What post length requires a TL;DR?

[Matt N]

Hi guys. Sorry if this is the wrong sub-forum for this, but I thought I should make a thread because I’ve garnered increasing criticism surrounding the often excessive length of my posts as of late. I want my posts to be able to appeal to the highest amount of people possible, so as long posts are clearly not everyone’s cup of tea, I thought about starting to add TL;DRs to my posts to allow people to not have to read my full ramblings if they don’t want to or struggle to.

For those of you that don’t know, TL;DRs are basically internet slang for a summary, from what I can gather. They’re a way to sum up a long piece of writing in a small amount of words.

So I only wanted to ask; what sort of post length requires a TL;DR, in your view? Is there a particular word count or amount of reading time that requires one, in your view, or should I just judge by eye? I apologise for not asking this earlier, as I don’t want to give people more than they want to handle when I post, and many of my posts are clearly a bit too long for some… I’m not a concise writer by nature (my natural writing style is one of “it’s all in the details” that tells the reader my opinion through a longer ramble as opposed to one that is short, snappy and says everything that I need to say in a limited number of words), but I would like to try and offer a more concise version of my posts for those who don’t like long posts.

Any thoughts would be much appreciated; I am genuinely keen to hear people’s thoughts on this so that I can become a better poster and appeal to more people on here.

 

[Craig]

Matt, you place far too much focus on pleasing everyone, get your thoughts down how you want to present them! I've not seen excessive criticism about your post length though? I mean you won best contributor in the awards?!

If you really want to change things still, perhaps read through your posts before submitting and consider if any points could be made more succinctly? I don't think TL;DRs are necessary as to me, the only time I've used them is for humourous effect more than anything else. The human mind is more than capable of scan reading through longer posts and summarising them itself.

However, a couple of things I'd suggest as general feedback are:

• A double post is only considered a double post when posts are made in quick succession. There's no need to apologise for posting again if some time has passed and you're adding new information.
• The theme park world moves slowly at times, there's no need to apologise for "dragging up" a topic when you're posting new information about the subject.
• You don't need to apologise for someone disagreeing with your views. They're your views, if they've changed then fine but you don't need to apologise for having them in the first place!

Basically, just add to the discussion and stick to the subject. You don't start or finish posts by apologising that you think something might be wrong. It's just adding to what you seem to think is an excessive word-count, as anything that is actually wrong would be moderated by the team anyway

 

[Matt N]

Thanks for your thoughts @Craig; I do very much appreciate the feedback, and it will all be taken into consideration!

I only asked because I’ve been told repeatedly on another site I’m signed up to that I “need” to start adding TL;DRs to my more extended answer posts, as many people don’t want to read posts of the length I often write, or find them difficult to read for whatever reason.

So in that regard, I currently alienate a certain portion of the forum populace by making posts of a length that they find overly excessive, and I wanted to change that by adding on an “easy-to-read” version of my posts at the end to help them appeal to a greater amount of people. I was curious as to what sort of length a post could reach before I needed to think about adding those for greater accessibility.

 

[rob666]

Matt, come on mate, you are being a little bit oversensitive here.
Followed the topic on the other (lesser) site, and despite him being a typical gobby northerner, you were both completely correct!
You do sometimes get lost in the detail, but that is precisely what these forums are for.
You do not need to provide concise details at either end of your (sometimes extended) posts if you don't want to...nobody on the planet is forced to read them.
But you do go on a bit sometimes!
...and you have been told the same elsewhere!

 

[Matt N]

Matt, come on mate, you are being a little bit oversensitive here.
Followed the topic on the other (lesser) site, and despite him being a typical gobby northerner, you were both completely correct!
You do sometimes get lost in the detail, but that is precisely what these forums are for.
You do not need to provide concise details at either end of your (sometimes extended) posts if you don't want to...nobody on the planet is forced to read them.
But you do go on a bit sometimes!
...and you have been told the same elsewhere!

