Word Limit on posts what do you think?

[WhistlingBadger]

Well, that's the thing. None of us can read minds and we often don't know exactly what sort of answer a person wants. In the case of newbies, they often don't even know enough to ask the right questions. All of us were there at some point. We frequently get complaints on the forum about answers that are so long and in-depth that they are bewildering. We get approximately an equal number of complaints about answers that aren't in depth enough or that assume too much knowledge on the part of the asker (the recent one about "cycling" comes to mind).

"We played the flute for you and you did not dance; we sang the dirge for you and you did not mourn." We all just do the best we can to help each other out. If someone's answer isn't your style, please be kind and at least appreciate the effort.

If I want just a quick answer to a quick question, I ask a very specific question and that's usually what I get. If I want a deep dive into some serious info that I can really sink my teeth into, I post a more general question and wait for one or more of our resident scholars to show up.

 

[FishHobby99]

Well, that's the thing. None of us can read minds and we often don't know exactly what sort of answer a person wants. In the case of newbies, they often don't even know enough to ask the right questions. All of us were there at some point. We frequently get complaints on the forum about answers that are so long and in-depth that they are bewildering. We get approximately an equal number of complaints about answers that aren't in depth enough or that assume too much knowledge on the part of the asker (the recent one about "cycling" comes to mind).

"We played the flute for you and you did not dance; we sang the dirge for you and you did not mourn." We all just do the best we can to help each other out. If someone's answer isn't your style, please be kind and at least appreciate the effort.

If I want just a quick answer to a quick question, I ask a very specific question and that's usually what I get. If I want a deep dive into some serious info that I can really sink my teeth into, I post a more general question and wait for one or more of our resident scholars to show up.

Well, that's the thing. None of us can read minds and we often don't know exactly what sort of answer a person wants. In the case of newbies, they often don't even know enough to ask the right questions. All of us were there at some point. We frequently get complaints on the forum about answers that are so long and in-depth that they are bewildering. We get approximately an equal number of complaints about answers that aren't in depth enough or that assume too much knowledge on the part of the asker (the recent one about "cycling" comes to mind).

"We played the flute for you and you did not dance; we sang the dirge for you and you did not mourn." We all just do the best we can to help each other out. If someone's answer isn't your style, please be kind and at least appreciate the effort.

If I want just a quick answer to a quick question, I ask a very specific question and that's usually what I get. If I want a deep dive into some serious info that I can really sink my teeth into, I post a more general question and wait for one or more of our resident scholars to show up.

nice musical analogy. Where’s that from?

 

[Avel1896]

I feel it is time for a word limit to be placed on posts, some of the reply's we are getting to simple questions are ridiculously long and way to hard to follow.

I disagree
Just use punctuation correctly and add line break between paragraphs.

 

[WhistlingBadger]

nice musical analogy. Where’s that from?

It's something Jesus taught because people were griping at him for having a good time, when they had griped at an earlier teacher for NOT having a good time.

A similar sentiment was expressed by the great teacher, Mick Jagger: "You can't...always get...what you wa-ant..."

 

[FishHobby99]

I disagree
Just use punctuation correctly and add line break between paragraphs.

I like frequent line breaks. hard enough to read on an iPad while riding a stationary bike, yelling at my husband, trading stocks & observing fish

 

[FishHobby99]

It's something Jesus taught because people were griping at him for having a good time, when they had griped at an earlier teacher for NOT having a good time.

A similar sentiment was expressed by the great teacher, Mick Jagger: "You can't...always get...what you wa-ant..

Good one.

 

[AdoraBelle Dearheart]

I think keep it as it is personally, the two people pointed out in the OP post provide some of the most insightful content on the forum and I am quite partial to a long post myself.

Spoiler: If people want to shorten their posts for some reason they could use the spoiler tool as a read more button

Suprise

Wills

Wow, thank you! That really does mean a great deal to me
Testing spoiler function
I'm aware that my waffling can be annoying to some people at times (I annoy myself with it too, often!), so it's good to know that not everyone finds it "self-indulgent" and worthless. I genuinely want to help where I can, and sometimes want to share too much info at once, and as @WhistlingBadger points out, we never know what other people know! So in the emergencies section especially, can reach essay level very easily.

