[Roger Slater]

No one cares what you think.

[N. Matheson]

Dude, if you don't like me. Ignore me.

[Michael Cantor]

It's hard to annoy or ignore you when (a) you put up a series of silly and self-involved posts, and (b) there is no indication that you've ever published anything, and (c) you blah-blah-blah, but have yet to post a poem you've written. Stop strutting, and post a poem.

[Roger Slater]

N, or should I call you dude? Anyway, this thread was started so that people who enjoy Sapphics can share their favorites. Many poems have been posted here, several of them written by members of the Eratosphere community. Then you show up, someone no one here knows, and proclaim that Sapphics do not work in English, implying quite strongly that all of the poems posted to this thread by your fellow Sphere members are complete failures, and everyone else has a tin ear because they mistakenly feel otherwise.

I have an idea. Why not find a forum for people who grow roses so you can explain to them that you believe roses are a substandard flower? As you did here, don't identify yourself. Just be the mysterious figure who stops by to tell everyone else they are wasting their time cultivating a flower that someone named "N" doesn't care for.

Alternatively, you can approach this board with the attitude that there are people here who know as much as you do, who are more accomplished than you are, and who don't need lectures from you about quantitative and qualitative meter. We get it, you read a book, or part of one. But everyone here has already read the same book, so you'll do better at the Sphere if you think of yourself as a student as well as a teacher (the way everyone else does). If you used this thread as an opportunity to revisit Sapphics and try to find out what you have been missing, maybe you would have ended up changing your mind, or altering your views slightly. Maybe not, but at least you might have shown the people here the respect to give it a try rather than just showing up to announce your verdict and to imply that everyone else on the thread lacks the nuanced ear for meter that you seem to think you possess.

[Max Goodman]

I'd like the 'Sphere to be more welcoming than this.

Originally Posted by Michael Cantor

Stop strutting, and post a poem.

Posting poems is a good way of helping Spherians get to know you, but it shouldn't be a prerequisite for participation. I hope the Sphere can welcome thoughts about poetry, even if they come from non-poets (which Matheson may or may not be).

Originally Posted by Roger Slater

No one cares what you think.

That's not true. I, for one, would be interested in hearing a response to Christine's request that Matheson apply the opinion shared to one or more of the poems posted.

We should discourage empty bloviating (a harsh description of Matheson's reasonably phrased opinion), but Christine's approach--to ask for something more rigorous--is better than rudeness.

[Roger Slater]

Sorry, Max, but I don't need lessons from you on how to address N.

[N. Matheson]

Thanks. But I don't think it makes much of a difference.

[David Callin]

Originally Posted by Max Goodman

I'd like the 'Sphere to be more welcoming than this.

I agree. And I don't think has been one of the 'Sphere's finest hours.

Just my opinion from the edge.

[N. Matheson]

I'd like to post a poem and asked to do so, but my critiques were not seen as enough.

[Roger Slater]

I've welcomed literally hundreds of people at the Sphere, but I don't welcome trolls. If you haven't picked up on what we're dealing with here, your Spidey sense may need a tune-up.