Note re: poem entitled "Lobotomy"

[Lightning Rod]

there are two simple solutions to your complaint, totentyke
which require neither a change to the software nor to S8ociety.

these two devices are very simple:
1. If you don't want a comment on your work, in the title put (no comments please). I believe our members will honor that request.
or
2. If you choose to remove YOUR post, you can simply do it by using the edit button. Of course this can ruin the continuity of the thread, but you wrote it, posted it, you can unpost it. You can erase yourself but you cannot erase me or anybody else.

And I must argue with you. The analogy by ms applies perfectly.

[Doreen Peri]

Yes. Those are the exact 2 things I suggested earlier.

Well, not "exact" but close. I suggested Tote preface his poem with "comments about the poem accepted. No other comments or conversation please." Because that's what he wants. Comments to his poem.

His complaint is not new. It happens often on many writing boards. People want comments on their poem and don't really like it when the thread drifts to be a chat room thread.

Some boards actually have rules about this. No kidding!

lol

[Totenkopf]

People want comments on their poem and don't really like it when the thread drifts to be a chat room thread

That's right. Or they may not want comments on a piece of writing at all--I don't think one should have to include some preface (" feedback or not", etc.)--the ware allows it, and the command should be accessible to all writers (disable comments, I believe). Regardless, those people who derail a creative writing thread with memories of their favorite Foghat concert obviously lack a certain understanding of literary endeavors, and might do well to reconsider their career strategies................

[ms67]

ideas for a scrabble lovers t shirt shop
scrabble players like quizzes

feel free to delete this post (trying to add some humour to this thread)

[judih]

i remember once upon a time at the Kicks, when kate wanted to delete her first poem which led to a huge amount of counter poems and emotions.
She couldn't take it and warned us she was thinking about deleting. Her honesty prompted a whole pile of responses: Don't do it! Sure go ahead, and variations thereof. She deleted.
Later on she reposted feeling strong enough to deal with any and all reaction.

Just sayin.
But never had she considered to delete everyone else's work. But, true enough, it all became disoriented to the point of absurdity without the presence of the original catalyst.

When a piece goes public, and it gets reaction, something's going right.
Glad this happened. May we take this into consideration. Any action results in an equal and opposite reaction.

[Doreen Peri]

I don't think one should have to include some preface (" feedback or not", etc.)

Well, the problem with not prefacing your poem with your preferences is that we'd have to make it a "rule" not to post anything other than comments about the poem itself. And obviously we're not going to do that. As you know we don't have any rules except for to respect each other. People can post whatever they want.

That said, I made a decision and deleted the thread for you basically because I've deleted my own threads on other forums before and I understood the reason you wanted to do it and I understood that other software packages provide this ability to the user... the ability to delete their own threads.

But.... truly.... it really would be better just to delete your own posts, not the whole thread.

In retrospect, maybe I should have spent the time to "split" the comments that didn't apply to the poem and move them to a separate thread and leave your poem alone so it could actually receive comments about the poem itself.

But that takes some time and work and I was busy. lol

....

ps ms - i like the quizzes thing.. but would need to spell it with only one Z? lol.... and yeah, yer off topic but i'm not going to delete it.. too funny

[Totenkopf]

Interesting, but not quite the same situation as LK--for one, the moderators there often did what they wanted to, regardless of a person's intentions. There should be no debate: a person who starts a thread--especially in Creative Writing---can delete it at any time, and have access to the command for turning off comments; commenters should make a point to save comments.


To be honest, literature (and poesy---whatever that is) is damn near impossible to do in short posts and blogs. A Denise Levertov could write something very exquisite, post it online, and then some drunk logs on, and says """"""""that sucked, DenDen: now whaddaya think of Dem Mets, and some brews down at Tonay's yada yadayada."""""" The chat room types of comments more or less destroy it.

