For almost five years, Prose has a been a safe haven for me where I could write whatever I wanted for people who actually cared to read whatever story I had to tell. What first drew me to this site was the fact that you didn’t have to pay, as I was quite young when I first joined. Not only that, but the lack of restrictions on what you could and couldn’t write gave me--and everyone else--freedom to pursue their craft in whatever way they wanted.

The supportiveness of the community here is astounding. From day one, others on this platform welcomed me, guided me, and looked out for me. When I wasn’t on the site as often, they would check in to make sure I was okay.

And in the past year or so, things have been changing. I understand the need to add a subscription to help keep this site going. That’s totally okay and I was very glad that it wasn’t forced on everybody like it is on other writing sites. However, particular users have used their membership to treat other users here as less-than or undeserving of the rights to post here. That is not, and never should be, acceptable. Nobody should ever be shamed or bullied or made to feel like they’re doing something wrong because they can’t afford even five dollars amonth for Prose Gold. It’s not their fault if they’re working hard to get through college or too young to have a job and can’t afford it.

I have kept my mouth shut on a lot of the issues I have noticed cropping up around here, simply because I don’t like causing issues or calling people out, but things are really getting out of hand. I’m not here to just rant as that won’t get us anywhere--I’m here to present the problems and then suggest solutions.

1. MASS TAGGING

The problem:

A lot of users have become upset due to the mass-tagging that has been going on around here. And I’ll agree, it’s a bit frustrating to have your notifications bogged down by users you don’t even know or follow.

The solution:

The easiest solution here is to just be respectful: don’t tag random people who don’t follow you, haven’t asked to be tagged in your work, or have asked you not to tag them. But obviously, people have continued to do it anyway. So the next step is to ask them politely to not tag you in the future and if they persist, just block them.

I think if Prose really wants to improve this site and go that extra step, a nice feature they could add would be something like the notification bell on Youtube. Put a button or something on the profile pages so if someone wants to be notified when a user they like posts something new, they can hit that. And boom, they get a notification every time a new post is made.

2. MULTIPLE ACCOUNTS

The problem:

This is a big problem, though not the biggest one (we’ll talk about that one later). I’m not sure how many of you have noticed the increase of fake accounts with no profile pic, no posts and no followers, usually only following Prose and the person who created these fake accounts. I myself, have found many users doing this, particularly in the challenges where the entries with the most likes win. A fellow Proser messaged Prose about this issue, but they never did anything about it. All of those fake accounts are still up, despite extremely damming evidence; the likes are still there, the challenges have been won by people who did not deserve to win. Such a big issue cannot continue to be brushed to the side.

The solution:

This is not that difficult of an issue to fix, which is why I’m a bit confused and upset as to why it hasn’t been dealt with. It’s this simple: you can’t follow, like, or comment on a post unless your email address has been verified. Almost no one is going to create 70 email addresses to win a challenge. Or maybe they will but at least further steps to prevent it will be made.

3. NEW AUTHORS

The problem:

This is not everyone. In fact, it’s just a very, very, very small number of people who are upset or annoyed by the recent influx of young authors from another writing site. As they are quite young, some feel that their posts are “dragging down the quality” and are not talented enough to be here. One user even went as far as to message other Prosers to berate them for liking a post by one of these younger authors because they felt that kids didn’t deserve to be there. Not only that, but this same user commented disparaging and rude remarks under their posts as well, then deleted them when called on it.

The solution:

First of all, if you think new writers are an issue, you’re part of this problem. We all started somewhere. There is no such thing as a perfect writer and it takes a lot of time and practice and bad drafts to hone your skill. If you don’t like a post or a story, just keep scrolling.

