Poemscam

This is embarrassing to admit, but I figure if it keeps some nauseating goop out of some other writer's in-box, it's worth it, so here goes.

I once submitted a poem to a free online contest, at Poetry.com. The allure was the cash prize, frankly. (As they say on the street, I was short.) They typeset my poem online; I e-mailed it to my brother. That was sorta fun. They let me know that they were producing a beautiful bound book that would have a whole page devoted to MY creative endeavor. I could order it for a special price. OK, fair enough, they gotta finance this endeavor somehow. But I didn't want the book and didn't order it.

Then the e-mails started. Larded with syrupy praise, they offered more books, more contests, even a grand Poetry Convention in Florida where I would be honored and presented with an engraved plaque attesting to my "artistry" -- all for a hefty fee, of course. Yecchhh. I clicked on the "stop e-mail" link at the bottom of the e-mail. I was told I had successfully removed myself from their mailing list.

The e-mails kept coming. And coming. I kept clicking. They kept coming.

Some choice bits from the latest one:

Dear Annie,

Several weeks ago, we informed you that we have been reviewing the thousands of poems submitted to us, as well as examining the poetic accomplishments of people whose poetry has appeared on the Internet and in various editions released by other poetry publishers in America and Europe. . . . after an exhaustive examination of this poetic artistry, The International Library of Poetry wishes to feature an entire page devoted exclusively to the poetry of Annie Gottlieb in a collection of new poems written by the Best Poets we have encountered.

The Best Poems and Poets of 2004 . . .

    Congratulations on your accomplishment, Annie. Your poetry will be featured along with a distinguished group of just 200 of the Best Poets that were selected to participate in this special project. . . .
    Before going any further, Annie, let me make one thing clear . . . you were selected for publication on the basis of your unique talent. The new poem which you will submit for this edition has been accepted for publication because your previously published poetry sparks the imagination and presents the reader with a fresh, unique perspective on life. . . .

    We believe you to be one of the most interesting poets we have encountered . . . You should be aware that you are under no obligation whatsoever to submit any entry fee or subsidy payment, or to make any purchase of any kind.

    Again, congratulations. The Best Poems and Poets of 2004 promises to be the most exclusive collection of poetry we have ever published. We feel you have a special talent and we believe your poem will add to the importance and appeal of this edition. . . .
          Sincerely,

          Howard Ely
          Managing Editor

P.P.S. This will be your only opportunity to have your poetry published in The Best Poems and Poets of 2004. We currently have a waiting list of poets who wish to participate in this historic project. In order for us to meet our scheduled publication date, please submit your poem as soon as possible. If we do not receive your poem in the next 7 days, your nomination will be transferred to the next poet on our waiting list. ©2004 poetry.com

So why am I "exposing" these folks, sending the link to this post to every writers' website I can find? Theirs is a perfectly legitimate vanity publishing enterprise. Sure, they're lying -- about how wonderful your poetry is and what "exclusive" company you're in. But they're not exactly stealing -- they state that there is no obligation to purchase anything or pay any subsidy. There is undoubtedly a market for their services among naïve amateur poets -- some of them pretty good -- who enjoy seeing their work in print, being stroked by unctuous advertising copywriters, and hobnobbing with fellow "creators." So why am I slamming poetry.com and making fun of them?

Because they have committed the one unforgivable sin of the online marketer: THEY DIDN'T TAKE MY NAME OFF THEIR GODDAMN MAILING LIST WHEN I TOLD THEM TO! AND TOLD THEM TO! AND TOLD THEM TO!

When this gets around, I hope their faces are red and their traffic goes way down. Oh, and I hope they hire a new copywriter. A real poet, even a wistful amateur one, won't fall for a sales pitch disguised as a gooey, phony, generic compliment.

It's the ear, stupid.

- amba

UPDATE: This beats all. Not only did they not delete my e-mail address . . . they sold it. This arrived today:

N o b l e   H o u s e
London – Paris – New York

Noble House London
Poets House
2 Harrington Road
Leytonstone
London E11 4QW
England

Noble House Paris
Centre MBE
2 Bis Avenue Durante
06000 Nice
France

Noble House New York
Empire State Building
Suite 3304-19Q
New York, NY 10118

Office of the Publisher
Poetry Division
London, U.K.