Thanks for the post @rob666; it’s much appreciated!

I’m not trying to come across insulted by that view, because I’m not in the slightest; I think it’s a very fair criticism, and I’d like to consider his viewpoint. As much as I personally like reading longer writing, I know that it’s not everyone’s cup of tea, and I honestly don’t mind adding a brief summary at the end of my extended posts if it helps people who don’t like longer writing get on with my writing style a little better.

And believe me, I know I ramble… I do it even when I don’t mean to! The amount of posts I’ve done both here and elsewhere where I’ve said something along the lines of “I’ll keep it short” at the beginning and still rambled anyway evidences that perfectly…

I am also beginning to see the irony of my opening post being quite long when I’m asking about post length…

 

[Danny]

I'm not not saying you should do this for every post, but try speaking it before you type and hit the reply button; as if you were having a conversation. Sometimes it's better to say it out loud and see if it makes sense or to determine if you feel like you're waffling. I have to do this on a daily basis at work and it helps me tenfold.

 

[Matt N]

I'm not not saying you should do this for every post, but try speaking it before you type and hit the reply button; as if you were having a conversation. Sometimes it's better to say it out loud and see if it makes sense or to determine if you feel like you're waffling. I have to do this on a daily basis at work and it helps me tenfold.

Cheers for the advice @Danny; I do think that might be helpful!

Only problem there is that at times, I’m not the most concise speaker either (the amount of times I’ve told a story and people are there going “get to the point” tells me that…), but I think that’s besides the point; I appreciate the advice, and I think it could help me!

 

[Craig]

I only asked because I’ve been told repeatedly on another site I’m signed up to that I “need” to start adding TL;DRs to my more extended answer posts, as many people don’t want to read posts of the length I often write, or find them difficult to read for whatever reason.

So in that regard, I currently alienate a certain portion of the forum populace by making posts of a length that they find overly excessive, and I wanted to change that by adding on an “easy-to-read” version of my posts at the end to help them appeal to a greater amount of people. I was curious as to what sort of length a post could reach before I needed to think about adding those for greater accessibility.

Your posts are easy to read anyway, there's no need to go and add summaries to every one. As I said in my first post, the human brain is more than capable of summarising the points raised in a post without someone doing that for them. For others to suggest you must add such summaries sounds very nit-picky to me, there's no real reason to do it.

This is at the heart of why I think there's still a place for forums in the enthusiast community. The likes of social media are a great place to quickly comment and react on stories. But to me the whole point of forums is for well thought out, long form posts that really allow for some good debate and discussion. Once that starts being simplified with summaries, they very much lose their point.

 

[IanB]

I’m not the most concise speaker either (the amount of times I’ve told a story and people are there going “get to the point” tells me that…

This sounds like me at work.

Always worried emails are to long, or talking for to long in meetings explaining something. I am still not perfect, but I found this book helped me when I wanted to get an idea across to other people more efficiently:
https://www.amazon.co.uk/Say-Six-Exactly-What-Minutes/dp/0836210417

 

[JAperson]

@Matt N as I've said before it's up to people if they want to read your posts. You can write them as long or a short as you want.

 

[Matt N]

Thank you all very much; I really appreciate your feedback!


Tell you what, as a rule of thumb, I’ll just stick to; if ever anyone on here wants me to summarise my post more succinctly, just tell me “that post is a bit long for my liking; could you do a TL;DR for that, please?” or something along those lines so that I can summarise it more succinctly for you whenever you’d like that done.

You know what, I might add that to my signature or profile page, just so people know the option’s there…

This is at the heart of why I think there's still a place for forums in the enthusiast community. The likes of social media are a great place to quickly comment and react on stories. But to me the whole point of forums is for well thought out, long form posts that really allow for some good debate and discussion. Once that starts being simplified with summaries, they very much lose their point.

I think this would make quite an interesting discussion point in itself, to be honest, and it’s a topic I was thinking of making; “what is keeping you using forums in the era of social media?”.

