Thoughts about comments
What is the purpose of making comments?
We don’t take the commenting system to be a way of conveying our rating of a poem.
In the context of Poetic Republic commenting is a communication between the reader and the author (that potentially will be shared with the wider community of participants and the public).
We take the purpose of making “comments” to include:
- Sharing an overall perception of the poem.
- Sharing a perception of a specific aspect, line or phrase.
- Sharing our perception of strengths or weaknesses.
- Sharing our own reaction to the poem
- Acknowledging the achievement of the author.
- Inserting a pause before a critical judgement crystallizes.
In addition we take the notion of comments one step further. By publishing comments along with the poems we are valuing comments in and of themselves.
A participant, making a series of good comments, may well be widely featured across the eBook publication.
Making comments mandatory
In 2012, for the first time, we are making it mandatory to comment against each poem that has been ranked in the top four of a group.
This should increase the level of feedback for participants and send a clear signal to those authors whose poems are being highly rated.
Guidance on making comments
The event comprises a group of people taking part in good faith.
The value of a poem is the responsibility of the author of the poem. The value of a comment is the responsibility of the author of the comment.
We ask that comments be respectful and constructive.
