Quote:
Originally Posted by ross hamilton hill
At the moment there are 8 members and 66 guests viewing the Sphere, it has when I have looked been the usual ratio, so hiding the Sphere would lose a huge floating audience, some idle viewers others perhaps as dedicated as members but not wishing to comment, just read.
I think this ratio is vital for the future life of the Sphere and far more important than trying to sidestep the reasonable request from editors that poems be fresh and unseen before.
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I don't think we workshop poems to gain an "audience," Ross. A workshop is not a showcase, and if we want to be credible when we tell editors that a given poem that was workshopped here was not "published" then it makes no sense to say that we ought not to lose our "huge floating audience" of "idle viewers." In fact, you make my point for me. We don't need an audience of idle viewers, and it's inconsistent with the mission of the site, and perhaps eliminating such an "audience" would cut back on vanity posts that the poet only pretends to be wanting critiques for but is actually just preening.
Of course, if my suggestion of having a "guest" log-in were followed, it would just take an idle viewer a few seconds to knock on the door and gain viewing access. So the only idle viewers who would not get to lurk here and admire your work for no particular reason germane to workshopping would be those who are so idle and uninterested that they don't want to type the word "guest" into the username field.