Bozo Erectus
Master Baker
- Joined
- Jan 22, 2003
- Messages
- 22,389
How could I forget? Please dont mention this at the next meeting of the Anti Neopolitan League. I'll be shunned like Mugabe!
Why I dislike long posts
- Thread starter Matrix
- Start date
- Status
I'm sooo sick of very long posts. I start reading them, but they are so boring I don't finish. They just ramble on and on and on like I'm doing right now. It doesn't make the poster smarter or more interesting...just more verbose.
Some of us live on verbosity. Not for its own sake, mind you, but I just love reading and writing in detail. It's how I think. Indeed; when you see one of my huge posts and recoil in terror, do realize that by the time it is posted it has been severely edited and you are only seeing the abridged version of my thought process... I've read through Tolkien's LOTR in toto, for instance, and loved every moment of it despite struggling with some of the English and the "Tolkien lexicology". Yes, I really did enjoy reading about every single meal every character ate every day of the story.
Your point is well taken that if someone's going to take your time and energy by forcing you to read a huge post they should at least A. be a good writer, or at least a polite one who organizes their thoughts and their paragraphs well, and B. have something to say to justify your time. Sadly, there's only one way to find these two out...
In the end, these are free forums and you each have the choice of what to read and what to ignore. Life is ultimately like that. Me, I like the meat and like to get inside people's heads and try to understand the details of what they're saying. Sometimes that can be conveyed by a single smiley (the Hemingway approach) but sometimes you have to wade through War and Peace to get there. I like 'em both, and have learned much because of it.
Some of us live on verbosity. Not for its own sake, mind you, but I just love reading and writing in detail. It's how I think. Indeed; when you see one of my huge posts and recoil in terror, do realize that by the time it is posted it has been severely edited and you are only seeing the abridged version of my thought process... I've read through Tolkien's LOTR in toto, for instance, and loved every moment of it despite struggling with some of the English and the "Tolkien lexicology". Yes, I really did enjoy reading about every single meal every character ate every day of the story.
Your point is well taken that if someone's going to take your time and energy by forcing you to read a huge post they should at least A. be a good writer, or at least a polite one who organizes their thoughts and their paragraphs well, and B. have something to say to justify your time. Sadly, there's only one way to find these two out...
In the end, these are free forums and you each have the choice of what to read and what to ignore. Life is ultimately like that. Me, I like the meat and like to get inside people's heads and try to understand the details of what they're saying. Sometimes that can be conveyed by a single smiley (the Hemingway approach) but sometimes you have to wade through War and Peace to get there. I like 'em both, and have learned much because of it.
And our nominations for Understatement of the Decade.....
But that's okay! I love it anyway!
Because I don't.
The key is the person's writing skills IMHO. If a person knows how to write well, or at the very least argue, then people won't grow tired of seeing or reading their posts. A good example would be Greadius. He would write a lengthy post addressing all arguments made, and dismissing those that were worthless. And once someone would reply, he would disect those posts addressing each key point. Many posters (old and current) use this style, and it tends to be very effective. Anyhow I am rambling....
The key is the person's writing skills IMHO. If a person knows how to write well, or at the very least argue, then people won't grow tired of seeing or reading their posts. A good example would be Greadius. He would write a lengthy post addressing all arguments made, and dismissing those that were worthless. And once someone would reply, he would disect those posts addressing each key point. Many posters (old and current) use this style, and it tends to be very effective. Anyhow I am rambling....
Eastern Knight
Dragons!
The reason I hate long posts is that I'm jealous! You can never see any of my posts to be long...
Hear, hear.
anarres
anarchist revolutionary
Weirdly, I hate short posts. 
Having missed this thread when it came up, and having being mentioned in it as one of the posters who have made INSANELY large contributions (with what I agree), but as well worthwhile reading (thanks for that), I feel I should add a few words, even if ressurecting a dead thread.
Guys... this forum is a place for lurking, yes, but this is also a place rich of discussions on some of the most sensitive topics of mankind, dealing with economy, politics, religion, human rights, etc...
Some of these sensitive issues requires elaboration, lots of it, so there can be any hope of properly comunicating a sensible point. So, when you come to think that some of them have dozens of books describing them, you realize that the posts of the most verbal members of CFC are actually quite compact considering the complexity of the issues.
Really, where else we can find people passing complex points on the issues we discuss here with so few sentences? Looking at it under this perspective, we see that actually there is no one here that writes too much; in fact, we are quite concise considering what we hope to accomplish.
Anyway, just for illustration, I'd like to add the link to my longest CFC post ever, and ask you guys for any suggestions on how I could properly have passed this idea with fewer words.
