Some thoughts on posting here

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steve
Posts: 3392
Joined: Thu Aug 21, 2008 9:45 pm

Some thoughts on posting here

Post by steve » Sat Dec 24, 2011 2:27 pm

It is a blessing to have so many sharing their thoughts on this forum. It has become a virtual fellowship for many of us. I would like to make some suggestions, though, that would make it easier (at least for me) to read and understand the posts that some of you are posting.

There are frequently posts here that I have trouble making sense of. Here are some of the reasons:

—Sometimes sentences are left incomplete, and they do not finish a thought or lead to any obvious meaning.

—Sometimes people simply let typos remain uncorrected, which confuse the meaning of the sentence in which they appear.

—Sometimes "and's" and "but's" seem to be placed in places where they confuse me and make an otherwise intelligible statement mysterious;

—Some people seem to be "thinking out loud," so to speak, and rambling in a way that is hard to follow.

—Some posts just appear to be dauntingly large blocks of text without obvious paragraph divisions. There is nothing technically wrong with this, but I personally find myself avoiding a careful reading of these, and tend to scan through them to see if my name is in there, meaning that something there is addressed to me, requiring my response. If not, because I am a slow reader with very limited time for reading, I often skip over these.

My suggestions are not rules for the forum, but only advice to those who would like to have what they post read and understood by others. Here are some ideas for those who post this way (If you are making a short comment, and not a long dissertation, then these suggestions are not as important):

1. Consider composing your lengthy posts separately, in a word processing program, which has spell-checking, and posting only the final form, rather than the first draft;

2. Consider breaking your post into paragraphs and placing a space between paragraphs (as I am doing here);

3. Proofread what you have written to see if you have said something that you would understand, were it written by someone else (if English is not your first language, I definitely do not expect much in this respect. I commend you for writing in English the best you can!).

None of these things is mandatory, but then, neither is it mandatory for anyone to read your posts, and some may be less inclined to do so, if they present too many challenges to understanding them. Consider this: most of us have books on our shelves by good, articulate writers, which we would like to read but have not yet found the time to do so. If we can read books by intelligible authors (many of whom we regard as specially authoritative in their fields), then what would motivate us to read posts from those who have not even gone to the trouble of proofreading them to see if they are understandable? My reading time is limited, and I have much to read. I prioritize my own reading by considerations such as:

1) does the author know something I don't know about the subject?

2) Does the author make his/her ideas easily accessible and clear?

3) Is the subject matter sufficiently important to warrant my prioritizing it in my reading schedule?

Nobody who posts here is required to be concerned about my reading priorities, but, since some of you are specifically requesting a response from me, I thought I would let you know what you can do to make it more likely that I will read your posts.

Just to let you in on my own practice, I often write in a stream of consciousness, which may not be as organized as I wish for my final post to be. I proofread as carefully as I can, before posting, but often return at a later time and proofread again, and make further modifications (as moderator this is easy for me to do, but I assume any member can edit their own posts after posting—maybe I am wrong?).

Though many of my posts are long, I endeavor to be considerate to the readers by breaking it up into short blocks with white space between them, making my paragraphs lean, my sentences precise, and the overall body of the post undaunting to the reader. This is my aim, at least. I do not say I succeed, and others may not succeed either (depending upon your degree of writing skill). This post is only giving constructive criticism that will help all of us to read and follow your thinking better.

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Candlepower
Posts: 239
Joined: Wed Oct 29, 2008 3:26 pm
Location: Missouri

Re: Some thoughts on posting here

Post by Candlepower » Tue Dec 27, 2011 4:50 am

Excellent suggestions

parsonsmom
Posts: 37
Joined: Fri Apr 13, 2012 11:41 pm

Re: Some thoughts on posting here

Post by parsonsmom » Mon May 07, 2012 12:09 am

[quote="Candlepower"]Excellent suggestions[/quot


Very good indeed; how ever my posts are by full subjects, how ever will go back and look mine over; and see if I need tochange somethings.

May I ask why the area we post in is so unsteady? I spend more time pulling it up than I do postings;
and how do I find my threads? I can't find hardly any of my replies; I know they were posted because I alwaysseei and most time i edit any mistake I have made.
I choose to think that I am not acustom with the board.
I use simicolans to bring attention to A point that is important. Parsonsmom

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Paidion
Posts: 5452
Joined: Mon Aug 18, 2008 10:22 pm
Location: Back Woods of North-Western Ontario

Re: Some thoughts on posting here

Post by Paidion » Mon May 07, 2012 7:14 pm

You can find your threads and all of your posts by clicking on "View your posts".
Paidion

Man judges a person by his past deeds, and administers penalties for his wrongdoing. God judges a person by his present character, and disciplines him that he may become righteous.

Avatar shows me at 75 years old. I am now 83.

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