You have to buddy up with people to get any comments on your work. You have to be "in the loop".
I have written on the site for over a year. Never getting more than 1-4 "likes". Mine is not bad. You are a poet or not. You do not "learn" to write. You can take classes to maybe fit into the box. Read me if you want. The site changes from All Poets to All Poetry depending what day it is. Debra Ann Van Ness
As with any endeavor we undertake writing has its pros and cons. Not unlike our daily lives we are free to make our nearly 3000 choices every day. Choosing a poetry site is one of these if we choose that option. That being said I chose Allpoetry 5 years and nearly 700 poems ago. I remain at Allpoetry because I found a family of people that are full of comrodery. I have since begun a poetry radio show based on different subjects.
This was encouraged to me as well as gifted to me by said family. I have grown personally and spirituality im ways I might not have without this online family supporting and encouraging me. I highly recommend finding yourself as I did with Allpoetry.
I make this statement free of any benefit except the hope I may encourage you the reader to give yourself at least a look at Allpoetry.
And then make the choice to remain in Allpoetry or keep searching for the real you
All in all this is quite a good site but I find that the same types of poetry are front page picks. Usually very descriptive poems and the rest are left out. It becomes quite frustrating to put your heart into writing a poem and they are rarely picked. I think I will keep my poems to myself because they never get any positive feedback and it is hurtful.
All Poetry has been the most wonderful experience of my life. Even when a novice member and ignorant of the difficulties of managing such a site as AP, Kevin put up with me and my
Lack of patience and understanding. There is no way to please everyone yet Kevin, his team of moderators, staff and members have created an atmosphere conducive to professional and novice poets and writers alike. Kudos to Kevin and AP. Mac Ferris
This platform promises a space for aspiring poets to refine their craft, but in reality, it's a cesspool of subpar verse and fragile egos. Constructive criticism is met with the tantrums of delicate poets who can't handle even the mildest of feedback. All Poetry is a wasteland of uninspired verse and fragile egos masquerading as a creative community. The contests are nothing short of laughable. They serve as a dumping ground for an avalanche of mostly subpar poetry, drowning out any semblance of talent. It's abundantly clear that the system is rigged. The positive reviews posted all over should definitely be taken with a grain of salt. Kevin seems oblivious to the lack of quality control for the site and it doesn't do any good to bring it up to him. Avoid this site like the plague if you value your sanity and your standards for poetry.
UPDATE: Pretty much everything Kevin said below is lies. I didn't use the name John on Allpoetry so, he doesn't know who I am. I would never, ever tell anyone to go die! Only a MONSTER could even come up with that! My sister died by suicide and I am so angry that I'm shaking right now. How dare you, Kevin! You don't know me!
First, we don't advertise this site, so the only reviews here are disgruntled users. Allpoetry is a place for critical feedback, and managing expectations for that is definitely something we deal with a lot - our comment policy requires that each critique start and end with something nice. A lot of new users struggle with feedback, which frustrates us as well, and we try to help explain to them as well. This user John, I believe was warned for making extremely harsh comments with only-negative reviews and saying things like "this is so bad you should go die" (which is not allowed on the site).
Recently, my family discovered someone has been using information about my late Aunt and writing what they consider to be "poetry". My Aunt's name is Cheryl L Wilcox, the person who is writing this stuff goes by "CraigZaidel", (approximately 4 months ago). If this person does not stop, we will conduct further investigation(s) and press charges slander. Please take this as an extremely serious ONE time warning. Anyone willing to help will be greatly appreciated.
This isn't the right place to try and contact us... please visit the site, click the gear icon in the top right, then choose "Contact us".
There is a Cheryl Wilcox who is quite active on the site, ask her to contact us perhaps? Thanks - Kevin.
I've been an active member for over 6 years now with no real complaints. I have found a large community of writers that I have become close to. The group's I am involved with have extended their experience at AP with blogtalk6 radio. The poets can now meet others via telephone during our radio shows. My shows are being listened in over 40 countries as other hosts and dedicated poets. I have several close friendships with other writers and extremely happy with my experience there. There is way more positive things than negative. By far. We are very protective of our friends so haters ade weeded out quickly and dealt with accordingly. I've been treated with nothing but kindness and respect. You can find what you are looking for here.
This site is B. S. It's full of low self esteem having groups, simple advice stick to yourself they also have women of the site the regulars who work on new male poets emotions they whole time they plagerize your work. It's high school all over again, it's debauchery if they don't understand you or if your a better poet they hate and fear you. Watch out for the make up dump truck who speaks with fork tongue keep to yourself u will be ok just write don't make friends
Sorry to hear you had a bad experience :( On the contrary, making friends and connecting with other poets is one of the best ways to build your readers and get more feedback on the site...
