Too long forum topics

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I hope this isn't a taboo topic, but it seems I get lost whenever I try to respond to someone's post on here because everyone's responses are really long. It's hard to explain, it's like as if an explanation for something is several paragraphs long and everyone's responses are also several paragraphs long as well. Am I the only person who has this problem?

You're not the only one. I deal with it anyway.

I guess it's hard on some days as I'm rarely on here (I want to be though, but I'm definitely a creature of habit). And today I'm just downright tired for some reason.

It isn't.

Not everyone's, but I know what you mean.

That's when I reply with something like "tl/dr" ("Too Long / Didn't Read").

Not at all. But I do not see it as a "problem", more as a sign that someone has not yet organized their thoughts into a form involving no more than a half-dozen concise statements. Usually I wait for someone else to summarize everything and then respond to the summary.

Or I break the post into discrete chunks and address each idea individually, as I did with yours above.

Nice post, btw.

Thanks! I could always use the TLDR deal, and I also like how you chunked everything and made everything compact. I'm glad I'm not the only one in the boat.

First I hit the "quote" button and get this:

Then I break it up into discrete portions like this:

Then I answer the first part without delimiters.

Then I answer the second part.

Just replace "<" with "[" and ">" with "]" in the examples above.

I get lost in lengthy writing, too.....funny thing about this is that I'm one of those people that often writes too much. Sorry about that--I know how frustrating it can be.

When I write epic posts it's not that my thoughts aren't organized, it's that I don't know how to communicate them effectively. I can't organize the words.

I can't imagine being the person reading my post--I can't figure out how my words will be understood: how much/little needs to be said nor what words to use....because of stuff like this I end up writing a lot because I literally don't know how to state something briefly.

It can be difficult to transform thoughts into words.
I prefer to sketch a complete picture of what I mean, which typically results in alot of words.

The other way around: I appreciate lengthy texts that give me all information about the author's view on the subject.

I am used to being lost, geographically, textually, all sorts of lost.
I do not mind, I actually enjoy this because it enables discoveries.

In the past I have written TL/DR summaries at the top of my longer posts, but it does not feel right because the summary is incomplete.

I am guilty of drifting off in the middle of long posts. It's sad, because it's not to do with how interesting the post is.

I also have a difficult time reading long, posts but I do the best that I can.

I have observed that many of the communications on WP run to quite excessive lengths and complexity, when simplicity would do.

But I think that many of us have problems forming our ideas into neat packages, and so you get a lot of fluff along with the meat.

Often you get a lot of tangential material too. I think NTs may be able to stay focused on one topic more easily. But hey, tangents can be fun.

Just read what you can/want to.

Last edited by Moog on 12 Aug 2011, 1:40 pm, edited 1 time in total.

Where do your words come from, but from your thoughts?

I am sometimes put off by discussions that go on for several pages, when I see the 1,2,3,4,5,6,7 pages I usually disregard it.

As others stated, just as I have difficulty reading long posts I've been guilty of it as well.

Fnord already mentioned "tl;dr", but I also use it to summarize a long post for those who just can't sit through the whole thing.

I have a hard time with long posts but I think posting "tldr" is unnecessary because it's just junk and spam and I don't need to make a reply just to say that only. Why does the poster need to know I didn't read it?

So that the poster will also know why you did not read his post, and maybe summarize the key points in a shorter form.