[Help] Post length

[ChickenBaltiPie]

Depends on opening paragraph / sentence. If it piques my interest I’ll read on, otherwise not. Generally cba with long posts though.

This for me! Happy to read a long post ‘IF’ the first few sentences/paragraph grabs me sufficiently to encourage reading on, but I don’t take any objection to it on principal as I’m sure many do. Some seem to find it offensive FFS. Never understood that. I’ll just skip on by.

Equally, no desire to criticise anyone’s spelling or grammar either. Not my place, or anyone else’s IMO!! I think I can articulate myself to a pretty high standard, considering I’ve had ZERO education.

Setting a minimum expectation for anyone’s written ability (on a football forum) is to presume we’ve all been blessed with the same equal opportunities in life, which we haven’t, so I find it quite distasteful and elitist tbh. It can be tantamount to bullying and I always interpret it as insecurity on the part of the critique, compensating for their own inadequacies in a vein effort to justify their otherwise boring existence beyond NSC.

 

[Tom Hark Preston Park]

This for me! Happy to read a long post ‘IF’ the first few sentences/paragraph grabs me sufficiently to encourage reading on, but I don’t take any objection to it on principal as I’m sure many do. Some seem to find it offensive FFS. Never understood that. I’ll just skip on by.

Equally, no desire to criticise anyone’s spelling or grammar either. Not my place, or anyone else’s IMO!! I think I can articulate myself to a pretty high standard, considering I’ve had ZERO education.

Setting a minimum expectation for anyone’s written ability (on a football forum) is to presume we’ve all been blessed with the same equal opportunities in life, which we haven’t, so I find it quite distasteful and elitist tbh.

I call BS

 

[:J)]

One of my colleagues prefaces a long reply with "I don't have the time to be succinct"

If that's the case, a certain Paul Barber needs to have a word with himself.

 

[Badger]

It depends on a number of factors, for me:

- If it's the opening post in a thread, I'm usually willing to read a few paragraphs. Assuming it's a subject matter I might be interested in.
- Similarly, if the thread only has a few replies I might read more.*
- If a thread already has a few pages of replies, I'll give the opening post a read and skim over any replies which are more than a short sentence.
- As @Bozza pointed out, the length of paragraphs makes a big difference. I can't be bothered reading long paragraphs, especially with a lack of punctuation.


*Doesn't apply to the "Bell Cheeses at Work" thread. I'm willing to devote time to all replies there.

 

[cjd]

considering I’ve had ZERO education.

From a personal point of view I haven't found ZERO educating at all.

Boring yes, but educational...never....

 

[Guy Fawkes]

It's all quite subjective isn't it.

People are much happier to read a long post when it supports their confirmation bias. That's just human nature.

In the context of NSC and the fact that we're interacting with each other, I do feel there need to be some balance and etiquette if there's a conversation (disagreement) in progress.

It can be quite irritating if I write an opinion on a thread that's, for argument's sake, a paragraph long, and someone who disagrees comes back with 10 paragraphs and a load of links telling me why I'm wrong. I wrote a paragraph because that's all I've got the time and inclination to do, I haven't got time or inclination to sift through and provide counter arguments to someone's essay.

It's maybe for a different thread but, IMHO, posters carrying political arguments around unrelated threads is the biggest blight on this board.

It's not just the written word which that applies to.

A while ago i had a conversation with someone around an emotive topic, and they were dismissive of any alternative views offered that were different to their own on the subject.

To back up their views they presented their 'evidence' which turned out to be an individual in a YT video, giving a talk on their own view of the subject (ie, has no real value as evidence, otherwise the flat earthers could prove they are right and that the world has been proven to be flat by simply linking a talk by someone else with the same viewpoint as them on it)

As you said, they are those only willing to hear things that confirm their views, and they are dismissive of those which offer evidence that goes against their belief (eg. a climate change denier going against and dismissing Scientific data on changes happening to the climate) People only hear (or read) what they want to hear (or read)

 

[Cotton Socks]

Concise, succinct and to the point are not words to describe my writing style (or indeed talking style).

Waffle, waffle & a bit more waffle describes my style. It used to take me longer to get essays under the word count, than it did to write it in the first place.

 

[Chicken Run]

Concise, succinct and to the point are not words to describe my writing style (or indeed talking style).

