Re very long opening posts

[Carbosug]

Does anyone else find these very off putting and just lose patience after the first paragraph and click off the thread.
I don't remember so many War and Peace style posts when I joined MN ten years ago.

I don't mind long posts at all, but I give up and stop reading if there are no paragraphs, or if I have to mentally do the punctuation for it to make sense.

People can't win as far as some posters are concerned, though. People get pointed comments made about long opening posts, and even more pointed comments made about 'drip feeding' so it's kind of hard to know what to do sometimes.

I’m not so much against long posts, but I do appreciate them being broke down into sensible paragraphs.

I don’t read huge posts written in one paragraph.

Not when they put in every second of events leading up to the point. The worse one I saw gave a vivid description of her meal and added the word 'yummy' like she was 5 years old! It had no relevance to the story!

Is it wrong of me to really want to read that thread now, just because I'm curious

People can't win as far as some posters are concerned, though. People get pointed comments made about long opening posts,
I think detail is important its all the irrelevant background information that serves no purpose is annoying.

I also prefer long opening posts to ones which don't contain much information.

Even worse than the dripfeed is the poster who only answers a couple of questions and never provides enough information for answers to have any meaning at all. Context is usually everything.

Also I like something to read especially if it seems honest and is written in an easy to follow way.

I like long opening posts.

Long winded posts are often written by people who think they are wonderful writers. They're usually not.
You can often count on them containing "We'll call her/him/them A B &/or C" or "I'm sure you can see where this is going" or "Bear with me". Sometimes, actually many times, all three.
Yawn.

A lot of the time they're long because they're badly written - unnecessary detail, repetition, asides that break the flow. Add in dh, dn, dgp, dmil, dp and friends a, b, c and D and it's like trying to find your way through a maze.

It annoys me that they appear at the top of every page. I wish people would write a short comment in the first comment box then all the info in the next.

Or you could just adjust your settings, @Thelnebriati, so it all appears on one page with the OP at the top?

I always assume they’re trolls tbh.

I don't read really long opening posts. Some people need to use bullet points.

I also CBA with 'I have three friends A, B&C. Or worse, 'lets call her Sheila' etc. Er let's not. Just get on with it.

@Carbosug this! sometimes it hurts my brain trying to decipher PIL FIL MIL DP DH NDNDS (next door neighbours dogs sister)

I think it's that a lot of people posting on AIBU are doing so in a state of exasperation/frustration about the topic in question. So they tend to rant. People in general are quite bad at being succinct and getting to their point, but even more so when they're emotional about something.

But yeah, if I open a thread and someone has written 1,000 words about some stupid argument with their MiL (which is common!), I just click the x. Ain't nobody got time for that!

A very long opening post (especially in AIBU) about anything to do with the lockdown is a no from me.

They’re fine as long as they are actually paragraphs!

I hate posts which say use "think" as an imperative in order to be pointlessly vague:

"I was cooking dinner; something simple, think sausages and chips." "My DH is very important; very important, think CEO." "He has a Hobby: think cycling". "We went on holiday: think Bermuda".

instead of saying MIL is very bossy and my husband is no support, you get chapter and verse

Thing is if someone just says “MIL is very bossy and my husband is no support” they will get 25% of the replies projecting one way and saying the problem is you being unreasonable, 25% projecting the other way and saying you have a DH problem, and 50% asking for examples because there’s not enough information to tell if your MIL is genuinely bossy or you have unrealistic expectations.

@WorraLiberty, very funny.

And I also want to read that thread now

I completely agree. If you can't write succinctly I'm out, and also badly worded titles annoy me

I don't mind very long posts, as long as they're (reasonably) well written. If it's all textspeak with no paragraphs or punctuation, I'm out.

instead of saying MIL is very bossy and my husband is no support, you get chapter and verse

Otherwise she'd have to explain in a later post, and then half the posters will say "Massive drip feed! How dare she tell you that your baby needed a hat!" and the other half will say "She just told you your baby needed a hat! That's not being bossy at all!"

Long opening posts put me right off, particularly if there's poor grammar, punctuation &/or spelling with no paragraphs. Dreadful. Can't bear the I said, he said, she said stuff either.

I hate posts which say use "think" as an imperative in order to be pointlessly vague

God, yes. How could I have forgotten that one?