Reap it McReedy".
/
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Add a comment
Comments
1 - 81 of 81
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hahah.very funny.um,can i laugh?amen to your column.there is no justice in this world.hehe.i haven't the number of trophies you've got,and have joined a few contests.but yes,a lot of contests here suck like hell.and the line about people here using the site as means for finding friends and eeeks-love.well,that made me smile and sad at the same time.
"all the lonely people
where do they all belong?"
but the site should be for the improvement of our craft.and if you look at the author's pages,it has become a popularity contest.who has the most friends and who hasn't got any.
anyway,good point.good day. -
Good column...
But who are the Mystery Machicanos?
Oh you mean Scooby Doo...oh, Im a dipshit -
"All you have is wit"
But what else do you need?
I liked it.
flamearrows -
No, I meant "half-cocked" -- It's an expression.
You know, like a gun. -
" or their half cocked plainly rigged contests"
Is it meant to be 'half-cooked'?? -
No, he was there are as a supporting actor.
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It was written out of humor, not to show anyone something new. Hence, the tone.
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Thankfully, i read the comments...that was the only part of this page that was enjoyable. The write itself is same old same old...it's been said many times before...and much better, by other people. So nothing new to see here.
UB
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You bore me now. You are so full of shit.
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My proof is merely my NUDITY. What great poet hasn't lost it ALL? Twice.
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All you have is wit -- oh, and sorry but this isn't a slam, as a famous fictional character once said:
"..none of this you go we go bullshit.'
(ooh a smiley)
If you can't represent without spieling a few rhymes here and there .. I mean, didn't you say and I quote: 'I have proof', then you, in the end, are just full of shit.
Chickenshit to be precise. I can smell you and so can every other person on this site who doesn't believe your bullshit jive.
If the only way you can prove yourself is by spieling lines, then, you are just proving your bigger an idiot than you give yourself credit for.
(ooh a cool one)
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LOL ..I'll have to work on nudity ..or I'll never be a real poet
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Sir, poetic skill is not measured in merits, but in NUDITY, and
unfortunately for your grandmother(s) who I'm sure are very decorated
in the art of poetry as most old women are by the national library
of poetry and by about another twenty other poetry societies abroad.
I however, measure true poetry, by skill and nudity, and because I'm
one of the youngest masters of villanelles and sestinas in the world
currently in my age group, I would have to say, unless your grandmothers were masters of nudity and actual form writing that
you could produce, or verify... It doesn't matter, because I'm still nude.
In fact the nudest. -
So, when Kevin Spacey was a Supporting Actor in The Usual Suspects he was just there as a extra really, right?
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Than my Grandmother and Great-Grandmother? I don't think so, my Great-Grandmother has a shitload of books, a few that won some awards that you wish you could win and my Grandmother tho she's psycho these days, also ..
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Supporting actors don't count, they're just there for SUPPORT.
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I have proof that I'm better.
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Doesn't say much for Clint Howard, not does it?
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Acting is merely the art of telling the truth in a dishonest environment, while being better looking than most people while doing it.
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My Grandmother and my Great-Grandmother were born poets, you, I don't think so.
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Well, I'd use soap every morning.
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No, that's actually the way I talk. I told you already, I was a born poet?
That's how I sound, naturally. -
2 thumbs down on that comeback.
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Are you resorting to cheap rhymes? A limmerick of sorts? Come on, you can do better than that, you have it in you, I believe in you.
Come on! You're an actor, right? So, dig deep down and fuckin' act already.
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Come now, if no one ever takes you seriously? How will we change that stinky diaper?
Edited on Jun 14, 9:03 p.m. because 'to be nuder'. -
Some are born to write, others born to erase, but most
just eat the paste whilst they roll in their own waste. I
however am a dandy, and truly a Huckleberry. I have
the blue peter badge of poetry and a lesbian hippy mother
to prove it. I sir, unlike you, have a polyester mustache. -
Actually I used to leave a : 0 ) together as one but now it turns into something else :0).
And do I give a flying fuck if anyone on this site takes me seriously?
I am here for me, not them. I've always been here for me, sometimes I'll do something nice for someone, but, I am here for me just like everyone else is here, they are all here for themselves whatever the fuck they tell you they are here because of themselves.
Just like you Horus8 and you prove that everyday you speak.
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Also, how on earth do you expect anyone to take you seriously when you leave a yellow happy face with black glasses at the end of your comments? Deep down inside you just can't help that you're cad, that's the droll proof.
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Do I care if you have? See, your opinion to me means as much as my opinion to you.
