Community Guidelines

Welcome to GS Poetry! Our community thrives when poets feel free to express themselves authentically while respecting the creative journey of others. These guidelines help us maintain a space where everyone—from casual writers to serious craftspeople—can explore, grow, and connect.

Our Core Values

• Freedom of Expression: We celebrate diverse voices, styles, and perspectives. Poetry is personal, and we honor each writer's right to explore their craft authentically.
• Mutual Respect: Constructive engagement strengthens our community. We approach each other's work with curiosity and kindness.
• Original Work: GS Poetry is a platform for your own creative expression. We expect all posted work to be genuinely yours.
• Growth and Support: Whether you're writing for fun or pursuing publication, this community exists to encourage your development as a poet.

Sharing Your Work

• Post Original Poetry: Only share poems you've written yourself. If you're posting collaborative work, ensure all co-authors consent to publication.
• Respect Copyright: Don't post others' published work without permission. Use our copyright assistance tools to protect your own creations.
• Content Freedom with Responsibility: We don't censor topics or themes, but we ask that you consider your audience. Use content warnings for work addressing sensitive subjects like violence, trauma, or explicit content.
• Privacy Controls: Use our privacy settings to control who sees your work. Not everything needs to be public while you're drafting or experimenting.

Engaging with Others

• Critique Constructively: Feedback should aim to help, not harm. Focus on the work, not the writer. Share what resonates, ask questions, and offer suggestions thoughtfully.
• Welcome All Skill Levels: Remember that poets are at different stages. A beginner's first sonnet deserves the same respect as a seasoned writer's experimental piece.
• Engage Authentically: Generic praise ("Nice poem!") doesn't build community. Share specific reactions, favorite lines, or thoughtful questions.
• Disagree Respectfully: Poetry is subjective. It's fine to have different opinions about craft, but personal attacks, dismissive language, or belittling others' work has no place here.

Collaboration

• Communicate Clearly: When working with others, discuss expectations, credit, and publishing rights upfront.
• Honor Agreements: If you commit to a collaborative project, follow through or communicate changes respectfully.
• Credit Co-Authors: Always acknowledge everyone who contributed to a piece.

What We Don't Allow

• Plagiarism: Passing off someone else's work as your own will result in removal from the community.
• Harassment: Personal attacks, threats, hate speech, or targeted harassment of any kind are prohibited.
• Spam or Self-Promotion: This isn't a platform for advertising unrelated products or services.
• Trolling: Deliberately provocative or disruptive behavior undermines our community's purpose.

Censorship

GS Poetry recognizes that as a private platform, we maintain the authority to moderate content and create guidelines that serve our community's best interests. That said, we strive to preserve artistic freedom when it comes to poetic expression.

In keeping with this approach, we do not permit content—whether in poems or comments—that contains inflammatory or demeaning language directed at racial groups, ethnicities, cultural communities, lifestyle choices, or faith traditions as a whole. Political discourse, however, remains open territory. Writers are welcome to engage with political themes and figures freely. What crosses the line is poetry or commentary that employs hate speech against specific populations, such as Jewish communities, Arab peoples, Muslims, or any other ethnic and religious group.

Reporting and Moderation

If you encounter content or behavior that violates these guidelines, please report it to our support team. We review all reports and take action, when necessary, which may include content removal, warnings, or account suspension and/or termination.

We're committed to transparency and fairness. If your content is removed, you'll receive an explanation and, when appropriate, an opportunity to revise.

Building Together

GS Poetry is what we make it. By participating thoughtfully, offering genuine feedback, and respecting each other's creative processes, we build a community where poetry flourishes.

Thank you for being part of this journey. Now—go write something!