Gather garbage

Here's why I left Gather. I just felt I was being submerged in this effluvia, and could no longer take it. People would knock up some absolute drivel Haiku, 17 syllables, and post those 17 syllables to the following groups, many of which are just chasing points, and many of which have nothing to do whatsoever with Haiku or poetry. Nevertheless, when multiple copies of this shit arrives there, it receives 10 points from everyone who reads it (which seems like house rules there. Anyone who awards a 9 or an 8 is regarded as a pariah. Even outright Spam gets 10 / 10 from readers, which gives you an indication of the general mentality of the posters there. I gave some particularly low grade Haiku a 4 out of 10, and then found that all MY pieces were pursued down the line by this guy's pals, and given 1 / 10 regardless of their quality.  Gather - it's that kind of place. If ever there was need of some kind of pruning mechanism, here it is. When I left this overgrown, stinking dump, I was asked nicely by one of the managers as to why. And I told them the above. Also I am suspicious that the site is picked over by professionals who look for the .001% of contributions that can be stolen, changed slightly and put out as their own work.

I know that Newsgroups USED to be like this, but that several years ago, there was an excellent directive made to the effect that no one could cross post to more than 5 groups. And frankly that's plenty. Can anyone really look at the absurd list above and tell me that there is anything to be gained by having literally hundreds of crossposts to groups, many of which are simply mirrors of mirrors of mirrors?

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February 20, 2007 05:43 PM EST (Updated: February 27, 2007 05:37 PM EST) to groups: poetry lover, The Intellectual Activist, Word Painting, Living Healthy, Nonconformity, Road Not Taken, Independent Bent, YoungBloods 'n YoungLove, Women Wise, Prayer, The Dharmic Gathering, Pains and Gains, We Can Make a Difference, Psychology in Life, deZengo The Art of Beautiful Living, deMusings on Life, Living a sustainable life, The Renewed Activist, Love, Our Soul Journey, Ethics and Life, PEACE CULTURE, Health Talk, Parables and other Life Lessons, The Tree of Life, Women's Health, Walk this Journey, Ethics & Life, The Circle of Life, Things that make you go hmmm..., Virtual Muse, Meditation, Christian Prayer, Campaign for Love & Forgiveness, Gathering Meditations, promoting creativity, Female Power, Online Social Networks, Menopause, Network your Self Worth, Choice Theory, Reality Therapy, and Lead Management Discussion, Life's Kinks, Spiritual Living, The Emotional Support System, Just Because, Live Informed, Success in Healing/Wellness, Healthy Living 101, Natural Healing, write what you feel right, Mastectomy Support Group, Enlighten Me, A Woman's life, Biblical healing, actualization, Anti-aging, beauty & health, Psychobabble, Philosophy on Gather, Human Behavior in Public and Private, Minds Eye, View Point, Psychology and related topics, Thoughts Of The Day..., Independent Minds, The Universal Prayer & Positive Energy Group, Deep Well, THE TRUTH, Living in God's Grace, Live and Let Live, Spiritual Poems, Creative Minds Thinking, Visionary Arts and Minds, KindredSpirits, Poetry Express, Poet's Passion, Haiku U, Sleepy Meadow, Poetry By Us, poetrygroup, Stuff, poetryfromtheheart, Just Write!, Lovers of Poetry, Post what doesn't FIT anywhere else!, The Melting Pot Short Form Writing Group, No Fighting, Whining or Putting Things Down, Poetic expressions, It's all about the writing..., Deep Emotions, Poetically Incorrect, Survivor's Forum, The Writers Cove, short verse, tanka, essays and cinquain, muse-inspiration-talk-listen and be heard, Haiga Poetry, Saydoandpostwhatchuwonna, Gatherism, Writing from the Heart, The Posting Station, whenwewriteweshine, What Was I Thinking?, Poetry, Short Stories, and Lyrics, The Writers Block, birdsongs, The Daily Skew, I JUST WANT TO WRITE, Faith Based Publishing, It kinda hurts..., Writer's ken, Christian Chatter, Writers Review, Deep Thinkers 2, Unforgiving, Unexpecting, Unsent Letters, Gather In Mourning, Poetry from the Heart, Surviving Domestic Violence, This changed my life, Harmony Garden, Network of Spiritual Healing and Prayer, Born Philosopher's, We are Women of Faith, Sharing THE Love, life expirences, Universal Faith Fellowship, god talk, Well Being Now, Fitly Spoken, Random Musings, First Time Writers., The Poetry Review, What's on your Mind, haiku, Confused about which/what article to post where? Post it here!, Writers and Poets, originalpoetryaspirants, Poets Pavilion, Poetry writing, THE PLACE TO VENT AND JUST TALK ABOUT THINGS., Experimental poetry, Writing for Inner Peace, First Write It, Then Post It, Southern Life, Poetry For All, Amateurs, Newbies, Rookies, and Friends, Creative Action Group, Just Poetry, Whatever's Clever, The Virtual Workshop, The Poetry Society, Poetry Pages, Exchange Anything, PoetsRUS, Timeless Imagination, Sisters in Poetry, PoetryCity Group, passion for writing, Circle of Crones, From My Pen to Your Heart, Parenthood, inthespirit, Accepting Lifetags: sharing, love, openness, poetry, hakui, change, help, girls, growth, trust, giving, female, women rating: 10/10 (6 votes) | comments: 10

