I think a poet needs to accept responsibility for the course of their development, and choosing the type of criticism is part of that process. I sometimes find isolation useful, but not for too long. I find new workshops of any kind useful because by reacting consciously or otherwise to the anticipated criticism, I develop new voices.

Sometimes I just want to know whether a piece works or not, or whether an experiment is worth continuing with. Other times I don't know what kind of reaction I want. I don't expect others in a workshop to know what kind of help I want from them at any particular time.

I think that the important thing is to have on offer a range of environments, and online workshops increase diversity.

Thanks to everyone for your responses on this thread.
I thought that in conclusion I would share the memory that is behind this comment, which I've been moved to make in various forms on various occasions. Somewhere in the back of my mind there is always that scene in Berkeley, in the '60's, where it would turn out sooner or later that almost everyone with whom I could have a conversation wrote poetry. And not bad stuff either. We exchanged these poems as part of a conversation about the world (in those days we had quaint notions about being able to do something about the world), and our critiques were not much more advanced than "That's beautiful!" And not only the memory of the scene, but quite a few of the lines are with me to this day. One poet, Clark Bromberg, whom I've never heard of before or since, wrote:
You may like my poems or
you may not. But in any case they are
mine.
Of course most of it was free verse (though one friend wrote a sonnet in the style of Millay, quite a fine one too). I wrote some free verse but some formal poems as well. In the free verse I was able to explore dreams and personal symbolism in greater depth than I perhaps could have if I'd been worrying about meter all the time. This exploration led to some recognitions, which have been the basis for my later work (which has grown increasingly formal).
Well, it's a different time, and I don't suppose it is right to wish that the present were more like it, but perhaps the above will convey a better idea of where I am "coming from."
Esther