This is a Civilized Place for Writing Discussions

Kindness and Respect

Our community thrives on positivity and mutual respect. We encourage all members to foster a supportive atmosphere where creativity can flourish. To achieve this, we ask that you:

  • Be Kind and Civil: Treat others with kindness and consideration. Always approach discussions and interactions with empathy, understanding that everyone has their own perspectives and experiences.

  • Avoid Hurtful Language: We do not tolerate any form of hateful, discriminatory, or derogatory language. This includes personal attacks, insults, or any language that could be deemed offensive. Disagreements are natural, but let’s express them constructively. If you are breaking this rule, you may be removed from the community without a refund.

  • Collective Responsibility: Everyone in this community plays a role in maintaining a healthy environment. Support your fellow members by upholding these guidelines and engaging positively.

  • Stay on Topic: To keep our discussions focused and relevant, please limit conversations to writing, reading, and creativity. This helps us maintain a space that is dedicated to shared interests and constructive dialogue.

Let’s work together to create an inclusive and inspiring community where everyone feels welcome to share their thoughts and ideas!

Giving Constructive Feedback

Feedback is an essential part of the creative process, and we encourage members to share their insights in a way that supports and uplifts each other. To ensure that your feedback is helpful and respectful, please keep the following guidelines in mind:

  • Respect Different Tastes: Remember that everyone has unique preferences and styles. Just because a piece doesn’t resonate with you doesn’t mean it’s “wrong.” Approach each work with an open mind and acknowledge the diversity of artistic expression.

  • Consider the Genre: Before leaving a comment, take a moment to consider whether the genre aligns with your own interests. If it’s not a genre you enjoy, you might want to refrain from commenting altogether, as your feedback might not be relevant.

  • Be Constructive: Focus on providing constructive criticism rather than just pointing out flaws. Highlight what works in the piece, and offer specific suggestions on how the writing could improve. Your aim should be to foster growth and creativity.

  • Respect Specific Requests: If the writer has asked for specific feedback on certain aspects of their work, make sure to honor that request. Provide insights that directly address their questions while being polite and supportive.

  • Be Mindful of Tone: The way feedback is communicated can greatly impact how it is received. Choose your words carefully to convey your thoughts respectfully and kindly. Aim for a tone that encourages dialogue rather than defensiveness.

  • Encourage Growth: Celebrate the effort that goes into writing and recognize that every piece is a step in a writer’s journey. Encourage fellow writers to keep exploring and developing their craft.

Let’s create a nurturing environment where constructive feedback helps everyone grow and thrive in their writing endeavors!

Improve the Discussion

Help us make this a great place for discussion by always adding something positive to the discussion, however small. If you are not sure your post adds to the conversation, think over what you want to say and try again later.

One way to improve the discussion is by discovering ones that are already happening. Spend time browsing the topics here before replying or starting your own, and you’ll have a better chance of meeting others who share your interests.

Use the search feature to search for a topic before posting to avoid duplicate conversations and topics.

Be Agreeable, Even When You Disagree

You may wish to respond by disagreeing. That’s fine. But remember to criticize ideas, not people. Please avoid:

  • Name-calling
  • Ad hominem attacks
  • Responding to a post’s tone instead of its actual content
  • Knee-jerk contradiction

Instead, provide thoughtful insights that improve the conversation.

Your Participation Counts

The conversations we have here set the tone for every new arrival. Help us influence the future of this community by choosing to engage in discussions that make this forum an interesting place to be — and avoiding those that do not.

Don’t hesitate to join discussions, ask questions, or share your work! The more we interact, the richer our community becomes.

Let’s leave our community better than we found it.

If You See a Problem, Flag It

Moderators have special authority; they are responsible for this forum. But so are you. With your help, moderators can be community facilitators, not just janitors or police.

When you see bad behavior, don’t reply. Replying encourages bad behavior by acknowledging it, consumes your energy, and wastes everyone’s time. Just flag it. If enough flags accrue, action will be taken, either automatically or by moderator intervention.

In order to maintain our community, moderators reserve the right to remove any content and any user account for any reason at any time. Moderators do not preview new posts; the moderators and site operators take no responsibility for any content posted by the community.

Always Be Civil

Nothing sabotages a healthy conversation like rudeness:

  • Be civil. Don’t post anything that a reasonable person would consider offensive, abusive, or hate speech.
  • Keep it clean. Don’t post anything obscene or sexually explicit.
  • Respect each other. Don’t harass or grief anyone, impersonate people, or expose their private information.
  • Respect our forum. Don’t post spam or otherwise vandalize the forum.

These are not concrete terms with precise definitions — avoid even the appearance of any of these things. If you’re unsure, ask yourself how you would feel if your post was featured on the front page of a major news site.

This is a public forum, and search engines index these discussions. Keep the language, links, and images safe for family and friends.

Post Only Your Own Stuff & No Stealing

You may not post anything digital that belongs to someone else without permission. You may not post descriptions of, links to, or methods for stealing someone’s intellectual property (software, video, audio, images), or for breaking any other law.

Anything posted in this group by a writer should be considered copyrighted by that poster. Users posting in this group are trusting that other community members will respect their ownership of their work…do not break that trust. Do not steal the work of others.

Do not share others’ work outside the community without permission (even if you credit them), especially if they have shared something personal or unfinished.

Keep It Tidy

Make the effort to put things in the right place, so that we can spend more time discussing and less cleaning up. So:

  • Don’t start a topic in the wrong category; please read the category definitions.
  • Don’t cross-post the same thing in multiple topics.
  • Don’t divert a topic by changing it midstream.

Powered by You

This site is operated by your friendly moderator team and you, the community. If you have any further questions about how things should work here, open a new topic in Site Feedback and let’s discuss! If there’s a critical or urgent issue that can’t be handled by a meta topic or flag, contact the moderators.

  • Evolving Guidelines: These guidelines are living documents. We welcome feedback and suggestions to improve our community standards and practices.