Was quite shocked to see that one poet actually posted as his poem a song[common people]as his own work, and put on his profile a picture of Jimmy Saville, the well known child abuser in England, simply disgusting, when i complained, i got the answer that the poet had been contacted and the issue was resolved, not so the picture and the song are still on the site, any decent person will avoid this unsavory site.
The longer I was there, the less enamored I was with the results. It is unique social media site, for sure, run mostly by AI. Don't go there to learn how to write better poetry because no one bothers to give critiques, even if you ask for them. They are busy making short admiring comments and giving likes, so you will do the same for their poems. Hence members who have made 40,000+ comments and written 20,000 "poems." You can "follow" your fave poets. A kind of mutual admiration society. They do offer a couple of writing classes, but I found those also did not offer much in the way of insight into the process of writing. Same old stuff. AllPoetry has "autorank" which gives a numeric value to each of your poems, if you care to look it up -- all per an AI algorhithm. And what poet wants an artificial valuement of his very human creative product. There is definitely egalitarianism, which means anyone can post almost anything in any form for public consumption. That doesn't mean it is poetic, which is a shame. It does mean the site is fairly worthless if you are a serious poet. There is so much junk it is like looking in a city landfill for that diamond ring you lost. If you want to write, write for yourself. Take a university course in poetry writing and/or poetry appreciation. If you want a different type of social media that is nevertheless just as superficial as all the other social media, this might be the place for you. And, after all, it is free unless you want to jazz up the background colors or the font. Isn't that what poetry is about?
Sorry to hear you had a rough experience. We definitely try to break through the "cliques" that can form with longtime members of a community, but it can be hard! Autorank is an optional thing, but it can help break through the cliques you're complaining about by helping to make sure that each active user, for example, has a good chance to get a poem on the front page. About half our front page picks are by a community member that changes every 2 weeks (human bias) and half by an algorithm (machine bias) - this helps split the difference. I also suggest one of the great courses for learning poetry, but there's no substitute for feedback and encouragement from your peers. Regarding paid memberships - exactly - all the important features are included on the free membership. Most folks are free, and some choose to support the site and get jazzy colors and fonts. We're proud to be a 100% free site with optional memberships.
Been a member for about 5 to 6 years. I just need a place to post my poems, and I have around 1600 now. The feedback is enouraging, though if you are looking for poetic critiques that has to be found in a group, (I have an in person group so I don't bother). I have a silver membership, it means I dont have to critique others, which I sometimes do, but a lot of the new members stuff is (as has mine been) a bit introspective and can be a bit emotionally taxing. I have had to block a few members of the years, and a couple of trolls, but its easy enough to do, and what do you expect in an open platform. The moderators do look into stuff and are more liberal than strict, in my view. Well, in short its a place to store my work, while getting a wee bit of feedback and encouragment to keep writing, and I know if I get any nonsense I can block it. So overall for 6 bucks a month its been a very positive experience.
Been on the site four years, leaving shortly for the final time. The small groups on site with their dedicated members are its best aspect. Here you will find strong writers and great personal support to improve. Against that, the owner of the site will simply change parameters without any way to know the changes make sense. Width of poem windows, front page criteria and the list goes on. So there is a dichotomy of the good with the unfettered fiddling. Many can offset one against the other. I just got frustrated. Such great potential. But many have left and continue to leave and that slow trickle of quality writers has not been replaced.
Sorry to hear you had a frustrating experience, and thanks for still leaving 4 stars :) We haven't changed the with of poems in nearly 7 years; that's probably how you have your browser set up, or if you have your text zoomed in (ctrl+0 to reset). Front page hasn't changed much either except to limit the frequency the same person can be featured, there's also been some discussion of this on the site policy board. I can assure you many more people are joining than leaving, though judging quality is of course more complicated. It can be hard because over 4 years many of your favorites from 4 years ago may not be there anymore, so one has to keep finding people to follow... Please let us know on the site via the gear icon -> contact us if you need help with anything.
As for the site. I like the layout itself. Functionality an A+ for a writers platform. Socially it has weak points as people can access others without having proper credentials. It's basically a non credited writers social site somewhat like Facebook or MySpace. Many users are stalkers and target female writers as I heard stories. There is a dominant majority who bully and act as if they are in competition. The group of bully's and stalkers tend to be political affiliated, causing fights and other issues. To finish this review off. Half of the people can't write. Have no writing scheme are self published and to top it off they can't even spell.
I've posted some poems to AllPoetry and it's been OK. I feel like there are better more active writing groups out there. It's more of a social networking site than anything else. But nothing terrible.
We're by far the largest, but that's not always the best thing. Some of the best small groups on allpoetry get full sometimes and aren't accepting new members. For me the best kind of feedback comes from a dedicated group where the same people review each others poems each week - you can find that at a local poetry group, or in some of the small groups on allpoetry. There's also a "Trade comments" feature but it's not as good as making good long-term connections...
