FAQ

{Frequently Asked Questions}

POETRY PIPELINE WEBRING FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS

Please read this page in its entirety...it will help you to understand how this all works.

********************************************************************* Does the ring have a content policy?       It is expected that sites in the webring will respect copyright and be of legal content. Sites which promote the abuse of children are NOT welcome in the Poetry Pipeline Webring. Sites which advocate violence against individuals based on religion or membership in a minority group are likewise NOT welcome. Contact the ring should you find such a page. Thank you. Note: Membership to the "Poetry Pipeline Webring" is solely under the discretion of the owners of the "Poetry Pipeline Webring".

*********************************************************************** Can I point the webring to a different page then to the one I put the fragment on?       We allowed links to be put where ever you wanted them to be, as long as it was easily accessible. You also must have a link to the page that contains the Webring on at least the first page of your site, if not all pages!

********************************************************************** What is the policy on mature poetry or Artistic content?       Poets and Artist throughout time have often chosen controversial or adult themes. The Poetry Pipeline Webring is for people of many backgrounds. We appreciate that one person's erotica is another person's pornography. Sites which contain child-abusing material will not be accepted.       Sites containing mature content are at the mercy of the Poetry Pipeline Webring owners, although we will not reject a site that is truly Art and not just pornography hiding behind Art!

********************************************************************** Why do I have only 7 days to put up the code for the ring once I have submitted my site?       Because we at the Poetry Pipeline Webring have to check your site for the proper HTML fragment, and this is very time consuming. Out of respect for you we have chosen one week instead of a couple days, we are members of other Webrings and know that 7 days is more then enough time if you have a web site already. So we would like the same respect returned to us by having your HTML fragment added as soon as possible. Sites that fail to add the fragment within 7 DAYS will be removed from the queue.       If you are removed from the webring queue you can always re-apply. But re-apply when you have time to put the links up. We will work beyond the 7 day limit, if you are actively putting up the code and there are problems (in other words, we write and tell you there is something wrong with the code).       When you are finished updating your site with the Webring HTML contact us and we will add you as soon as we can verify your site!

********************************************************************** I submitted my site days ago and have not heard from the Poetry Pipeline Webring. What should I do?       Please contact the Ringmasters if you do not hear from the Poetry Pipeline Webring within a few hours. An automatic response is supposed to go out soon after you sign up. It is important that you give a correct contact email address.       As of late, the webring.org, who host the webring has been undergoing changes and their servers sometimes go offline....we can only sit here and wait for them to go back online and have exactly the same experiences that you do.       Email is a problem too. Since we have to depend upon computers, and as any veteran computer user will tell you "they are only as good as their Programmers". So if you are experiencing a problem let us know, and we will help you any way we possibly can.

********************************************************************** Can I put every page of my site into the webring? NO!       Please restrict membership to ONE per website NOT per PAGE or POEM! If you share a website, having clear separate division, then this is acceptable. You can always write to us for clarification. IF you have more than one Art/literature website with DIFFERENT material....please feel free to submit it as another entry into our ring.

********************************************************************* I put the HTML fragment up but it doesn't work, why?       The webring HTML fragment will not work properly until your site has been added to the ring by the RingMaster or Assistant RingMaster. Until then, the links will generate an error. Do the best of your ability and then contact us.

********************************************************************** Why can't I just get the HTML fragment from another page?       Each ring member has a different ID number. The HTML fragment emailed to you within minutes(we hope!) of joining the Poetry Pipeline Webring Queue has coded your HTML fragment to have this number and your email address so that all you need do is cut and paste. So don't borrow the code from someone else's page! Your current HTML fragment for the webring is available through the edit feature HERE

********************************************************************** How is my site handled, verified, and added?       Your site is added to the queue when you submit. If you make a mistake at this point...DON'T BACK UP YOUR BROWSER AND TRY EDITING. it will simply submit it again. You can either go back to the Poetry Pipeline Webring homepage and click the edit button and go from there, or email us and we can do it internally.       Your site is viewed, at some point during the first day you submitted. If the links aren't up after 7 days we delete your site from the queue. So it is VERY important that if you do not get the email within hours, that you contact us.       If we look at your links and find an error....whether that error be in your site... or in the code... we will contact you.       If your site cannot be seen in Netscape or in MSIE? we will find the problem and pass that info to you. It is IMPORTANT that your site works in both browsers (we often find that some things that work in MSIE can not be seen in Netscape and vice versa). We check all sites in both browsers. And your site will not be added to the ring until we have seen it in both. If there are errors that do not affect our ring code, we will tell you because no one else probably will. If your site has an error, we believe you should be aware of it, as we find most people want their sites to appear as they created it. Anything that affects the ring code, or viewing your poetry we will let you know, and will hold you in the queue (up to two weeks) and help you with correcting it.       We ask that you email us and tell us when you are ready for us to verify your site. There are usually 35 other sites sitting in the queue with you. This way we will not overlook your site, and will add you quickly.