4. THE BULLYING

The Problem

This has, unfortunately, become an increasing problem. I have only noticed one user in particular partaking in this under the guide of “constructive criticism” and “feedback.” Nobody has a problem with actual, helpful feedback and pointing out issues and offering solutions in a polite manner. HOWEVER there is a big difference between that and commenting that you hate everything about someone’s post and listing everything you think that makes it terrible. Or commenting under someone’s post where they talk about a struggle in their daily life and saying you think it’s a made-up issue people like being the victim of. None of us are better than any of the other writers here and it’s disgusting to see someone acting like this. What makes me even angrier, however, is the fact the victims of this person feel the need to apologize as if it’s their fault that this person is upset. News flash: it’s not. And this is where we get to the part that probably will get me a lot of hate. For this very reason, I have kept my mouth shut for a long time and just let things slide but I can’t do that anymore, not when all of Prose is about to change because of one person who can’t stop complaining, causing problems, bullying, and then dipping without having to deal with any of the consequences of her actions.

I do not like naming names or calling people out, like I already said. Especially since this could result in ME getting kicked from this site or garner me hate. But after I and many other users have notified Prose of this person’s actions, with evidence, they continued to do nothing.

And I think here is where I should make it clear that this woman is the same person who messaged Prosers and berated them for supporting young writers, insulted and tore them, then complained that SHE was being bullied when she was called out on it and reported to Prose. She also called them terrible, awful kids, said they dragged down the quality of the site and had no right to be here and she hated when they entered her challenges. She has three accounts in total, all premium, and since she has stated she believes her subscription keeps Prose afloat, she feels like she has more say than the rest of us. Which should not be true, but it seems Prose is intent on keeping her happy. Even if that means allowing bullying to go in the mean time.

Many of you may know this user as Finder, who recently wrote a post complaining once again about how Prose has changed for the worse due to young writers. And then likened being called out for being extremely rude to them to “verbal gang rape” which crosses a line. Sexual assault is not a joke; it’s not funny, and it most certainly should not be thrown around like . It’s insulting to actual victims to have their experiences equated to being called on the carpet for bullying kids. Currently, she has deactived her account, claiming she won’t be back, at least right now.

However this is a pattern if behavior with her: say something rude, mean, or disparaging on a post, get backlash from it, delete said comments, deactive whichever account she used to make said comments, then come back when she thinks the dust has settled. Every time Prose is notified, they do nothing and she remains unpunished. And the cycle just repeats, with her actually reporting me and other users for bullying her by telling her her remarks were uncalled for.

As a veteran of Prose with five odd years under her belt and three different premium Prose accounts (though I must say I don’t know if all three are still activated as after the group project fiasco she was involved in, she deactivated/changed the name her joytotheworld account), she also seems to have a good relationship with the people running Prose.

I do not want to point fingers but the only solution for this issue is for Prose to actually take responsibility, stop giving preferential treatment, and stop doing things simply because Finder complains. In fact, the most recent changes that Prose is talking of implementing came after Finder made her post ripping on the newbie writers and saying their nannies needed to come pick them up.

I know some of you here are friends with Finder. I do not want hate sent her way, and I hope you will not send any unnecessary hate my way, either. At the end of the day, I want this to become a better place for everyone. But that’s not going to happen of we--and especially Prose--don’t do their part.

What does it mean to be a good writer?

Simple. It means you write things that have worth. Worth. A worth of some sort. But who can properly define what “worth” means. It isn’t objective, its subjective. To someone, a piece of writing can be absolute rubbish, without any worth, but to another, a work of art. There’s no fence to bind this.

I believe it is important to see both sides of a story, so I’ll be arguing both sides and let you decide what you want to decide about this topic. You judge, I’ll just lay out the facts on the matter. But beware of confirmation bias-- agreeing with something wholeheartedly because it already matches your believes, but rejecting or “not liking” something you don’t personally “like” or agree with. Let’s not do that, let’s not take sides for a while, and look logically into this.

So I want to put it out there, that good writing does matter. But what does good writing mean again? Its subjective, and I say, to each person his/her view.

You listed out the various social media platforms out there- Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, Youtube, Snapchat, Tiktok etc. I personally am not a fan of social media, but let’s put my opinion aside for now. There’s always many sides to one entity, so I’ll be stating some arguments to say that, no, it hasn’t turned us into mindless zombies--or if you want me to be more precise, not all. Some. I know this personally.

