Should we add "human attention span" to the extinction list?

[theprimrosepath]

So, after seeing it bandied about endlessly in on-line forums, I finally got frustrated enough with not knowing what it mean to google this mysterious tl;dr.

Oh, come on. You're kidding me, right

Comments

[hipsterdad]

Similarly, I also like "Could you put that behind a cut tag? It's too long and I don't like having to hit PAGE DOWN three times to get to the next entry on my friends list."

[moonchildetoo]

O.M.F.G.!

Like "Baaad author! You should know better than to write anything too long for me to read. Serves you right that I'm not going to read it, nyah, nyah." [Pardon me while I upchuck.]

And then there are the comments which simply say "I didn't like what you wrote/did", with no further comment.

[theprimrosepath]

I have yet to see it on fic; that's the day I'll really despair. But when it's on posts in academic journals? And posts where people do nothing but post a link to an article? Egads.

Also, upon first seeing it show up in my inbox, your icon scared the crap out of me. :)

[moonchildetoo]

LOL - I assumed you meant you had seen it on fic! That wouldn't surprise me at all!

Icon - heee! She is a Greek/Roman head on a pedestal from the Getty Villa. I call her "spooky chick".

[slashfairy]

heh. i thought it was 'too long; don't read' as in 'if you're going to read this, fucking pay attention, ok?'

the thing about cuts, i can kind of understand. particularly when someone's putting in a HUGE picture or set of pictures, or a long poll.

otoh, i don't use them unless i have to, so. *shrug*

hi, you! how's married life?

[theprimrosepath]

'if you're going to read this, fucking pay attention, ok?'

I like that one better. :) moonechildtoo also suggested gwg;dr - short for Grammar? What grammer? Didn't read. :)

Ah, married life....'scuse while I explode into a ball of happiness. :) Tad sappy maybe, but it really is that great. Open communication is the most wonderful thing in the world; I hope I'm never stupid enough to neglect it or take it for granted. ('course, I also hope I'm never stupid enough to take my husband for granted either.:)

[blindaurora]

I could possibly see that in an active forum setting where people usually post a few sentences and someone posts a 3 page thing that's somewhat erudite and or irrelevent. Still, though. EEk, a wall o text!

A couple of people on my FL write daily or multiple times a day and every entry is probably at least one page typed. And alot of it is pretty mundane/repetitive, comments on traffic, comments on food, comments on how they are feeling today, working out, etc. I usually dont read through these types of posts carefully because they all have the same basic content. However, occasionally theres something important/interesting in paragraph three that I don't see at all because, well, I wasn't really reading by then.

My friend Ryan's wife was pregnant for the second time for 2 weeks before I realized it because he had saved it for the end of one of his frequent posts. Ack!

Also, if I'm checking LJ on a quick break, I sometimes skip entries that are really long because I truely don't have time then to read them.

[theprimrosepath]

I can see skipping entries that are too long and saving them for later, I have to do that too if I'm sitting at home computer with oodles o' time. (and how often does that happen, for any of us?) Or skimming through really repetitive/everyday entries.

But I've never actually felt the need to inform someone that I did not read what they had to say because it was too long. I still fail to see the point.

The instance that finally drove me to look up what tl;dr meant was a post in a nature community. There was a headline. The headline was also a link to an article. There was one further sentance and a medium-sized picture. I can only assume that the tl;dr person meant the article was too long to read. Arg.

[theprimrosepath]

I could possibly see that in an active forum setting where people usually post a few sentences and someone posts a 3 page that's somewhat erudite and or irrelevant.

Yeah, I could see that too. And I could see myself really wanting to tell someone when they've posted is just really too long. But even so...maybe it's just editor mentality, but if I'm going to bother replying with criticism at all, I'm going to want to say something a little more specific than "too long." Espcially if there are other problems, like irrelevancy. :)

[theprimrosepath]

Totally unrelated: finished Deathly Hallows!

[sensibleken]

i couldnt agree more. i dont understand half these appreciations. i have no idea what rofl or imao(followed by some other letters) means. sometimes the internet makes me dispair

[theprimrosepath]

My understanding of internet abbreviation slang pretty much stop with "lol." Which is funny, because I use abbreviations all day long at work. (sw = spoke with, pt = patient)

Although I have recently learned that IAWTC means 'I agree with that comment' and IMO means 'in my opinion.' It may also appear as IMHO ('in my humble opinion') and IMNSHO ('in my not so humble opinion' - oh, come on now, really?)

I'm not sue whether I'm triumphing or giving in by learning these. :)

[sensibleken]

ah ha. i just learned so much. i still refuse to use them for fear of losing trace of their meaning altogether (laugh out load)