When you think you are fucking with me, I am the one who's actually fucking with you.
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'I write so much'
I once had 3,000+ poems posted to this website. All I got from the members of this site who 'could apparently write' was how one is not a writer because of the quantity of what they write.
So, basically that meant, I wrote shit because I wrote 50x what they could write in their lifetime and I've only been writing for 9 years.
You are egotistical, but, I like that about you, it works well.
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I can't even recall a piece of yours to compare, sorry.
Have I even read any of your poems? -
30 % are a crap shoot
30% are who you know
30% sheer talent
(as far as the contests go)
See, I write so much, what
people think of my writing at this
point in time in my carreer is pointless
simply because I'm past the point
of know return; at that point they
either love you, or hate you, but
I was writing poetry long before there
was an internet, or fans, or this type
of medium, so in the end, a true poet
knows it's about the material and the
love of the sport, not the game. not
to sound to terribly cheesy. Poetry's
a life style, you either are, or your not. -
'i love how you try not to sound bitter, and
pass off how better writers than you get more
trophies quicker, impressive. '
See, the difference between me and them, I'm not here to impress anyone. Of course with the shit I write who's there to impress, right?
I've read some of your pieces, you know looking for one that is 'worthy of an RR list' and frankly, all I kept on reading was average pieces.
Like your James Dean piece. Man ... James Dean wrote better poetry.
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You think you're the first one to do a column on the skinny on allpoetry.com contests? I've been here over two years and they pop up every couple of months, and rightly so. However, the person running the contest puts up their points and can award them to whoever they choose. I'm not a very good writer and never claimed to be but I won 5 trophies and not one of them came from a friend. Not everyone can say that. Okay I'm done.
Desiree -
See, in a comment to someone, I believe Woodworm, I said this:
What if they mainly win them by the same exact people in turn? Say, I posted a contest, and Desiree Darkk and Unbridled1 entered it, and they both got 1st and 2cd place while some other person who should have won got 3rd and the rest were just there for my explicit enjoyment?
And I did this every time or mostly every time I posted a contest?
Would it matter then?
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I love how you try not to sound bitter, and
pass off how better writers than you get more
trophies quicker, impressive. -
I quit writing for the magazine today.
Because they didn't want to publish my
Freemason article...
You should apply there, you don't even
have to know how to write an article to write
there, it seems most of the articles they're
into over there is badly written stories about
casually thought up mediocre fantasy plots.
You could succesfully do a column for them that
ignores all worth while events on the planet
for something like a COLUMN ABOUT YOUR
EMOTIONS, and people can stare at it for days in guff bliss.
How'd that be? I could put in a good word for you?
Edited on Jun 14, 9:05 p.m. because ''. -
I have one of these too, but, mine dealt with those who just come here and enter Contests and that's it. That's all they are here for, as if having a shitload of trophies on their page makes them special or something.
It just tells me, that they've been here less than a year, they have 100 trophies on their page and what do they have to show for it? They're impressing who? A whole-bunch of angst-ridden teens who can't wipe their own ass?
So, though yes, it's amusing, it seems pointless in the end, don't you think?
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You remind me of Kevin, all glasses.
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I'll think I'll keep it around, and knowing you don't like it
really adds to it's authenticity. Plus, it makes me smile, it's
funny. -
No, that was me telling you this piece was a piece of shit and you should burn it.
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Was that your pep rally speech? Compelling, but once again I'm left like a wind chyme on the moon, unmoved.
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Damn, there's grammatical and spelling errors in that comment I just made.
Eh, who cares.
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I stopped reading this when I got to this line:
'So why have a contest about Bush Sucking bung.'
Tho, there wasn't much left, it was just getting repetitiously boring, which doesn't seem like dribble you'd write.
I'm saddened on this day to read that from you ..
No, not really.
Do you think this made any difference? Does it ever? I write them sometimes, not much anymore, don't really care that much anymore, or I do and I just don't have the time to write them. Or I write them but just don't post them and let them sit my notebook forever because if I do post it I will get a shitload of people agreeing with me but they are the same exact people who agree with you and thus all the others don't care because they are in it for the cartoonish trophy on their authors page - it's not about the points, it's about the cartoonish trophy.
Yes, and then they can show their friends and teachers that they shitty-ass work is really not shitty or coming out of their ass and tell them that they INDEED are right that they do WRITE TERRIFIC poetry. When all their friends do is lie to them, and their teachers as well, yes, that happened to me, sometimes at times still happens to me, yes, I know I write shit, and after reading the ramble of this piece, I realise at this very moment you write shit too.