During one literature lesson, we were just being introduced to poetry, and we just reading a few poems provided by the teacher for us. Turns out, one of the poems was found on Instagram. It’s called “Instapoetry”. Now let’s go back, is it worth? Yes. The writer poured out her heart in that short poem, and shared with so many others, impacted so many others. When I found out, I was thinking about Prose, this website, and was like, “Hey! That’s so similar!” Even better, dute to the many functions of Instagram, I learnt that writers were also able to design their posts, which they want to write the poem in. That meant that people could accompany related pictures/ drawings to that drawing to place even more emphasis/allow greater impact on the reader due to visuals.

Social media allows people to connect and provides budding writers, or just writers to have an audience, similarly to this website. Someone to read their works. Maybe you’re thinking, “But that is such a small few! Plus, I’ve never heard of it...” That’s the thing, we can’t condemn an entire thing because some sides of it can be quite deterring and bothering.

YouTube, is filled with music videos, these artists also write music--Lyrics are hold a different meaning each and it’s accompanied by sound, so it fascinates not just one sense, but two senses. Some of our own Prosers to spoken word on YouTube. “Writing” takes a different form there, people perform spoken word poetry, and it is a platform for writers to learn from others, professionals in fact. I myself have spent time on YouTube watching spoken word poets reciting their poems, and have been inspired and awed by their performances.

Additionally, social media provides this one thing, that is so important to all writers. Ideas. Ideas to write about. Or things that can trigger possible ideas to write about. Ideas spark creativity, allows room for creativity.

I know that you probably wasn’t thinking about this, and were more referring to the more common sight of social media--Tiktok dances, stupid dumb videos on YouTube, Narcasistic selfies by influences plastered on every page of social media. Let’s look more into that then. But I want to say, don’t throw out the baby with the bath water. Not everything of social media is toxic or just “useless” and mindless. I thought that too, so I sympathise.

This topic is also something I’ve been thinking especially into though. I have lost so many friends to social media. You actually described them perfectly, “mindless, unsophisticated zombies who no longer care for grammar, punctuation, vocabulary, or creativity”. If I’m going to honest, I wanted to argue that Social Media is in fact brainwashing people into the above, but I decided I shouldn’t.

You probably know enough, don’t you? That’s why you wrote this prompt. You’ve seen it, and probably are seeing it, even more in fact. You know Social Media HAS in fact damaged so many lives. I have, I know I have. Those mindless, unsophisticated zombies. I see them so damn often. I walk down the hallways of school, and man, am I terrified that you’ll become one of them. But are we thinking too highly of ourselves? Who gives us a right to think them “unsophisticated”? Who are we?

So I’ll just say, don’t be like them. You are aware of what could happen to you, but don’t completely cast out the idea of social media, dark and freaky as it is. Don’t let the people you love become like them. That I’ve learnt.

Always treasure good writing, and write things that have worth. And then, share it. Social Media is a tool, its not evil in itself. So why not use it impact others, since an audience has already been given to you? Share it, let your readers empathise with you, let them relate to it, who knows what kind of impact you’ll give them?

You really shouldn’t underestimate the power of words that have worth.

here,

if i may throw you a bone. here, hold this angelic chagrin of mine, this silently chewing

of cherry cheeks. at the mouth of the universe, the skies are stained whiskey, and we are still children watching the moon follow us home. something somewhere begging us to be rebellious later, to pocket our anger and

make wishes on eyelashes instead. the bodies at the bus stop say i’d rather be in her fast car, chasing down the sun. we’re on the fence. we’re jumping the fence. holding two birds in the fist, and forget the bush. nature despises us. we woke up from starlit dreams to find we were equal to nothing.

and if we’re running out of youth, well, better make it fast. i’m afraid i can’t stand this much longer. we left sacchrine fingerprints all over this place, spilled time like syrup,

left nothing for ourselves but stained sour mouths.

now we punch in our teeth to cover up the kisses. don’t you see?

i’m too foolish to be memorialized. and the gaps between your fingers: will they remember me? let’s hope not. best leave ourselves untraced. you know how these things go; greek tragedies, et cetera. these are not safe spaces, not for our dreaming hearts.

we will go out burning, flooding, swimming in ourselves.

traversing the disasters of our bodies. here, you are home. here, you are everything.

the sky falls, or watches us fall. it doesn't matter much anymore.