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The Pen is Mightier than the Sword

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Preprise

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Greetings, Preprise. It's always a pleasure to welcome new members to the Pen.

 

We appreciate all honest, constructive feedback. However, there are some characteristics to the Pen that you should be aware of. First of them is that it's not always that members post with the purpose, or sole purpose, of getting feedback. Then, there's also those of us who are rather sensitive to harsh words even when they're not intended to hurt or to be taken personally - I would recommend to take some care when commenting poems (Banquet Room). So, I would suggest that, when you choose to give feedback, check first the profile of the person posting - we have a field where we indicate the kind of feedback we're looking for, if any.

 

As a tip, also, the most in-depth feedback and criticism is usually given in specific rooms; for example, we have the Critic's Corner (a subforum of Assembly room) specifically for stories/prose. If later on you decide to apply to the Pen (visit the Recruiter's Office!), there are inner rooms that become available as you progress in membership. Some of them (the Guilds) do provide an environment that encourages criticism.

 

We don't have a Forum Rules thread, but you will find some information at the FAQ. Also, each room usually has, among the stickied threads, some guidelines for posting. As a general conduct guideline, we value politeness, respect, and consideration for each other's thoughts/styles/points of view. If you keep this in mind, you will hardly have trouble fitting in with us.

 

As a rule of thumb, poetry goes into the Banquet Room, stories in Assembly, role-playing in Conservatory. Works that you have posted somewhere else, or not from yourself, go into the Library. General chit-chat, preferably RP'd but not mandatory, goes into the Cabaret Room.

 

Hope you enjoy our home, and if you have any doubts or problems, feel free to PM any of us. :)

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why can't we post stuff we've posted elsewhere?

Sorry, I haven't made myself clear... usually old works, that have been posted elsewhere or under another nickname/pen name, go into the Library. It is mostly to let people know that they may find it elsewhere, or that it's a "closed" work already (usually there are no comments at the Library). I particularly see no problem in posting your work in the normal areas if you intend to get feedback on them; though it might be good to point out you have posted it in other forums too. Probably someone who delves more in the Library than this wolf-lady here can clarify things better, as I myself rarely deal with the Library :P

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Welcome to the Pen, Preprise.

We ask you to post previously posted or published works in the Library just so we are able to acknowledge that they were not originally written for or at the Pen.

Partly it helps us to monitor any potential plagerism, partly it's just a record.

:)

Hope that helps...

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Hi there! Welcome aboard. I've PM'd you several links that you may find helpful, but I echo Tanny's suggestion of the FAQ. Most questions are readily answered there, but if you have one that isn't covered feel free to poke one of us and ask! =)

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I do? I do not remeber that. What did I miss?

Your signature is HUGE! How big a picture do you need?!

 

I mistook you for someone else that's why you're confused.

 

Thanks for the clarifications. They make sense. I suspect I'll pretty much mostly hang out at the crit's corner. I'm a designer and designers tend to have pretty thick skin from all the abuse they get from art director's and creative directors so I need a place where people won't go soft on me. And that I don't have to go soft on them. ;)

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holy crow how long has this board been up? There's only three threads up for critique? Is there a place here where people actually want constructive crits? I mean more than what's there now?

 

Just wanting to know cause jee! If I post a piece and I get like, 1 crit, that's not much help you know?

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*checks it*

 

Ahh, I see the problem - go to the bottom of the page, you'll see that by default it shows only the posts from last 30 days :) Just choose "Show All" and you'll see the rest of the threads.

 

Also, it's not that there's only three threads open for criticism. Sometimes the author opens a thread by himself if he wishes feedback, but most of times we start a feedback thread when we want to give it. So, if you read something and thinks it's promising and you want to help by criticizing it, just start a thread at the Critic's Corner.

 

Just wanting to know cause jee! If I post a piece and I get like, 1 crit, that's not much help you know?

Well... I'll be honest with this -- sometimes it takes some time before feedback appears, and it might not appear at all. Doesn't mean that people are not reading, just that they either don't feel comfortable giving feedback for one reason or another, or because they do not (unfortunately) have the time to post their thoughts. However, if you do ask for feedback in your post, there is a good chance that people do answer. But please, be aware that not all will give you the harsh criticism you ask in your profile :) Those who feel capable of doing it will, I'm sure of it.

 

 

Edit: About your question on Poetry - we do not have a special room for Poetry feedback, not for the general public anyway. But we do have a Poetry Guild that should be able to help you and where you'll probalby find what you need. Unfortunately it's not open for non-members, but I think you can PM Cryptomancer or Norman The Runt about it to ask for more information.

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Welcome, mon bienvenue, welcome...

 

Hope things are a bit more clear for ye, now that you've had some local guides to help. Anytime you've questions, of course, feel free to ask.

 

I hadn't realized how odd this place really can look to someone brand new to it until now.

 

*thoughtfully sips his coffee*

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it's because we're old. Lot's of legacy components from previous incarnations (I find it endearing really) and lots and lots of compromises along the way.

 

We do have a cross-genre Writer's workshop proper (not the one in poetry guild). That's where I typically post my work. I use it mostly as an archive, place to experiment, and for general organization. Anyway it's located in the Passageway forum, but you probably can't see that forum since you're still a guest. It's not that big of a deal really. Only a few of us use it on a consistent basis.

 

If you really and truly want OMG-in-your-face feedback, best way to go about getting that is PM a specific request to someone that you think could give it to you. That should hold true regardless of which forum you post in. A fair amount of poetry gets posted in the BH daily, so poets especially the new ones or the ones that rarely post tend to get overlooked.

 

In case you were wondering, the reason I did such a thorough critic on your poem is that someone requested I do so on your behalf.

 

cheers,

 

rev...

Edited by reverie
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This makes me think. I know we've had places where people volunteered to give different sorts of feedback, but would people find it useful to have a few of people who volunteer for such things? For instance, I would volunteer to give moderate or harsh feedback on non-verse fiction. I would be very up for that and will start wheels turning if others think it's interesting. I'm guessing Prepise does ;), (right?), do others?

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Even if I'm not fond of giving (even receiving, honestly) harsh feedback (;)) I think your suggestion is great, Gwai! I can even think of a few occasions when I myself would like to receive a bit more in terms of feedback... would be nice to be able to ask people to do that.

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I think he meant "bump" up. i.e. refresh an old thread concerning the volunteer issue that has gotten buried under waves of other posts, then make it permanently visible with the sticky tag function that some forum operators have access too, or something like that

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