Greetings,
I must be getting old now, officially, since I mourn the good old days!
Here's another pet peeve.
In the olden days of poetry submissions, I printed out copies of my poems, put them in an envelope with an SASE and a cover letter then mailed them. Pretty much the only "guidelines" I checked were dates that the journal accepted work and how many poems they wanted (3-4 or 3-5). I also used to rotate which journals I subscribed to (limiting myself to five each year--for financial reasons). Back in the 90's I even had a spiffy computer program that spit out cover letters and tracked submissions for me (all I had to do was enter the journal and, once I had submitted there, the address and editor info was saved).
Now?
Gosh. Some journals are online, some are print. Some want snail mail submissions, while others request email but no attachments, while still others WANT attachments (but all poems in one file with a specific name). Still more have their own forms or online submission tools. The most complicated ask you to create a login and password and fill out a form, then create a PDF for each poem as well as a cover letter, then confirm your submission via email.
I am sure it will happen some day, but it would be nice if there were standards or a central submission tool. Or, heck, even an agreement about requirements.
Millicent
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