29 November, 2004

Dear Annie,

     As you may know, Noble House is one of the foremost publishers of fiction and nonfiction works by new and established authors today.  Our international poetry division has had the honour of publishing the poetry of more than 1,800 poets over the past twelve years.

     Recently I had the pleasure of reading the poetry that you have had published in the United States.  I congratulate you on this grand endeavour, and propose to you that your singular talent and vision deserves appropriate international recognition as well.

     For this reason, I have posted this letter to request your permission to include one of your favourite poems in Labours of Love - a new poetry edition that is being distributed worldwide by Noble House . . . a collection of poetry that is perhaps unlike any you have ever seen . . . one where each poem is featured on its own page . . . [bla, bla, bla, etc.]

I'm now forced to visit poetry.com if I want to know whether they have a posted privacy policy that they've violated . . . but even if they do, what recourse do I have??

UPDATE, 1/6/05: These people are UNBELIEVABLE. Not only doesn't "unsubscribing" work, bad-mouthing them all over the world wide web doesn't even faze 'em! Either these people have elephant hide or they're aliens from Alpha Centauri . . . or maybe the whole operation's automated:

Ladies and gentlemen, and fellow poets . . . It's now time to declare the winner of the largest cash prize ever awarded to an amateur poet . . . Our Poet of the Year for 2005 . . . and Grand Prize winner of $20,000 is . . .

Annie Gottlieb!

We're familiar with your work, Annie, and you know . . .
it could happen just that way!

Dear Annie,

I would like to inform you of your nomination as Poet of the Year for 2005, and to personally invite you to read your poetry at the single largest gathering of poets in history , where you will be formally inducted as an International Poet of Merit and Honored Member of our Society for 2005.

Your induction will take place Friday evening, February 25th, at the Walt Disney World Resort in Orlando, Florida, during the International Society of Poets Spring 2005 Convention and Symposium .

You will also be honored with two separate and very special awards for your poetic achievement at special ceremonies throughout the weekend. . . .

Etc., ad nauseam. Anybody ever attend one of these things? If I could get a freebie as a journalist I'd almost like to go, just to see if anybody's there, and report on it.

Comments

[Sally]

oh my god!!! i was 15 when my poem was published in "touch of tomorrow".i was so proud that my poem was on the first page. dam them all to hell.i didn't realise it was a scam. i should have guessed when they wouldnt leave me alone. thank you for the rude awakening. it's a shock but it all makes sense now.

[PARSHAD PATEL]

this is a real scam. i m 16 and my 2 poems have been published in 'the immortal verses' the book put out by poetry.com. they sent me the same emails. i even received the letters from noble book house pulishers. they also stated the same. but now i realise that i was wrong to have ego that my poems are published at international level. this people are just making a JOKE of we poets. they praise our poetry and even encourage us to write more, but what do we get. we construct their book and they loot us. this is unfair and so they are all bogus and now i have started believing in this type of scams first i realised it as it was fake but now i am sure that it is TRUE and it really hurts me.

[vic]

well, how sad. Like everyone else never thought I would be taken advantage of over something that seemed so simple. I sent in my permission, my excellent poem... blah blah blah- sent off the mailer to order my book a few days ago. Just received my additional letter from Nigel to 'go international'...blah blah blah. Thank goodness something spurred me to look into Noble House (impressive address). So far nothing has posted to my account- after reading everyone's experience I can only pray it gets lost in the mail. Like many it was such a splurge to buy the book in the first place, my husband is pretty ticked. I ordered it on the credit card and didn't tell him- until I had to. Now at least we can try to dispute the charge. I thought this would be my first 'in' to being published- I am a stay home Mom and hoped it would be something to build on, I've always loved to write, I illustrate as well and just had no idea how to get published. I can't describe how disappointed I am. Why hasn't a suit been pursued? Or at the least exposed and closed down?

[Kimberley]

hey guys,
i was looking for noble house and uncovered this.i got a letter from noble house today saying u are going to be published it was so exciting but now im regretting it.im 17 and from sydney australia and i was like hey there really good someone thinks there good but now im like stuff them all they can just p88s off just cos they have noth the talent that we have they want to scam us they can stick it.

