Why do so many first-time commenters comb through old threads and pick ones that the OP has never returned to?  We're forever seeing recent threads with a good chance of reader/writer interaction buried because newbies are choosing ones from way back, often poems that have several comments on them but no reply or intention of workshopping from the writer.  

My theory is that maybe you're afraid of having people argue with your critique of their poem, or worried about offending someone.  Am I way off here?

When I first started critiquing on poetry sites I'd look for older posts which didn't have any comments on them, just because I thought it would be nice to give critique to someone who might feel ignored.

Posts with no comments I understand and most definitely applaud. That's just doing the nice thing.

It's these ones with dozens of comments, none of which are so much as a thank you from the OP, that confound me.

Do the newbie critiques on these old unattended posts tend to be long or quite short and inconsequential?

I've noticed this too. I know for me it was more difficult to post my first crit than my first poem. And I think that's pretty common. I probably browsed the site a long time before sticking my oar in. A new member may not realize that the recent threads are more "relevant" and might browse into the distant past looking for something they feel they have an opinion on. Poets are paranoid. (Ya, I mean you!) I think this is sometimes a matter of process for the newbie, not necessarily avoidance.
Paul

i suspect it's a confidence thing. and unless there are going to be more rules to socially engineer a certain personality type out of the pigpen gene pool, i suppose we'll all have to just suck it up. . . or, failing that, take them out back and kick fuck out of 'em until they conform. ACHTUNG! ACHTUNG! zee time haz com for zee veak to pay zee gas man!

This might be a little off-topic, but is there a way to remove red as a color option for non-mods? I've been noticing alot of new users drawing themselves to that color when critting and I dont know, to me it seems to detract from the few mod posts that are deliberately written in red to make a point.
Like
Listen to what I'm saying or else!
Or
Listen to what I'm saying or else!

Am I the only one that senses an authoritative tone with the color or am I just crazy 

I wish... the only thing we can do is change it when we see it. Yep, it is indeed an attempt at authority. I only ever pull out the red pen when I'm really pissed off

I used to PM a suggestion to use any other color because it looks like the post is modded up but now I just let it slide. I think some people just use it for strong contrast, and they haven't read enough around the site to realize mods use it. If they stick with the site they usually realize on their own and if they don't stick it doesn't matter.

Maybe mods should use bold red and add a little voice recording yelling Aarrrgg, you have moved me to action, stop now!!  

Listen to me or else!

Yup. That looks like the hand of God right there. ^^^

I'm gonna start critting everything in pink 

And btw, I feel blessed to have never made Leanne pull her red pen out on me 

Or we could use a font similar to Ray's fave. He swore he'd never red pen, right before he took a year off. He'd be quite appalled if he came back and the /mod notes looked like he'd written them.

we could write it in blood

we could say something in the rules but i'm not keen on it as many newbs can't even understand the no feedback no post rule

(03-31-2016, 06:37 PM)billy Wrote:  we could write it in blood

Ha, my first thought was to find a font with drips but our editor is pretty limited, which is fine with me. Impersonating ray might be more satisfying anyway.

(03-31-2016, 06:38 PM)billy Wrote:  we could say something in the rules but i'm not keen on it as many newbs can't even understand the no feedback no post rule

nah, it's not that big a deal. When I'm on another site and use bold for crit because that's what I'm used to they probably say What's her problem? I don't care how members crit as long as they do it.

Blood font! Blood font! Blood f- ah fuck it

(03-31-2016, 04:52 AM)Tiger the Lion Wrote:  I've noticed this too. I know for me it was more difficult to post my first crit than my first poem. And I think that's pretty common. I probably browsed the site a long time before sticking my oar in. A new member may not realize that the recent threads are more "relevant" and might browse into the distant past looking for something they feel they have an opinion on. Poets are paranoid. (Ya, I mean you!) I think this is sometimes a matter of process for the newbie, not necessarily avoidance.
Paul

I think this is true and then once the thread is bumped we really can't expect the newb to check the OP date or all the other posts. They read a poem and were moved to comment. If they've tried to be helpful that's pretty much all we can ask.

I think the only way to avoid it is to inactivate threads after a fixed period of time but I don't think it happens often enough to be worth the effort. We could red pen the OP once it's bumped to let readers know the OP seems to have lost interest.

(03-31-2016, 03:58 PM)Weeded Wrote:  This might be a little off-topic, but is there a way to remove red as a color option for non-mods? I've been noticing alot of new users drawing themselves to that color when critting and I dont know, to me it seems to detract from the few mod posts that are deliberately written in red to make a point.
Like
Listen to what I'm saying or else!
Or
Listen to what I'm saying or else!

Am I the only one that senses an authoritative tone with the color or am I just crazy 

ooooh, I ain't never thot about using the red color to settle disputes. This is gonna make life soooo much. easier.


Your critiquing it wrong, my pome is a masterpiece! nub.


mmmmm.

(03-31-2016, 08:41 PM)Qdeathstar Wrote:  

(03-31-2016, 03:58 PM)Weeded Wrote:  This might be a little off-topic, but is there a way to remove red as a color option for non-mods? I've been noticing alot of new users drawing themselves to that color when critting and I dont know, to me it seems to detract from the few mod posts that are deliberately written in red to make a point.
Like
Listen to what I'm saying or else!
Or
Listen to what I'm saying or else!

Am I the only one that senses an authoritative tone with the color or am I just crazy 

ooooh, I ain't never thot about using the red color to settle disputes. This is gonna make life soooo much. easier.


Your critiquing it wrong, my pome is a masterpiece! nub.


mmmmm.

BAN!!!

(03-31-2016, 05:19 AM)shemthepenman Wrote:  i suspect it's a confidence thing. and unless there are going to be more rules to socially engineer a certain personality type out of the pigpen gene pool, i suppose we'll all have to just suck it up. . . or, failing that, take them out back and kick fuck out of 'em until they conform. ACHTUNG! ACHTUNG! zee time haz com for zee veak to pay zee gas man!

And I thought we were calling PigPen newbies Pewbies?

I am still learning how to critique. So I suppose I'm worried about doing something wrong and of course, offending someone. It brings out the nerves in a person lol.