Oh well, that's life and you're not going to change it.
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(s) I have a sticker on each cheek.
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By the way....I am glad that you posted this. we all think that many contests are bullshit and this needed to be formalized.
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of course you are right about contests. I have even won a few that i probably did not deserve to win... but on so many occasions i go and read the trophy poems and i cannot even get through them...and i can read almost anything. often they are so bad that i think there must be some mistake. oi vey i says to meself...that is a pile of choked yams!!!
I know you have done the same on many occasions. I mean, i don't really care if it is close, and it might come down to personal taste but way way way too often the winners are downright unbearably sloppy piles of regurgitated sentiment or just so poorly written that i can barely make out the words.
I give a fuck..
also, may i touch you?
Edited on Apr 04, 11:10 because ''. -
Well, you said, sometimes people judge on 'oh, he's cute' well, you're adorable, and so are lots of other people here, and I have a few decent friends here -- but, if your poetry blows. . . you don't have a chance in hades.
Often, I'll click the read button, so that new poems open up. If I read the first two lines of a poem, and don't like it -- I close it -- I won't waste my time.
In my contests ( just started this recently ) I'll not read ANY of the entries until then end -- because if I do, I may form an opinion without giving others a fair chance. I'm terribly critical, and, if I think my friend's poetry bites the big one, he/she will be the first to know, and I'll be direct.
I do think, however, it is sad, that society is being so terribly hypocritical. . . and I find that the decline in the quality of poetry is coinciding with the decline in the smartness levls of duh kids des das. -
Meanie... lol.
Just because I'm not a paying customer, doesn't mean that I'm not a poet. *cries* I didn't do nothing wrong. I just don't have the money to buy a preferred/uber membership... *cries*... now I feel like crap.
-Shh- -
You missed it, last week I killed a gnat with a rocket propelled grenade and the week before that I masturbated no handed. I'm not bragging, I'm reminding myself how utterly pathetic my life has become. I think I need to buy a new fishing license, in a hurry.
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You're right of course. But such overkill? I mean, entering a work into an under-14s greeting-card contest is the equivalent of Allen Ginsberg reading his stuff on a youth-club valentines dating night. He'd get booed off, if not arrested.
Of course, idiots will not understand your poetry (I have three degrees and I admit I struggle sometimes), and so they will not give you any crockery for your mantelpiece. In the longer term, exposing these kids to some decent stuff might actually be a good thing - if they read enough they might even start reading poetry and attempting to understand humanity instead of indulging their own prejudices, and the world will change for the better, if only by a molecule or two.
<---- face, to annoy you.
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Yep, know what ya mean.
This why I am pretty picky about which contests I enter.
Trophies have lost their value, like many other things in life. Sometimes it is who you know. Shouldnt be that way, but somehow it is. Welcome to society, the world today...
I don't agree with it. I write for me and hopefully I spark some emotion in those that read me.
*stomps -
I completely agree with that. So many times I click on a poem with a mass of spelling and grammatical errors that doesn't even read well to me..and see about 30 comments telling the person who wrote it ..how 'great' it is..and I wonder why. How can you be expected to improve when your friends all tell you your shit doesn't stink? ...Yep. I hear ya. I am sorry for the circumstances surrounding this..just know if you ever see a contest I've posted you can enter it and know I will choose based on poetry and not social life.
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blah, blah, whatever... JUST KIDDING!!
I think you've touched on something vitally important but politically clouded. Clownded? Remind me not to get in your way as you're changing the world. It does need some changing... like a stinky diaper, am I right? -
Yeah, well, imagine how I feel? I'm a leftist anarchist, I shouldn't even care, but there are a lot of talented kids caught in the middle here, and some talented adults. People get me wrong, who cares what the poetry level is as long as you have the guts to say I'm still learning, this is a wide open forum and anything is possible? Not, take a poem with massive amounts of spelling and grammatical errors and pretend that it's somehow better 'poetry' than the other real poems. Just have the balls to say. "yeah you're right I'm throwing this contest to get laid or etc." to me it seems so easy, I don't get the hub bub, I can scientifically prove my case, the rest are arguing a flat world in my opinion and reverse evolving. how can a poet or a person improve if they are being comended for all the wrong reasons? Ah see?
