TPS Open Mic ---> Forum | Toronto Poetry Slam

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Tue, 2012-07-10 11:41

likealion

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Joined: 2007-11-22

TPS Open Mic ---> Forum

Is it just me or has the activity on the site dramatically dropped since the new look came out? This site used to be a hub of communication for poets from Vancouver to Ottawa to Halifax and everywhere in between. There used to be real conversations going on and I used to enjoy checking it atleast once a week. Now, I open it up and the threads are dominated by Skummilk and David Tripp and SPAM. I'm very happy to see we still have poets posting things, but what's up with the spammers and phishers?

I'd hate to say it and be "that guy" but the site kinda sucks now. It's a dead forum. It's almost like a dedicated poetry blog for Skummilk and David Tripp (believe me, I am not knocking you guys). A forum is supposed to spark discussion and be a place where people share ideas and works in progress. And there is almost nothing going on here.

I think we need to look at this and try and figure out how this could have happened. What made the torontopoetryslam.com Open Mic fall out of people's minds? Let's try to get it active again, because every time I open up the page now it just looks depressing as sh!t because I know what it was before.

Am I the only one who feels this way?

Tue, 2012-07-10 19:53

Skummilk

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Joined: 2010-03-10

No you're not the only one that feels that way, that's why I keep posting shit, so maybe someone will comment on it, or post their own work. It is sad about the spambot invasion, but if there was sufficient poetic activity the spambots would be drowned in the exchanging of ideas and what have you.

seems the only way to bring it back to what it was, is to keep posting, and pester people to post. and that's what I'll keep doing.

Tue, 2012-07-10 19:53

Skummilk

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Joined: 2010-03-10

double post and I can't delete posts it seems.

Wed, 2012-07-11 10:34

BigDeal

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Joined: 2006-11-10

Thanks for the thoughts Yogi. I have to lay some blame on myself for not being vigilant enough to clean up the forum, it's just one more thing I gots to do in an already-busy life of an artistic director/host. I feel like the spam is somewhat overwhelming but maybe I'll reach out to our webmaster to see if you or Skum can get more powers to clean up the site, so we can all chip in, thoughts?

I also heard from people such as Tomy that it was tough to sign in, to sign up for an account, it was kind of buggy. But I've seen many people post here OK, so let me know if you guys experience any problems logging into the forum.

As for this being a hub that it once was, not sure if that's possible, since a lot of discussion I see is happening on Facebook, in groups like Make Spoken Word Go Viral or Spoken Word Canada. Think that's better for people? A forum requires you to sign in, and some way think it's only TO people on this forum, for better or worse.

And I don't do a lot of promotion for the forum, but I could start...and probably think I should.

Sat, 2012-07-21 12:33

Wandering Bark

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Joined: 2010-05-27

One of my biggest problems with the new site's format is that when you reply you're only shown the original post, not the replies! It's hard to have a discussion when you can't look back at what you're replying to. The site also edits my work without permission, taking visual pieces and rendering them lame.

The new site was also implimented at the time twitter took over as the favorite social site...people spend a lot more time there, and on facebook (as Big Deal mentioned).

For me, personally, I've had no trouble posting, but there are a lot of glitches that would stifle the interest of 'user-freindly' types. I'm also way too busy spring through early summer to do much of any on-line interacting. But here's hoping the forum can get back to the glory days!

One thing I might suggest is to move the 'In the Forum' section to the top of the home page...people don't come to the website to read twitter feeds!

Wed, 2012-07-25 10:54

Duffman

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Joined: 2008-02-17

I feel everything you said Yogi. I actually used to check this forum almost daily. I was looking for the latest and greatest that was going on.

As it's been said already, most of the 'hype' or new worthy items have moved to Facebook/Twitter. Good or bad that's the way it is.

For me it's been the changes in my own life that have kept me busy. However, the spambots do make it annoying. As for logging in, it was confusing for people trying to reactivate accounts from the old version.

Perhaps when promoting the new workshops you could encourage people who can't make it out to workshop their work here?

Whatever happened to the pre-interview with the features? The few that were posted back in the day were cool. It doesn't take much to copy & paste them into a post.

I think the one hold back is that the forum is more for those poets who like the page as well as the stage. It's just the nature of the medium of a forum.

Sat, 2012-08-04 10:58

Wandering Bark

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Joined: 2010-05-27

Again, I wanted to reply to Duffman's post, but when I get to the reply page I'm shown only Likealion's original piece! And for some strange reason (nudge nudge, wink wink) my short term memory is disfunctional right now.

Oh well.

Toronto Poetry Slam

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