After an amazing journey of almost 4 years, Invisible Poets will be closing its doors on October 1, 2026.
This has been a difficult decision to take, but the Admin team have been ruminating on this for a while, and we have now decided that the best way forward is to close the group down and open a smaller, more streamlined and private group.
The reasons we have taken this radical step are numerous, but let me give you the headline points.
Firstly, Invisible Poets has grown exponentially to almost 90,000 members. Most of those members join, and are then never heard from again. That's the problem with public groups. Anyone can join, 'collect another group' and then disappear forever. In reality Invisible Poets does not have 90,000 members. It has approximately 1,000 active participants, who actually do things, share content and comment. The rest are dead wood.
Secondly, Facebook it appears to have imposed restrictive algorithms on the group. It has compartmentalised smaller sub-groups, and now it is difficult for them to see any other content than the content they generate in that sub-group. Even as Admin, we cannot see the entire group's timeline - so how are we expected to moderate content and adhere to community standards?
Thirdly, public groups by their nature, allow any and all to enter. We have been swamped with AI generated slop (which lowers the standard of the group's content significantly), scammers, spammers, and occasional trouble makers whose sole intent seems to be to offend, bait and abuse.
Our solution is to close the group down, and establish a new, private group which will be streamlined, far more intimate and closer to the community of creatives we wish to nurture. The new group is called Invisible Poets Core (search for it on Facebook and request membership).
We will be doing largely the same activities we did on Invisible Poets. The rules are simpler to follow. The ethos is still the same. We will promote new and emerging poetry voices, and we will continue to raise much needed funds in support of Save the Children. You will receive more attention for your posts, and hopefully you will be able to engage in commenting and encouraging your fellow poets too.
Invisible Poets will close on 1 October. Invisible Poets Core is already up and running. Will we see you there?
Steve Wheeler
Founder
Invisible Poets Core
