The PigPen's Resplendent Kaffeeklatsch

[Tiger the Lion]

So, First let me share her observations.  She is Gen Z and as you probably know, they all struggle with anxiety already.  She thinks it would be very intimidating to show up at a new site and immediately try to critique other people's writing when you are not sure what you are doing and you are brand new.

Now we know, most people who come here have a poem they want feedback on.  They are excited, we get that.  What if we allowed them to post the poem first and then owe us the feedback after they have looked around a bit?

I know when I joined the site we were getting 20 new poems a day posted and it was a bit much for us to keep up with them all but now, I feel like we could afford to give a little leeway to get new people into poetry and into the site.

After a while, we know people who hang around for a while love it and become valuable members and the rest just sod off anyway, nothing lost

I would be open to an approach like this. On a practical level the worst case scenario is an exercise in critique even if the OP buggers off into the ether. If the exception were limited to "Basic" it might work. I think long time members would instinctively know not to invest too much where a tit for tat has not yet happened. It does however make modding a little more subjective and therefore prone to mood swings like when one's CAKE is so late.