I used to be a member of this site years ago and I've come back to it in recent months. 

A couple of observations:

1. The members of this site are as giving and lovely as they have always been. They deserve a better site, especially as they are paying for this.

2. The owners of this site have given up.

For a start, the forums are dead, apart from spam posts. Why are the spam posts still here ten days after being posted?

Secondly, I wrote to David and asked several questions about the site. This was ignored.

Looking back, I can see that time-and-time again the members have begged for the site owners to do something to rejuvenate this site. Part of the reasoning behind the membership payment, from what I recall, was the lack of advertising but there's advertising all over this site. In fact, my own B&B is regularly advertised to me (thanks to Booking.con - but please book direct instead of booking through them as you will save pounds!).

Recently, I looked at Litopia. It has several payment options, but it enables free access too. Importantly, the free access to the critiquing section can only be enabled after so many posts and a week-long membership of the site. People coming along and posting - and then leaving without giving reciprocal critiques - used to be an issue for many of the WriteWords' groups, but I long for the days when we'd get regular chapters posted for review.

The Word Cloud is closing to new members and a new paid-for format will replace it and Writers' Workshop. So, there are fewer options for newbie writers, other than Litopia, Scribophile, etc. Wouldn't it be lovely if WriteWords could make the most of the opportunities out there and be the site it should be.

Carly
 
Edited by Carlyagain at 21:44:00 on 28 April 2018

Well said, Carlyagain - I totally agree
 

Well said, Carlyagain. I also agree with you.

Thought i'd chime in on this thread seeing as it's been buried in spam messages.

David, there's a lot of junk spam threads that keep appearing in the forums, I wonder if you might take a look at that. We also have people still joining inactive groups when there's no one there to support them, would you consider closing and removing these groups? I don't expect any comment, but I thought i'd give it a go. Thanks.

It may be an idea to prevent trial members making more than one forum post within so many hours of joining, as this may go someway to reducing spam. It does look bad to have the whole forum area covered with passport and dodgy pill posts.

Even though the more recent ones have been removed, there are loads still in place.

 It's also a shame if new members join inactive groups as it doesn't look good, especially as they can only post pieces of work once or so as trial members.

I sometimes look in the jobs/opps for poetry competitions. At the current time there are 18 advertised of which 16 are no longer available with some whose closing date was as far back as 2011. Why can’t these be removed?
Edited by Mickey at 12:36:00 on 09 July 2018

It is a sad state of affairs, Carly. I've given up reporting spam. Posts onte forum pages don't have Report This Post option.
I will look at the sites you mention with a view to encouraging the few of us who are left to switch over.
Over the years I've put a lot into this site with over 530 critiques. With the odd exception I don't bother any longer and that, to me, is so sad.
Write words with the possible exception of poetry is a dead site. It just doesn't know it yet.

The owners of this site have definitely given up. I too have written to David about the state of WW, and I have also been ignored.

It's so, so sad.

As a new member, this depresses me. There are a few who are active, but not many for the membership level.
I also find it difficult to find anything new. I found this thread by accident.
The last thread was nearly a year ago, the latest an advert.
I will persevere a while longer but will look for something more engaging in the meanwhile.
There is absolutely NO REASON why these illegal adverts should be instantly removed. Leaving them there contravenes the site rules.

Hi Max,
I've been on the site for five years now and it has lost a lot of its members. There were a number of other active groups but they've vanished too. I was leader of the Women's Fiction group. As far as the spam I've let the powers that be know about it so many times and action is taken. However it's a losing battle.
As a number of us have said elsewhere, feel free to drop into the Feb thread on Fast First Draft.  I don't have much to do with CC or Flash Fiction (where you'd also be welcome). I've done my bit for comments and reviews over the years so taking a break from that now. Don't be too downhearted. The regulars will support you if you help others.
Alan 

I am Martin Gail. I love teaching, I have 7 years of teaching experience in the UK, Teaching Statistics to a wide range of students from Elementary level right through to Ph.D. Students. 
Edited by martingail at 12:32:00 on 11 March 2019

Thanks for answering.
It doesn't encourage me, especially since I have joined Scribophile. Chalk and Cheese spring to mind.
Good luck with whatever you do.
Thanks.
MAX

Hi to all,

I've been a member of WW for four and a half years and it has never been so slack as now. The site is so out of date as to be positively prehistoric (and we pay for it!) I have had the experience of joining a couple of groups only to find they are no longer active. I've also had problems posting work. I've contacted management and been ignored. 

There are a number of options on the site that don't work and one thing the concerns me is the fact that the site is not secured with https. Surely that should be a must for sites where payment details are uploaded. Again this has brought no response from management; I agree with other comments that they have given up and are only interested in our money. DISGUSTING1 

Some other sites have been mentioned in this thread. Does anyone have experience of them? I am thinking of leaving this site but don't know where to try. Any information would be gratefully appreciated. I am mainly interested in poetry and short story writing. Incidentally I've had a story posted to CC for nearly a month without a comment!. 

Thanks for reading and I hope to hear from anyone.

Thomas. 

I've experienced the same problems as you.
Try:
https://www.scribophile.com

They have a free entry level so you can see what it is like. I have found them to be helpful and friendly. and BUSY. As busy as you want to be.
I am sure you won't regret it.
Let me know if you need help around the site (although there is a useful guide and someone ready to help.)
max@maxdrayron.co.uk
Good luck.
MAX



 

Thanks very much Max. I've joined Scribophile and will see how it goes.