Folks, before you comment please check what forum the poem is posted in. People generally choose where to place their poem depending on the kind of feedback they want and it's only fair to at least try to do what they're asking. If there's a type of feedback you're not comfortable giving (e.g. serious critique might be too complex and time-consuming for you, or you just might not want to make a silly comment in the fun forum), it's probably best to just pick another poem in a different place.
Just as a reminder and general rule of thumb (there is leeway, obviously):
Novice: This forum is for people just starting out, so there's no point getting all uppity about technical issues when there's a very good chance the writer won't have a clue what you're talking about. It's probably best to pick one or two points so as not to overwhelm newcomers, but keep in mind that as this is still a forum for workshopping, a useless generic comment or remark about the writer instead of the poem will be removed.
Mild Critique: Many of the poems posted here are fairly personal in nature and the writer is often not ready for them to be completely deconstructed as they might be elsewhere. While you can up your game on the technical front and use terminology that writers should by this time be able to understand (or know how to find out about it), this is really not the place for a full line-by-line demolition.
Serious Workshopping: Writers who post here expect that the poem will be read thoroughly and new insights provided by the critic -- that's more than just picking up on a grammatical error (please pick up grammatical errors as well, though -- they suck). It is expected that writers will edit their work based on a review of comments, so it's pretty pointless to post in Serious if the comments are all one-liners or praise. Remember, you don't have to make corrections in a critique; if you can't think of anything that needs changing, say what you like about it and maybe try to give feedback based on meaning or content analysis. Anything is better than "wow, this is amazing, I can't critique it at all". That's just a cop-out.
Miscellaneous: Exactly what it says on the tin. This is the forum for experimental works, cross-genre fusion, lyrics, short prose -- anything goes. Generally speaking, though, unless you know that the writer is good with a complete deconstruction it's best not to assume that it will be welcome. Many writers post poems here that they're not necessarily wanting to workshop, but still want feedback on (positive AND negative).
For Fun: This is really not the forum for critique at all. Just lighten up. AMENDMENT (Cheers for the reminder, Dale): Posters, if your poem is neither fun nor funny, post it somewhere else. If you're not sure if your poem is funny, don't worry, someone will soon tell you.
Just as a reminder and general rule of thumb (there is leeway, obviously):
Novice: This forum is for people just starting out, so there's no point getting all uppity about technical issues when there's a very good chance the writer won't have a clue what you're talking about. It's probably best to pick one or two points so as not to overwhelm newcomers, but keep in mind that as this is still a forum for workshopping, a useless generic comment or remark about the writer instead of the poem will be removed.
Mild Critique: Many of the poems posted here are fairly personal in nature and the writer is often not ready for them to be completely deconstructed as they might be elsewhere. While you can up your game on the technical front and use terminology that writers should by this time be able to understand (or know how to find out about it), this is really not the place for a full line-by-line demolition.
Serious Workshopping: Writers who post here expect that the poem will be read thoroughly and new insights provided by the critic -- that's more than just picking up on a grammatical error (please pick up grammatical errors as well, though -- they suck). It is expected that writers will edit their work based on a review of comments, so it's pretty pointless to post in Serious if the comments are all one-liners or praise. Remember, you don't have to make corrections in a critique; if you can't think of anything that needs changing, say what you like about it and maybe try to give feedback based on meaning or content analysis. Anything is better than "wow, this is amazing, I can't critique it at all". That's just a cop-out.
Miscellaneous: Exactly what it says on the tin. This is the forum for experimental works, cross-genre fusion, lyrics, short prose -- anything goes. Generally speaking, though, unless you know that the writer is good with a complete deconstruction it's best not to assume that it will be welcome. Many writers post poems here that they're not necessarily wanting to workshop, but still want feedback on (positive AND negative).
For Fun: This is really not the forum for critique at all. Just lighten up. AMENDMENT (Cheers for the reminder, Dale): Posters, if your poem is neither fun nor funny, post it somewhere else. If you're not sure if your poem is funny, don't worry, someone will soon tell you.
It could be worse
