BOARD LOYALTY, Your views please... Options

[Guest_Xanadu_*]

This morning I received a personal message from the poetry director of poetry board that left me scratching my head. The message indicated that the director was not pleased that I had been posting on other boards and brought into question my loyalty to the directors board. It went on the say that the idea put a "bad taste in her mouth."
She went on to further suggest that the only reason I was doing it was to get nominations for the IPBC
Yes, I do post on several boards. My intention was to get back as much feedback as I possibly could. I wanted to see if the reviews were consistent. Not one to put all my eggs in one basket, I determined to spread myself around a tad. At the time, I was on one board, and had been for many months. I did not see any harm in joining another board.
I would be very interested in your views on this subject. Isn`t the idea of posting your work on line that of being read by more than 20 people?

[AMETHYST]

Hi Linda,

I find that very strange myself. I've been a member on many boards over the years, even had/have a board myself and still kept active on several sites ... for exactly your reason, getting different feedback and as Lori mentions, a larger audience to help hone my work.

MM is my home site and as of late, if I time online to post or critique I am here. Mostly because of the honesty and the voice in which that is offered. My main goal is to improve the poem and my skills. I find I get most of that right here then, Like Snow, I might polish it off elsewhere from people who don't know me.

As for IBPC, I don't really see where that issue would be coming into it. If a member decides to participate in the critique process in the various sites online that are memberships of IBPC, it still doesn't guarentee the poem will be chosen, it will be on the merit of the poem and as Lori mentioned, the memberships votes. I am very satisfied with our choice in IBPC - it is fair and relies on the members to nominate (choose what poems they feel are worthy of going forward) then on to a vote, which allow the entire membership to give support to the poem of their choice.

I could not imagine anyone contacting a member about such an accusation - mostly because, whether you or any other member chooses to participate on more than one board and if that choice is a decision you make to give yourself a larger exposure to IBPC competitions ... ??? Well, I still don't see the problem here ... As Lori mentions, I believe IBPC is founded on pretty much that IDEAL - to get a linkage of the boards together, to get a larger exposure to poets and the craft over all and well - start getting the talent that posts to all these boards noticed and acknowledged. I think it is for the good of poetry over all to be out there and getting noticed.

I hope you take the time to ask this director if perhaps there is something else that is bothering her/him, it sounds as though you have been a member of the site for a while and perhaps they feel sort of abandoned. After all, behind these screennames, we all are human first and perhaps their site is slow too, like many sites and noticed you hadn't been around. Give the benefit of the doubt and talk first before getting too angry.

Again as for IBPC, it shouldn't weigh in anywhere in the realm. As the entire purpose of it is exposure... LOL

Don't fret, getting angry over this isn't worth it. Find your comfort zones and then stick with them.

Best Regards, Liz