[Roger Slater]

The no-follow tags are also a potent weapon, especially if you remember to use them immediately, along with the first posting of the work.

[Maryann Corbett]

Originally Posted by Roger Slater

The no-follow tags are also a potent weapon, especially if you remember to use them immediately, along with the first posting of the work.

That's probably true, Roger. But a common problem in the past has been that the host who does the posting forgets to insert the code, or knows that it should be inserted but forgets exactly what it looks like, and that creates a delay.

Maybe our talking about it here, a day in advance, will give people a heads-up.

[Janice D. Soderling]

Maryann is correct. When I search for possible misuse, I google a line or sometimes key words, and more than once and more than one combination.

I back her on this comment as well, (though I thought the DG threads were always left intact for historical purposes. I may be mistaken.)

The real cure would be pruning the crit boards more often.

That said, I have to ask, why break the rules? Editors are a poet's best friend and why try to boonswoggle them? Even if discovered after the fact of publication you will have tarnished your good relationship with the editor(s) in question. And if it is a competition, you might be asked to return the money. And be publicly embarrassed.

Is it worth that? Is that ONE poem the only one you have confidence in? Sit down and write another. And another. And another.

My rule is to not sim sub, but if I do I always say so. Just as I always insert my standard disclaimer.

These poems (stories) are my original work, have not been previously published in any print or online journal and are not submitted elsewhere.

If they have been, I say so. If the editorial guidelines state (as some do) "not on personal blog, or workshops open to public reading," or whatever, just abide by the rules.

There are gazillions of journals, there are many, many competitions. For these you just have to write many, many poems and look for a good match--and sometimes have a little luck to be chosen from among your peers who write just as well as you do.

I do use the "no index" option though because the version that appears on the workshop is seldom the final one that I want to publish. Most of my poems never appear on the Sphere or elsewhere before publication in a journal. I bring my problem children here though, and am grateful for all the helpful comments I get.

Those who "publish" a poem a week on the Sphere are looking for an audience, not for help. That's NOT the purpose of Eratosphere.

[Maryann Corbett]

Thanks, Janice. To clarify: yes, the DG boards have in the past been left unpruned for historical purposes. That's the practice we would have to think about changing to ensure that poems there aren't public.

With respect, not everybody is prolific enough to do as you recommend. The sacrifice of one poem is a big one for some. But it wasn't my intention to belabor that point.

[Roger Slater]

I don't think it's boonswaggling at all. Editors' concern isn't to make sure no one else has ever seen a poem before, or that it has never been workshopped, but to make sure that they are, at least for a while, the only public source of that poem. If I email the poem to a dozen friends and show it to another dozen friends in a workshop in my living room, there's no problem, is there? It seems to me that the no-follow tag isn't an attempt to fool the editors but a method of giving the editors what they want, which is to make sure the poem is not publicly available elsewhere.

[Janice D. Soderling]

Roger, with respect, I'm not following your argument. My reference to boonswoggling concerns the poet's intention to circumvent editorial rules.

[Ann Drysdale]

Is boonswoggling the same as hornswoggling?

[Maryann Corbett]

Ann, I think it's the love child of a boondoggle and a hornswoggle.

[Janice D. Soderling]

I think I meant to say "hornswoggle". But I found out that boonswoogle actually is a term in some places.

http://www.grammarphobia.com/blog/20...gle-legit.html

But I like the idea of a love child so I'm willing to go with that.

[conny]

Roger,

but can you explain why they can't publish recently published
material? why not do so if its a really good poem? i'm still not sure
i get it. why be focused on being the only source of a poem ?

copyright..i get, but i suggest the obvious reason: they wish to control the
supply, or more importantly wish to be seen to control the supply, like
De beers in the diamond market. all gatekeepers are neurotic about the
raw material.

i am not sure editors are our best friends. sometimes (often) it feels
like they are the enemy. they are the cats and we are the mice.

eek..