bio disclosure

background info on poets not a good idea as it tends to bias the reader. age, location, sign, gender not germane to the poem itself. seems as if our (subconscious) focus is infected, to a degree, with this distraction and may lend itself to a cliqueish skew of the ratings.

Re: bio disclosure

Thank you for your suggestion!

We are currently working on ways so poets can make their profiles private.

Re: bio disclosure

People do tend to allow themselves to become biased. Just a few days ago I was send a private message apologizing to me because someone thought my ratings were high because of my bio until he read my work. But I can tell you I have made friends on this site already, still I will rate according to each poem on its merit and nothing else! ~Sara

Last edited by raggedypoet 03-30-2009 at 02:09:57 AM

Re: bio disclosure

The more I think of it - some might be influenced by this, whether for good or bad. I hardly ever read a poets bio, until after I have read some their works.

Re: bio disclosure

I really do hate to sound sexist, but...................
pictures do not affect ME, and I have no problem knowing a poet's age - in fact,
sometimes it can help me (not to be bias for or against) understand the extent of
life experience and then translate that understanding to emotional depth or lack thereof and use of language.

The only visual I care about is what the poetry contains.