When posting, do you look at the title only?

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One thing I always seem to be hyperfocused on is studying the patterns of behavior that exist between people with ASD and observing commonalities. One of these commonalities seems to be when a person with ASD focuses on one or a few details and does not consider the additional information given after a topic is introduced. In particular, I see this on WP and on other social media sites as well in that some posters seem to look at the title only when responding to a post and don't really seem to read the attached content for context. I can tell these posters are looking at the title only by their answer in that they only seem to reference the title themselves in their reply...even if the title has little to do with the message below

Example:

Topic: Aspergers and Obsessive Behaviour
Do you think there is a chance that obsessive behaviour could be linked to xyz?

Title only reply:
I have aspergers and I have obsessions, they bug me and are really annoying!

Reply when incorporating message:
XYZ could be a possibility. I think that XYZ is... I can relate to XYZ...and so on

This isn't a bad thing at all as its' great to have everyone contributing, but I am wondering where this difference comes from and if it's related to the ways a person takes in information. In other words: if a person relies only on the title, are they simply too lazy to read the text or is this due to a genuine processing difference?

Having this difference is something I can't personally relate to as I do rely on context quite a lot when analysing information and especially when making judgments. However, like many of my skills, this appears to be something that I've learned as I have become quicker at processing information about the world around me over the years through exposure and really pushing myself (not something I'd promote for anyone here as this caused a lot of stress).

My questions are: do you do this? and where do you think this comes from?

Yeah.

I couldn't be bothered reading anything else.

It is unfortunate, and I think that it may have something to do with the fact that WP generally has a younger posting base, who is more used to only using a line or two of information before responding, as opposed to those posters who have more of a background in using written communication on a regular basis.

No, I read the whole post.

I don't think this has to do with a processing difference--I don't think it's an ASD thing in particular. I see the same thing on many forums for general NT populations and in email at work.

For example, I will send an email giving a client three options and asking for a choice and get back a response like "yes, do that." They just don't read.

I think it may not just be laziness but a general state of information overload and a loss of focus that comes with "multi-tasking."

it may be exacerbated on WP by the tendency of AS people to focus on their special interests to an extreme degree--perhaps ignoring message content that is not related to the interest and latching on to some phrase in the title that can be construed as related to the interest.

But I am pretty sure it's part of a bigger picture. There is a general loss of focus and inability to concentrate in the culture.

Not really. Whenever I create a topic, I can usually tell that the answerers have read my original post. I always read the original post, unless it's really long, and it's not that I am lazy, but I just can't always stay on track when reading. My thoughts become too distracting. I find reading in small doses better than reading long-winded posts. I also find it easier to read when the paragraphs are spaced out, rather than reading one big massive long paragraph with about 50 lines.
Also, I don't want to sound mean, but I can't always focus on posts that have poor spelling and grammar or uncorrected typos. But just ignore me there, not everybody wants to bother to write perfectly.

What I do notice though (not just on Aspie forums but any forums) is that you are expected to give the information in every possible detail, but then when you do, the post goes on forever and ever and people then can't be bothered to read it. Say if you're asking a specific question about it, and give enough clear information as you can, you kind of hope people will read between the lines and see your point, but instead you get a string of questions after, as though you have missed out loads.

In other words, the answers are normally full of ifs, ands and buts, instead of advice and reassurance.

The motivation behind the person being on the forums in the first place is another possible influencing factor.

Some people come here mainly to have a voice, make friends and to be accepted as part of a community.
One way to achieve this is to get a high post count, and be a visible presence on a lot of the threads. In this case, it pays to answer a high number of threads in a short, snappy manner and therefore perhaps to only respond to the title.

Some people come here looking for answers and to give help and advice to those in need of it. In which case it pays to read the threads carefully and give a more balanced response based on the content of the thread.

(Neither way is right or wrong of course, and I hope everyone feels welcome posting in their own way )

I don’t think that behavior is rare at all among neurotypicals.

Yes, I read the whole post, but I realize my reply doesn’t prove it, and I’ll leave it this way for the sake of suspense

I have this habit. I tend to read the title only and respond. I always try and read the OP too and I sometimes delete my response before hitting submit. Other times i just think the person is asking a question and then answer it in their OP and they want to hear everyone else's answer to their title. I used to do it ore often but I have gotten better at paying more attention to the OP.

Unless there are significantly more people with ASD online than I thought, it's probably just people being lazy and wanting to boost their post count as quickly as possible. Maybe it's an off day.

I don't do it because it looks ridiculous and self-centered to the extreme.

^^^
Yeah, I do this but I don't think it's an aspie thing just a lazy, inattentive thing.

I never read just the title. I read the whole post, as well as others' posts so I can get an idea what I am seeing.

I read every post in the thread, although I might skip posts if they're really long. I don't post long posts because I generally don't have that much to say, and I get bored by long posts unless it's about something I find really interesting.

I always read the content of the post, but on a few occasions, if the title catches my eye as something I can relate to or have an urge to respond to, I will directly answer the question in the title.....So it may look like I'm only reading the title when in fact I've absorbed the whole post.

It seems an unwritten rule that if a title has a question in it, that it is acceptable (optional) to answer the question, instead of responding to the content in the OP.

It is funny that as I write this, I don't remember whether I've actually only responded to a title question. If a post is too long or hard to read, I might also focus more on the title.

I always read the whole post then spend too much time composeing my reply I will admit though my reading comprehension skills are not always the best, never have been, sometimes I have to re-read some peoples posts 2 or 3 times to get them and if I run out of time or patance or fail to relise I made a miskake thats where I can run into trouble.

Reading the original post and the discussion that follows is the good part for me. Sometimes I'll say something as well...