From elsewhere

!!! Post It, We're Not Picky !!!, !!! Random Posts !!!, "We Don't Care If You Forget Where You're Supposed to Post It", A Pathway to Points... post it all, ADDICTED TO GATHER!, All articles/images get rated a 10!!, Any article, picture or comment...Oh My!, Anything and Everything, Anything Goes!, Articles Galore, As The Points Turn, Catholic Reflections, Christian Chatter, Christian Discussion Gathering, Confused about which/what article to post where? Post it here!, Content Collector, Etcetera, Etcetera, Etcetera, Everyday Life - What is on your Mind? Post it ALL here!, Family Values, Free Thinking, Gather Central (post it all), GATHER Discusses Tolerance, GatherFest, Gatherism, Get More Points, Go ahead ~ POST, POST, POST !, God, God 101, Got To gather and Share., Groups with 500 or More Members, I want it All, Inviting-Points, IT'S ALL ABOUT THE POINTS - POINTS MAXIMIZER - JOIN MY GROUP, JESUS, Leave It Here, Lets Talk About the Bible and anything else you want, Moose and Squirrel, Nonconformists, Point Pavilion, Point Winner, pointmagic, Points Galore - 1 Million Points, Political Open Discussion, politics and international news, Politics Today, Politics Today, Post anything from your life! I mean ANYTHING!!!~, Post Office @ Gather Town, Post what doesn't FIT anywhere else!, Posting Points, post anything!, PostIt, Race, Gender, Class, and other Imaginary Chains, Random Musings, Reaching for God, Read Bible daily, Rejected? Never here, post it all!, Religion Discussion, Religion Talk!!, Republicans, Sharing your spiritual growth, Speak your Mind~Anything Goes, STUFF ABOUT THE LORD........, The Conservative Club, The Fellowship Cafe, The Point Of It All, The Political Discussion Group, The Politicker, THE WORKS: every article, image & video, Type and post What You want AND dont get Deleted!, Unofficial Gatherholics, WELL, HERE WE ALL ARE........NOW WHAT??, What's on your Mind, What....?, YaDaYadaYada, Your Group, ZZZ Article, ZZZ Photo, ZZZ Video, ZZZ Anything! Points for it all!

