The impenetrable screed

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A common autistic trait is talking too long and too much about a special interest, oblivious to the response or non-response of the audience.

I believe this also applies to writing. We frequently see too-long posts at WP, usually by less-experienced participants. Even the kindliest of respondents doesn't really feel like plowing through that in order to offer support, advice, or validation.

I'm not talking about masking when I say, "People, don't do that." I'm just asking you to improve your social skills a little. Be sympathetic about the amount of focus and time your lengthy post demands of your reader. We will all be the richer for it.

I'll read the long ones sometimes.

And use paragraphs!

When I see a super long post, I immediately skip right past it. Same goes for watching people speak on YouTube.. if they don't get the the point right away I have to shut the video down.

I am more likely to read them if they are broken down into short paragraphs with a blank line in between each paragraph as per Bea's post above. I really struggle to read large blocks of continuous text.

Doesn't matter to me if it's long or even redundant. As long as it is broken down by paragraphs.

Otherwise, I'll skim through instead.



I, myself, suck at words, and words are not a very reliable medium to me. But there IS no other choices here, so at least I've been trying to make my post a bit more readable and relevant.

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It depends on my mood, how much free time I, and if the topic strikes my fancy that that determines if I read them.

In defense of them, they are surely more intelligent and interesting than most of what is written in forums, comment sections etc.

Sometimes I write long posts because I want to get my point across, and I feel if I make it short I then miss out important information. The way I see it, if someone is interested, they will take their time to read it. It's like that with humans in general on internet forums. Skipping a lengthy post behind a screen is much easier than walking away from someone who is monologuing to you.

Sometimes I find it hard to understand posts that lack spelling and grammar, or people whose English isn't their first language. I'm not criticising, as writing isn't a strength for everybody, and foreign people aren't expected to be 100% fluent in English. But reading isn't a strength of mine due to my inattentiveness.

I enjoy posts that are more about emotional experiences and social interaction, and I tend to skip the posts about politics or finances because I don't have much knowledge about those sorts of things, well, not American politics and laws anyway.

Doesn't matter to me. I inhale print content.

People would be better off presenting their issue in small bites, rather than their first post on the subject being a novella. I've posted about this myself a few times. Some agree and some disagree. some actually like big walls of text and consider it a failing on the part of others not wanting or able to read them.

Depends on the theme and the way that they are written. I sometimes read them and sometimes skip them. I'm not a good story teller in English but neverless sometimes writing to much in poor English without even thinking about it. Sorry for that.

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I am as I am. Life has to be an adventure!

To be honest I'm usually just not all that interested in other people. I'm willing to offer advice or whatever, but I'm not interested in plunging into a huge post of someone talking about themselves.

compulsive reader here,
whatever....
the whipping into conform-ed autism has to stop


reading might be the next un-qualifier

screed ?
a lengthy discourse
an informal piece of writing (such as a personal letter)
a ranting piece of writing

no we wont be "all" richer by talking the same