I'm behind this idea 100%. There are various kinds and levels of poets and I am of the opinion that we should be prepared to help any and all of them. For those who wish to come in and get an ego boost or notices for a piece of their work, ok, we can do that. The only thing they've gained is any advice and some attention. I would wager that we see more of them than anybody else.
There are three areas that anyone who aspires to be a poet or writer can benefit from what Neopoet offers: 1.) Read, Read, READ! as much poetry as you can. Read the masters, read your peers, slowly learn how effects that struck you were accomplished. Read as a writer would, with an eye for technique. 2.) Ask for help from a mentor if you feel you need help. The second part of this is that if you are a seasoned poet and are asked for mentorship please do it if at all possible. Part 3 is my failing, to ritualize writing. I'm lucky to turn out 3 or 4 poems a week now. The rest is mostly craft and raw material.
Another point, don't box yourself in. If you write iambic pentameter, try a free form once in a while. If free-form is your favorite, try a monotetra, a Rondeau. Explore the world of poetry, because when your voice comes to you, you'll have as much technical craft as you can.

And guess what, part of the aforementioned "thinking like a writer", that's where your critiquing comes in. Look at other's work and state what you like, what you don't, and why. You do this for a few months and you will have grown exponentially as a poet. Don't be afraid of what they'll say, they will be glad to discuss their work with as much detail as you could stand.

New poets, you have an opportunity here to access resources of a college or even graduate college level. I urge you to use us. As any teacher would readily tell you: Students teach us as much as we teach them. You don't have to do it alone. Neopoet and it's vast array of various styles of poets are here for you. Neopoet as a whole and me(Ron BlueDemon77) as an individual welcome you. We await you with open arms.

Ron

BlueDemon77

The problem I see with requiring a real critique is that somebody would have to read All commentary and then decide what is and isn't critique. This would be quite a load even for a committee of 3-4 people. Now this could maybe be side stepped by requiring a comment to be of a certain length to count. This would require enough thought by a reader to maybe insure that at least a bit of real help would be in each response.

Instead of "I loved this" maybe "I loved this because of the imagery ". not much help but at least a little. As to requiring 2-4 comments before posting, I'm all for it and expect it could easily be handled without need of a critique committee....................stan

Rather than a means of learning and teaching we are looking at it as a chore. I disagree with that assessment. If learn a lot from critique.

Ron

So let's agree right now to require 3-4 comments before posting. We can give this a bit of time and see if people get tired of just commenting and begin to give Real feed back. Then later we can think about requiring real critique.

I think it might well take too much time for the advocates to police critique especially as the number of members grows. Perhaps have the writers decide whether a comment is a critique and have a key they could hit when they do so? Advocates could be involved only when dispute arose as to what is and isn't critique. Pretty clear that this critique requirement warrants a lot more discussion......................stan PS to Beau " why join a workshop community then refuse to workshop" I believe that many here who might never join a formal shop nor give in depth critique still learn by reading others' poetry and commentary. Kinda like auditing a class

Since this duffer-poet doesn't even own a computer, and since finding an aforementioned machine is not the easiest thing in a state that is almost a thousand miles from corner to corner (Montana), and nobody has followed up on my training period, all this is way up there, over the rainbow head of a neopoet neophyte. But it might work if you factor in the outliers rather than only the incrowd.

Loved will be like a croaking frog
come have a free ride on my back ..
soon I would have lost
all interest in Neo

the moon shall continue to shine
as much as Loved
would continue to whine

jess will have no need of time
then to search gems of mine..

You must think of all in yours
and
others mind
ere you such a rule design
with all decisions I am fine
deaf and blind
by natural divine