The Story Behind the Poetry Pages

[Berlie]

Many years ago when the internet was a fairly new thing, I was fascinated by these new "web sites" that people were building. I had seen a lot of homepages being built with flashy animated bouncing balls and dancing cats and the such. I wanted to build a web site too, but something different. So I built a website not based around myself, but around something I enjoyed, poetry. The first version of what eventually became the Poetry pages was called " Voices of Poetry" and was hosted on the free web space that came with my internet access account.

It consisted of people sending me their poetry via email and I would create a page for them that contained their poems, their email, homepage link, photo and a bio (very similar to the Poets' pages today but all done by hand). When I came across a poem I liked I would feature it and do a special page for it with background music and images.

I discovered I really enjoyed this web site creation work and I started creating sites for some friends and family. Eventually down the road this lead to me quitting my job and starting my own website creation business, Jera Web Creations but the poetry site always remained as my personal "hobby" site and was not geared towards making money. The website Voices of Poetry was still going strong but the upkeep of it took a lot of my time. When I got divorced and moved to Georgia, I lost that website since I no longer had the internet access account which hosted the free web space the website resided on. After settling down in my new home I decided to bring it back better than ever. I registered the domain Poetrypages.com and at first it was set up very similar to the old Voices of Poetry site. People would send me their work and I would create the page for them. Eventually I came across this web site forum script that looked interesting and was not too expensive and I added forums to the site. Some time went by and my life became really busy, single now and trying to support myself I was working long hours and had no time to even look at the poetrypages.com site to check up on it. Well the forums grew and a community was born. However the forum script wasn't a very good one and the company who made it no longer existed. Problems resulted, mainly some people coming to the forums and starting trouble. Since there was no way to ban users they kept coming back and almost ruined it, all unknown to me since at the time I had no time to read the forums. Finally some people sent me an email complaining about the problem and I finally took notice. A decision had to be made. Come to the realization that I did not have the time to run the Poetrypages anymore and to shut it down, or find the time and invest a little money in a better forum script. I opted to spend the time and invest the money and purchased a license to use the UBB forums script. A long time member of the forums, Heinzs, stepped forward and volunteered to moderate the new forums. the site has seen a few changes since then and the community has grown even larger, at times outgrowing the services offered by hosts which has caused us to move to new and better hosts.

Not counting the predecessor "Voices of Poetry" the Poetry Pages site has been going for almost 6 years now.

[heinzs]

I can only speak for myself in saying how glad I am that you opted to invest the time and money in keeping the Pages alive. The Pages have become a way of life for me... and that's NOT a bad thing *grin*.

Heinz

[His Barbie Doll]

I agree with Heinzs... I'm glad you've cared so much about poetry, the pages, and all of us registered here to invest time and God know money into this thing and still keeping it free...

It is very much appreciated...

Bye bye,
Me... Barbie D...

[The Ravyn]

i remember the old pages ... i joined back in 2000 ... and i very vividly remember the 'bad times' there. i deleted my entire library and left for close to a year before coming back. this was about a month or so before the change over to the ubb forums. i was not even going to join the 'new' page because i was very down on myself at the time even though things had been going better than they ever had before ... weird how ... when life is good you can always find a way to make it suck huh? so anyway, where is all of this going? ummm i have no idea! oh yeah! thanks berlie for dedicating so much of your time to this place ... and heinzs for being the 'first moderator of the pages' (not to mention reading and commenting on just about every poem that was posted in the first 3 months or so here! lol) and thanks to the people of poetrypages for just being around and doing what you do best!

on a side note ... i've only deleted my library twice since the change over ... and both times it was ... in the immortal words of robert plant 'nobody's fault but mine'

[BrightMindDarkHeart]

Berlie, I must admit, I'm some-what old to this and all but..I KNOW everyone on poetrypages has to agree that we are all very thankful for you keeping it alive, and to the moterators as well for helping. I personaly to your greatness!!!
~!~BMDH~!~

[Moongem]

Kim, you've brought tears to my eyes, and it's morning and I'm drinking coffee!!! So many ifs... If you had not done all you've written of, I may not have found my Poet-self... If I had not found the Poetry Pages, I would still feel...moot. Would not have met my friends from here, would not have met Jenn., would not have grown and fledged my mind... Thank you so much for your spirit-sharing, you've affected many lifes in such a positive way. And, Heinzs? You, too.

[heinzs]

*hugs*

[thief of dreams]

:idea: :idea: IDEA :idea: :idea:

[suede]

I'm glad you went with plan b, Berlie. Thanks to you and also to heinzs for stepping up to help out. Reliable good people are hard to find. There is so much to learn, and in the ten days I've been here I think I've learned a lot...and not just about poetry. I'm also glad I was able to learn about The Ravyn, and glad that you were here for her back then. Thanks for all you do. If you ever need any help or have questions regarding www/internet stuff, feel free to contact me.

[Spazway]

I am very grateful to have found the Poetry Pages. My sister told me about the site and strongly urged me to join and I don't always listen to my little sister but I'm glad I decided to on this issue. Poetry Pages has been a wonderful place to share my own work and get feedback on it and to read the works of some really awesome poets as well. More importantly, though, are the friends I've made here...who have helped me through some really bad times with their unconditional love and support and encouragement and who have been there in the really good times, too.

Thank you, Berlie, for creating this wonderfully creative, safe haven for us lost souls known as poets. And thank you to the friends who've always got my back.