How to make a poem viewable only by members (and not the general public)
Start by either posting a new poem (by clicking the “Submit a poem” link) or editing an existing poem.
Before hitting submit, click on the link titled “Control who can access this content”. You should see this section just above the “review request” area. To hide the poem from the general public (so that only Neopoet members can view it), click on the checkbox next to “Members-only”. If you do not click this checkbox, your poem will be viewable to guests as well as Neopoet members.
Note: The “teaser” (the first few lines of a poem) will still be public on the front page. This is for three essential reasons: One, we “cache” (save in memory) parts of the front page so that our server does not have to generate it from scratch each time somebody views it. This helps speed up the server dramatically. However, because it is saved in memory, the server does not “know” whether the user is a member or guest — and so, by default, displays every poem, whether or not it is members only. Two, we have to show guests something — our community would not be very attractive to new members if our front page was blank. Third, we would have to alter the “Spotlight” section so that it does not include poems that are “members only.”
We do not cache the entire stream, just the front page, so over time your poem will truly become “members only”.
If you change a poem from “public” to “members-only” status, we automatically send this information to Google, Yahoo, and Microsoft on a regular basis. They will work to remove your poem from their search engine, typically within a week or so. However, this process may take longer depending on several factors.
We encourage all members to leave their work viewable to the general public. All of our members were, at some point, just guests on this site. We believe in making their experience on Neopoet as positive as possible.