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Well I've read it with edits in place. I hope you don't consider me a part-time poet. Actually, if you don't consider me a poet at all, it wouldn't hurt my feelings, but when I run a contest, I judge fairly, and don't just choose my friends. Why post a contest,simply to hand points out to the person you 'like' best? Makes no sense to me. I stated my position on contests in general in my earlier comment, so I won't do it again. I will only say, I do know poetry can change the world..big picture and smaller. It has changed mine for the simple fact I have a safe place to express who I am ..even when the poetry is crap. I like having that..and I enjoy Allpoetry as a poet ... and I rarely enter contests, because really in honesty, I know a majority of the contests may not be judged fairly ...look at where the trophies go.
Edited on Feb 24, 7:30 p.m. because ''. -
Yeah, I guess that actual year I did in military prison sold me on the idea of fighting the good fight! Write Power!
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Who said I was talking about something new?
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yep yep......
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Your choice to mix useless faces in your useless rant was more interesting than anything you said. Hows that working for you?
I've read your poetry, and you're right, at your level of writing what difference does it make? How long have you been writing, because you sir have no conviction, zip. -
I done tol' you - politics will fry your rear and leave you gasping for fresh air....but noooooooooooooooooooo, you never listen to me.
Fine.
A few days in the stockade will make a man of ye and give you hair on your face. -
I just dig it when you speak your mind, you are so out spoken, talk hard. Come back with a vengence...
me -
Aahahahaha!!!!!
I see you, too, have been party to a contest run by someone without the sophistication to even realize the difference between judging poetry and making friends, let alone the ability to recognize good poetry.
My advice: If you will be offended by ineptness of judges, look into the person running the contest before entering - read their comments, see if they write anything interesting at all (because often cliche writing goes with cliche tastes - not always, but often). For me, I go through a moment of disgust, but not that big of a deal, if I like the poem I wrote anyway. -
dear plinkyponk, i regret to inform you that due to the politics of poetry horus8 has been banned from this site for 2 days. as i mentioned to others, i spoke to him tonight. he is in good spirits despite his plight as a political prisioner. no fund has been set up yet to free him. but i'll keep you posted.
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dear oneroleofmany, i regret to inform you that due to the politics of poetry (isn't that a sad statement) horus8 has been banned from allpoetry for 2 days. i spoke to him tonight. he is in good spirits and will return shortly. with a vengence, i'm sure. he wanted me to let his friends know of his plight as a political prisoner. so far no fund has been established to free him. but i'll let you know.
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Here's an interesting but perhaps entirely irrelevant point... I've never seen Your Spunaness host a contest. Maybe you should set yourself as an example for the kids to learn from.
urgr8 frome ur freind,
*darkrazorangellickerblooddripper666* -
In a utopic world, this wouldn't be a concern. I'm not saying it isn't a little disgusting when this stuff goes on, but it shouldn't be completely unexpected. You do make some good points, and we all hate to enter a contest to discover its rigged. I hope this column helps you feel better. I don't feel i gained anything new from it, however.
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BRAVO!
Woopee doo, I'm sure a lot of this goes on, but not all the time, and at least the kids are learning the ways of the world, they'll get burned by this too, when they enter some non-friend's contest. Also, as many have said, the contests can give inspiration and ideas, and it pushes everybody to read more and think more, which is good for old as well as young. And so what if they want to spend their points awarding their friends with trophies and points. Hey, some games in the Olympics are sometimes rigged, so how can we expect eveybody at all ages, especially the real young ones to not run their own contest with their idea and their points, as their own little fiefdom. AND so what if people use this, and any other specific activity site to meet friends and/or lovers. They want to meet people with similar interests. Especially with writing, with most of us, most of our RL friends are probably not writers. Especially for the kids, even less of them write at the younger ages, and I don't mean just poetry, I mean very few write anything AT ALL, except the bits they have to do for school, or (in the case of adults) work. 
Since kids can be so mean to each other, you can imagine a young poet whose had a poem laughed at, to tend to keep his thoughts and feelings private. It can be very lonely for these young writers, I mean youth is tough enough without having the urge to commit to paper, your innermost conflicts, fealings and fears. In pre-internet days it was much harder for other writers, especially the kids, to connect with one another. They were much more alone than they are now.
It is also possible now for them to interact with older writers and get some older perspectives.
SO, the positives of the contests FAR outweigh the negatives. SO, for those of you who are weary of popularity contests, just enter pre-writes, it takes 2 seconds once you've decided which piece of poetic wisdom you want the contest holder to read. Try running contests where you're friends of some contestants, it's not easy to be totally impartial and objective.
You bring about a very good point though, a good headline too; "AP Contests Corrupted By Young Poets!" it was a pleasure to read (and comment on), thanx for sharing it.
And furthermore ... blah blah blah ...
