Flame Wars

This post is by one of our moderators Iain Strachan. It's an important message all members should heed, because it will lead to a more peaceful and constructive environment where we can all create our art together:

What’s a “Flame war”? 

It’s when two people on a social media get into a toxic argument and start hurling insults at each other. It rapidly gets out of hand as the combatants try to outdo each other. 

In Invisible Poets group we do not tolerate negative or abusive comments on people’s poems, nor do we tolerate “flame wars”. While constructive criticism is fine, it is not acceptable just to insult someone’s work, e.g. “Your poem’s a load of crap”. 

If you get a comment like this, please don’t be tempted to retaliate. People who make that sort of comment “know” they’re right and they won’t relent, and more than likely they will just double down. Instead, just report the comment to Admin, and we will deal with the offender. We operate a “one strike and you’re out” - so anyone dissing a poem without any attempt to engage with it will get an immediate ban from the group. 

But also, if you get enraged and retaliate, and get into a flame war, you could also get banned, or at the very least strongly restricted. Your poem, whatever its merits, will be removed from the group if you get into a fight like this. We want to keep this group as a safe place. So play nicely!

Iain Strachan

Image used under a Creative Commons licence from Flickr

Social Media Etiquette

It’s amazing how easy it is to hurt peoples feelings… especially when it pertains to their art. 

My girlfriend is a professional chef. I recently suggested that her food is expensive by my means. I never thought that she would take it to mean that her incredible creations were not worth it. I found myself with my fool foot in my mouth, and quickly apologized. 

Poetry is no different. I’ve seen so many poetry groups online that create such a toxic environment with jaunty criticism and self aggrandizing comments. They hurt. No matter how tough a person is… attacking them or anybody by denigrating something they are passionate about ultimately achieves nothing. 

Now an administrator on Invisible Poets, I was once a moderator. I would always accentuate a poets strengths, and treat each poet as a personal friend. Even today I do this when I can, and take great delight in encouraging someone to do something they love to do and are good at doing. That something is writing really good poetry.

Life is a constant learning experience. We can never be perfect. However, we can aspire to be something that we never were before. Once we get there, we can then work on becoming better with each particular endeavor. Eventually, we will be the best we can be… and that is a beautiful thing.

Poetry should not be a competition. It should represent a community based on communication and empathy. The very idea of Wheelsong is to promote quality poets by making a charitable difference. By its very character, it represents the most noble intentions by means of what amounts to a collectively humble poet soul. 

These noble intentions of humility are why I am proud to be a part of the Wheelsong family, and always will be for as long as I am needed… to encourage, promote, and exhilarate premiere poetry in order to make a difference.

Feel free to comment, and thank you for reading!

Matt Elmore