Is is safe?

Question

I see people put their poetry up and there is no way knowing that the writer's work could not be used. I have been wanting some criticisms for my work. Where if not here, would be a place for me to let people review my poetry without it being in danger of copyright?

Answer 1

Yes, it is as safe here as anywhere. First of all, if you're putting a poem up here for review, you must realize that it's probably not in its finished form. However, once you put it down on paper, it has an intrinsic "copyright", in other words, once you write down your poem, it is automatically copyrighted. All you need to do is to keep a copy of your poem and put a date on it. If someone makes money on one of your poems, you can go get a lawyer and show that you had the poem before the other poet. If you keep a collection of poems, and they all have dates, chances are you'll be able to prove your case. Understand this: no single poem will make you famous, or rich, and the lawyers who review copyright violations are very good at getting experts to review works that may be contested.

So, if you post and someone copies your poem or tries to pass it off as their own, the best way to handle it is just to "say something"...let others know that the poem being shown is NOT the property of the poet posting it...the result will be that the guilty poet will probably never show his or her face in poetry circles for quite some time. Meanwhile, you still "own" the poem, even if they tried to pass it off as their own.

So, please post if you want comments, Yahoo Answers is as safe as any place and you'll get a number of replies to anything you write.

One more thing, though: please try to make sure that the poem you post is in as finished a form as possible...don't post poems with words spelled wrong and say it's "just a draft". If you post, be kind to our eyes and give us your best attempt...and we'll do our best to give you honest comments in return.

Answer 2

People can always steal other people's work--even when it's published in magazines. Follow the link below and read the question and best answer given by TD Euwaite. He gives a complete answer. You don't need to be afraid. Oh, and if you haven't read TD's poetry he's very good.

Do what you're comfortable with, but if you do want to share your work, I look forward to reading it.

Take care.

Answer 3

I don't know about anybody else but I am too invested in progressing my own work to co-opt somebody else's. I keep all of the comments I receive from YA posters that relate to my writing. I s'pose that's one way to safe guard my ownership...

Ah well...we'd love to see you post! It's always good to have a new voice in the neighborhood.

Answer 4

There are some not too bright people, too -- those who would bother stealing poems of the others that post here . . .


It is not going to happen, dear, and even if it did it wouldn't matter. Once/if ever you are writing well enough that anyone would want to steal your work, I bet you won't be posting it here anymore.

Answer 5

There are some really mean people here.