Vanity Poetry Site for Rank Amateurs. Review on Allpoetry

Allpoetry.com is a vanity poetry site designed for beginner and amateur poets. The site has rules, though they are haphazardly enforced by the site's owner/moderators. It is more social network than poetry site as one doesn't typically get comments or likes unless he or she is socially active, whether it be by joining groups or making a lot of comments on others' work. Though there are links to classic poets and poetry, the site owner pushes modern free verse and degrades rhyming poetry as passe.

A large percentage of site members are relatively illiterate concerning poetic forms, elements, and devices, and the owner uses an algorithm to grade people's poetry. Many members have been indoctrinated to believe that following the algorithm will make them better writers.

There are contests on the site, but they are largely run by novice poets who have little to no knowledge of what makes a poem good by literary standards. Poor writes are often awarded in these contests, which causes a proliferation of more poor writes. The contest page is unmoderated, and many contests are run merely to award the host's friends and favorites. Poetry classes are taught, but none of the instructors have the prerequisite credentials to do so. The site makes money by charging membership fees and selling vanity poetry anthologies. The owner chooses poems from the site for the book, then charges the poets for copies of it. Many are fooled, believing they are being published in a credible forum, and purchase these books.

Plagiarism runs rampant on Allpoetry, and members will literally steal other members' work and published works by well known authors as their own.

In my time on the site, I found a few members who wrote well, but most have no interest in making any improvement. If they did, the site lacks the tools to help them. (I would say the average member writes at no more than a 6th grade reading level.) There is also a cult mentality, especially in larger groups. The site is also rather addictive. Even though you hate how it is run, it is hard to leave because people believe that little feedback is better than none. It appears to be a haven for the mentally ill, as well.

As for feedback, negative feedback is frowned upon and may get you in a jam with the moderators or site owner. There are trolls on the site who are generally allowed to do as they please. The owner seems to be afraid of taking any real punitive action for fear of losing membership dues. Service and support is very slow in coming, and is often met with excuses or ineffective action by the owner/moderators.

In conclusion, no serious seasoned writer would purposefully become a member of this site.