[Catherine Chandler]

Alex,

Like Susan, I did the secure thing and can still Google my recent posting.

Cathy

[Alex Pepple]

Susan, Mary, Cathy -- I've just finished looking into these new reports to determine what's going on. I have some good news and the bad news:

The bad news is that it seems that Google is far nosier with the Sphere than normal! For instance, Susan in your case, the code worked well on the first page of the thread, but it appears that when the thread grows and becomes multi-page, the second and following pages do not carry the code and as such get indexed. Mary, in your case, it seems that Google found your poem by using the Erato search function to find all your posts ... there was some of that with Susan as well in addition to the multi-page explanation. Cathy, you didn't provide any clue as to the thread you're referring to, but my guess is that it's one or both of the above reasons.

Now, the good news is that I've finished going through another round of Google restraining coding that should fix the above loopholes that Google is using:

1. In the case of multi-page loophole, I now have a broad-based fix that should lock Google completely out of the workshop forums (Met, Non-Met, Deep-End and Translation,) and the extra good is that you don't even have to enter the protection code in these forums. Anything posted in any of them is now protected automatically! Sure, you can still use the protection code in any non-workshop forum where you find it necessary.
2. To take care of the problem with Google nosily using the Erato search function to find posts from members and indexing them despite the protection, I've added code that should block Google from using the Erato search tools.

I'm pretty sure Google is fully contained now, but let me know if you find any other instance of Google finding any posts you made after this point in time in any of our workshop forum. And remember, you no longer need to use the protection code for the workshop forums as listed earlier -- it's now automatic!

Cheers,
...Alex

[Mary Meriam]

That nosy Google! Thanks so much for the extra protection, Alex. It doesn't bother me if Google finds pages beyond the first page, since usually it's only the first page that has the poem, so.... it's all good news to me.

[Janet Kenny]

This has probably been said already because I don't have time to read the entire thread. I just tried Alex's code and my entire poem disappeared . I removed the code and it came back.
Janet

Ah— Automatic! Thank you Alex.

[Mary Meriam]

Janet, did you put the poem inside the code? If you go to John Beaton's poem and click on "quote", you'll see how the code should look.

[Janet Kenny]

Originally Posted by Mary Meriam

Janet, did you put the poem inside the code? If you go to John Beaton's poem and click on "quote", you'll see how the code should look.

Blush! Thank you Mary. But Alex says we don't need to do that any more. It's built in.
Janet

[wendy v]

I'm often asked/accused about this subject in email.

The poems of mine which appeared on DE, and subsequently appeared in Poetry, were from some years ago, and before the magazine changed its guidelines to state that any online appearance is considered previous publication. If those guidelines were in place behind the scenes I was blissfully ignorant of them.

The subsequent 6 or seven poems of mine they've published did not appear here or anywhere else before Poetry picked them up.

My work has been roundly rejected by the other reputable journals out there, and I feel no need to demonize those editors or assume ugly motivations on their part. My very unfashionable assumption is that my work does not appeal to them.

I credit with gushing abandon the dynamic on the early DE for teaching me to better access, listen to, and strangle the neck of my own inner critic.

It's a good thing to learn. Sorry if this sounds pompous, but I've grown weary of those who imply I've rec'd some special treatment, that poems require workshopping, or that the editors at Po Mag are vile creatures intent on destroying life on earth as we know it.

I don't send cover letters, a bio, boxes of chocolate, caches of money, offers for sexual favors, or suitcases full of hashish to editors. I am not connected to any MFA program, have no published book, don't attend national poetry conferences, and I refuse to do reviews. I am the quintessential nobody who simply sends out poems. I am sorry to disappoint those who seek scandal or some other kind of self satisfaction on these matters.

All the same, having seen Tim's posting above (thanks, Tim), if I were a regular workshopper, I'd consider that reply of CW's more heartening than discouraging.

I won't carry on about how the focus in many of these threads seem awfully skewed ...

No mas from me.

Ward, word,
etc.
wendy

[Jim Hayes]

My apologies for contributing to any misunderstanding Wendy but it was Tim, and Tim alone, who introduced your name in the context of "cold-cocking" an editor, which phraseology I took to mean that the normal submission process to Poetry wherein a work could be submerged in sackloads of other prospectives was circumvented by direct access to the editor himself.

Jim

[Janice D. Soderling]

Wendy,

I don't send cover letters, a bio, boxes of chocolate, caches of money, offers for sexual favors, or suitcases full of hashish to editors

I have tried sending all these things and none of them work. I am coming round to the idea that it is best to send a good poem.

[wendy v]

Jim,

Tim's phrase means precisely the opposite of what you assume it to mean.
It isn't Tim who has been, to use his phrase, whining and speculating, here or in my email inbox.

More disappointing news, I'm afraid: nobody opened any doors on my behalf. Neither have I infiltrated the secrets of the universe, or even been granted access to the blueprints of the anti-gravity machine.

My early submissions were received and processed just as yours are, Jim, unless of course I have some sort of secret guardian angel out there who has remarkable, but depressingly limited influence.

Alas, there is nobody left to blame, and no other scandals to speculate upon.

Unless of course you buy into the theory that I am a Venutian.

ps to Janice:

you could always send the hash to me ...