[sammi]

dear annie,
i was very suspicious about the e-mails myself, so i cleverly searched "immortal verses poetry scam" on google, to see if anything would come up, and i think i have a solution to stop all of our woes.
1. block all of those people's e-mails (add them to your blocklist
2. unsubscribe from poetry.com, it might not help that much but might as well
3. go to the page where it talks about the authorization, click "edit" and delete all the text on that page, including your poem and your name.
4. just keep blocking/deleting the people who keep on mailing you.

hopefully this will work! :)

[allie]

Who else got a phony editors choice award from poetry.com. Yes I also almost belived there crap. If any of you know of a real poetry publishing company near Alska let me know. and i'll do the same for you. I know my poerty is good and should be published. We should all start our own damn company to publish our poetry (lol). Who cares if its crappy at least then you can find out for real.

[allie]

Who else got a phony editors choice award from poetry.com. Yes I also almost belived there crap. If any of you know of a real poetry publishing company near Alska let me know. and i'll do the same for you. I know my poerty is good and should be published. We should all start our own damn company to publish our poetry (lol). Who cares if its crappy at least then you can find out for real.

[missie]

poetry.com should be destroyed!!
i supposedely "won" 3rd place in the international competion, there are like 104 3rd prizes but still i was soo proud, then the letter said that i had to pay for my prize. bastards!! and i still get aleast 5 e-mails a week from them!!

[Norma Castillo]

OKKKKKK!!!!! This is weird! I'm getting different opinions about Immortal Verses. 1st a friend if mine wanted to submitt her poem and asked me to submit mine. I did and I was told I was a semi-finalist for $1,000. She was sadly informed that she had not qualified. Some tell mt they have gotten their books, others have told me its a scam. So, I need to know...what the hell is going on?

[steven w. sawczuk]

what happened to my poem thawt was publishe in labours of love
callled for lady hannah which i ded receivew a copy but i also read a lot of bad reviews about . just wondering if you can fill me in on it's current status and where i can locate it on the web. sincerely,
steven w. sawczuk

[steven w. sawczuk]

i can't seem to locate my poem on the webfor "labours of love". the name of the poem was for lady hannah to hannah and was the first poem in the book with an explanation that explained what inspired me to writ for lady hannah. i hope y ou can help me locate it on the web so i may enjoy it as as more than a reject that i paid good money to have it published . i hjave received a copy of labours of love but it is nowhere to be found on the internet. please inform me of its current status. thank you
sincerely ,
stevewn w. sawczuk

[steven w. sawczuk]

i have not been able to locate my poem in labours of love by and would appreciate it if you can tell me where i can locate it on the web. thank you ,
sincerely
stevenw. sawczuk

[steven w. sawczuk]

lady hannah in labours of love is not on the internet so i hoped you would be able me to locate it or give me an explanation of what went wrong with labours of love and the poem i submitted and paid for publication.

[steven w. sawczuk]

PLEASE FIND OUT THE STATUS OPF FOR LADY HANNAH IN LABOURS OF LOVE AND TRY TO LOCATE IT ON THE WEB OR GIVE ME AN EXPLANATION OF WHAT WENT WRONG AND WHY I CANT FIND MY POEM ON THE INTERNET.
SINCERELY
STEVENW. SAWCZUK

[Lexie]

Poetry.com is truly a scam. If anyone is brave enough to conduct an experiment (i.e. don't care about the resulting spam problems) , try to submit a passage of random text and see where it gets you. I read a blogg, recently, where a person did this very thing and still received a congratulatory letter for being chosen as a semi-finalist!

[charlotte]

i have same problem. came second in the international poetry competition and got my poem on the first page of eternal portraits. i've been getting offers to go to america to read my work, but living in the uk i didn't even consider it thank god. i've had emails but only because i asked for them. when you sign up the box is automatically ticked so that could explain why some of you got them when you didn't want them. i haven't tried to un-register. i've now just sent off a poem that noble house asked for without even seeing it. i sent it anyway but didn't buy the book. at 15 i thought i was making an accomplishment. i really can't believe it's a scam. i mean are these books really being sold. this songs of honour ( the new book ) is supposed to be international. please, if you've heard of this book post a comment.