Haiku poets groups

!!!!! Pimp ~ Your ~ Points™ !!!!!, *Haiku Poetry 4 Us*, *What Makes You Smile?*, *~Happy Posting! Post to Your Heart's Content!~*, .....The Poetry Review....., Anything everything 24-7, Artistic Minds®, Be weird Be Different Enjoy Yourself, Center for Inquiry, Completely Shameless Point Whoring, creativworkshop, Desert Life, Dream Writers, Everyday Life - What is on your Mind? Post it ALL here!, Express-your-thoughts, First Time Writers., Free Poetry, gather_the_points, Haiku Only, I AM SO ANGRY, i want points, I Was Just Wondering, In short..., Learning Organization, Let's Write a Poem, Living Free, Memories and Moments, michaels place, Night Owl Posts, One Humanity, Orange Juice, Peanuts! Popcorn! Points! Come Get Your Points!!!!, Pen & Publish, Poems From Dark Corners Of The Soul, Poetica, poetry, Poetry Central, Poetry Express, Poetry For All, poetry lovers, Poetry Pages, Poetry Salon, Poetry, Haiku, Stories, Pictures...ALL Welcome Here, Poets and Writers, Poets Corner, Poets, New and Old, Point Haven, Point Karma, Points The Way!, pointsandmorepoints, Political Poets, Politics and Social Justice, Post Office @ Gather Town, Post until your heart is content - we all love points, POSTING for Points, POWER POINTS, Publish freely, Random Musings, Review HQ, Share your fun, Simple Pleasures, Society of Criticism, Summer, Tell me your dream, The Front Porch!, THE GETAWAY..., The Guild of the Bards, The Kitchen Sink, The Romantics, The Sound Of Poetry Review, Things that make you go hmmm, This, That and the Other, Ukiah - Backwards Haiku group!, Venting for Points!, We Comment Back!, WIP - Works in Progress, world of Writers, Writer's Cranny--For Everything Writing, writers resivoir, Writers Review, Writing is a craft not an art..., Writing Is My Passion, writingpoetry, YNOT PEOPLES NETWORK, Zealous Poets, ~10 Stars, drive by, post anything Rated G, comment when you can~, ~~~Ashleigh's Post ANYTHING Corner~~~

