Searchwarp

"There is nothing in the world that I loathe more than group activity, that communal bath where the hairy and slippery mix in a multiplication of mediocrity." - Vladimir Nabokov

Joining searchwarp was one of those ideas that seemed good at the time, but disenchantment, and even an embarrassment that I fooled myself this was a quality writing community led me to distance myself from it. I would say the site has positive virtues for compulsive writers, such as those afflicted with hypergraphia, and have little college level writing training. I would like to see a statistic that shows prolific writing means quality writing, but I doubt if such a correlation exists.

There is a big emphasis on Christian conservative Bible Belt type mentality, with people churning reams of John Birch anti-Obama, praise Jesus yawn. Meh. It even features Christian and Bible study groups, but don't bother trying to find a pagan, Buddhist, Taoist, Shinto, Hindu, Jewish, New Age, or even atheist group because it's not there.

The admins give lip service to plurality, but I think it's more like what used to be called hiring the token minority to give the appearance of diversity. The site owner sounds like he likes everybody, equally. White supremacists, conservative extremists, holy rollers, Palestinian propagandists, all are welcome and they are not shy. To tell you the truth, this was another area that rubbed me the wrong way. Speaking for myself, I think I need to keep a different order of company.

Searchwarp is still on par with similar smorgasbords of second rate hacks. If that kind of thing appeals to you, go for it.

As for aesthetic appeal, well, the site works (to be polite). It has that primitive look of websites from the late 1990s, or maybe it can be compared to a Brother word processor with a daisy wheel print head. Yes, it's functional, but technology has since moved forward, while searchwarp looks like it's settled on a retro look and feel.

There's a confusing star rating system, just like other sites of its kind use. I used to think the star rating was clever, but I've changed my mind since. I have yet to hear a really rational explanation for the star rating system. Is it peer rating? That might explain why higher order literature is often under rated, while commercial crap and "How to" type articles are the more valued fare. But then, the site owner periodically whines that he will have to close the site because it does not generate enough ad revenue, and Google continues to lower searchwarp's search ranking (adding irony to the name "searchwarp").

If it is the owners or editors who are doing the star rating, they don't give me confidence in being literary experts. Neither do they give me the impression that they read real books by real authors, so perhaps that explains the nonsensical star ratings. Beyond that, to anyone out of the loop, of course Google is going to lower this site's authoritative credibility. The people writing are not authorities, usually, but merely regurgitating second, and even third-hand information. They do it for some professional exposure, or to simply cash in on Google Adsense revenue.

I have seen the rare example of quality literature on searchwarp, but such writers are the exception, and disappear altogether eventually.