It's an amateur site and you get the general run-of-the-mill type of writing there. It's mostly a social site, though ironically the site owner recently made numerous changes which curbed many of the things that made the site interactive.
However, if all you want to do is post poorly written poetry and find a few like minded people who will read it and tell you they love it, then it's the place for you.
Its basic membership is free, so that's something,
I have been on Allpoetry for just a little over a year, and I have found that sharing my work is very enjoyable. There are some who do not use this site for its intended purpose, and technical difficulties do occur. But honestly, every website similar to this one is going to have the same sort of things, the same sort of people. The point is not to bash others, it is to share. I do wish it was monitored better, so I dearly care about this site, but my personal experience has been fair.
Kevin has always been there for me when I needed help. I let him publish a few of my books and was very sastified. Always responded back. People have different opinions they get triggered and get labeled a racist, which they're not. People are so easily triggered or offended by anything you say. That's not Kevin's fault, this site after a day is so easy to use. Me I won't apologize. I feel bad for Kevin who has a hectic life with family and worse dealing with us clowns. Thank you Kevin from the skeleton horse.
The website is a social networking place for radicals that other social media sites would ban instantly. For a poetry site to have a place called "The Adult Pub" which consists of members who say racist things and promote antisemitism. I have been told numerous times by the site owner that it isn't a part of the website, yet there is a direct link. Instead of ownership removing a pointless aspect of a poetry website, he and his moderators simply allow radicalism to grow and spread their hatred.
I wouldn't spend a dime on this website until such things are removed. You are better off joining a Facebook poetry group or another website that doesn't foster white nationalists, nazis and other forms of bigotry and racism.
Sorry you had a bad experience. The "radicals" as you call them used to cause problems in the poetry areas of the site (the real site!) so, exiling them to the mean forum worked well. While that forum is not moderated, if there's something you feel needs removing, you can still contact our moderators and they'll take action if something is breaking our rules. We don't tolerate racism or anti-seminitism.
I find AP one of the very best sites to post your poetry and to get positive feedbacks. You will be recognised, criticised and appreciated at the same time. This will be a manure to your budding poetry.
Most of the users are talented and creative in their own way.If you have the vastness of mind to enjoy each and every type of poems, and if you have the urge to find different styles of poetry, AP is the best place!
There are a very few people who scribble something that doesn't make sense, but Most of the writers are very talented.
I read writings of different poets &thus I understand different styles of writings, different viewpoints and different attitudes. This helps me understand poetry & human perspectives better!
I would thank Kevin for such a wonderful site :). In my opinion, the site can be made better and visually appealing in the course of time.
Thanks, we appreciate your review :)
I've been on Allpoetry for about two or three years. Most people are kind and help to improve on your writing. There have been a few agitators, but for the majority it's fine. I've had issues with people complaining about my judgement on contests and I've had rude reviews on poems.
Be careful with the role playing groups, as I've met people who get inappropriate with it. I've had a pretty good experience on the site.
Answer: Please contact us on the website, click the gear icon in the top right then 'contact us'. The basic membership is free, but paid memberships get you some bonus stuff, click the store link at the top for info on this.
Answer: Please contact us on the website, click the gear icon in the top right then 'contact us'
Answer: Over 400,000, with about 50,000 active in the last two weeks. A lot!
Answer: You award them to users who comment on your post. Or you can create contests and use points for prizes
Answer: If you visit a person's profile page and click message, then 'history' you can see deleted messages with that user.
Answer: There's an export link on list pages in the right column to do this...
Answer: Usually this means javascript is misconfigured or broken on your computer. Try resetting your security settings to the default, and make sure your browser has all the latest updates. Comments need to be made from the "now comment" page, vs. clicking titles to comment...
Answer: For the required two comments after commenting? They have to be done from the "now comment" page, maybe that was the problem. Or the javascript on your computer messed up for some reason... Hopefully you got it working :)
Answer: Yes, you keep copyright to your poems and are free to post, publish, or share them elsewhere. You can see our terms of use link, click Help / Contact us at the bottom of the page if you want to see the gory details.
All Poetry has a rating of 2.7 stars from 144 reviews, indicating that most customers are generally dissatisfied with their purchases. Reviewers dissatisfied with All Poetry most frequently mention gold membership, kevin watt and social media. All Poetry ranks 3rd among Forum sites.
Allpoets - not sure where you got that from, never heard of it. Maybe you were involved on another site? Until you build up a set of folks "following" you, your poems will get some initial attention from the "new" list, but after that you'll need to do stuff like use the "trade comments" feature, enter contests, join small groups to get your poem in front of more folks. A lot of new poets are surprised there's not hoards of adoring fans waiting for them upon posting, but if you dive in and are active, you'll get a lot of responses.