Wall-O-Text............Poll

[lwien]

Over in the Presidential Race thread, there are many posts that are so long that they can't be viewed on one screen and to finish reading them, you need to scroll down the............wall-o-text.

Now granted, some of these posts are super informative and very well written. For me, the problem is that while I would really like to read through them, most times I don't strictly out of laziness even though I realize I may be missing some really good stuff.

Hence............the poll.

If the poll results show that most people do not read these lengthy posts, than the authors might want to consider shortening them up. Some of them are text taken directly from a link so they may consider just to post the link and let the reader read through the link if they so desire rather than posting up the total content of the link.

On the other hand, if the poll shows that most people in fact do read through these lengthy posts, well then..............nevermind.

 

[CarolKing]

I hate to admit this but it depends on who is posting. My answer was sometimes I do and sometimes I don't. It sometimes depend on what kind of mood I'm in. If the entire article is posted I might be more inclined on reading it depending on the title. If the article is really long I may skim over it.

I will sometimes shorten an article myself by posting the main event and not including the whole thing. I've learned some during this election. It's been fun discussing things. It's been so bizarre.

 

[t-dub]

I'm still learning so I read as much as I can, however, when confirmation bias comes out in an article, and I can see where it is going, I start to "skim" a bit.

 

[HD Springer]

I comprehend the shorter more to the point posts way better. Especially after Ive vaped my meds. It's easy to let a thought gather steam and then next thing you know you have an essay an no one needs to piece through that.

Great survey. And one that can help the group out also.

Kudos

 

[KeroZen]

But are you talking about the length of the text only or rather the fact that some people don't know how to paragraph and structure their posts?

In the Divine Tribe attys thread we have a particular user who is super talkative, and although he does paragraph and structure his posts well, often it's so long that he has to split into up to 3 consecutive posts. And I must admit that although it's surely interesting, I just skip them.

Makes me feel bad because I sometimes also post walls of text myself...

 

[syrupy]

@lwien ... on my small screen, I had to mouse scroll your original post.

I can't answer the poll, because it depends on context. If there's a mountain of words in a politics thread, I'll skim it for sure.. But some of the long posts in the rezblock and pbw threads are full of great technical information and fun to absorb all the details. Some FCers like Rick, Vito, Carol and others have very heartful long posts that are wonderful to read. So it depends.

Edit: There are some great long posts in the FU thread. Love a good rant!

 

[t-dub]

I wish to add something to my comment above. The "wall of text", full articles increasingly being posted here, are annoying to me. Its like someone is telling me "you will read this because I said so".

What I will read is a wall of text that a member here wrote themselves. They deserve that respect for original ideas and content and being a member of this community. Also, if you want me to read your article you better post a short summary of the salient points and what they mean to you personally for me to follow the link.

 

[Joel W.]

I wait until someone comments on the long post, then I skim their post.

Lol.

If it is a wall of text, with no paragraph spacing , I'm out.

 

[Farid]

I am certainly guilty of the wall of text.

That said, I do not read the articles posted in the Presidential thread because I find they are often heavily biased towards or against one candidate. I would rather read the opinions of other FC members than read what Paul Krugman has to say, as I know he is just going to support Clinton no matter what. He cannot reply to any points that we might be discussing, so it does not fuel discussion to post his articles constantly (or any other political commentator).

The only time I really get annoyed by the wall of text articles is when they are posted in the middle of a good discussion. It often feels like there is a good discussion going on, but then an article is posted which is very long and takes up a lot of page space. This breaks up the flow of the discussion.

 

[Squiby]

When I encounter a post that is a single loooongggg paragraph with run on sentences, my eyes glaze over and I become disinterested.

I think that sometimes very good and informative posts are missed because the poster is not aware of how to use paragraphs. Paragraphs serve to compartmentalize a topic. The first sentence in a paragraph introduces the topic so the reader knows what he is getting into if they choose to continue reading. From there, each sentence should state a complete thought, question or idea. The last sentence usually becomes a summary sentence. If a long post follows this sort of structure, it does not become difficult to read.

When a post is written using paragraphs and single concept sentences, I can read endlessly.

 

[ReggieB]

Personally, the words are more important than the layout, I'd rather not judge someone just because they put a comma/block of text in the wrong place but if it makes context unclear then I will ask for clarity if it's important enough. I don't always read the full text but that's not because it's a wall of text, it's because of the content I've read so far.

 

[Squiby]

It's not about judging someone on their writing skills for me at all.

When I encounter a wall of text and the sentences are not progressive or create a segway from one concept to the other, I simply am unable to follow it.

It is too bad too, because many excellent posts are left unread and I miss out on that information because I find it too difficult to read through.

 

[lwien]

For me, it kinda goes like this.

Give me multiple short to medium bursts of information and I happily digest them.
Give me hundreds of words to digest all at once and I throw-up from verbiage overload.

 

[Concupiscient]

Do polls require a close date?
This is a good reminder thread for inspired, medicated writers.

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[farscaper]

The best answer is often...

The shortest.

If you can't explain things simply... you don't understand them well enough.

 

[t-dub]

If you can't explain things simply... you don't understand them well enough.

- Albert Einstein

 

[farscaper]

- Albert Einstein

-Chaka khan

 

[Squiby]

The best answer is often...

The shortest.

If you can't explain things simply... you don't understand them well enough.

The true test of understanding is the ability to describe it in simple terms.

EDIT: Ha ha ha. In my medicated state, I thought that I had a deep thought to build on @farscaper 's post. But then I see that I just said what you said........

 

[Concupiscient]

Your simple understanding may be my confusion ... and the other way around ?

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[j-bug]

I find that while sometimes I may be able to explain something simply, that for a lot of people elaboration can be helpful and reduce the need for follow-up questions.

I find that while some questions may have a short simple answer that many do not. That said I think there are explanations of some vapes and their usage that led me to believe it was more complicated to use than it actually is for me(Vapcap) though I imagine others may find the longer explanations more useful.

I think this isn't a simple question, as it very much depends on context. I do find that if a wall of text is posted it is sometimes harder to wade through it. However, I also not infrequently find paragraphs that look like walls of text where starting a new paragraph would've only interrupted the flow of reading.

TLDR: context matters

 

[His_Highness]

I skim everything in the threads I participate in and will go back and dig into the detail if the skim was thought provoking. I've learned a lot and in some cases learned a bunch about myself and changed my perspective on things.

There are some posters who seem to participate in a thread for no other reason than to get a rise out of folks. I only skim their posts but sometimes I can't even get through the entire skim.

I'm not sure which way I lean when it comes to folks who copy an entire web article into a post instead of summarizing and just including the link for details. Seems kinda lazy to me sometimes and at other times I appreciate it all being right there in the post.