[Zowie]

for some reason, i didn't think about this company being a scam. it is crazy how all of you say that you're poem has been printed on the first page of your book. i wanted to see if i could purchase the book that i supposedly was published in last year because they mentioned that other bookstores might have them, and my search has yet to direct me to bookstore that carries it. today, i got a letter about another poem i wrote, that is why i am curious. they don't give you an option to purchase the book after it is published, only before. what confuses me though is that they have pictures of winners, names of winners, and everything. I just wish that i could contact one of them. i found poetry.com's phone number if you are interested. it is (410) 356-2000. they are located in Maryland. i checked the address, there does seem to be a place called "Poetry Plaza". what business has an address of "1"? crazy. i get excited about my poems being recognized, but when they invite me to conference that i could in no way afford, i get discouraged. but now there is one near me-in Las Vegas. i always wondered why it is that teenink.com won't accept my poems but poetry.com will. odd, oh well...i just want to thank the originator of this blog for investigating what seems like a great deal and considering that it is a desperate attempt to become a fortune 500 company. peace.

[Schott]

Yeah, these are called Vanity Press scams. People who want to see their stuff published rush out and buy this book before researching it. I got the exact same letter and everything when I submitted my poem. I didn't fall victim to the scam, though. I recently received another Vanity Press scam called The National Deans list. The letter had the same format as the poetry.com one, but the difference is the Nation Deans list "honored" students who showed exeptional ability in school. They offered to publish your autobiography for free and you can buy the book for like 100 bucks. But I never fell for that one either because I never did anything exeptional in school. So be forewarned about the Vanity Press.

[meghan]

yea this is my first time entering a contest its too late now i ordered immortal verses when I heard I was haveing two poems put in it I was excited i usually just right for myself but I felt happy thinking that I was good enough to be published, i dont know what is going to happen but if I get my book and my poem is on first page I'm sure as hell going to be yelling at someone from poetry.com mark my words. thanks for leavein your comments. burn in hell poetry.com!

[Joyce Alzmann]

I am so disappointed! Not for myself, but for my wonderful 15 year old daughter who submitted a poem and has been so excited about the idea of it being published. How do I explain this to her?

[Heather Scott]

In February 2006 I got a letter that said I was suppoesed to write the noble house a poem so i did i waited until last minute and now it is july will i still be able to send it in???

if u have any answers please e-mail me at heather.luvs.brett@hotmail.com

[Candace]

Hey, I am 15 and I had the exact samething happen to me, But my dad had me research the book before I got my hopes up, but being 15 the second you see the envolope in the mailbox your hope is sky high! So when I researched and found lots of stuff on it, you can imagine how bad I felt. Now I have giving up on submitting poetry to websites I know NOTHING about.

[Orion]

Oh! my, Oh! my
Alas! to my loss
Tiwce! If all you saying is true
I'm on your side
Just love what you do
I've your company, you do too
Head over shoulder
Pen over paper
Endless source we have more
We write more.

Orion

[pictureman]

did anyone recieve "songs of honour" yet from noble house? it's the summer of 2006 and i haven't gotten my copy yet.

[Debra]

yeah :-( I too succumed to the charms
of the silky flowing letters after all they praised my work, written words just beg to be read, and if they are appreciated
well... hollow appreciation counts too, it creates;

a five second rush. Cheaper than
chocolate and not as fattening.

Luckily I have enough 'rings on my tree' to realize that authors do not pay publishers, cash flows in the opposite direction.

Thanks for the Blog, Luckily I did
not send them money in any form.

They are spending lots on me in e-mails and paper invitations to buy my work presented in various forms, though sad to say that so many trees are dying needlessly.

I did however frame and hang my Editor's choice Award
from Poetry.com.

It was free, even if it was attached to the bottom of yet another offer to buy.

I folded the other bits out of the way and just framed my first poetry award.

After all how often do we have the chance to frame actual certificates from the school of our experiences?

To all poets young and old, keep
writing and enjoy the creative process, it keeps the insanity of life in the 21 century from messing with your mind.

This sincere messag of encouragement
is sent to you from me. I am a painter, poet and author of one copy editions, I produce my work in my own hand truly one copy editions in progress, these are truelimited editions, people have forgotten what limited means. Write your books in the style of the first ever books written. Get a plain bound book made with acid free paper so that it will not be consumed by the acids used in the conventional paper making methods. I forget the the term used 'acid fire'or
something like that.

A book written this way is truly a unique thing, a pure work by artists no interferance or Mc-blending of your work into the format of the day.

Debra (R-Test)
reciepient of Editor's Choice Award for Out standing
Achievement in Poetry.

[Debra]

Please do not attempt to respond to my previous blog using the address provided it will not work. on my blog, I am concerned re
a mail bag of yet more unsolicited
offers. At the same time do not
want others to waste their time
sending to an as yet inactive address.
Debra (R-Test)

[Jen]

I feel like an idiot. I fell for it too. BLAST. There I was: page 1 of The Silent Journey. I wondered if I was just that good, or if it was a big scam. Now I know. Howard Ely can eat me.

