I have learn't a new term on here today

I have only been on this site 2 months and already I am obsessed. I have had chats with some great people, The Ravens Haven (my club) Hellon, Poet on the piano, Everlasting, Chelsey, Ulfric, Meme....sorry if I missed anybody

However I have learn't a new term;

'Secret down voting!!!'

Has anybody else experienced this, I was kindly given a 2 today without a comment, my poem then moves from the front page,

So this post is to vent your own frustrations if you have also come across this.

(I am just annoyed that two great people have now wasted a weekly nomination)

over to you........................

Just ignore the voting on your poems.... it may annoy you at first, but then.. you'll get used to it :P

Thanks you are probably right,

nice to have a right moan now and again though

I don't suppose there are secret upvoters?

Ohhhh ....manyyyyyyyy people were victims of this, and I used to get upset when I was younger lol, but then I started to see it from two different aspects:

1) Perhaps they think it's bad, if that's their opinion so be it! But I would appreciate some suggestions or justification -_-

2)My poem is that good! XD lol sometimes its jealousy, sometimes its just how they see it, but what bothers is the fact that they do not justify their vote.

I will be your upvoter, lol, though trust me you won't care about this in a short while. Like not at all, I don't even look at the votes anymore.

Don't let it get to you!

I have experienced that too and when I first did, I was quite disappointed too, especially since that person did not tell me why I received that rating.
I'm positive that all of you would accept that rating more if it came with a comment, at least that is what I'd prefer.

Sometimes I even wish people had to comment to be able to vote for 1 (bad) and 5 (excellent) because both of these are extremes, which are probably not justified half the time and so an explaination would help.

My average voting is 4.8, which is between "good" and "excellent" and as grateful as I am, for every vote I receive I seriously do not believe that I deserve that, to me the rating system might give an idea as to where a poem would be on a scale, but I do not think it is too representative.

You are right Jenni,

We should have to comment or whats the point in having a voting system?

I always comment then vote, I never vote without commenting. I have commented but chosen not to vote because my suggestions would conflict with giving a 5.

I'm pretty sure every has experienced it. We've been trying to get rid of the stupid voting system for ages, it's a big fat joke anyway :)

Everyone is an upvoter - if we were really all 5-writers, we'd be famous ;)

"(I am just annoyed that two great people have now wasted a weekly nomination)"

Why would they have wasted a nomination? Only would've wasted it had you deleted the poem, which would be silly over a vote. The judges don't look at votes, amounts of nominations, who wrote the poem etc (well they aren't supposed to), but are strictly based on the poem itself. :)

"I have commented but chosen not to vote because my suggestions would conflict with giving a 5."

^ Yeah same here, I know that some might misunderstand a 3 or even a 4, so I'd rather not step on anyones toes by just commenting without leaving a vote.

That is an excellent point Britt about us all being upvoters!!!

I wasn't too sure how the judges narrowed down their winners. I thought maybe any under five would be eliminated purely due to the vast amount of nominated poems on here.
Thanks for the clarification.

Nope, when I judged I didn't even look at votes or comments on the poem, or even how many times the poem was nominated.

Yap me too when I judged I never ever loooked at that, and trust me I am sure none of the judges look at that corner of the poem. Not the votes nor the number of nominations.

Yeah Daren no need to be disappointed.. or freak out... or anything....

judges do not look at what surrounds a poem, but what is inside!

That is good to hear, I must admit if I was a judge I would like to make up my own mind and read every poem first.

So I too would ignore the voting score.
If people have nominated it, then the least we can do is read it!!

thanks LP

Poems should never have numbered ratings, or ratings of any kind, especially when the vast majority of this websites users (myself included) are not qualified to properly critique poetry well enough to give it a "rating".

Comments are fine, though I've always said there should be a minimum word count on comments so people can't waste your time with a

"hey nice poem 5/5 hee hee"

Hahah kevin, @ "hey nice poem 5/5 hee hee"

I used to get something like

gr8 poem 5/5!

or Nice !

I used to go to their profile, and paste that same comment on any of their latest poems, but well now I grew up :P :P

I came on here to say... what Britt said. So now I don't have to. But yeah - votes don't count for anything, particularly for judges. In fact, it seems to me that often a poem with lower than a 5 rating can be more interesting to read. They tend to be more divisive, which is always a bit exciting.

Yuuup! Been secretly down voted a lot! Got annoyed at first, now I just ignore it -_-

But I understand your frustration Darren..

I've been, too. Usually it's the more popular poems.

Ignore it.

I'm reminded of "haters gonna hate, potatoes gonna potate". LOL

I've been on here too long to remember if or when it happened but I'm sure it has. At this point of my pnq life, I love getting comments. That's all the matters, the people who voice their opinion and have the loins to do so. (Larry be proud I said loins and not balls! :P ) ....

Anyways, I'm glad everyone cleared that up for you and I hope you'll stay encourage to still write and not worry about it...the regular people who read your work know the truth about the quality of it, no need to even look at votes. There are two things I don't look at on pnq, votes and quotes. . .I just like to read and comment (although I must be honest I do upvote more often then none)

I don't get why people hate short comments.. or one-liners???

