Classification System NEWS 6/9/2002
by
Robert Betts
(Age: 62)
copyright 03-10-2002
Age Rating: 7 to 127
6/10/2002 Basically finished. Classification should now be working correctly with new submissions. PLEASE... this is a complex change. Please let me know if you experience any problems at all. I have 'sprayed it with Raid' and hopefully killed all bugs... but one never knows... Thanks.
Any comments or suggestions? I'd like to see some feedback on this if you would, please.
6/9/2002 - I realized the fact that the system not remembering the classes that you had defined for a work was VERY annoying! So I reworked that first. Now it will remember how you classified each work. Next is classification to work with new submissions. Also I will add an "All" to the right side menu choices so you can easily get back to the Main Pages with all items listed as they normally are.
****
As you likely can see. the classification system is nearly in place.
Basically I believe it answers all concerns. Our Main Poetry and Prose pages will come up as normal. You can filter the page to show a particular category if you like. The choices are on the right. If you have a new one to add, please email me. In classifying, you may choose as many categories as you like. If you are not sure that it is a cinquain, for example, you would likely be better off by not checking the box.
Cheating by checking all boxes is not advisable. Your readers will see that the work doesn't belong in a particular category and might reward you by avoiding your works entirely after that.
You can edit older works and classify them. This will give them added exposure because at first, they will be the only works classified. After the initial period, you may still place well in some categories.
I am hard at work modifying the entry program so it will also classify. Meanwhile, simply edit after you submit and then you can classify a new work.
The checks don't 'linger' yet. That is, that screen will not remember what was checked. That is an improvement which I will incorporate as soon as the entry program is modified. Please bear with me... this is actually an enormous programming change.
***********
I have been trying to develop a classification system for our works. Here are the results so far. I Think the left column is good and quite workable. Poerty falls into free verse or rhymed. In each there can be meter or lack of it. Meter might not be very understandable to some. It is simply an even cadance.
The right column is tougher. Poetry is often defined as something which appeals to the emotions, hence it seems that an emotional basis might be best. I somehow feel that some subjects might be better combined, like love and friendship and love lost, simply as love. I NEED your input here. This is (will be) your classification system. Please add your corrections and adds so it can be made well. AND DON"T TELL ME IT'S PERFECT !!! The key is keep a pencil and paper at the computer with you as you read the poems at PnP (Or use MyScratchPad). Jot down what you feel is the subject of each poem. Then come here and add your comments. You will then have some excellent input.
Thanks in advance
bob
Form:
Rhymed with Meter
Rhymed, no Meter
Free Verse with Meter
Free Verse, no Meter
Song Lyrics
Subject:
General
Humour
Nature
Frustration
Love & Friendship
Romance
Love Lost
People & Places
Life & Death
Religion
Family
For Children
Nostalgic
Fantasy
Anger
Help Us Stop Plagiarism -
Nearly all works at PnP are original. However a few people choose to plagiarize.
To check, choose a phrase from the work, then either drag and drop to the search box or copy and paste.
click on search and works at Google will be shown which match. Just to be sure, please do this before
you recommend or rate the work highly...
I wonder what others would think of "spiritual" rather than "religion"? Maybe it's just me -- I tend to think of religion as a formal/boundary type of designation, whereas spiritual is an essence....(I never thought of this until I tried to classify one)
Lary
Done Lary... Many do not know the difference. Blank verse has strict meter but no rhyme, Heroic Blank Verse, the most common type, is iambic pentameter. (5 iambs) as you likely know.
bob
Hmm-mm...an interesting selection, Bob...I know I categorize my subjects on my website, to give visitors some type of direction, so I presume this would be good for newcomers. (Personally, I'll read everything my favorite authors write, regardless of topic!)
Re poetry forms...I see you do not have one of my favorites - Blank Verse. (A properly metered Blank Verse would be embarrassed to be called "free verse", LOL!)
If you like, I could prepare a definition of Blank, so it could be recognized?
Lary
BTW, I like the topic of song lyrics...but that's most likely because I write them. LOL. And I love satire, that would be under Humor, right? Would it work if we classified our work as we wrote it and submitted it. Then, we keep the front page where it lists ALL articles. Maybe there, or on the author's page we could see what category it falls under if we so wished to know. Mayhap there could be a search bar to search any entry on a specific topic? ... Just ideas. That way we wouldn't lose the mass list on the front page for those who wished to browse thru them all without the "internal filters" of a classification system YET the "Read only such and such topic" readers would be appeased as well. Did any of that make ANY sense? *chuckle* IF so, you're doing better than I am most days. :)
Bob, you have a valid point and it is one of the main reasons I haven't pushed hard to get a classification system operational.
There are many major changes here about to kick in. One is we are asking a very small sum of money for membership. However there are those who religiously adhere to the concept of free and would not pay even if it was 1¢ per year. Hence we may lose many in the next few days. That would cut sumbissions so a classification system would be less needed.
So... I will continue to gather data and hold off on this change. If I do incorporate a classification system, the main pages will stay as is. They will likely have links to other pages where a reader can look for things by subject.
Okay, call me crazy, but in my opinion, by categorizing the work down to a gnat's-behind, we're initiating internal 'filters' which tend to put up boundaries rather than enlighten. If I'm going down the list and I'm forced to pick from a segmented selection, it's true that I'm apt to read something that is (arguably) within the parameters of the classification, but I'm missing the opportunity to perhaps read something quite delightful simply because I may not be particularly drawn to a particular genre.
Everyone develops favorite artists. Now, when I look at the selection of poems offered, I naturally gravitate to those authors whose work I have enjoyed in the past. Then, I venture out into the unknown... this is part of the fun of reading. Often, I am offered words, phrases and thoughts which both entertain and enlighten. Had I been in a classification system, I may have missed the opportunity. Just my opinion...
drop general and song lyrics.
add politics,pets, the rest look good
If I think of any more I sure will let you know. Will this be listed before we open the verse so if it is haiku or one of the short unusual types and we aren't "into them" we won't open?
Subtopics are far more difficult to program in... in afct I waould have to study for a bit to figure out how to do it. Actually though, I should do the prep work so it can be dont that way. Prep means setting up the structure in the databases to handle it.
I was hoping to do this at some time in the future by employing topic suggestions from our membership. So far though, 56 reads and just a few comments... The classification would be done on submission and also would be editable. This is in the planning stage right now.
As i recall, themestream was semi-organized in its topics structure, but and the vines had complicated webs of topics and it could be very frustrating to find something by a subject search (due to the dilemma Robert mentioned). If we start getting a page for every emotion we can think of, and so forth, we could wind up with the same tangle.
What if you start with the basics such as "relationships" or "nature" being umbrella topics. Under those could fall subtopics such as lovers, friends, family; ocean, mountain, wildlife etc. WHen there are enoough entries or suggestions that could fit another subtopic, then that could be added.
I don't know how difficult this is for you to program in, though, Bob--maybe it's simpler to do each requested topic as a stand alone.
I should of stayed here a bit longer to ponder a little, LOL. What about the ones that often suggest a little Madness is afoot? Heck! I have done a couple!
Surrely General would come under one of the other titles? Apart from 'Past' 'Rememberance' And the such, most of the obvious ones are listed are they not? I am sure if I were to write a poem about the first thing that came into my head it would deffinatley fall into one of the categories listed.
All in all, a good concept that does have the ability to work well.
Welcome !
