[Julie Steiner]

Critiques do have value, even if they don't seem to be appreciated by the intended recipient. Some critics have a talent for diagnosing problems in others' poems, and when I read such diagnoses, that helps me to recognize or avoid the same flaws in my own poems. That advice remains helpful to me, whether or not the author of the poem under discussion chooses to apply that specific advice in that specific case.

Still, I think it's understandable for critics and bystanders to lose patience, when the original poster of a poem thread doesn't seem appreciative of the time and effort others put into critiques. Even off-target critiques take time to compose. I know, having composed many of them.

Not every problem requires a legislative solution, though. People just gradually get less generous with their critiques for poets who don't seem appreciative of them. If someone doesn't seem to like my crits, but likes crits from others, I just let them enjoy the crits from others. And if they don't enjoy anyone's, they'll soon receive too few to make it worth their while to hang around.