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Why do people post with whole paragraphs crossed out?

29 replies

PineappleSeahorse · 21/06/2019 15:34

I keep seeing this and it's very annoying to read. Does anyone know what the purpose is? There must be some reason. I've seen people use it for one sentence when they put their real thoughts but paragraph after paragraph? There's obviously a reason but I don't know what it is.

OP posts:
LuckyLou7 · 21/06/2019 15:37

Maybe they think it makes the post more amusing, more quirky? I find lots of crossings out in a post really irritating.

I bet every reply you get will have crossings out now

SisterMaryLoquacious · 21/06/2019 15:38

I’ve not seen this on MN. Seen it on other fora where you’re allowed to edit, so people go back and do extensive corrections when they learn more. On MN Paragraph after paragraph surely must be some kind of typo.

jarviscockerslover · 21/06/2019 15:39

I'm with you, it's incredibly annoying

costacoffeecup · 21/06/2019 15:42

I think a lot of the really long strike through are accidental

knittedthrow · 21/06/2019 16:05

It's really annoying op. Yanbu

DoctorDread · 21/06/2019 16:10

No idea but I bet loads of people will come along to tell you they think it's hilarious and a jolly good, passive aggressive way of say what they mean, in the same way you do a stage whisper to convey your real feelings in a play

MrsTerryPratchett · 21/06/2019 16:12

I think it's because people uses dashes in lieu of punctuation, my boss does, and then whole paragraphs get crossed out.

Or they have no idea how this works--.

PineappleSeahorse · 21/06/2019 16:14

I don't think it's a typo. They usually have a few paragraphs without then several with. I've seen quite a few posters do this. I'll have to ask them next time because it's very odd.

OP posts:
LuckyLou7 · 21/06/2019 17:52

I agree that crossing out is a passive aggressive way of saying what you really think, and can be witty if it is used properly. But entire paragraphs? Nah, that's daft.

VladmirsPoutine · 21/06/2019 18:04

when people use the strikeout feature I think its very 70s bad comedy sitcom

DoctorDread · 21/06/2019 19:23

Probably Vladimir writes another sentence purely to use the strike through function

JamieVardysHavingAParty · 21/06/2019 19:46

Sometimes it's a wardrobe punctuation malfunction.

Sometimes they're doing it for comedic effect.

You can generally use context to work out which.

managedmis · 21/06/2019 19:47

YANBU

midsomermurderess · 21/06/2019 19:54

They think they're being funny. It a bit like adding 'not' to the end of a statement in a frantic signalling of irony. Not funny.

SkydivingKittyCat · 21/06/2019 19:57

I saw a thread recently where a few people were complaining that there were entire paragraphs crossed out but to others (including me) it was normal text. MN gremlins?

SisterMaryLoquacious · 21/06/2019 19:58

Opinions of humour vary murderess. But that’s not what the OP aid talking about.

ErrolTheDragon · 21/06/2019 20:05

The commonest cause is when someone c&ps some text which is using paired hyphens instead of brackets or commas. Depending on whether you do it and/or view in browser or app (I'm not sure of the combination but I see the 'crossings out' a lot in the app) then the hyphens are interpreted as the MN 'strike out' markup. Sometimes the effect doesn't show up while you're writing the post, and the app has no preview. Things can also go wrong if there's some combinations of markup characters and using the font style button in the app, I think.

Similar strange effects occur on threads discussing exam grades and uni offers where using more than one asterisk to denote 'star' causes bolding. (At least this should become less prevalent on gcse threads now they're numbers, but still afflicts a level grades.

JamieVardysHavingAParty · 21/06/2019 20:06

I saw a thread recently where a few people were complaining that there were entire paragraphs crossed out but to others (including me) it was normal text. MN gremlins?

Ah. That'll be it, then.

ErrolTheDragon · 21/06/2019 20:06

I saw a thread recently where a few people were complaining that there were entire paragraphs crossed out but to others (including me) it was normal text. MN gremlins?

Browser versus app would be my guess.

MT2017 · 21/06/2019 20:32

because they can

PineappleSeahorse · 21/06/2019 20:49

Thank you all for the possible explanations. I appreciate it.

OP posts:
mathanxiety · 21/06/2019 20:53

Sometimes a paragraph that looks fine on a PC when you type it ends up looking stricken out on a phone or iPad if you have used hyphens.

mathanxiety · 21/06/2019 20:55

SkydivingKittyCat yes, definitely MN gremlins.

Nextphonewontbesamsung · 21/06/2019 20:57

I've not seen this - can you link an example?

mouldyhousemouldylife · 21/06/2019 21:14

Because they're fucking stupid.

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