Style in Writing

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Something I've always wondered: are people who habitually write using walls of text also especially good at reading them?

I suspect that, in general, this is not the case. So, regardless of any other measure of good English, it gives the impression that the writer assumes that it is acceptable to burden the reader with the extra effort of deciphering the post (especially when the standard of English is otherwise good, or there is a "sorry about the wall of text" closing the post!) I also think that not proof-reading/editing can rob the writer of the opportunity to clarify their own thoughts; I have often had revelations about my own opinions and arguments when attempting to clarify a post which came out ambiguous and badly structured at the first attempt.

Amen, brudda! If I'm going to ramble incoherently I'll do it in a private journal. Not ask other people to wade through it! But a possible explanation for the wall-o-text phenomenon at WP may be that the writer didn't expect anyone to actually read it. This becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy.

Relatively few members in the whole membership write brick walls of text - thank goodness. I notice that when it happens it is most common in a new member writing a biographical post which they often place in the General Forum. But most new and old members don't hit our eyeballs with those bricks of text.

I don't believe it is an AS thing (it would be much more frequent here if it were). I've seen it in media reports, from time to time (shudder) and academic write ups of experiments (shudder).

My feeling is that the people doing it were never taught not to, or don't think it matters (it does). It's not just a style thing, because presumably people who post in brick wall fashion still want to be read, want to communicate and receive responses, but they negate the possibilities of dialogue by turning off potential responders from the outset.

The other thing that makes brickwalling text unpleasant for me is its resemblance to a monologue - as if the person is writing not only about themselves but perhaps to and for themselves.

I wonder if the wall texting writers speak the same way IRL, unknowingly battering listeners with "walls" of words and torrents of sentences... a communication style guaranteed to shut down and preclude possibilities of interaction because listeners quickly perceive that the monologue won't graduate to a dialogue - one hears people say "I couldn't get a word in edgeways" about monologue talkers.

The rules of paragraphs are fairly simple and totally accessible on the net for those who want to improve that feature, and just raising awareness is probably enough for those who hadn't previously thought about the habit of wall texting, because unless awareness is raised, it probably seems just normal to and for them.

The other thing about wall text writers may be that they have a tendency to write exactly what they are thinking, without an edit function that most people use consciously or subconsciously. Good writing depends on good editing, and the ability to self edit is usual for most of us, but not all.

Dyslexia & other related learning issues are fairly common with people on the spectrum. I have that problem. I'm NOT saying it's like this is most of the cases on here but it is probably more than the general population

My WOT traits stem from believing that my theses need some set-up descriptions lest I leave the reader(s) wondering. After all, my ASD written assessment included the phrase that my "use of words or phrases tended to be more formal than that of most individuals" and that I use "overly formal language for the context."

But, it might also be something connected to my synesthesia remnants; who knows? My fingers have lives of their own, and have been know to write things that had nothing to do with my intended thoughts. Odd.

I can't recall ever having seen you post in walls of text without paragraphs, Aspie Utah. Your writing has been an exemplar in structure, style, clarity and grammar in all the years I have been here reading it.

I think people write like they type. ASD comes attached with a stream of words, so that's what you see. I try to paragraph where I can but I see no reason to sometimes on forums where I'm only writing between two and thirty sentences.

Sorry, meant to say, "write like they speak" and I can't edit it for some reason.

The thread 'The Autism Spectrum & Literary Styles' might be of interest:
viewtopic.php?t=381756

I often wonder how my writing style seems to the other members here.