[David Rosenthal]

Alex,

Nicely done, and big thanks for all the work on this. I for one deeply appreciate the response to these concerns.

I wonder if you have considered doing the automatic permanent thingy that you have done with the workshop forums on Distinguished Guest, since the Bake-off, Deck the halls, and Master class stuff is all archived there forever. I suppose we don't want to hide all of the great conversations (Frostfest, Women in poetry, etc.) from the rest of the 'net. Meanwhile, it would probably be a pain to go back through those threads and put the tag in on top of every page of the contest threads.

What about this idea: two separate DG forums, one for discussions and symposia-type-stuff, one for bake-offs, contests, and master classes to which people might submit otherwise unpublished work. The latter could be protected from indexing, and the former left alone. It is tough, because I think of all the great discussion that emerged, say from Lee Gurga's responses to people's haiku drafts, or Rhina's DtH comments, or Rose's and Wilbur's sonnet comments, and what valuable resources such discussions could be to folks out on the net looking for insights; while on the other hand, some of us might be less likely to submit unpublished stuff again.

This is especially the case for a master class, in which participants are explicitly seeking critique on unfinished drafts, and in which the critiques themselves provide the launching point for the Master's instructional insights.

I don't know what could or should be done about any of this.

David R.

[Tim Murphy]

Alex,

David's double breasted approach might be a good one. As the former proprietor of DG, let me urge that in Bake-offs and Deck, people submit published work. For emergent writers, maybe DG is the place to be published? Never seen a poet there I wouldn't be proud to stand shoulder to shoulder beside. I can't say that of any periodical. And we've just established that even Poetry won't scotch your submission just because you're at the Sphere. I have just never had an issue with anyone, and let's face it, every editor worth his salt knows what I do here.

[Alex Pepple]

David, thanks for the suggestions for DG and I'll look into it with the Staff. In fact, we've been gradually editing and inserting the protection code to threads that need it in DG. If there's any thread in particular that you think we've missed or needs shielding, just PM me about it.

Of course, Tim is right about gravitas of DG "publication"!

Cheers,
...Alex

[David Rosenthal]

Alex,

Well, I don't know how much merit my suggestions have -- I was sort of thinking out loud. But I appreciate your considering them. If you guys are slogging through old DG threads to enter noindex code, I have no specific thread to point you too as I am sure you will eventually hit them all. But wow what a task! Thanks to you and the staff for doing that. Again, I cannot say enough how impressed I am with your responsiveness to the concerns raised in these threads. You rock.

Thanks,

David R.

PS -- I agree with you and Tim about DG. It is honored company.