To think posters who post really long opening posts miss out on a lot of advice

[balletnotlacrosse]

I often open a thread because it sounds like an issue I'd be interested in and would definitely respond to. But my interest quickly evaporates if I see a long rambling opening post that would take ages to read, and even longer to decipher character A,B,C, and D and work out their relationship to the OP and her dilemma. I usually just click off after reading a couple of sentences.

AIBU to think posters should really go back and try and cut down long posts, leaving just the essential information, if they want to maximise responses?

Yes, I agree. Also if they don't use paragraphs, I can't be bothered to read it at all.

YABU.

I hate the thread police .

I agree.

or at least use paragraphs

no paragraphs no reading

But then there'll be accusations of drip feeding as posters ask for more information or if the advice misses a point which is relevant and the OP adds it later.

There's a lot to be said for short and sweet. I like short and sweet in chat but will take the time to read detailed posts in boards like feminism, pregnancy and childbirth. I go to some boards for a nose and a time filler and others to get / give advice.

Sometimes people write things when they're feeling emotional and end up pouring their feelings out incoherently. If you don't want to help someone in a fragile state and give them the benefit of the doubt for bad punctuation/long sentences, then just hide the thread.

I'm not criticising punctuation or grammar or anything like that. I'm just wondering if some posters short change themselves by not trying to just give essential information in their opening posts so that readers can grasp easily what they're saying and respond?

I agree to an extent.

Sadly i think if a person is a good writer they can pull you in quickly, even though it might be quite a longwinded tale, and if they aren't then yes; they lose their audience almost immediately and therefore lose out on advice.

However i think there are certain wise posters who always seem to wade through most OPs and advise. So that's good. Bless 'em.

i find first time male posters ramble on in their OP the most

I think people do it to avoid drip feeding. But yanbu, no excuse for at least using paragraphs and full stops at least.

It depends on the waffle:information ratio. I posted a long post a while ago looking for advice and got a lot of helpful replies, but I don't think I waffled on too much and felt it needed to be long or I would have needed to drip feed later, which is even more annoying IMO!

In fact, I was glad I put a lot of information in the OP because I got the impression that not many people posted without having RTFT.

Some are waffley though and agree that it gets confusing when they have lots of characters given letters. It would often be easier to just say "DH, DS, Dsis" as usual so people don't have to remember who is who.

Yanbu - I get put off by overly long thread titles too. & yes, if the opening post is a mile long with a cast of 1000's I give up.

Short & sweet is the way to go.

Yanbu as such but for my interest is lost if the post is unclear or hard to follow. I don't mind a long (but clear) post. Posts can be short and baffling too.

It's either that or get lynched for drip feeding, sadly.

There's no winning here. Too long - people don't read. Too short and missing 'important info' - people don't respond helpfully because they're having too much fun complaining about drip feeding.

Personally I prefer a long op with all the information to those threads in which a person barely explains the situation. In those all the replies end up being 'it depends' or people guessing at context.

Yes, I suppose the 'drip feeding' accusation is a problem and is often used unfairly. If someone leaves out something essential to the issue and then springs it on posters several pages in, to wrong foot the YABU responders, it's very annoying.
But if someone just comes back to clarify a point or give a bit of extra information in response to a direct query, that's not drip feeding. That's normal conversation.

Also, I know when I'm typing an opening post I try to read it from all angles to second guess the nasty cows who will deliberately find an angle they can twist and distort in order to flame you. So I suppose that can cause posters to add in too much information; to safeguard themselves so to speak.

I must admit, the few times I've bothered to read a really long OP it hasn't been worth the time & effort!!

I agree. Too much unnecessary detail in overly long posts.

I also hate trip advisor reviews which are the same and which are almost real-time depictions of a holiday. What's up with "decor a bit dated, staff pleasant, food fine, some noise from the road"?

The A, B, and C thing really grinds my gears: it really doesn't make it any easier to follow AT ALL. I wish people would just call them Bob and Sarah or something.

BigRedBall, it's not thread policing. OP isn't stopping people from doing long opening posts, she's simply pointing out the fact that they may put people off reading.

It is a bit of a dilemma, though. I was on a thread recently where a couple of posters made up their very own rule that, if it wasn't in the original post, it couldn't be true. I suppose the answer is to find a happy medium, avoid extraneous detail, and definitely use paragraphs.

I 100% agree.

When I see posts involving DS1, DS2, DC3, DC4, DSD2, DSS8, DF, DGD and NDN I lose the will to live, let alone read the post

Characters A, B, C and D don't remotely help as you have to keep looking back to see who is who

Same with paragraphs, if they aren't there then I don't read the post

I don't think this is "thread police" at all. It seems to me that people who are looking for advice, would welcome knowing how to reach the widest possible audience.

Using paragraphs, and stating the relevant facts does help. If the background info comes after the appeal for help, then those who are unable to give advice will stop reading.

I posted an AIBU a few weeks ago, and included only what I thought were the relevant details.

As more and more people commented and asked questions, it turned out that some information I'd left out did, in fact, change people's opinions, so I added them in a later post.

A few people complained of drip-feeding.

It can be really difficult to know which details are relevant to someone else. I think some people just include everything they can think of, just in case.

YABU for not making your first post at least 3000 words long.