Note on Posting Unfinished Pieces or Revising Pieces in the Main Forums

[Raymond Huffman]

Note on Posting Unfinished Pieces or Revising Pieces in the Main Forums

This is just a friendly reminder that the main Poetry and Prose Forums are intended for pieces that authors consider to be finished and eligible to be considered for the Front Page “as is”. If you believe your work is still unfinished, it is better to post it to the Workshop Forum. When it is finished, it can be easily moved to a main forum using the “thread tools” function.

At the same time, it is understandable that certain poems originally posted in the main forums end up getting a lot of suggestions that result in several revisions to the poem in the main forums. If this happens, please realize it causes a problem for the editors in determining whether a given piece is actually finished or not. If your work is under active revision in a main forum, do not expect it to be selected for the Front Page, unless at some point you clearly indicate that the piece is finished and will not be undergoing any more revisions.

Editors generally consider pieces posted to the Main Forums as being ready for consideration for the Front Page. If a piece is selected to be published to the FP, the volunteer editors have to do a considerable amount of work behind the scenes to prepare the piece for publication. If the piece is changed after that work is done, an editor has to then modify the piece in the FP Editor software, causing more (unnecessary) work.

Thank you for your consideration of this.

 

[Trevor Cunnington]

I just saw this post. Oops. I posted one unfinished poem. I will amend my behavior. My mind is too monotropic. I always just want to focus on one thing.

 

[Raymond Huffman]

I just saw this post. Oops. I posted one unfinished poem. I will amend my behavior. My mind is too monotropic. I always just want to focus on one thing.

Thanks, Trevor. This has largely been ignored anyway.

 

[Trish Saunders]

That's because it wasn't always prohibited.

I think most users want to receive feedback Even if they consider the poem finished. It's always nice that experienced writers are willing to share their critiques with you.

To me that's the point of Open arts, rather than being a place to showcase poems, rather than hoping it ends up on the front page. I'm interested in getting feedback. The Workshop section is just not read.

There are many places to submit poems. Very few member collectives that will actually give you feedback.

Maybe go ahead and just put the poem on the front page, but it seems like they are formatted, etc, far in advance of their actual publication date. Do they need to be created quite that far in advance?

Maybe create a front page, and let that be what the public views, but the poem in the FORUMS can be revised. They are, after all, our work. And most of us also contribute to the costs of running O.A.F. In other words, this is a collective.

I know editors spend a lot of time on the front page. (Not always.) But authors also spend a lot of time crafting their poems and fiction and nonfiction. We shouldn't have a lot of restrictions put upon us, we are artists, we are creators, and we should be able to change something in our work if we want to.

When I was an editor, I used to let the artist/writer know, I'd like to front page that, let me know if that's an issue, or if you are planning to submit it somewhere else.

Maybe that's something you could consider.

 

[Trish Saunders]

I do want to add that I very much appreciate the work that editors put into o.a.f

 

[Raymond Huffman]

That's because it wasn't always prohibited.

I think most users want to receive feedback Even if they consider the poem finished. It's always nice that experienced writers are willing to share their critiques with you.

To me that's the point of Open arts, rather than being a place to showcase poems, rather than hoping it ends up on the front page. I'm interested in getting feedback. The Workshop section is just not read.

There are many places to submit poems. Very few member collectives that will actually give you feedback.

Maybe go ahead and just put the poem on the front page, but it seems like they are formatted, etc, far in advance of their actual publication date. Do they need to be created quite that far in advance?

Maybe create a front page, and let that be what the public views, but the poem in the FORUMS can be revised. They are, after all, our work. And most of us also contribute to the costs of running O.A.F. In other words, this is a collective.

I know editors spend a lot of time on the front page. (Not always.) But authors also spend a lot of time crafting their poems and fiction and nonfiction. We shouldn't have a lot of restrictions put upon us, we are artists, we are creators, and we should be able to change something in our work if we want to.

When I was an editor, I used to let the artist/writer know, I'd like to front page that, let me know if that's an issue, or if you are planning to submit it somewhere else.

Maybe that's something you could consider.

It's not prohibited. I understand exactly. This is simply my preference, because of my experiences with this. Other editors are perfectly free to do otherwise. I don't see it as a big issue.