The Ghazal Page has been online since 1999. While there are files on the site, or linked to it, that explain my approach and purposes, this page states the basis for my editing of TGP.
The ghazal seems very promising as a form for poetry written in English. I know there are many who agree with that. However, some folks feel that the ghazal can be used in English only by transposing its forms in other languages directly into English forms. They feel that the rules for the ghazal in its earlier languages are the only and necessary rules for the ghazal in English. And others, of course, feel that almost any poem can be called a ghazal.
I believe that the English ghazal will evolve its own rules, based on the rules of ghazals in other languages but not necessarily a literal replication of those rules. I still stand by my article, "When I say 'ghazal,' I mean 'ghuzzle.'"
I also believe that there will not be universal acceptance of whatever rules gain majority acceptance. That's just the way people are.
If you read over the earlier issues of TGP, you will see quite a range of form in the poems here. Some of the poems have little in common with the traditional ghazal, others met the rules in detail. I expect to continue to publish poems that embody ghazal form and spirit in a variety of ways. What you read on TGP should stimulate you to explore the ghazal and its possibilities in English, as well as enjoying the poems for their own sake.
For me, and for The Ghazal Page, the minimum requirement for calling a poem a ghazal is five to twelve independent couplets. I welcome experiments with the other formal elements, as well as straight-forward traditional ghazals.
I'm always open to articles stating different viewpoints on the ghazal or giving useful information about the form's English possibilities.