That wasn’t meant to sound even vaguely derogatory towards forums as a format, by the way; I more meant that in the social media age, many people view forums as more of a relic of the 2000s and early 2010s, with social media groups and the like being the more “in thing” nowadays.

I certainly have plenty of reasons why I still use forums as opposed to social media (some of which you’ve very succinctly summed up in your post) and I was intrigued to see if others’ reasons were similar.

 

[RicketyCricket]

I am also beginning to see the irony of my opening post being quite long when I’m asking about post length…

Glad that's been covered

Mate you're looking into this too much. I always thought TLDR was a meme.

Write whatever you want. No one is forced to read it but you're doing God's work for those who appreciate a long post.

 

[Jb85]

@Matt N honestly my friend don’t worry about your posts
I personally really enjoy them.

 

[Matt N]

Glad that's been covered

Mate you're looking into this too much. I always thought TLDR was a meme.

Write whatever you want. No one is forced to read it but you're doing God's work for those who appreciate a long post.

I'll admit that I never knew TL;DR was meant to be humorous... I guess you learn something new every day!

@Matt N honestly my friend don’t worry about your posts
I personally really enjoy them.

Thank you @Jb85; I appreciate the compliment!

 

[geo4chg]

I think on here the only time I would think a TLDR appropriate would be if, for example, it were a discussion on why a ride operates the way it does and there is a very technical explanation for why that is the case - this may go into a lot of detail that might "lose" some readers, so at the bottom a quick note would just give a brief, one sentence, explanation. No need to do it on normal posts.

One bit of advice I would give is that if a post gets to the point where you start thinking "wow, this is long" or "I'm rambling on a bit here", perhaps see if any of it isn't relevant or is just repeating itself and cut some out, but otherwise I wouldn't worry about it.

 

[MattyH]

I've been thinking about this, if you're starting a thread then a TL: DR Would be useful as it could allow more people in the conversation and an idea what you're on about.

In general topics I'd say it's less important. Only my opinion and feel free to ignore it

 

[Danny]

I've been thinking about this, if you're starting a thread then a TL: DR Would be useful as it could allow more people in the conversation and an idea what you're on about.

In general topics I'd say it's less important. Only my opinion and feel free to ignore it

Can I get a TLDR of this post please.

 

[Stuie]

Someone who says 'too long didn't read' as response to a post is throwing a thinly veiled insult and should be given the attention they deserve. None.

 

[Rob]

Someone who says 'too long didn't read' as response to a post is throwing a thinly veiled insult and should be given the attention they deserve. None.

TL;DR

 

[Funcone]

It depends on what the discussion’s about. Certainly, looking at my own posts, the ones that get the most likes are normally one liners. An unexpected pun, or taking the mick out of something in a clever way often gets a good reaction. Jokes often work best with fewer words, but at the end of the day jokey posts are often funny partly because they’re unexpected, so if every post was a funny one liner, they wouldn’t be funny.

Strong opinions also tend to get more likes. But if a short post with a strong opinion gets a lot of likes, it tends to be because it’s echoing what people already think, rather than changing people’s minds about something.

Big news announcements also tend to get lots of likes, but at least when it comes to the UK parks, genuine major news isn’t that frequent. I know people joke about it being closed season, but if we only chatted about big developments, then this forum would often be quite quiet. Plus, it is a discussion forum. There are lots of other places where you can read about big theme park news. What makes Towers Street unique is the reactions to it.

There’s a difference between waffle and nuanced debate/complexity. The two can get confused, but personally I like to explore the complexity of things. In politics we often see repetitive slogans as a substitute for meaningful debate. ‘Strong and stable’, ‘Northern powerhouse’, ‘levelling up’, ‘hard working families’, ‘Build back better’, ‘Brexit means Brexit’, ‘Let’s get Brexit done’… and looks where it’s got us. I like to get under the skin of issues and try to really understand why things are the way they are.