[Doreen Peri]

judih... kate could delete her own works and/or threads at litkicks? geez... who knew! i couldn't do that! LOL! Maybe you mean she asked the owner of the board to delete it for her? Yeah that's what you mean probably. (hey, glad I never asked... I would have been deleted for being high maintenance long before I was deleted for being high maintenance.. )

and yeah, I"m feeling really sorta bad that I didn't just split the comments and move them to another thread rather than deleting them all but hey, it's done, yanno? I don't want to beat myself up about it. I already have someone else beating me up about it.

[ms67]

i wonder if this has any significance here? it's the forum signature of someone who i share a guild with in WoW

"Bad spelling can be lethal. For example, the greedy Seriph of Al-Ybi was once cursed by a badly-educated deity and for some days everything he touched turned to Glod, which happened to be the name of a small dwarf from a mountain community hundreds of miles away who found himself magically dragged to the kingdom and relentlessly duplicated. Some two thousand Glods later the spell wore off. These days, the people of Al-Yabi are renowned for being remarkably short and bad-tempered."

[Totenkopf]

On a democratic Creative Writing blog writers should be able to moderate their own threads, including closing comments (it's perhaps different on General Discussion or Politics, but I think that holds on CW). It should have been my decision to save comments or not, and I didn't care to save them.

One way to get around this is just to eliminate comments on literary posts-(-which tend to be "Bravo! Or "intense, man" or "ah yeahh, do me, bay-be.," etc. ), unless agreed to in some gonzo go-action thread, man.

[Totenkopf]

Maybe a right to delete other people's posts like for 5 minutes a day might be cool too. From like 7 to 7:05 pm each day (EST, or whatevs), everyone gets to delete any posts, whatsoever, all over the entire site. Or at least some deletion polls: like, should Levi Asher's entire life work of scribbling be deleted? Y or N.

DELETION. It's your Right.

[Doreen Peri]

Maybe a right to delete other people's posts like for 5 minutes a day might be cool too. From like 7 to 7:05 pm each day (EST, or whatevs), everyone gets to delete any posts, whatsoever, all over the entire site.

DELETION. It's your Right.

LOL!!!!! Now THAT's funny!

[judih]

Doreen, let me clarify my reference to the Kate deletion at litki.
This was during the phase before moderators.
She deleted her post by editing it with '....' as Still T sometimes is wont to do.

Toten, as for the example of Denise Levertov getting upset that some quack commented on her work, that kind of troll behaviour should be x'd out by the admins or mods of the forum. Any such 'troll-style' attack should be brought to their attention.

No legit forum would condone personal attacks - that's in gross violation of the mutual respect rule that keeps us afloat.

But often the idea of attack is so very subjective that i might feel attacked where someone else may not. Denise might easily shrug it off. Would she delete the entire thread because of a loose comment? Who knows, and what's the difference. Toten, you asked Doreen to do it and out of respect, she did.
I'm sorry i delayed reading the thread. I'll never know what i missed.

[Lightning Rod]

Totty,
I must say that the tenor of your arguments here on this thread are surprising to me given other things which I have read by you. Let me get this straight. You don't think this is a discussion about free speech, you think it's a matter of bureaucratic order? What should be allowed where? What the boundaries are, where the lines are drawn?

One thing that has always amazed me about discussion forums is that threads about organizational matters and rules and protocols for that particular board get 20 pages of action, while a post that presents a real idea gets little response. I don't have to link to an example of what I'm talking about. This thread itself is a perfect example. I can't believe I am participating.

On this subject, I am with Totty to a certain extent. I think it's better if responses have something remotely to do with the original subject. But I also think that to legislate or police this would stifle some possibly productive discussion.

[Lightning Rod]

I'm sorry i delayed reading the thread. I'll never know what i missed.

yeah judih, you shoulda seen it
it had everything
Shakespeare with an icepick in his eye
surgical procedures
Tom Waits, WC Fields
joke and song provenance
it was a great thread
sorry you missed it