Football Poets

Football Poets FAQ

Q. Why the makeover? (August 2016)
A. The Football Poets website was first built in 2000. Web technology has moved on and the site was experiencing various technical difficulties. Our thanks to Christian Wach for taking on this task and delivering a WordPress-based replacement.

Q. Who are the Football Poets?
A. Everyone! Fans of Football (i.e. Association Football / Soccer), fans of poetry. “Supporters”, to coin a phrase. Fans from all points of the globe – there are poems here on the website from all the Continents (except Antartica!) The website is monitored by the Editors, but we see ourselves purely as custodians.

Login

Q. How do I publish a poem?
A. You have to login before you can publish a poem.

Q. Where do I login?
A. There is a “My Account” section at the top right of every page. Click or tap it to slide down the login form.

Q. Can I choose my own username?
A. Yes.

Q. What if my selected username already exists?
A. The site will let you know and ask you to choose a different one.

Q. What if I forget my password?
A. There is standard password recovery functionality.

Q. I previously published poems – will my login have those poems automatically attached?
A. No. You will have to “claim” the poet or poets who wrote them. Please see the Claiming your Poems section.

Q. Do I have to login to use the site?
A. No. You can navigate through the site and view all poems and features without having to login. But you do have to login if you wish to publish a poem or comment on any poem.

Q. I cannot publish a poem or comment on a poem. Why is this?
A. You must log in before you can publish or comment.

Navigation

Q. Can I view the Football Poets website from different devices?
A. Yes, the Football Poets website should be viewable from most devices and all browsers. Please notify us if you find otherwise.

Q. What is the list type “hamburger” icon meant to do?
A. It shows the left-hand Navigation column if it’s not visible. The Navigation column contains the Main Menu and a Search Form to find what you’re looking for.

Q. What is the loudspeaker type icon meant to do?
A. It shows the right-hand Activity column if it’s not visible. Here you will find “widgets” containing featured links, latest poems and site activity.

Q. What is the speech bubble icon meant to do?
A. It shows the right-hand Comments column if it’s not visible, where you will find comments that have been posted by readers and poets. All poems can be commented on in a fine-grained way – leave a comment on the whole poem or just one verse. You can also select some text and comment on that if you prefer.

Q. Will I be able to upload my own biography? And picture?
A. Yes you will, just keep it within the bounds of decency please.

Q. How do I find a poem using a keyword?
A. Use the search form on the Poems Archive page.

Q. Are there any other features that will be added to the website?
A. The Editors will eventually add tags to the poems in the archive. Bear with us – there are around 16,000 poems on the site right now, so this may take a while. New poems can be tagged by the poem author when they submit it for publication or by the Editors in retrospect.

Previously on Football Poets…

Q. Is all the functionality from the previous version of the website, available on the new website?
A. Most features are present. If there is anything you want to bring to our attention, just send us a message via the Contact Us page.

Q. Previously when publishing poems, I had the various options of selecting font, font size and font colour – can I still do this?
A. This is not currently a feature on the new website, although it may become an option in the future. If you’re concerned about a poem you already published here, don’t worry – previous data has not been lost and each existing poem still retains that information.

Q. Previously, I could add some text narrative explaining my thoughts, feelings, inspiration an the poem’s context when publishing a poem. Will this feature continue?
A. Yes. It’s a separate field on the poem submission form.

Q. Will I still be able to publish poems with embedded code? E.g. <i>italics</i> <u>underlined</u> <b>bold</b>
A. Yes. There’s a browser-based text editor to write in which offers these and more styling options.

Claiming your poems

Q. I published some poems here in the past. Can I reclaim them?
A. Yes. All poems are now associated with a Poet Profile, which is the public information about a poet. This means you’ll have to claim the profile rather than the individual poems.

Q. How do I claim a Poet Profile?
A. After you have registered for the site, search the Poet Archive for the name you published the poem or poems under. If you find your name, you can then submit a claim for that Poet Profile which will notify an Editor. If the Editor is satisfied that you are indeed the poet, then the Poet Profile will be assigned to you.

Q. I published my poems under a nom de plume or pen name. Can I claim that?
A. Yes, you can claim as many Poet Profiles as you like.

Q. What happens when I have been assigned a Poet Profile?
A. You become the author of all the poems published by that Poet Profile. It becomes one of your pen names on the site. You can now edit those poems and publish further poems as that poet. You can also post comments as that poet when discussing a poem or generally around the site.

Editorial Control

Q. Can I complain about another user’s activity on the website?
A. Yes, just send us a message via the Contact Us page.

Q. Can a user’s account be suspended?
A. Yes, if the Editors uphold any complaints, the Editors have the authority to disable a user’s account.

Q. How did the Football Poets website originate?
A. Historically, this website came about from a core group of friends, called the Stroud Poets. The website went online in time for the Euro 2000 Championships and has grown steadily since. The website now celebrates all things pertaining to football – in prose. From matches to fandom, from passion to fashion, from tragedy to ecstasy, including the truly tragic events that have both blighted and changed the course of football history.

Q. Do the Editors have anything they wish to say?
A. We sincerely hope you appreciate the makeover and find the site a place that you enjoy visiting over and over, both in and out of the Football season!

We only ask that you respect the fact that different people support different teams with just as much passion as you do, that friendly rivalry is just that. And that all fans are allowed to enter herein with their rose-tinted glasses on!

The Editors reserve the right to reject poems or comments based on our own judgement, i.e. standard norms of accepted behaviour (albeit based on westernised yet liberal upbringings!).