Quote:
Originally posted by Dick Morgan:
--even though I spent five days with a reporter on the ground at OKC and know a lot more about it than the average person.
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(Queue X-Files theme music....)
I think Alex can give us the statistics, but I think this goes under "largely philanthropic" meets "member supported." There's a bookstore link and not much else in the way of advertising; besides which, banner ads are not paying what they used to be.
That said, everyone at some point is a new member. I am, you are, everyone. And since you've been around for 500+ posts and a year, you're hardly new.
Making provisions for new members, or for new writers? What do you want, specifically? Many new members are experienced writers. And with the fragile egos.... Well, there is a solution for that: the
PFFA 's sister board,
the Pink Palace of Poetitude , where everything that's posted is done for display and admiration, and if you don't care for a particular piece, you simply don't say anything. And there's now even an extra-lite critique forum.
I was at the PFFA for a number of years, mostly using the Scansion Mansion, until someone tipped me off to the happy shark tank of The Deep End, and the only reason I'm not still actively using the PFFA is that I'm getting all the critique I need at the moment between here and my physical world writer's group.
There's also
Sonnet Central which Erato even shares a moderator with (hi David), as well as several members, and I sometimes jump over there if I have a major sonnet project and want the specialization or fresh ears.
And then there are several other boards out there. But much of Erato's strength comes from the fact that there's a policy of the critiquer saying whatever it is they feel about a piece.
[This message has been edited by Kevin Andrew Murphy (edited March 02, 2005).]