Re long opening posts

[Arbesque]

Anyone else find they just click off threads when they see a long expanse of green? I realise some posters are anxious to pre empt accusations of drip feeding or the obnoxious behaviour of some posters who deliberately misunderstand an op so they can kick the boot in.

But some opening posts read like a never ending saga.

Even worse is when the first reply quotes the opening post!!

The ones which make me switch off immediately are when people attribute false names to the characters in their post. Eg "Friend A, let's call her Alice, gave another friend (I'll call her Betty) an expensive handbag for her birthday ...." - then go on with a really long and complicated story about all these people. I just can't be bothered to compute that much detail in my brain!

Even worse is people whinging that other users don't do what they want them to.
Here's a tip- you're not obliged to open, read, or comment upon any thread.
You might find that rather liberating.

Yep, quoting the OP in a reply is the most pointless thing ever anyway! And quoting any long post in full is so irritating.

But yes, I often just give up on an OP, especially if there are no paragraphs either!

I think explaining they have changed names preempts the "OP you might want to edit your post as it's identifying"

My only bugbear is the very long posts being quoted several times by people who answer with one line

Neither are you.

In her very first sentence OP said that she does just that. Clicks off an OP without reading it. So I'm not sure what the purpose of your post is.

I would only automatically click out if there are no paragraphs. Otherwise I might start to read, but I will soon get the measure for whether it is vital background or superfluous information.

I don't.
Or start threads whining that posters don't do as I wish.

Re: the quote function, I rarely use it, and didn't particularly relish it when HQ introduced it, but posters had been asking for it for at least 10 years if not more, (along with a "like" button, thankfully not yet with us!) So seemingly, the majority of posters wanted it.

@PolkaDotShoes I find they're handy as I presume they're made up bollocks aiming for classics!

Then what are you doing on this one? You just seem to have come on to whine about it.

I don’t mind long posts.

but I do mind only ‘see all’ under the OPs post on a thread that already has 70+ replies.

if the OP can’t be bothered to come back , I’m not bothered to invest any more time on their post.

It depends. If it seems like a genuine poster and it's a 'serious' post then no, I don't click off.

but if it's some petty drama over friend A said, Friend B told friend C, friend B's DH was friend A's BFF In primary so AIBU to think friend E should have....

or whatever, then yep. Can't be done with that!

but genuine posters with real problems, happy to read a long OP!

I'd rather have a long post then the inevitable drip-feed 3 pages in which changes everything.

I am definitely put off by long waffly posts. But then again, perhaps I'm not who the OP is appealing to anyway in that case!

Men are the worst for this. Take 500 words today what could be covered in 50.

Bore off

I think too many people are too quick to call drip feeding.

My experience of talking through problems in real life is that you say a bit, other person says a bit back and forth, ask questions, you answer and after bouncing ideas back and forth you sometimes remember or think of something relevant to the issue. That's not drip feeding, that's normal healthy communication.

Do all these drip feed accusation posters actually do real life conversation or do they do a massive info dump and just sit back and listen to feedback unable to add any more info?

Yup - I despise extremely long opening posts. Usually in just one paragraph! They always make me think the poster must be extraordinarily self centred to believe anyone would want to read so much about them. These OPs are more often written by men - so even if the poster claims to be female I’m immediately suspicious.

And yes, generally as soon as I glimpse the vast expanse of (in my case) green on the screen I click out.

Drip feeds are worse though…

What a passive aggressive thread. Bitching about how others start threads is uncalled for. How many times are posters told not to drip feed? No wonder they want to fit everything into the OP.

🙄

They're rarely long in order to avoid drip feeds though. They're usually long because the poster can't write concisely.

If each sentence adds information to the last, I keep going. But when it's just complete paragraphless waffle, I give up.

Nope.

I read books on my Kindle. It's pretty much the same thing.

Well, it's white not green but apart from that - lots of text to read on a screen. 🤷

I always assume the waffly opening posts are people who love the sound of their own voice in real life.

If somebody has a genuine conundrum or needs reassurance, I take that as the main focus. It seems others just love to SPAG.

The irony.