Frequently Asked Questions
If you would like to view The Poetic Link Rules
& Rewards page just Click Here.
If you would like to view The Poetic Link Submission Rules page just Click Here.
If you would like to view The Poetic Link Critiquing Rules page just Click Here.
Please note that these are in no particular order. I will just keep adding questions and answers as I hit them.
Q: I have a question that you don't address in this
FAQ document... Where do I send my question so that you can add
it?
A: Please send any questions that you have to webmaster@ThePoeticLink.com
I will do everything possible to keep this file updated with
common problems and questions, so don't hesitate to send me your
best.
Q: Several of my poems scored very highly during a
given month... Why do I have only 1 poem on the Winners List?
A: Every month that you enter a poem on The Poetic Link
your BEST poem is ranked on the Winners List. The Winners List is
not a list of top ranked poems, rather it is a list of top ranked
POETS. This means that your TOP poem each month is used to rank
you against all of the other poets on The Poetic Link. The
advantages of submitting more than one poem each month are simply
that you increase your odds of winning a Poet Prize that month.
Q: What's with this Blind Critique System that you
have?
A: In order to provide a totally unbiased grading
system, it is necessary to hide the Author of each Active poem
during its contest month. Once that contest month ends, you can
freely view all of the poem authors for the poems of that month.
To keep the site from becoming cold and unfriendly, the name of
the Author is immediately revealed once you critique a poem. At
this point you are given the opportunity to add a Personal
Comment to your critique. This helps to ensure friendships remain
intact and the closeness of our family remains strong. You will
find that you have a great deal of freedom within this system
once you see how it works. It keeps judging anonymous and
unbiased while still allowing for friendships and warm feelings
to be shared on a personal level.
Q: I heard that I can receive FREE Submission Credits
here! What's the catch?
A: Every month I pay the top poets and the top
critiquers. Any registered user can critique poems on this site.
It costs you nothing to critique poems, accept for some of your
time. But reading poetry is the reason you're here so why not get
paid to do it! At the end of the month, when prizes are
distributed I give a LARGE number of prizes to critiquers. If you
claim ANY of the critiquer prizes will be entitled to either
receive FREE Submission credits or CASH that you can of course
use a portion of, to purchase Submission Credits.
Q: Every time I log into The Poetic Link, I am able to
do a few things and then it makes me log in again? Why does it do
that?
A: You should only be required to log in 1 time per
visit. If you find you must log in more than once please contact webmaster@ThePoeticLink.com
and explain what you were trying to access when you got the 2nd
login request.
Q: I would like to add an advertisement for The Poetic
Link to my signature in e-mail so that all of my outgoing
messages have it. Can you please tell me how to add it?
A: For your convenience here is a premade signature that
you may add to your outgoing mail messages if you like. Click Here for instructions if
you don't know how to add a signature to your outgoing e-mail
messages. Please feel free to copy and paste this into your
Signature block for outgoing messages:
Your Name Here
Poet and/or Critiquer of The Poetic Link
http://ThePoeticLink.com
...Nothing Else Even Comes Close!
Q: I love The Poetic Link and would like to advertise
your site with some flyers or newspaper ads. Am I allowed to do
this?
A: Yes you most certainly can advertise The Poetic Link
wherever you like. Please be tactful and be sure that you refer
people to http://ThePoeticLink.com
You can also send anything to me that you would like my approval
or blessing on if you are unsure.
Q: I can go to a lot of sites that accept my poetry
submissions for FREE... so why do I have to PAY to submit here?
A: The fee that you pay for submitting your poetry to
The Poetic Link goes toward paying for the valuable critiques
that you receive on your submitted poems. Sure you can go to any
number of other sites that allow you to submit for free... but
you will NEVER get the huge amount of helpful critiques that you
receive from this site. Furthermore, the prizes given to the Top
Poets and Top Critiquers every month, are funded by the
submission fees.
Q: I see that you have this "Grace Period"
after each month ends. So when is the cutoff for Poem Submissions
each month?