********************************************************************* Why must my site be visible in both Internet Explorer and Netscape?       Simply, because they both exist. One half of the Internet uses Netscape and the other uses Internet Explorer.(a statement based upon the statistics from our page trackers) MSIE overlooks errors in codes and displays any page that contains HTML errors. But Netscape does not. So if you are missing table tags on your page, that makes your page invisible to anyone using Netscape. Not everyone wants to own both browsers, and informing someone to "get a better browser" is unwarranted. There are plenty of reasons why a surfer will choose one browser over another, and not for us to decide. But they can't surf on to the next site if our code on your site is not visible. Therefore, we cater to BOTH browsers and appreciate your compliance to our request that your page is viewable in both browsers.

********************************************************************* I am already in the ring, but you have put me in the queue? WHY?       When our assistants go through the ring, they are looking for errors in your code, or just looking for the code!!! We will contact you about the error, but we need to put you in the queue to keep track of your site until it is fixed. You become an obstical in the ring if you remain there, so that's why we put you in the queue.       Please don't ignore our email!!! We only give 2 weeks to fix the error, and if you don't comply then we delete your site from our ring. If you need more time, we will give you that, but don't ignore the email we send you. If you feel that there is no need to fix anything, let us know, you may not be seeing the problem as we do. Because we have our assistants surf the ring, we are counting on different view points from them. They have different size monitors, different modem speeds, and different computer setups. They wont see your site the same way you see your site, and will find errors if they are there.

********************************************************************* What about the webring statistics? My site doesn't appear to get a lot of hits from you.       Webring.org (the beloved server that handles the cgi-bin for the Poetry Pipeline webring) doesn't update those records daily or even weekly. They are cutting back on those updates because it causes the webring to slow or go down in order to complete the tasks. If you really want to see how much traffic you gain from being in the webring, then create a tracker account from someone like http://www.extreme.com, place it on the page you have listed with us, and keep track of the referring pages. This will give you a true picture of where the traffic comes from.

********************************************************************* Can I put the HTML fragment on my links page or its own page?       Yes. If you do this please remember to have a link to your index or Art/Poetry page from the links page, so that ring travellers can find your poetry! People are more likely to explore a site if they see something that interests them. It would be better if the ring HTML were placed on an index page. The webring aims to be interesting and links pages rarely give a true feel for the character of a website.

********************************************************************* What is this HTML stuff you keep talking about?       HyperText Mark-up Language, or HTML is used to write webpages, and the Poetry Pipeline Webring has a section of HTML which you will need to add to your pages. Most people who own webpages have some knowledge of HTML, or know someone who can help them with it. If your page is maintained by someone else you may simply forward the fragment to them. Do not leave their address as the person to contact. If you change your webpage developer, you will have to update the email too. Otherwise, if we send them a letter about a mistake in your code, and they ignore it, standard procedure is deletion with no correspondence from the site's owner.

********************************************************************* COPYRIGHT       Last but far from least is the issue of copyright. It is impossible for us to check copyrights and so we assume that all poetry posted is either copyright to the site owner or that the site owner has the permission of the copyright holder, or that the work is copyright expired....i.e. long dead poets. Copyright law as it applies to the Internet is still evolving.       If we are notified that neither copyright belongs to the site owner or that the site owner has the permission of the copyright holder, then we will remove any such site to the queue until we can be wholly satisfied in respect of the copyright owner, and if we cannot be satisfied then the site will be removed from the ring at our sole discretion.       We appreciate that disputes arise in the field of copyright but we are not lawyers and are unable to take sides as we have no wish to be enjoined in any legal action. We will express no opinions on the rights and wrongs of any breach of copyright allegation but will simply carry through ring policy as described above. If you have concerns about copyrights go to Free Speech page at Poetry Pipeline! We have many links to copyright and Free Speech sites!

********************************************************************* This FAQ is a work in progress. If you disagree with something here, spot a mistake, or have suggestions please send mail. *********************************************************************

""""A Great Big Thank You To Lilip & Chesil for helping on the FAQ's""""

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