Contact us / Frequently Asked Questions

What's the goal of All Poetry? How do you make money?

• Our mission is to encourage a love of poetry by both amateurs and experts
• You can share your poetry, favorite/comment on other poems, and read the web's best poetry
• To promote amazing poetry in our "Picks" section on the front page
• In-depth critiques are encouraged to help each other on the path to traditional publication
• Fun activities like contests, "levels", and "points" help those into games, but are optional

This site is here because of the generous contributions of members. You can subscribe with monthly payments at a silver or gold level, and get nice features as well. Visit our store for details. Supporting helps pay for the site development, servers, and advertising.

Who is behind All Poetry?

Hi, I'm Kevin. I started allpoetry in 1999 and work full-time on the site as a community manager, programmer, designer, and customer service person. I'm so proud of our vibrant community - thanks for joining us! If you want to get in touch with me, send me a message from my profile page.

How do I cancel a paid membership subscription?

Click the gear icon at the top of the page then choose "Subscription plan" - there's a cancel link at the top. You can cancel anytime and not lose any time you've paid for.

How do I find...

• Your profile + stories — click your name at the top of the page.
• Rate comments — click the gear icon at the top of the page, then click "Rate comments".
• A contest you entered — Click Contests, then look for "My Bookmarks" on the right. Contests you enter are automatically added to your bookmarks.
• Purchase history — click the gear icon at the top of the page then choose "Subscription plan"

How do I change my name, my copyright real name, email, biography?

• Click the gear icon at the top of the page then choose "Edit Settings".

What are points - how do I get them, how do I use them?

• Earning - You earn points when authors rate your comments - 50 points per "star".
• Spending - When you go to rate your comments (link in your profile menu), the first star is free, but additional ones cost you 50 points each - so you can use points to award people extra.
• Points are also used in our fun 'Contests' area - host a contest with your points, or win big!
• Paid memberships are not available with points - we intentionally separate "community goodwill" (points) from financial support of the site.

There's a detailed help page about points.

Is there an app for iphone / android?

What are strong / weak words? What is Autorank?

With help from some machine learning based on computer-science research papers, we analyzed millions of professional and amateur poems.

Certain things stuck out - for example, some strongly-visual words like "tractor" were much more common among professional poems than abstract words like "love". This corresponds with the "show don't tell" poetry mantra.

Using these tendencies, we try to "autorank" poems in a few places on the site. This is not for everyone and is optional, but more-professional-type poems tend to be in the first few pages of a list.

What is "Show, Don't Tell"

Beginning poets often write directly about their feelings. Professional poets use descriptions of physical things to create those feelings in the reader instead.

For example - instead of "I touched her soul deeply", using physical descriptions could talk about the detailed flecks of color in her eyes, the whispers of a specific moment, re-creating those feelings for readers. Showing, not telling, us the emotions.

How can I win gold membership for being one of the top commentors of the day for rated comments?

Each day, of poets with the most rated comments at least 50 letters long, 1st place wins a week of gold membership, and 2nd and 3rd place a week of silver. Today:

CenturionAD (1), Myndshadow (1), David W Brown (1), Wildeman (1) • History

Your rated count today: 0. Comments need to be rated by the story author to count.

How do I get more readers?

It's tough when you're first getting started. We suggest the trade comments tab on the front page and and joining a small group for critiques. You could also try the chatroom to find someone to trade reads.

Long term - get involved and connect with other poets by writing nice comments and connecting to say hi or ask questions in messages. You'll find people will start to discover your work soon. / 'Eventually you'll build some favorites + fans that you share critiques with on a regular basis.

Can I add poems that contain adult material?

How are poems chosen for the Picks?

How are popular poems measured?

Can I make a living writing poems?

Unfortunately, you will never be able to make a living writing poems. A published poem in a top-tier journal will earn you a few hundred dollars, which at best will happen every few years. We're working to make poetry more accessible and enjoyable to everyone, but there's a long way to go.

Teaching poetry at a local college or school can be one way to make a living doing what you love.

How are is 'Trending' list chosen?

What are the rules?

What constitutes spam in the community?

Spam is anything repetitive - sending the same message to multiple people, adding comments with no content, or anything that abuses the features of the site to promote a business or product.

We have some limits on the site to help limit spammers from messaging or commenting too fast before we can catch them. Any members caught spamming are first warned, then banned if it continues.

Who runs contests? Are there any rules?

Contests are run by members using points, and we do not regulate whether rules are followed, or if they are judged as promised. The two main rules are they can't require you to comment on any specific person's poem, and can't be just to hand out trophies. Contests left un-judged more than 3 weeks will be judged by volunteers, and you may be fined points.

How do I give polite feedback about a poem?

How can I ignore someone?

If someone is harassing you, or you find their work offensive for some reason, you can ignore/block them. Once ignored, they cannot comment on your work or send you a messages, and usually are unable to view it as well. Their work will be hidden from you throughout the site as well.

To block someone, click the gear icon at the top right of the screen and choose "Favorites & Ignores". Click "Ignores", and enter their name at the bottom of that page.

What is the adult 'pub' forum, and why are people so mean there?

It's special, and we don't recommend you go there. Poets are a strong-feeling bunch, and we hit on an idea a few years back that made (most of) the site a much calmer place.

The "pub" is a place where moderators intentionally don't go, and many rules don't apply. If 3+ people complain about a post in it, we'll still take action - direct harassment isn't allowed still, but if we do so, we usually ban everyone involved from the forums for a time. We call this the bartender throwing people out of the bar for having a fight - he doesn't care who started it.

In the chatroom, can I stop people behaving poorly?

Our chatroom is moderated by the members - if you see someone saying inappropriate things (rp sexual encounters, attacking other members), hold your mouse over that line and click "report". We'll automatically ban them once a few people make a complaint about a user. If you are banned and think there was not reason, please contact us and we'll look into the complaints made.

How do I copyright my poems?

In USA, copyright is automatically granted to the author of an original work. Registration is not necessary. Done!

You may optionally register your copyright with the government for $65/item + 10 months. We do not recommend this, though it is required before a lawsuit can be filed. We've never heard of a lawsuit having gone forward with any of our members - see below for how we handle the very rare case of plagarism.

Do you own my poetry?

No way! Our legal terms of use only require the right to "use" your work so we can show it on our website.

If I post my poem on All Poetry, can I still post it elsewhere?

Can someone steal my poems?

We've found theft is very rare, and upon confrontation it is removed voluntarily. We step in when necessary.

It's easy to copy and paste work without your permission. There are things we could do to limit copying text, but they are very easy to get around and would limit people trying to copy a line while making comments.

Someone shared one of my poems as their own! What can I do?

In the rare instance you see someone copying your work on our site - we take this very seriously. Please use the "contact" link in the bottom left to let us know with a link to the original and copy.

Will a print publication reject me for having a poem posted online?

It depends on the publisher. Some members mark their work for "registered users only" in the Profile -> edit -> display settings for this reason - this will also hide the title of the work from google. It still takes google ~2 weeks to remove deleted or hidden items from their searches. Some members ignore it and remove a work only if it gets accepted.