A: As far as Poem Submissions are concerned, each
month's submission period ends Midnight on the LAST Calendar day
of that month. In other words if it is Jan 31st at 11:50pm (Eastern
Time) your poem submission will go in January's pool... but just
15 minutes later, at 12:05am on February 1st your poem would go
into the February pool. The "Grace Period" is simply to
allow critiques on poems for several days after the month has
ended. This is why it does NOT matter if you submit a poem at the
END of the month. You will still receive just as many critiques
as people who submitted poems in the beginning of that month.
Q: I made a mistake in one of my poems. How can I go
into that poem and fix it?
A: All poem submissions are FINAL! It is done this way
for the simple fact that you begin to receive critiques as soon
as your poem is published. If you were allowed to make changes to
that poem it would throw the entire rating system off. Please be
very careful to always spell-check your work and correct any
errors in grammar or punctuation before you submit it to The
Poetic Link.
Q: If I post a critique and decide later that it was
not up to par will I be able to go back and hide that critique
and enter another one that does more justice to the writer and
the poem?
A: No you can not go back and change a critique. They,
like poem submissions are final. The reason is that the scoring
is interwoven into the system as soon as it is entered, it would
be impossible to re-calculate all of the things that it may have
affected. Sending an e-mail to the poet is the best way to clear
something up.
Q: If I critique a high number of poems each with only
a few words does that help me more than the quality of my
critiques to get the higher ratings/points for winning scores for
critiquing?
A: The best way to win an award and achieve a high critiquer
score is by giving GOOD critiques! Short "few
word" critiques only gain you a reputation for that sort of
thing and cause your score to be significantly lower. It is
extremely unlikely that you will win anything if you resort to
this sort of practice.
Q: I have a web site and would like to display your
banner for The Poetic Link on my site. Where is your banner?
A: We are honored that you would like to display our
banner on your site. You can always find our latest banner at: http://ThePoeticLink.com/banner.gif
just link that banner to http://ThePoeticLink.com
and you're set.
Q: I heard that you run a FREE Banner Exchange that is
100% Poetry! Where can I find this Banner Exchange?
A: You will find our Poetry Banner Exchange at http://ThePoeticLink.com/exchange
There many different poetry sites in our exchange so if you join
us you will receive a lot of targeted exposure for your site's
banner.
Q: Sometimes when I'm rating a poem or critique, the
system enters the WRONG number instead of the score I wanted to
give.
A: This happens most often because you accidentally use
your mouse "scroll wheel" while you have the score
selection box selected. Using the mouse wheel whenever you're in
a selection box, causes you to cycle up and down through the
option in that selection box. Sometimes you will accidentally
select a 0 or a 5 for a poem when you didn't mean to do so. Be
careful to only use your "scroll wheel" when you are
NOT in the score selection box.
Q: I was ordering a T-Shirt and the system showed an
incorrect amount for the number of T-Shirts I wanted to order?
A: Again, the "scroll wheel" on your mouse was
probably the cause. It is possible you had the selection box
opened when you used your mouse wheel. This would change your
selection for you.
Q: I have critiqued several poems but have not yet
gotten any Submission Credits... What gives?
A: Critiquing poems does not directly translate to
Submission Credits. The only way to get submission credits is to
buy them or win them. Winning would require that you do well
during this month and claim one of the prizes that pays cash or
submission credits. You may go to the Winners
Link to view all of the prizes that are being offered this
month. The Winners Link is found on the Main Page inside of the
Information Box.
Q: I tried searching for my poems or a friend's poems
with your search engine but it didn't find anything?
A: Our search engine is an Exact Text Search
which means that it searches for exactly what you typed. Less is
often more in most cases. If you were looking for a poem by
"John Doe" you would perhaps want to search on just John
or perhaps just Doe but if you use John Doe and
he used a middle initial in some cases... you would not see those
poems since John Doe is not equal to John X. Doe.
Q: Whenever I am reading a poem or critiquing a poem,
I have to constantly use the left / right scrollbar to see the
entire thing... Why?
A: You may be using a lower resolution than we recommend. The
best resolution to view The Poetic Link website is 1024x768. If
you would like to receive instructions on changing your
resolution just Click Here!
You should also be sure to always have your Internet browser
window Maximized for the best possible viewing.
Thank You,
-Christopher T. Moore
webmaster@ThePoeticLink.com