Perhaps you guys can help me to learn how can I express myself with the same clarity, with fewer words...
regards
.
Guys... this forum is a place for lurking, yes, but this is also a place rich of discussions on some of the most sensitive topics of mankind, dealing with economy, politics, religion, human rights, etc...
Some of these sensitive issues requires elaboration, lots of it, so there can be any hope of properly comunicating a sensible point. So, when you come to think that some of them have dozens of books describing them, you realize that the posts of the most verbal members of CFC are actually quite compact considering the complexity of the issues.
Really, where else we can find people passing complex points on the issues we discuss here with so few sentences? Looking at it under this perspective, we see that actually there is no one here that writes too much; in fact, we are quite concise considering what we hope to accomplish.
Anyway, just for illustration, I'd like to add the link to my longest CFC post ever, and ask you guys for any suggestions on how I could properly have passed this idea with fewer words.
Perhaps you guys can help me to learn how can I express myself with the same clarity, with fewer words...
regards
.
Exactly. Often times, the subjects being discussed have entire books devoted to them, many of them not really coming up with anything new or even any conclusions. To pack hundreds and thousands of pages into something that could print out to be maybe 50 pages is a worthy feat!
And that's just pointing to discussions with a succession of moderate and a few longer posts.
And that's just pointing to discussions with a succession of moderate and a few longer posts.
Sometimes, in skimming over a paragraph just typed, I see every second sentence little more than rephrasing of the prior one. That's a Crime, and I am sorry.
I'm too dull to place a few nicely loaded words that send the reader, as though by choice, down one path of thought. That must be the ideal.
I'm too dull to place a few nicely loaded words that send the reader, as though by choice, down one path of thought. That must be the ideal.
I am always happy to read long posts which are well argued and coherent without being repetitive.
[rant]
My pet hate is the insanely long quotation or copying and pasting of text from some news website. Quote selectively. Summarise Provide a link. But dont expect me to read all the way through a hundred lines of text that werent yours in the first place!
[/rant]
[rant]
My pet hate is the insanely long quotation or copying and pasting of text from some news website. Quote selectively. Summarise Provide a link. But dont expect me to read all the way through a hundred lines of text that werent yours in the first place!
[/rant]
Hitro
Feistus Raclettus
This thread is a good example for why I think CFC OT has taken a downturn... 
Sure there are things that are annoying, especially that "posting of long articles" that col mentioned (as if some article from some website would be "proof" for anything or as if "discuss" would be a valuable contribution to anything), but most of the people that post longer posts here are the only ones that actually care to get into a subject. It may be news to some, but "this sucks" is no argument...
Sure there are things that are annoying, especially that "posting of long articles" that col mentioned (as if some article from some website would be "proof" for anything or as if "discuss" would be a valuable contribution to anything), but most of the people that post longer posts here are the only ones that actually care to get into a subject. It may be news to some, but "this sucks" is no argument...
Yago
came undone
Bah, the quoting of a lengthy source has it's upsides. When I find something that describes the situation/opinion/recipe for cookies more or less with the same outlook like I have, then I'd rather paste it in than use my own words. Because the paste-in is probably understandable English, which is not always a given when I write myself.
ComradeDavo
Formerly God
I think the problem is that sometimes people tend to post long posts unnecessarily, like they repeat their point several times or they go and quote a 5 pages long article by posting the whole lot (like col said earlier).
Sure, you need long posts sometimes, but use them in moderation please
Sure, you need long posts sometimes, but use them in moderation please
So what you're saying, FredLC, is that sometimes long posts are necessary to make your point complete? Because if smaller, it might lack argumentation...
Grille
panel insect
Originally posted by Matrix
Final point: use decoration, like bold, italic, or smilies.
...
(
)edit:
damnit, "..." in italics are lame![/deco]
Free Enterprise
The return stroke.
Pothead's post was one of the most humerous to appear on this forum in quite some time. 
Especially the part about it could have all been avoided by ordering the cheesburger....
Sometimes you have to choose the cheesburger or the 7 course health/dietary meal (to avoid the dreaded cholesterol).
Especially the part about it could have all been avoided by ordering the cheesburger....Sometimes you have to choose the cheesburger or the 7 course health/dietary meal (to avoid the dreaded cholesterol).
Originally posted by Matrix
So what you're saying, FredLC, is that sometimes long posts are necessary to make your point complete? Because if smaller, it might lack argumentation...
No, I am saying that sometimes one has to be descriptive when he wants more than just telling what he believes in, but actually why he believes in that.
What might lack is not argumentation, that is not a value "de per se"...
what might lack is actual understanding.
:mentally insert favourite smiley:
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