I mean we are readers... and we choose how to comment!!

OK...Abed ..I'll answer this because we have a little conflict going on behind the scenes. Your comment said something along the lines of...great senryu..hat's off...I know these aren't the exact words but...I feel, as a stalwart member you should know better..especially with me? I've already questioned this as you know in a previous thread where I have had a praised comment rejected...this comment was only four lines long but it told me something...your comment told me nothing so....I'd rather you didn't bother. You said I've had other one liners that I've let pass and that's true but...it comes down to expectations in the end and...I have had some lovely indepth comments from you in the past so...therefore..when I get something like this...I feel disappointed...truth!

I agree with Hellon on this, perhaps in the past I left stuff like that, but I can't remember to be honest. But I do my best to leave an indepth comment, because I feel like this writer has spent that bla time writing his piece, it would be much bettter to show some respect for their efforts.

Not literal effort, you know what I mean.

Despite that as a writer, I know others would really appreciate it if you show that you have really read their work and tried to understand the message behind, but with one liners, it's like ....I don't know.

IMO...if you don't understand what the poem is about or...you have a question regarding one line or even one word...ask the author. I know I appreciate that much more that...hats off...etc.

When Simon says to an American Idol finalist: WOW, or gives him a standing O, or says Hats-Off, then sits down with no single word... the contestant doesn't demand him for criticism because he/she knows that Simon is overwhelmed...

and I was overwhelmed with your poem.
(not to compare myself to Simon, of course)

I can't believe I'm even answering this..Simon Cowell...makes megga bucks from saying WOW...or not saying WOW...how can you compare american idol to p&q???? youknow what...I don;t even want to know...

Whatever, Hellon...

you make a fuss out of nothing

good day!

Yeah..time to call it quit's I'agree but..

"you make a fuss about nothing".. may I remind you how it started...with your comment..

I don't get why people hate short comments.. or one-liners???

Hellon, are you denying the fact that you make a huge fuss out of nothing? The guy was not asking you. I hate it when you defy people like that. Dont do it with me. I might really go nuts.

Darren, I am the most down-rated member in here. But I know it's silly so...

I agree with Hellon & Nana on the one-liners issue from readers who have much to offer.

On the other hand, Kiko's one liners are often as insightful as anything Don Rickles has ever come up with.

Noura, you really don't need to protect Abed. He's a big boy.

Aboudie, let me explain for you my view of point ? you cannot analyze a performance or a dance the way you can analyze a poem.

What you can extract from poems is much more than what you can extract from a dance or such, it entertains you and touches you, sometimes it goes deeper that Simonwise people :P, would say WOW or what a star...or outstanding, but that's really all you could say to praise something like that. Especially if you felt speechless.

But a poem will make you think, will make you analyze, and feel, and also don't forget that the errors you could counter in poetry cannot be overlooked.

It doesn't mean that one liners are just that useless, no, it's just that longer comments show more appreciation of that poem. But you are Lebanese, convincing you is useless, you stubborn rock head.

Besides, please never compare yourself with Simon or anyone else from those types of shows. You're better than them.

"Haters ganna hate, and if your a hater and you aint got nobody to hate on, feel free to hate on me!" Kat Williams. lol, see it has a compliment, it means they dont think they are has good has you.

I know one shouldn't expect anything in return....

everyone has a taste... and a way of commenting...

I may just like to say Awesome.. or write you something long... it depends;;; and I find it very normal if I see a one line on any of my poems even from those I comment thoroughly on their pieces... each reader has something to say.. be it long or short.

"with awesome [talent] comes awesome responsibility."
Stan Lee

Haha, not always :P

^ that was so Lebanese. lool ;)

LMAO heheh

If you get upset about a comment being too short, take a hard look at yourself in the mirror... You are ridiculous. There are better things to get upset about.
Be grateful someone has acknowledged your poem and bothered to write anything at all. Even a "wow" is better than no wow. If they don't write it, you'll never know they read it! What good does that do you?
Don't be unappreciative.

"Down-voting." So someone on PnQ thinks your fantastically flawless, beautiful poem deserves less than a 5/5. What a villain! If you have any leads on these PnQ poets dishing out dirty little 4's and 3's and, *gasp*, 2's and 1's, please PM me so I can properly reprimand them.
Just kidding.
In all seriousness though, why does voting less than a 5 have a derogatory term attached to it? "Down-voting"? What? If we're going to use it in PnQ lingo, fine, then I think voting 5/5 on any poem you semi-like should be called "up-voting," and be considered equally bad if we want to achieve a realistic measure of quality.
Let's take away these excessive terms and call it voting. That's all it is after all, and I hope we can agree that the voting system is bogus and should be disregarded until it can be modified/removed.

Let me know when something worth being upset about happens :)

GO JANEEEE!!! :D

Woo hoo!

I think myself and LP have just had our arses slapped by silver shoes.

I promise not to be a naughty winge bag again...
sorry!!!

****skulks into corner, tail between his legs still rubbing his arse because it hurt, sits down faces the wall and tries to write a limerick*****