discussions long and short

If I'm honest Hatley, if a discussion is too long, say more than 15 lines, I tend to move on unless it is a subject that really interests me or is posted by someone whose views I respect. I feel, without much evidence admittedly, that long discussions too easily turn into rants. Similarly, I am not usually impressed by very short discussion either. Half a dozen thoughtful lines is about my level. That said, if I start to read then I read every word. But I don't always reply. Am I shallow?!!!

You're so right, Hatley! Often the discussions change things substantially as they go along. Most of us will admit our minds can be changed, and they are often changed as more and more myLotters participate in a discussion. Without reading it all, we just plain don't know what we're talking about!

Many people do not seem to have the attention span at this time to read any thing longer than a hundred words if that much. They also are urgent, because they want to earn earn earn that penny. I have been like that, early on, but found out that instead of an earning focus, I am much happier with a social focus. If I have not got time or energy or attention span to read a discussion,then I do not answer it either.

i don;t know how much time i spend on reading the discussion, i just try to see something i feel interesting. and choose some discussion to respone. if its takes much time, that;s not interested me.

Hi Hatley, I read that discussion too and I felt the same way that you did. If you don't have the time to read the whole discussion and respond accordingly then you don't belong here. If you are here to answer a discussion based on how long or short it is then what's the point in you even bothering to be here. It isn't how long or short the discussion is, it is about the quality of the wording! I really was upset reading that particular discussion and thinking how ridiculous that was. Maybe that's because people like us don't look at things that way. At least I know you and I don't Hatley!

short discussions will do as long as it is direct to the point

i think its case with many people. all are not so to read very lengthy discussions. i have also come across very lengthy ones at times and had to discard reading as i really can't concentrate on a single one so long

[i]HI Hatley, I agree with you, it will not be good to give a response when we have no idea entirely about the post! I myself will take time to read and reread if I don't get it right away to give a fair and quality idea about the topic! That is why like this time, when I was inactive for the past 5 days, i don't like to start a post and all I want to do is to clear my notification, in this way, my attention is not divided from visiting my own post and dropping a comment![/i]

Oh I agree Hatley! Surely it is better to read a long post than to guess at what it was all about? I really think that is rude and thoughtless and if I couldn't read the whole discussion for any reason I wouldn't answer it. I actually really like some of the really long posts xxx

It usually takes me a few seconds to read the post. I read pretty fast. If I read the responses, it usually takes me a couple of minutes. :)

I read them all the way through and try to answer as intelligently as I possibly can.. I don't like to appear ignorant, I try to think out my answers and I also make sure that I spell check before submitting my response.. All in all, it can take a few minutes or 10 minutes.. I hardly ever have less than a 4-line response it is more like a book report by the time I am through with my thoughts.. If you can't give a good response, then you really are only here for the money and you can't be making that much with such short responses.. I do like for someone to be able to read and understand my responses, so I do try to watch my spelling and I try not to butcher the English language.. Have a great day and enjoy Mylotting!!

I am sorry to say that I some times skip reading long discussions. But if those are my friends' discussions, I spend time to read it. Most of the time I response from the inbox because it gives me convenience, and time to think of the topic and if I have something to say with the discussion, if I can actually relate to that. But even if the discussion is long or short, I skip, I do not response, if I have no idea or cannot say a word, I just leave. (neildc @ red/89/1758)

I do take the time to read a discussion through no matter how long or short it is. Then i can give my response to whatever has been said in it. I do go through friends' discussions first though,but if i have nothing to contribute then i just read on until find one on which i think i have some views to contribute.

I think 2 to 3 minutes for reading the discussion and 4 to 5 minutes of responding is good for me. I mostly skip some parts of the discussion if i can understand what the discussion is all about. I mostly look up at the end of the discussion where i expect some questions to respond for me.. So, i mostly skip middle portion of the discussion..

I will read the whole Discussion as it is to easy to make that mistake and I know it has been done to me they did not read all and the response had nothing to do with my Discussion and I don't mean the Gissi ones lol

Be they long or short, I read through them when I open my email. I may not respond, but I do read them even the epic ones. Hahaha! How can one respond to a discussion if they do not read it fully is beyond my belief. I've had some respond to mine this way. They responded according to the first couple sentences only and those are usually not the gist of my discussions. Anyhow I read them all but do not always respond to them all. It is just a matter of mintes at the most to read even the lengthliest ones I get in my email. Have a great day/evening.

Hi Patsie, You can't expect someone to read a hideously long discussion word by word. I have seen discussions in this category that has gone the extra mile to kill the brain cells of readers by omitting paragraphing as well. So what does someone do? Well, usually people just skip. But what if it is a discussion with a topic sentence you can answer? Or if it is started by a friend? So normally, people would just skim for keywords and try to understand the gist of the discussion. As long you can understand what it is about, I see nothing wrong in answering it. And no, I have no inclination to spend 10 min of my time reading one discussion, barring unusual circumstances. In fact I suspect that even for short discussions, most people just skim through too. Again, I see nothing wrong. We are all at myLot for different reasons. Cheers!

I'm a speed-reader, so it's not an issue for me. I can skim things, skipping over words and still understand the whole thing. I do it even when reading a novel. Somehow I'm able to skip over the things that aren't important, I'm not sure how. I don't skip anything important, but my eyes/mind pick out the smaller words and just process the words that are necessary.

Absolutely, Hatley. Nobody wants to read these days. It's like we've become a picture book society! I have a friend who despises reading - and he has a Master's Degree. If he wants to know anything about a book, he'll buy Cliff Notes and read them because he won't be bothered actually reading the book itself. He says it's boring. I know part of it is his ADHD, but it does tend to be a rather universal problem. And, it shows itself here as well. I even planted a test discussion on here to see how many responses I'd get that only answered the title of the discussion and not the discussion itself. The very first one was the winner!!! And, they weren't even new members. They had well over 1000 discussions under their belt. I'll admit to skimming when I'm not in the mood to read deeply, but I don't only look at the title and assume the rest. But, if I'm not in the mood even for that and the discussion is rather lengthy, I'll skip it rather than pretend to have read it. If I can't contribute sufficiently, I won't contribute at all.

I might hesitate if a discussion looks really long, and if it is not a really interesting topic or something I think I can write a good response to, I move along. But most really long posts are worth the reading. I am also a quick reader, so it does not take me more than a minute of my time. Long discussion topics are the easiest ones to write a long response to, and that's a good thing, I think. You want to have a lot of momentum on a topic.