USpace
Edited on Feb 22, 5:26 p.m. because ''. -
Great point. I agree.
~Tawnya -
This really gives me a good laugh because I've been actively involved in contests recently.For me,the essence of joining contests is not so much for the trophies[I have not won any yet and whether my poems are good or not,I leave that to my audience]as being widely read.I see contests as a place you get a wider readership and so I join[I'm still joining and would keep joining].The beautiful thing about this site is you have the options of leaving your poem in a contest or taking it out.And you too if you have the points to give can put up your own contest too.It's not easy to garner points on this site and whosoever has enough and wishes to do as he deems fit,can please go ahead.Fairness in a contest only states one thing - how mature the contest owner is.Thanks,horus,for pointing this out.
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Good insight!
lol, this is very cute. I know what you mean. However, please be aware that some of us "youg'ins" are in here to really write poetry and have/enter contests for the sake of poetry, and not for the crud that's going on in the soap operas. I can definitely understand your frustration. Thanks for pointing out something that's chillingly true. perhaps some will see this who do that very thing and realize how childish they are being. Or maybe not, but that's because they're childish. Good reading, anyway! Thank you for sharing! -
I agree with this very much so.. and i understand completely where you're coming from.. great column.. and very well spoken.. i love the voice brought along with this.. this is a poetry site..not a dating site or so it is used as.. thank you very much for this colunm.. you said what many think.. great job.. Latears* Jessie
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I think that the fact that this looks like a poem is actually really good, and to be honest I probably wouldn't have bothered reading it if it was in a column. I think it's discrimitive and assumptious to say that all the bad poetry and lonely hearts stuff comes from free accounts but whatever, you have a good point.
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i clicked on this cos i thought that you were going to organise a contest and i thought it would be dead unusual if you did. aw arent the kids cute and clever to think of being able to award themsleves cups so their authors page looks good. i have to admire them really! what you said is also true of course and its a shame people get disappointed and think they are crap when really its a rigged contest but at least they were inspired to write something and when you dont win you can always think oh well it might have been rigged. wish you would have a contest and rig it to make me win first second and third prize just to get them all back. liked the exploding poodley bit. x
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Agreed.
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Hah, I haven't been on here very long so I haven't paid much attention the contests [and so don't know how they work] but the fact that a load of them are rigged and that this place is used as a dating site is hardly surprising. Maybe you should start up a contest and take the piss out of everyone who enters as a revolt.
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I have hesitated to hold a contest because I am afraid of offending my friends and I'm a 35 year old mother. I'm also afraid of my own biases. In other words I would tend to be more favorably disposed towards those who have written nice things about my poetry. If I am that affected, think of the pressures for a young person. That being said, I don't like about 80% of the poetry I read around here and that might be generous. Fortunately, there are so many poems posted it leaves plenty to read.
I don't see any solution to the problem you have set out except to only enter the contests of those you respect and whose poetry you like. Or they could make a paid membership required.
Very interesting bit of diatribe. Why did you make it look like a poem? A column seems more appropriate for the subject matter.
Jennifer -
There is all too much truth in this, I've recently stopped entering contests for more than one of the reasons you've listed. I commend you on taking the time to address an issue which could really use a solution...
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ok, I'm kinda new here, but I get what you're saying, and I think its wrong, but inda impossible to stop....like you said, if you bring up the issue with you, u just go in IM circles, and stupid ones at that.... also, those stupid author comments (like the blink one) are so stupid, not to mention annoying.
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lol That's the gamble of the AP contest. You never know what judge you are going to get, or how they will award the trophies. But, the point of entering a contest, should be that it inspired you to write something creative, expand on your normal areas of writing, and make you push yourself. Whether you win a trophy or not, you should already feel like you've gained from it. If you enter with the sole intention of winning, it is good, but not fulfilling. And, be selective about the contests you enter! If the person holding the contest can't spell, and uses internet slang in their outline, or gives you 400 different 'ptions pleaz pleaz just enter whateva you want!!...then they are probably not going to be looking for the kind of poetry you might think to enter.
Anyways, just rambling now. This gave me a giggle, but I don't take contests so seriously, and do it for me, not for the trophy (although, they are always nice little things to have, particularly when you know you've earnt it).
Edited on Feb 22, 3:49 p.m. because ''. -
Ok, the convo in the middle cracked me up, because sadly it is VERY very close to the truth. The fact is, though, it is rare that we get involved in how a contest is run, so essentially people are ..'rigging' their contests? But because it is their points they do it with ..it's hard for us to step in without it turning into some kind of ridiculous contraversy.
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