I first came across poetry.com around two and half years back when one of my friends very excitedly told me he was going to go to the US. initially I was very happy for him but I soon turned sceptic when I heard the details. he said that he had just started writing poems(due to some obscure inspiration)and was scouring the net for poetries when he came upon this site. he then wrote a poem and posted it there. lo and behold! within 2 weeks he had received a letter to attend a conference in Washington where his poem would be read out and to buy a book where his poem would be printed. well my scepticism turned to certainty that there was something wrong when I read his poem. although he is my friend, I can say that monstrosity he called a poem can never be printed; much less read out in an international conference. he was however determined to make the best of this opportunity fate had given him and go to the US. thankfully an ill timed exam schedule stopped him from doing so.
the second time was a year back. one of my friend’s mother very proudly showed me the letter her son had just received from poetry.com. I somehow convinced her not to spend on the book and that it was a fraud.
poetry.com is a ingenious method of fraud. it uses the power of the net. it does not cost nething for the site to host the poems on a freeserver site. its revenue model is simple it earns from the book and also I presume from travel of those unfortunate to go to its fictitious seminar(although I havent been able to verify this). its however surprising that such a fraudulent site should exist for such a long period. seems like there r a lot of beleivers.