Quote:
Originally Posted by Mark Allinson
I think of a workshop as a modern form of the traditional coterie group, where poets would circulate manuscripts of their work for the comments of other poets.
Sure, the workshop is a very large coterie, but the principle holds, I think.
And what Poetry seems to be saying is something like: "it has come to our attention that other poets have been shown your poem, and perhaps a few stray passers-by have seen it also. This appearance of your poem to a few hundred readers means that we can no longer share your work with our 60,000 regular readers."
Would passing the poem around an office also be considered "publication"?
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Had to quote the lot Mark.
There is a very similar (and misguided) principle in operation here to that which underlines the Data Protection Act (UK law). You can write what the hell you like on paper, and tell the most outrageous lies verbally, but woe betide you if you once commit any of that to an electronic medium.
There is always a kind of moral panic about the internet, email etc.
Philip
Or take copyright law. I could transcribe a poem by another author and send it to my 1000 friends (who meet as a fan club in a phone box every second Wednesday unless Hamilton Academicals are playing at home) and none shall say me nay.
I put the same poem on a website that only 10 people visited in the last year (6 of whom were robots programmed by the US military in their search for terrorists) and I'm busted. (Hypothetically - this has never happened to me. Except for the US military bit - very noticeable for their extraordinarily, astronomically high bandwidth).