I had no idea there was a spoiler function here! Thank you, will be abusing that for sharing personal stories from now on! Once I figure out how it works...

If the answer is too complicated and hard to follow, then reply and ask for clarification. Too much waffle for your tastes? Skip past or use the ignore function.

With a long reply, users can "take what you need, and leave the rest." A rule that I find applies to many things in life. But again, if it's veering off topic or overwhelming a thread, a reminder to stay on-topic or make a new thread doesn't hurt. I'm sure the mods would be willing to have a word with a poster if you make a report or pm and ask them to handle it, so it's less personal/argumentative.

The advantage of a forum is that one is free to simply skip over the long-winded people. I often wish that I had that option with some people in the real world.

Heartfelt agree!

Well, that's the thing. None of us can read minds and we often don't know exactly what sort of answer a person wants [...]
If someone's answer isn't your style, please be kind and at least appreciate the effort [...]

Also consider that we also don't know what the long-winded person's state of mind is. While some people just like to hear themselves talk (or type); many others won't know forum etiquette or culture, or may lack social skillls and just failed to "read the room"; be going through a rough patch; have a diagnosis that leads to reduced theory of mind - any number of possibilities. Try to be kind and assume that people mean well.

Again, @Bruce Leyland-Jones I apologise for continuing the hijack of your thread yesterday. I got carried away in my excitement to be back and talk fish again, but it was inconsiderate and I apologise! Will definitely be more mindful in the future.

Not an excuse, just adding that I don't have fish-keeping friends in real life nor online other than here, and caring for elderly parents and a very sick, elderly dog needing constant care, including overnight, has had me absent from the forum for long stretches, and pretty sleep-deprived. Yesterday I got carried away in my excitement to talk fish with people again, and was on my fifth day without a solid stretch of sleep, and brain was even slower than usual. So I waffled and didn't read the room.

Those replies destroy the flow of the thread and are purely self indulging for the people who post them.

@AdoraBelle Dearheart[/USER] writing their usual essays on subjects the whole thread turned to custard. I suppose it is he or she who speaks loudest gets listened to."

My social anxiety made me feel ashamed and wonder whether everyone here felt this way about me, and I almost left again only a day after returning. So the replies in this thread have helped to reassure me that I'm not unwelcome here, so thank you to those who answered with counterpoints.

 

[AdoraBelle Dearheart]

Dang, I didn't mean for the spoiler function to just blur the writing. How do I make the blue box thingy that hides the paragraphs of waffling, @Wills ?

 

[Bruce Leyland-Jones]

Dang, I didn't mean for the spoiler function to just blur the writing. How do I make the blue box thingy that hides the paragraphs of waffling, @Wills ?

Impressive feature, though! I thought it was my eyes.

 

[WhistlingBadger]

Impressive feature, though! I thought it was my eyes.

I thought maybe she was saying something so awful that my eyes just refused to register it.

 

[WhistlingBadger]

Also, I agree that frequent line breaks

are nice. They really help my attention span to stay with
longer posts. As long

as they're placed appro-

priately. Otherwise they're kind of annoying.

 

[FishHobby99]

Preach it Fish Forum denizens!
I’ll take what I need & leave the rest
Just like the Night we drove old Dixie down

 

[DoubleDutch]

I simply skip and don't answer any thread that is longer than 20 lines or so.
Especially the ones about diseases / issues in which a pic is written out in 30 sentences and isn't added itself.

 

[AdoraBelle Dearheart]

Speaking of spoiler function, how does Ignore work here?
I am only well versed on Twitter. There we block or mute
Mute means you won‘t ever see a particular person‘s post, but they can view yours.
Block means they can’t see yours ever & vice versa.

I'm not sure I'm afraid, I haven't used the Ignore feature here yet myself! I just know that we have one
I'm sure @Wills or another mod will be able to clarify.

 

[Deleted member 149562]

If its the same setup as elsewhere (former forum admin/builder here) put the cursor over the name of who you wish to ignore (hopefully not sweet & innocent little me) and the box that then opens has the ignore option that you click.

From that point onwards you do not see anything they post and if they respond in a thread, their post just has wording along the lines of "you are ignoring this persom's posts" and you will not see their content unless you want to by clicking a link within that post.

If that makes any sense lol