Do you fully read long posts?

[Kelli in TN]

I was just pm-ing with a friend and mentioned to her that I did not read all of a particular person's posts in a thread because the posts were quite long. Since I had just read several chapters of a book, my eyes were bothering me so I did not feel like reading long posts.

 

Does anyone else just sort of skim really long posts? I don't always do it, but I am finding that frequently I do.

 

Of course I could take the perfectly good prescription that I have in my wallet and just go get my darn eyeglasses and then I would probably read those longer posts. Or I would still be buried in my book right now!!

[Guest Virginia Dawn]

I put the posts in hybrid mode. Then I skim down the threaded mode and click on particular posts if I want to read them fully. I don't have the time to read everything.

 

 

ETA: I just recently discovered the little yellow squares that mean new posts in a thread, that is helpful.

[gardenschooler]

No, I skim them. If they're really long, I skip them. Unless they're something really great, and I want to hear that particular poster. So a long post from someone discussing curriculum or teaching, I'd read every word. A long post debating politics, I'd skim.

[Jean in Newcastle]

I don't read every post. But I do read every post in a thread that I find interesting. Occasionally I will open an interesting sounding post but after reading a bit realize that I'm not so interested after all - and have nothing to contribute. If I'm going to reply I definitely read every post in a particular thread, even the long posts. You never know if the OP has updated later in the thread or what gem might be hidden in a long answer!

[PinkInTheBlue]

I have to admit it completely depends on my interest in the topic and my opinion of where the opinion of the writer is going. :) Of course I'd never comment directly to a post that I had not completely read but some writers restate their points so often you get their idea pretty early on. :D

 

P.S. I mean that about writers in general, not as a poke to anyone here.

[Carol in Cal.]

They're usually pretty well thought out, and also often well-written.

 

I skip rants, though, unless they are really, really funny.

 

And I don't go into all of the threads...does anyone? Would that constitute a full time job? (Probably not, but definately an addiction!)

[Peela]

I don't mind long posts when I am interested in the topic, and I will in particular read them if I previously liked the writer's posts. (like Nan's highschool posts :) ).

However, it does really bug me if people choose not to use paragraphs, spacing, or any type of punctuation, and just write a long solid block of their stream of thoughts. People often do that when they are emotional, (or ranting I guess), but I usually do not bother reading them because its just too difficult for me to do the hard work of deciphering what they mean, when a little use of the enter key and the shift key could save me all that trouble. There is a good reason punctuation was invented.

However, grammatical/spelling errors and such do not bother me usually...I make plenty, and I dont feel they usually interfere with the meaning or flow.

So for me, the length of the post is not so important as how it is presented, and if its easy for me to read. I guess the fact that I often skim read also means if the text is in one block, it is harder to skim.