Big Honking Posts

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While I admit freely that I have posted a few long ones in my time, some of the ones I've seen lately blow my mind. To those out there posting novels, please allow me to cite an example from a film that many of you may have seen.

In "A River Runs Through It", the father teaches his sons to write at home. One of his techniques is to have them write a paper, he reads it and red-lines it, and then tells the boy "Again. Half as Long." He does this three times. It generated one son who was a writing instructor at a university and another who was a journalist.

My point? Brevity is the soul of wit. I value all opinions but I cannot read these long, rambling posts without getting seasick.

My apologies, Tal, if this is out of line. It's just been bugging me since I came back to the boards.

 

Cool.

 

Right...

 

There's a great difference between pointless rambling, and making thorough arguments and counterarguments. I don't mind the long posts at all, if they're well formulated. Being punchy is a good thing, but shortness as a value in its own right isn't. A post can be very on-the-spot even though long.

 

I'm guessing I'm one of the principal offenders.

My only defence is the complexity of some of the issues under discussion. I feel that I cannot do proper justice to some without being fairly wordy. Simplicity is desirable, but at times it is simply not possible to keep it short and simple while still handling the discussion/post/issue appropriately.

My apologies for the nausea, LKD.

 

It can be, that's true. It's just that they rarely are. Perhaps some more effort by some to cut down on long quotes would be the answer.

 

LKD, a word of warning...if you ever get an SPS account, stay away from the Copper Coronet! My posts in there tend to get quite long...

But some times you need an extra long post to get all the needed information to get your point across.

 

What did he say?
I didn't read the first post because it was too long winded.

 

@Aces:
You didn't miss much, he just complained about people posting novels...and then posted something from a novel.

@LKD:
Perhaps, but in my case it's necessary. If you look through my Alley posts, you'll notice a direct correllation between length and sense. Unless I explain something to death, people usually don't get my point.

It's like the time when my Uncle Scratchy...

 

My apologies for the mistake in thread placement. In any event, I guess I've made my point.

 

I hope chev didn't read this.

Unless I really have something to say or feel the need to discuss it point-by-point, I try to keep my posts as short as possible. When the poster is just yakking to yak or regurgitating what other people are saying, then it's a big waste of time for anyone reading it.

 

People use these boards for different reasons. I just like to read relatively short posts about a few topics and move on. Others like to debate and argument, which naturally takes a longer post. I usually get away from those posts, unless I'm in the mood to read it patiently.

 

Should stay away from AoDA, there are really long posts there...
As for me, I read everything I can, I am learning English.

 

I bet he was the first who read this, but he is still typing out his reply...