ABPA - Australian Bush Poets Association

Hi Forum Users

The ABPA Committee has asked me to advise that Forum maintenance was carried out successfully over the past weekend and everything is now up and running again.

Updated Forum rules have been posted on the main ABPA website. For your convenience, here is a transcript of what has been added:

The purpose of the ABPA Forum is to encourage constructive and informative discussion about poetry and closely related subjects in a spirit of mutual respect and tolerance.

The ABPA Forum runs under the auspices of the ABPA. The ABPA owns and is legally responsible and liable for all information and contributors’ comments. Individual contributors are likewise responsible and legally liable for posts. Therefore the ABPA reserves the right to monitor and administer the Forum in such a way that protects all users as well as ABPA officials and members. Posts will be removed if deemed to be offensive, inflammatory or in any way derogatory to the ABPA, the ABPA Committee or individuals. It is expected that this position be respected by all, for the benefit of all.

Use of the ABPA Forum assumes acceptance of the above position.

Forum rules and guidelines including the above information will remain on permanent display here: http://www.abpa.org.au/forum.html

Cheers
Shelley

So do we actually have a site administrator ? If not I think we need to appoint one !



Bob

Thanks for that Shelley.

And just a passing thought. I assume that evaluation of derogatory remarks to any individual includes ; remarks about particular officials of the Australian Government or representatives of public arts funding bodies, suggesting or implying, without evidence, that they are acting dishonestly or with malice or that they are unsuitable in their office due to mental instability.

Although I think that ideas and public policy matters are fair game to the verse writers pen.

Hi Neville

Thanks for your feedback. I am not a moderator or administrator, so it won't be my decision to remove offending posts - but you are correct in your assumption. As stated, the intended spirit of this forum is to be "constructive and informative". As I'm sure you'd agree, posts verging on libellous toward anyone at all have no place here.

Cheers
Shelley

On the whole, the forum runs very smoothly without any interference from administrators or moderators. The most we usually have to do is move something to a more appropriate area. I can only recall a handful of times in the last several years that editing or removal of posts has taken place - and more recently a topic was locked.

Just remember, poems need to be suitable for primary school age children - or old ladies - they do come here looking for poems and they do not have to log-in to view poems. Secondly, respect the views of others. The world can read this forum - you and your words are on display.

Heather

In answer to an enquirer. If you think your grandmother would be offended, then it's probably not suitable for old ladies! That's not to say that it might not be suitable in a different forum, such as a pub or adult venue!

I was recently at a festival where I cringed at some of the language coming out of a "poet's" mouth - at 8am in the morning things such as "ar.. crack" does nothing for my breakfast appetite and is not something I would want my four year old grand daughter to hear. It wasn't funny, it wasn't appropriate, it was just crass. But, the night before, there were some very funny, cheeky poems and they went down very well with the adult audience.

So you don't want tradie poems prior to breakfast Heather That cracks me up - mind you getting a tradie before breakfast these days is becoming increasingly hard. I have always thought that this forum was one of the better ones by a mile - there are some out there that make you cringe a dozen times a day and they seem to be infested with trolls. We have rarely had a similar problem here which proves IMO that poets are practical and personable people and have no need to resort to slanging matches or verbal abuse because being wordsmiths we are all a dab hand with the quick and often clever repartee and the thrust and parry of the English language - something that other sites are not privy to.

No Maureen, I'm not partial You are right, this forum has run very smoothly for many years. I've been a moderator for about six years and recognise that the majority of people here are reasonable adults with varying views and ways of voicing their opinions. We certainly have some different characters here. At times conversations become a bit warm due to those varying opinions but almost without exception, there is acceptance of the views of others and their right to air them. There are times when the participants agree to disagree and usually the heat goes out of such conversations if you allow them to run their course. I have edited, deleted and locked topics - usually in consultation with either the poet concerned or another moderator but this is rarely needed. Most recently, Stephen posted a poem which he himself was unsure of and he was good enough to contact me and query its suitability, and after consultation, he removed it (I was without computer at the time).

Heather

Well as I said Heather - we are reasonable adults who have mastered the art of conversation and problem solving