[W.F. Lantry]

Originally Posted by Elise Hempel

But the "inexperienced" aren't welcome here, right? Someone just reminded me that this isn't a forum for beginners.

Elise, this is mere vanity on the part of the people who say this kind of thing. The truth is we're all inexperienced, we're all beginners. Nobody knows anything. Some people pretend they know.

You say you wish for rules. But the rules are vain and silly, developed with all the wrong motivations, in a process which was questionable at best. It would be much better to look for a 'sense of the community,' which is stronger than any rule.

Originally Posted by Elise Hempel

"I now don't know what to post -- poems I'm sure of, or poems I'm not sure of.

People get awfully silly about this. One simple idea: post what you're testing. You know the old saying about test pilots: if you're not crashing, you're not testing hard enough. But everyone tests differently. Some people endlessly revise *before* they post. Me, I usually just type things straight into the window here. Both those approaches are extreme. They're both equally valid.

And guess what? People object to both approaches. They say 'you shouldn't do this,' or 'you can't do that.' Since you're going to be criticized either way, you may as well just go ahead and do what you do. It may be the path that works best. For you. And do you really care what works for someone else?

Best,

Bill