(Recommended)
Most reports about this forum have been positive. It has a clear easy to navigate interface and the members are friendly. On the downside, there are some restrictions on new members, and there isn't a huge amount of activity on the boards. So if you're looking for a reply right away, this might not be the forum for you.
Writers Net
(Not Recommended)
Not sure what happened to this forum, but it once earned an "excellent" rating from Preditors and Editors. We're told it's under new management, and that they are unresponsive, and do not answer emails. There are also complaints about the software on the forum, it's full of glitches, and members are suddenly banned for no reason. It seems that poor moderation allowed a group of old timers, who had formed into a forum gang, to attack and insult everyone who joined. Apparently most of them have now been banned, but it looks as if it was too little too late; they'd already chased off scores of members, and earned WN a bad reputation. Writers Net now appears to be inactive.
http://forums.writersweekly.com/viewtopic.php?f=15&t=7821
Founded on Saturday, May 5, 2012
What do we look for in a forum?
Well first of all a forum should be attractive to look at, and easy to navigate. In other words, no glitches, everything must work properly.
We also don't like to see restrictions placed on new members -- such as not able to PM, or post links, or in some extreme cases, even access all the boards -- until they achieve a certain number of posts. This is arbitrary and dictatorial.
Finally, the other members should be pleasant, friendly and supportive. No baiting, no nastiness, no pile-ons. If it's a writers forum then it should be concerned about writing, only. It should not be a personality showcase and power trip for aggressive long time members. And it's the latter, incidentally, who are convinced their tenure gives them ownership rights, that cause the most problems on forums.
As for the critiques, even if they are not favourable, they can still be polite. There are forums which labour under the delusion that because their crits are nasty they must be more "honest."
So, starting alphabetically, we will review writers forums, giving them either a "recommended" or "not recommended," rating.
Update: It's been suggested that we review artists forums as well, and we'll certainly take that into consideration. Thanks to everyone for their suggestions and support.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)