[Gab]

Hi guys,
Its a shame to hear that yous have fallen in these guys trap. I have received lots of emails (today i got one from uk, new to me :)), and i received even bloody mail in the post box, with my poetry and so on, to attend ceremonies, etc, but i just ignore them and with their emails i just spam them and they don't come again.
Good luck ppl and try to ignore them, thats my advice, Gab, QLD Australia

[nadine]

I feel like an idiot. I was on page 1 of the international who's who of poetry under featured poets. i am supposed to be in "immortal verses" and I plan to recind my order for the book I made recently. at this point, I'll just look at my poetry on the web and ignore the publishing scams. thanks for the blog

[pictureman]

did ANYONE recieve a copy of "Songs of Honor"? I was told i would be published in April recieved a proof in June and initialed it. Now here we are in September. ANYONE at all?

[Damnsle]

When I received my first letter from them I was like so happy 'cause they praised my poem and it is my first poem so for me it is something but after realizing that it is a scam, i was like disappointed. I just started to get myself into writing poetry and this is what i get. How disappointing but I won't let them stop me from writing more poems. Now I'm just posting my poem in my own site.

About the emails, just block them so every email you receive from them will be in your junk or spam mail or completely just block them. I'm sure its in one of the options of your email provider, something like stop receiving mail from.

For gmail accounts this is what you can do:

While you can't currently block messages from specific addresses or domains, you can set up a filter to send those unwanted messages directly to Trash.

To set up a filter, follow these steps:

1. Click Create a filter under the search box at the top of any Gmail page.
2. Fill in the appropriate fields with the filter's criteria, and click Next Step.
3. Choose the action you'd like for these messages by checking the appropriate box. (In this case, we suggest checking Delete it.)
4. Click Create Filter.

To edit or disable a filter, click Settings.

For yahoo accounts this is what you can do

1. Click "Mail Options" on the top-right navigation bar of your Yahoo! Mail page.
2. Click the "Block Addresses" link located in the first column on the left.
3. Enter the new address in the "Enter email address to block" field, and click "Block Address."
4. The address will then appear on your list of blocked addresses

I hope i've been able to help ... somehow

[Brien]

I am going to assasinate Howard Ely. I am going to look up where he lives, and im gunna put a bullet through his head.

[brittany]

ya i fell n it to but i didnt buy the whole book. I used that whole pay ten every week thing and as soon as I sent ten in they sent me the book. The weird thing was it was really quick. After I sent them my money about a week or two later I got my book. Mine also was in the first page-_-. I have about five poems on poetry.com, but I dont think anyone can take them since it is copy righted. Thats probably the only good thing about it!

[Foolish1]

fell into the same stupid scam, lucky I didnt send them any money. So today I recieved the option to edit and send my poem, oh I edited it alright...this was my edited version

-you big scammers

To you big scammers
at poetry.com

preying on the innocent

picking up then dashing hopes

will I be on the first page too?

you should be ashamed of your selves

I hope you lose sleep

everything you do
will in the end come back to you

Id like to see that on the first page of thier stinking book but I wont be buying it!

[john fisher]

i got mine today... it came in the mail.

[Rebecca Rowback]

I so stupidly got into the crap poetry.com had. I also so stupidly brought the book and am going to get it soon. I woder if it's going to be as good as they said it would be. they also keep sending me emails even though I clicked on the button to make them stop.

[Jacob Romero]

in all honesty, i dont mind sending them my poems because they become copywrighted and are forever posted on thier website. now am i going to send them money? nope never, but at least this way im made known. and for those of you that fell into this scam, dont let it discourage you from writing poetry, because like you many others post their poetry on that website and it is available for all to see. now im not suggesting you buy anything, because that wouldnt be a good idea, but to continue writing and make your talent or potential to be a true poet known. so yeah, they should be stopped, but instead of letting them use us, lets use them as a site to post free poetry, share it with others, and im sure there are people looking on that site to see if there is potential thats sadly being scammed, so dont give up just yet. well, thats my bit in, good luck to you all

[amba]

Good idea, Jacob! Thanks.