Waffle, waffle & a bit more waffle describes my style. It used to take me longer to get essays under the word count, than it did to write it in the first place.

Where my writing style is blunt, well at least i think that’s what they called me

 

[Right Brain Ronnie]

Where my writing style is blunt, well at least i think that’s what they called me

Blunt has always worked for me, but it doesn't for the recipient... odd that.

 

[raymondo]

Sorry for my long letter, but I didn't have time to write a short one.

 

[raymondo]

One of my colleagues prefaces a long reply with "I don't have the time to be succinct"

Aha...and this is correct! It takes time to be succinct.

 

[hart's shirt]

We also generally don't need multiple threads on the same topic, regardless of how important people think it is. One will usually suffice.

*cough*

 

[Eeyore]

How long does a post have to be on here before you just decide not to bother reading it? I don't mean a quote from an external article, I mean pure unadulterated opinion. For me it does depend on the poster in question but as a rule of thumb I'd say that anything more than say 7 or 8 sentences.

I'm sure everyone is different on this, but there are surely a couple of posters on here who are clearly blissfully unaware of this unspoken tolerance. Those people probably need to realise that essays don't really ever get read even if they are agreeable and well constructed, and in fact they are counterproductive as they make that poster look horrifically self-important and arrogant, that people care so much what they think that they are going to read their chapter of War & Peace.

So this isn't a go at anyone in particular, I'm just wondering what individual tolerances are. I would say that the length of this post is slightly under my own personal tolderance.

I stopped reading that after the first paragraph

 

[Chicken Run]

A certain poster, well known for their paragraphs has gone radio silent, last post being 15:33 on Thursday, I hope they are ok?

 

[Razzoo]

...

That's more like it.

 

[chickens]

A certain poster, well known for their paragraphs has gone radio silent, last post being 15:33 on Thursday, I hope they are ok?

I hope so too, especially given that despite @Simster making it clear in his initial post that he was looking to gauge individual personal tolerances, there are a few posters (I’ve written a full “War and Peace” post today, and fully expect it to be largely ignored) who perhaps can’t help but feel that any thread like this will inevitably single them out.

I don’t know what the answer is, let’s keep this thread here, so nobody else feels the need to start it again in the future, but note that we can potentially impact each other’s mental health.

 

[Cheeky Monkey]

^ for shizzle

 

[Chicken Run]

I hope so too, especially given that despite @Simster making it clear in his initial post that he was looking to gauge individual personal tolerances, there are a few posters (I’ve written a full “War and Peace” post today, and fully expect it to be largely ignored) who perhaps can’t help but feel that any thread like this will inevitably single them out.

I don’t know what the answer is, let’s keep this thread here, so nobody else feels the need to start it again in the future, but note that we can potentially impact each other’s mental health.

And they rarely go half a day without posting

 

[Bakero]

From a personal point of view I haven't found ZERO educating at all.

Boring yes, but educational...never....

I beg to differ as Zero is fascinating. I recommend this book: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/329336.Zero

 

[Cotton Socks]

A certain poster, well known for their paragraphs has gone radio silent, last post being 15:33 on Thursday, I hope they are ok?

I hope so too, especially given that despite @Simster making it clear in his initial post that he was looking to gauge individual personal tolerances, there are a few posters (I’ve written a full “War and Peace” post today, and fully expect it to be largely ignored) who perhaps can’t help but feel that any thread like this will inevitably single them out.

I don’t know what the answer is, let’s keep this thread here, so nobody else feels the need to start it again in the future, but note that we can potentially impact each other’s mental health.

This board can be Jekyll & Hyde. If someone starts a thread saying they're struggling with their mental health, they will mainly get empathic responses and anyone being a tw@t will be told to do one from the thread. But threads have been started lately as thinly veiled moans about posters. There's another one going about ignore user, thread option, there was a similar one last week.

This forum can be a great source of support, but it sometimes gets bitchier than Mumsnet. I write long posts and I don't care if someone writes TL;DR as a response. I wouldn't care if I'm in the top 10 of ignored users. It does upset some users though, I can think of at least 2 long term posters who no longer post due to people being toxic, no one needs that in their life. Admittedly there have been times where I've been angry about something in my real life & I've let that spill into my posts. Not at any poster in particular because I think you're all a bunch of tw@ts.

That's my 3 paragraphs up, nicely spaced and as concise as I can be bothered.

TL;DR.... Meh.