Too long forum topics

Post Reply New Topic

I suspect people here tend to make long posts for the same reason that many of us spend half an hour answering a yes/no question - detail orientation combined with obsessiveness.

If you want to explore every minor angle of the topic, that'll take more words than a concise and simple reply.

I usually avoid those.

Even ones with two pages, like this one. I don't want to have to read everything, unless I'm interested in the topic.

I just skip over those lengthy posts. sorry, but true.

Imagine how much I struggle with lengthy texts and topics being a non-native reader. However, I try to do my best, I read lengthy posts too, but sometimes I'm just unable to cope with them having only limited time and resources. No offense, I like mori_pastel's style and I'm curious about anbuend's posts, hope I'll see them again.

I'm not clear on what you mean....I think there's a discrepancy between my semantics and yours but I'm not entirely sure what it might be.

For me there is a big difference between "thinking of words" and "thinking in words."

If I'm thinking about something--let's say I'm thinking about mitosis--there are no words to be found in my thought process. Instead, there are images (of cells and parts thereof), formless schematics related to cell division, and/or just....thoughts.

If I want to communicate my thoughts about mitosis verbally (or in writing), then I have to think of words to attach to them. The words are like stick-on labels. I have to come up with them using a secondary thought process that isn't an intrinsic part of the first. This secondary process is sort of like putting a puzzle together (the pieces are words).

If my thoughts were in words, they would be completely meaningless and incoherent. I'm an extremely concrete thinker--words are just shapes and sounds unless I can consciously attach them to something tangible.

Sometimes my posts are just a few words long, like this one. Other times it seems almost as if I can't ever say all that I want to, even in a whole 5 page essay. When I see long posts, I either find them interesting and read the whole thing, or I skim around.

I usually make it through long posts, but like Fnord said, if I reply to long posts I usually break it into chunks. There are so many posts I have started to write that got way to long and I ended up giving up on. For me a lot of it just comes down to organizing thoughts and such. If I proof read my post and it looks like a total disaster I try and not post it. Sometimes I will still post it just because its good to say things and hopefully get some feedback. When I see a new thread about a topic I had replied to before sometimes I just reply again to try and write the same sort of thing, except more concise.