[Mary M. MacSorley]

I have been published in The Best of 2004 & 2005. I only purchased 2005. If there is anyone that has an extra copy of 2004, I would be willing to purchase it.
I agree with others about the site having its draw backs. But, if you are chosen to be published I think that would speak for itself.

[Jeimie]

This is so weird, i mean i too was published in one of the books, called Timeless Voices, anyone got that book? let me know cause i want to know if my poem is in your copy or not. I bought the book, but nothing else. I found it weird that they give you an award and medal but you have to pay for it. You would think if you recieved and award and medallion it would be free cause you earned it due to your poetry work. Question are we supposed to get paid for having our work published or not? Hmmmm well this thing has really gotten my mind thinking. Well let me know if someone has IMMORTAL VOICES i want to know if my 4 poems are in there my name is Jeimie E. Ortiz, please do let me know before i buy the book. thanks email me to angelgurl798@yahoo.com with your response. P.S. I never got anything from Noble House or whatever.

[larry]

see this site for FTC "do not email" requirements. http://www.ftc.gov/bcp/conline/pubs/buspubs/canspam.htm

[amba]

Thanks, Larry.

[erin mclaughlin]

umm i too got a letter saying that my poem would be published. but i wouldnt have to pay unless i wanted to put a profile in there.

my dad is so proud of me, and its the first time hes ever been proud of me for something.

then i see this about it being a scam and i dont know what to do. i want to send it off because i dont wnat him to know its a scam but he wants to pay all that money for the book, and we arent rich sooo i dont want him to spend it.

but i dont want him to know its a scam, because he wont be proud of me anymore. what do i do?

[Tabitha]

I just purchased a book yesterday and sent in the money, I really hope that it'll come in the mail in the summer of 2007 like they said, because, we aren't rich either, but as long as it is in the book then that won't be so bad as long as nobody else sees that it is a scam, it's supposed to be in immortal verses. If not i am going to feel real stupid and I have no idea what i am going to tell everybody else. That was well earned money, someone please tell me if the poems you wrote and paid for are in the books, I don't know what I'll do if it isn't in there!!!

[zach]

you think thats bad? i actually tried to buy the book, they never even sent it to me,i actually beileve i was good enough to be in a book, anyone else feel that way? well add me to msn All_around_nice_guy@hotmail.com

look forwward to talkin to ya

[kenboolan]

You must remember that you get what you pay for. I have posted many poems on poetry.com but I use this to my advantage! If you wish for someone to see your work you just send them to the site ! have them search your name , and consider that you are getting free advertising. Always keep your originals and their date of completion. Just in case you see them again without your written permision. Go to poetry.com and look up Kenneth Lee Laney people, I feel that I have some decent poetry. Feel free to contact me at kenboolan1533@hotmail.com your comments are welcome. To all have a great day!-boo-

[Andrew Schroeder]

hey everyone, think of it this way. They are a company in a democratic world. All they are doing is trying to make some money. You should try and contact their help desk or something and tell them to take you off their spam lists. A place like poetry.com is a great place for young authors to get a small (it's pretty small) start at writing. But it helps to get 1 poem published than to get none. I personally feel like you all are being atrocious over something so small as spam. If they did not do all the spamming thorugh email and snail mail, they would not make any money, and they would not be able to publish these books.

[Andrew Schroeder]

hey everyone, think of it this way. They are a company in a democratic world. All they are doing is trying to make some money. You should try and contact their help desk or something and tell them to take you off their spam lists. A place like poetry.com is a great place for young authors to get a small (it's pretty small) start at writing. But it helps to get 1 poem published than to get none. I personally feel like you all are being atrocious over something so small as spam. If they did not do all the spamming thorugh email and snail mail, they would not make any money, and they would not be able to publish these books.

[Rachel]

They sent me the same mail, and told me that if i send in my poem and sign this page that they would publish my poetry.

I was just about to send it in today..and i googled it and found this thank you sooo much!!

[Nukka]

Well Amba I have fallen vitim to the scamming of Poetry.com along with you. I just wish I would have read this sooner because I have posted a few of my poems on the site, however I did recieve a letter similar to that. I cannot belive the idiocy of my actions, by my fault of not checking up on the credibility of the site. I thought something was fishy when my frien Julia said something about having a poem of hers published in a book last year. I must laugh at this because she cannot tell the word the from "the" word "of" its quite funny really. I think actions should be taken to shut this faulty site down. Crushing hopes of the young and old, its pittiful. Agree?

-Nukka