More Haiku groups

!!! Breaking 3,000 !!!, !!! Comment Speedway !!!, !!! Rating Resurrectionists !!!, !!na na hey hey we want points!!, "*~*~*~*~*wHaTeVeR-u-WaNt*~*~*~*~*", "We Don't Care If You Forget Where You're Supposed to Post It", *Extra! Extra! POST POST all about it!!* -----(Please NO X-rated), *~* We won't tell you what you can & can't post here, if you don't tell us what we can & can't post on Gather (unless you run Gather). Now, let's all write our lil hearts out and/or have some fun! ~*~, *~***Fluffin 'n Puffin'***~*, *~Happy Posting! Post to Your Heart's Content!~*, *~Sweet Point Tarts~*, A group 4 POINTS, A Little Bit of Everything, A Pathway to Points... post it all, ADDICTED TO GATHER!, All 4 Points, All About the Points, Anything everything 24-7, As You Wish~, B-kuz I Kan!, Brenda's Basement, commentmeicommentyou, Completely Shameless Point Whoring, Connect The Dots, Connections for All, Drive-By Tens, Etcetera, Etcetera, Etcetera, Friends Always & 4-Ever, Gather at the Posting Place, Gatherism, Get More Points, Get the point?, Gimme More Points Plz, Give a Comment, Receive a comment, Gotta love the points!, haiku, I want it All, I was bored :), I'm Not a Number, If you are or were once cool and/or if I (and/or the person who invited you) think you're cool, you will join this group & post whatever floats your boat, Inviting-Points, IS IT NICE TO POINT - WELL YES IT IS !!!, Isn't it about TYME?, IT'S ALL ABOUT THE POINTS - POINTS MAXIMIZER - JOIN MY GROUP, It'sYourIconToday, Keeping up with the Jones', Looking for something??? FIND IT HERE! Post [almost] anything && everything you want! RIGHT HERE!, Loving Life, Mark's Point, Monkey Around To 3000, Monkey's Point Playground - POST IT ALL HERE!, Our goal is 10,000 a month!, Peanuts! Popcorn! Points! Come Get Your Points!!!!, people posting whatever, Peter Joseph Swanson Fan Club, Pleasing Points!!!!, Point Lusters, Point Pavilion, POINT PIGGYS, POINT, points, Post, Post-it, gather'em, spend'em, hord'em, pointmagic, Points - Whatever You Want To Post, Points are great, but SHOW ME THE MONEY $$$$, Points Extravaganza, POINTS FOR ME - POINTS FOR YOU - PASS ME THE POINTS PLEASE, Points Galore - 1 Million Points, POINTS MAKE PRIZES, Points Maximizer, POINTS POINTS - ARE YOU HERE FOR POINTS AND PRIZES - I AM AND PROUD OF IT !!, Post anything from your life! I mean ANYTHING!!!~, Post anything...Points Gauranteed, Post it, Post it High, Post it Low, Post it Here, Post It Pretty, Post Office @ Gather Town, Post something here !, Post stuff of any kind - whatever comes to your mind!, Post what doesn't FIT anywhere else!, Post What you want and make a friend too, Post What You Will Here Anything goes, Post Whatever The Heck You Want Here!, Posting Clubhouse, Posting Point Junction, Publish Anything, Put it Here!, Rainbow Connection - Colorful Competitions, Rake In Da Points, ramblings and other misc, Rob Appell, Gather's "Head" PRO, Some of your favorite & best articles and images....Publish anything,variety Page, That's life, The Point Of It All, The Points-Meister!!!!, The POSTING CENTER, The Shameless Self-Promoters Group, The Total Package, THE WORKS: every article, image & video, Things You Should Know About, This & That, Triple Points Week!, Type and post What You want AND dont get Deleted!, Under the Sun :), Vivians Various Variable Voluminous oh just Post it all, Walkinganomaly's universal space!!!!, We Comment Back!, We Gather Together, WELL, HERE WE ALL ARE........NOW WHAT??, Whatever You Wanna Post, Whatever you want!, When the Points Come Marching In [A Post Anything Group], WHY NOT??, Year of One Million Points, You're going to post whatever the hell you want anyway so I'm not even going to name this group too, ZZZ Article, ZZZ Photo, ZZZ Video, ZZZ Anything! Points for it all!, ~Group for Anything~, ~~Almost Anything, All Clean Fun~~

