| WOAW's Philosophy
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| High Standards |
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You may wonder as you read the contents of this website about the requirements and standards we are asking of sites that join the "WOAW" net society. Why are we so rigid, and who do we think we are?
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| Who are we? |
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As the owner of the Poetry
Webring for the past 3 years, lilip says that she has "seen
it all"....and has seen enough written in the name of poetry and art.
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| And why so rigid? |
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Because there is no standard,
but there should be. What makes the internet any different to paper
and ink? There must be a reason to improve - a desire to be better,
and to meet a certain STANDARD. The web has allowed the opportunity
for so many people who have NOT previously had that chance to share
their poetry. But, basic standards have been compromised. We are
not literary snobs. We are not forming an elite group from which
you are excluded. That is not our goal. We are simply as picky about
who is a member as any print magazine would be about whom they publish.
We do not want poetry and literature to backslide because there
are no guidelines. There are hundreds of "zines" out there that
will accept you. Who rejects you? Who makes you rewrite? We feel that no one
is bothering to edit you. We want you to try harder, rewrite, and not settle
for second best. Freedom of speech is the right to say whatever
you want, but, hey, say it exquisitely, say it clearly, rewrite! |
| Amplification
of our requirements |
| a site dedicated to your creativity, or solely to your writing |
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If your site contains other artistic aspects of your life (photography, art, etc.), then we consider that a dedication to your creativity - and acceptable by our standards. But if you have a typical "homepage," where every venture of your life is within one website, it will be a problem. We prefer sites that have a separate entrance to their poetry/literary section (even though it may be reached from their index page), so we may list the poetry section as the beginning of your site. There may be so much going on at your site, that the website visitor just hasn't a clue as to where to start looking for it. You may be interested in bringing more traffic to your site, but WOAW was created in the interest of satisfying the desire of the surfer - GOOD POETRY.
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| include more than a handful of your poetry or prose |
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Some people may write one
or two pieces of poetry in their life, and that's it. We have seen
this on many sites through the Poetry Webring and, we can say without
a doubt that it is not the work of a serious poet. We are only interested
in serious poets.
We understand people have writer's block at times, or you outgrow
the writing you did in the past. It's good that you have a desire
to improve! DO delete them or rewrite them. This type of dilemma
is usually a judgement call by us. You can contact WOAW, and discuss
this period in your life. We will certainly be happy to overlook
these roadblocks. |
| Not inundated by graphics, animation, midi/wav files, or ads |
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While it is your website
to decorate as you wish, we do feel that there is a limit to patience
when surfing the internet. Some site designers do not realize the
impact of certain circumstances - mainly due to the fact that they
never empty their browser cache, or view their website on someone
else's computer. First, if you never empty your browser cache, the
graphics that you have on your site will always remain on your computer.
Your page will ALWAYS load faster on your own computer. We recommend trying some of the online
services, like http://www.netmechanic.com,
that offer free testing of your website to give you an impression
of loading speed for visiters of your site.
Secondly...most surfers do not spend more than 20 seconds at a website if their attention is not instantly grabbed (you can find such information at places like webmonkey.com and webreference.com). So, if it takes your page more than 20 seconds to load, then all you may get are one-time visitors. They also didn't wait around to see the page load - let alone listen to that midi that was still loading.
(this does not include sites whose server inflicts their own pop-up ad or inframe ad.) |
| No restricted entry |
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MSIE vs. NETSCAPE.
If your site is for all surfers of the net to visit, then you must realize that all surfers of the net do NOT use ONE kind of browser, and that most do not have TWO types on their computer. Insisting that surfers(including us) "get a better browser" just doesn't cut it. |
| Not engulfed in spelling errors, broken graphics, bad formatting |
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Sorry, but this is just
common sense. Your site's content should be a matter of pride for
you. If you love to write, then you need to learn how to spell,
or use a spell checker!! Broken graphics are part of the appearance
of your site, as well as how it is formatted. One thing, in particular,
that we have seen countless times, and you just need to stop and
think about for a moment...did you really write that poem CENTERED?
Sure there are poems that have a certain format when they are written,
but we have seen too many sites that have ALL their poetry CENTERED...and
we just can't believe that they were written that way. It is WOAW's
philosophy to present literature as if it were in the printed state.
The internet has allowed so many "proper" ways of correspondence
to fall to the wayside, and the display of poetry is one of its
victims. If you are still interested in joining the society, and
your poetry is currently displayed like this, WOAW will be MORE than
happy to offer advice on how to get around this kind of formatting.
Some of the problem may be due to lack of knowledge of the html
language. If you are interested in an opinion as to what
you could possibly do to improve your site, we would be happy to
do so...provided you do not shoot the messenger. Just remember you
asked for the critique. We won't be rude about it - just constructive. |
| Quality poetry |
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Lastly, we are looking for
quality poetry. It should be intelligent or witty, painful or loving.
But nothing suitable for Hallmark, please! |
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lilip
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All material submitted by poets and authors remain in their copyright and is not available to be added to any anthology, collection, website, or any other use;personal or otherwise, without the author's permission.
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