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I do get annoyed when people don't choose informative thread titles. For example, in this same forum, there's a thread called "back when I was a teen" but it's about young people not appreciating the dangers of hitch-hiking. Why wouldn't the poster entitle the initial post "the dangers of hitch-hiking"?
I get a bit annoyed at threads with "what should I do" or "terrible situation." Those tell the reader nothing. How hard is it to toss together a few words that convey the main idea of the post?
It reminds me of those standardized tests we'd get as kids, and how some kids could not read a paragraph and not identify what the theme was, when it was so clear to me. I really think it's a thought process problem with some people, and maybe simple laziness with other people.
For me it's less about the length of the post and more about the way it's structured. Like many others, if it's one long blob of text, then I'm likely to skip over it. Even worse if punctuation use is poor or nonexistent. It's just tough for me to follow such posts...I get bored and my mind inevitably starts to wander. Another issue is rambling posts...those where 90% of the content is irrelevant crap/filler and the remaining 10% is their (diluted) argument or point. Again it's not easy to maintain interest. Also, another type of rambling where the poster states their point 15 different ways. Errr...I got what you were saying the first time...
Longer posts that use paragraphs and are concise and cohesive are generally fine for me.
That said, there's a limit where a post is just too long, period, and I skim it. No matter how well its written. I don't have time for that...life beckons. I think many people prefer posts that are brief, to-the-point, open ended and conversational.
For me it's less about the length of the post and more about the way it's structured. Like many others, if it's one long blob of text, then I'm likely to skip over it. Even worse if punctuation use is poor or nonexistent. It's just tough for me to follow such posts...I get bored and my mind inevitably starts to wander. Another issue is rambling posts...those where 90% of the content is irrelevant crap/filler and the remaining 10% is their (diluted) argument or point. Again it's not easy to maintain interest. Also, another type of rambling where the poster states their point 15 different ways. Errr...I got what you were saying the first time...
Longer posts that use paragraphs and are concise and cohesive are generally fine for me.
That said, there's a limit where a post is just too long, period, and I skim it. No matter how well its written. I don't have time for that...life beckons. I think many people prefer posts that are brief, to-the-point, open ended and conversational.
I sometimes read them when I'm bored. My impression is that most fall into one of these categories:
1. Attempts at creative writing. Posters are wanna-be writers.
2. Attempts to justify behavior. Posters relate strings of obscure, isolated, usually trivial events to try to make themselves look good.
Whenever I come across a post that's just one super-long paragraph, my mind literally says, "Oh, he*l no; I'm not reading that mess! Reading all that would be like having an incoherent/rambling conversation with a meth-head because there are absolutely no breaks in the conversation (paragraph). Next!" I can't do it – I just skip the entire post .
And when it comes to vague thread titles ("Can't Believe This...," or "Am I Wrong for Doing This?" or "Need Your Advice"), 98.13% of the time I simply refuse to even click on the thread because I think the poster could have spent 5 more minutes coming up with a thread title that actually hinted at what the thread's about: "Married Women – Do You Look at Other Men?" or "I Lied to Him About Him Being the Best Lover I'd Ever Had; Was I Wrong?" or "My Girlfriend Doesn't Like Dirty Talk in Bed; What Should I Do?"
By the way, this thread is not a snarky rant – it's just a friendly suggestion to certain posters, that's all. I personally welcome constructive criticism because we all have habits of doing things without fully realizing that we're doing them .
yes. for example...
tl;dr
if you can't say what you have to say in a couple sentences then it's not that important.
The posts that always strike me as odd are the ones where the OP titles it something like "Have a huge problem with my in-laws". Then you read it and the person explains the issue as well as how he solved it. So why did they post it if they had already figured out how to solve it?
Another type of post that baffles me is one where the person asks for help with a medical diagnosis. They always say they don't have insurace so they cannot afford to go to the doctor buy want all the CD people to tell them what they have and how to get rid of it. First of all we are not doctors, and secondly they might have something very serious and because they get answers on CD might never seek out medical attention.
The posts that always strike me as odd are the ones where the OP titles it something like "Have a huge problem with my in-laws". Then you read it and the person explains the issue as well as how he solved it. So why did they post it if they had already figured out how to solve it?
Another type of post that baffles me is one where the person asks for help with a medical diagnosis. They always say they don't have insurace so they cannot afford to go to the doctor buy want all the CD people to tell them what they have and how to get rid of it. First of all we are not doctors, and secondly they might have something very serious and because they get answers on CD might never seek out medical attention.
I dislike the posts that ask us what was this person thinking...good grief, like we'd know. I can stand a wall of text if it's well written (TracySam comes to mind...sorry Tracy, but you're a GOOD example! ). Hers are written with interest, humor and great spelling and form. One's that are thought provoking are the most interesting.
But yea, those that whine about things they never intend to change are most frustrating, I think. That example Zentropa gave...holy smokes...that hurts my eyes...and I have limited time during lunch or work breaks to read that kind of thing. Good luck to those that can!
No prob, I always admit my posts are lengthy. I'm super attentive to making sure I'm being really clear. Plus, to me, posting is like therapy. I like to completely articulate my feelings on something, then I can move on and not carry it around in my head. when I get a few people validating me or adding to what I stated, all the better.
But since I tend to be wordy, I'm kind enough to check my grammar, and separate things into short paragraphs. To me, a "wall of text" is the non-stop, run-on, blah blah blah with no breaks or white space.
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