!! ~*~ Photos ~*~ !!, !! ~*~ Show Me the Points ~*~ !!, !!! Random Posts !!!, !!! Comment Speedway !!!, !!! GatherJournal !!!, !!! GatherWriMo !!!, !!! OriginaLiterate !!!, !!! Post It, We're Not Picky !!!, !!na na hey hey we want points!!, *Inspiration Station*, *~Happy to be Gathering~*, *~I'm NOT leaving~*, .....The Bloggers Review....., .....The Poetry Review....., .....The Writers Review....., 16 Lines or Less, 2007 Archive, A creative mission for 2008, ADDICTED TO GATHER!, All-In-One Image With Writing Group, An Open Journal, And the point is, Anything and Everything, ANYTHING GOES, Anything goes, Anything You Want To Post Group, Art and Literary Enthusiasts, Articles Galore, Artistic Minds®, As the saying goes, Authors Unite, birdsongs, Blah,Blah,Blah, Brotherhood of Poets, Cafe Wall, Christian Discussion Gathering, Click Masters - Pro Photographers, Coffee Klatsch, Completely Shameless Point Whoring, Confused about which/what article to post where? Post it here!, Counting Our Blessings, Deep Thinking and Meanings, Earth School, Etcetera, Etcetera, Etcetera, Everything, EXCUSE ME...DID YOU HAVE SOMETHING YOU WANTED TO SAY???, Experimental poetry, Fate's Concubines, Fire Side Chats, For the Sake of Peace, Free Thinking, Freedom, GamesGalore, Gather County Correctional, Gather Essentials: Writing, Gather for Art, Gather Lovers Everywhere!!, Gather Rejects, Gather Writing Life, GATHER: Whatta Waste Of Time!!!!, Gathering on Common Ground, Gatherism, Get Your Points, get2thepoints, Go ahead ~ POST, POST, POST !, God 101, Good Point, Grey's Anatomy Addicts, Groups to join!, haiku, Haiku Only, Hitching Post, I want it All, I'll Take IT!!!, I'm Published!, Ignorance Is Bliss OR The Truth Will Set You Free, Imsupposed2beworking, Inviting-Points, IT'S ALL ABOUT THE POINTS - POINTS MAXIMIZER - JOIN MY GROUP, Just Write!, Just Because, Just Poetry, Just the facts please!, KindredSpirits, LaLa-I'mNotListening!, Let's Talk about It!, Lets share crochet patterns, Life, Light of Poetry, Lighterside, Living Art, Mark's Point, Michigan Video House! All Video, All the Time!, Mindbends, MiniMoments Therapy, Miscellaneous Ramblings, Moderator's Madness, More Points, National Photographic society, Natures Teacher, No Fighting, Whining or Putting Things Down, Nonconformists, Now where did I put those points?, On My Mind, Original photos and art gallery, originalpoetryaspirants, Our Soul Journey, p.j.'s and popcorn, Pastimes, Philosophy on Gather, Photographic Edge, Photos and Everything Else!, Picture Writing, Poet's Passion, Poetic expressions, Poetic Incarnations, Poetic License, Poetry Express, Poetry For All, poetryloverz, Poets and Writers, Poets Nook, Poets Pavilion, Poets, New and Old, PoetsRUS, point makers paradise, point me in the right direction, pointmagic, Points - Whatever You Want To Post, Points for Prizes, POINTS MAKE PRIZES, Political, Social, and Religious Views Forum, Post 'em if you got 'em!, Post anything at all!, Post anything from your life! I mean ANYTHING!!!~, post anything you want because you will post anything you want anyways, POST BOX, Post Everything Here, Post It If You Got It!, Post It to Me, Post Office @ Gather Town, Post the moon, Post what doesn't FIT anywhere else!, Post What You Want Base, Post Whatever The Heck You Want Here!, PostIt, Prayers, Psychology in Life, Public Forum, Publish Anything, Publish freely, Quick Wits And Keyboard-Wired Brains, Quick Wits And Keyboard-Wired Brains, ramblings and other misc, Random Musings, Reaching Out, Recommending Other Gather Writers, Red Headed Step-Child, Self Mastery Self Awareness, Sharing Links Us, Show Off Your Photo Essay Here., Slices of Life, Snippets, Some of your favorite & best articles and images....Publish anything,variety Page, Spamn It All! (Spam your articles, images and videos here), Speak your Mind~Anything Goes, Spiritual Living, STRUT YOUR STUFF, Synchronicity's Sweet Tea Cafe, Tea Time, The Absolute Truth, The Bulletproof Poets Society, The Daily Grind Kaffee Haus, The FC Fan Club, The Post Anything Club, The Posting Station, The Reader's Lounge, The Second Draft, The Shameless Self-Promoters Group, The Sixties, The Total Package, The Universal Prayer & Positive Energy Group, THE WORKS: every article, image & video, the world of metaphysics, The Writers, The Writers Cove, Things that make you go hmmm..., Thirteen Blackbirds Poetry Review, This & That, thought provoking, Tidbits From the Past, Truth Seekers, Tune in next week, Type and post What You want AND dont get Deleted!, Type Your Thoughts, Wanderings of the mind, We Comment Back!, Web sites that should be seen, WELL, HERE WE ALL ARE........NOW WHAT??, What Is Truth?, What's on your Mind, What's Your Sign?, What....?, Whatever Floats Your Boat (Post Almost Anything), Why Not Say it Anyway?, WITH BLESSINGS, Word Painting, Write On, Writing from the Heart, writingpoetry, YaDaYadaYada, You're going to post whatever the hell you want anyway so I'm not even going to name this group too, Your Group, ZZZ Article, ZZZ Photo, ZZZ Video, ZZZ Anything! Points for it all!, ~10 Stars, drive by, post anything Rated G, comment when you can~