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It does get repetitive too often. Joel Send a noteboard - 31/08/2012 05:07:41 AM
I respect that criticism, but implications long=bad prompt rants on people wanting complexity and nuance dumbed down to soundbites. Coming from people smart enough to know better it is especially annoying. If a post demands too much time someone wants to invest elsewhere, fine, but taking that time out from Tolstoy or Gibbon to say a few hundred characters is just inherently too long to read is ridiculous.


Maybe it's fairer to say that it's too long to read for what they feel they'd get out of it. I think that's an important distinction. There are some people who are what you're complaining about, no doubt about it, but there are also people who feel that the opinion of a relatively random person on the Internet is only worth so much of their time and effort. Doubly so when it comes to a point-by-point debate of that opinion.

It is also fair to say that reading text on a monitor is harder on the eyes than reading text on a page, though how much that contributes to the Internet's relative brevity I can't guess.

TL;DR summary: shit be exhausting, yo.

I was with you till the last part, but "exhausting" is just not applicable to a few hundred words confronting someone who regularly reads a few hundred pages per day. If, to borrow one of Jordans favorite phrases, someone feels the candle not worth the wick, that is reasonable. It is the suggestion thick tomes are well within their capacity but my posts too verbose for them to process that bothers me, particularly when they know the issue is too complex for an *NM* to adequately address.

I think we're looking at not how large of a "tome," but how many times one is willing to read the same page. And/or how much effort to spend deciphering oddball tangents, metaphors, etc.

When people gloss over or flat out ignore things though I feel like they either missed them in the text wall or are trying to obscure them from others, so I end up reiterating them to make sure EVERYONE noticed. I do try to minimize tangents, but it is a holistic world and so many things are interconnected it is not always easy (e.g. Romney invoking Neil Armstrong tonight leads straight into my lengthy "Reaganomics is the reason we have done NOTHING but regress since the moon landing" rant, even though it began with the Energy Crises and Nixon ending the gold standard.) The metaphors, well, I try really hard to find apt ones, and sometimes the best parallels come from unconventional places.

I do take your point though; the preceding was more explanation than excuse. I guess it is a bit late for me to avoid threadjacking (sorry. :<img class=' />)
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This message last edited by Joel on 31/08/2012 at 05:10:14 AM
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Anybody here ever studied the founding fathers of America? Dark Knight - 30/08/2012 07:34:28 PM 752 Views
Slave-owning, mysoginist, wig-wearing members of the landed elite? Bored - 30/08/2012 07:51:33 PM 502 Views
Ha! Yeah, all personal faults aside Dark Knight - 30/08/2012 07:54:13 PM 445 Views
Not John Adams or Alexander Hamilton.....fool! *NM* Anonymous2000 - 31/08/2012 05:18:05 AM 273 Views
No, never, not even briefly. Joel - 30/08/2012 07:57:39 PM 508 Views
What? Nooooo way Dark Knight - 30/08/2012 08:06:30 PM 509 Views
My US history class was an hour long and I always got distracted by a butterfly or something. Joel - 30/08/2012 08:50:39 PM 459 Views
Did you just kinda compare yourself to the founding fathers? nossy - 30/08/2012 08:08:40 PM 519 Views
Not positively, but I have often thought they were a bad influence on me. Joel - 30/08/2012 08:21:48 PM 541 Views
Funny, my reaction to sentences like those is nearly the opposite. Legolas - 30/08/2012 08:11:34 PM 490 Views
Fair point; it is revealing that none of the Bill of Rights amendments have multiple sections. Joel - 30/08/2012 08:39:24 PM 525 Views
You're projecting. *NM* Ghavrel - 31/08/2012 12:48:12 AM 235 Views
I am aspiring. Joel - 31/08/2012 01:09:40 AM 645 Views
As a personal aside ... Nate - 31/08/2012 01:43:45 AM 567 Views
Yes. nossy - 31/08/2012 01:49:41 AM 583 Views
Like I say, maybe I invest too much in online posting. Joel - 31/08/2012 02:02:58 AM 621 Views
Re: Nate - 31/08/2012 02:27:00 AM 594 Views
Re: Re: Joel - 31/08/2012 02:37:35 AM 599 Views
Well nossy - 31/08/2012 02:54:25 AM 598 Views
It does get repetitive too often. Joel - 31/08/2012 05:07:41 AM 602 Views
Doesn't really matter. You're gonna keep doing it. nossy - 31/08/2012 05:16:23 AM 556 Views
Maybe.... Joel - 31/08/2012 05:03:11 PM 597 Views
Re: Maybe.... nossy - 31/08/2012 05:15:52 PM 420 Views
Re: Maybe.... Joel - 31/08/2012 06:18:32 PM 559 Views
You aren't Plato, Burke, or Madison. Ghavrel - 31/08/2012 10:34:22 AM 515 Views
That is why it is aspiration rather than equivalence. Joel - 31/08/2012 05:01:20 PM 483 Views
I'm not so sure you're entirely right. nossy - 30/08/2012 11:06:39 PM 641 Views
I did. They smelled of mahogany and death. They looked scabby and skeletal. TaskmasterJack - 31/08/2012 12:35:44 AM 537 Views
Sounds like you have a job to do. Joel - 31/08/2012 01:11:10 AM 540 Views
Don't forget Hamilton! The creator of the American economy..... *NM* Anonymous2000 - 31/08/2012 05:19:50 AM 283 Views
... and big government. Joel - 01/09/2012 01:54:20 PM 430 Views
I don't really buy that..... Anonymous2000 - 01/09/2012 08:33:28 PM 486 Views
Hamilton loudly and often advocated a central bank, national debt and active federal government. Joel - 01/09/2012 08:41:50 PM 671 Views
I think the entire Age of Enlightenment is fascinating random thoughts - 31/08/2012 06:32:23 PM 466 Views
You realize you just made a great argument for intelligentsia rule, right? Joel - 01/09/2012 01:48:58 PM 558 Views
I would want better intelligenstia first random thoughts - 01/09/2012 02:48:28 PM 612 Views
Ah, the old uneducated>miseducated argument. Joel - 01/09/2012 03:39:07 PM 573 Views
*wonders if we could test* Burr - 02/09/2012 02:45:10 PM 440 Views
no there is a better reason why it wouldn't work random thoughts - 02/09/2012 02:58:18 PM 591 Views
No,no, I was wondering if -we- could test it. Burr - 03/09/2012 04:17:11 PM 489 Views
yeah I am a bit of a cynic *NM* random thoughts - 04/09/2012 03:01:28 PM 246 Views
I expect the rankings would be too subjective for credibility. Joel - 02/09/2012 04:27:32 PM 572 Views
I listen to some of supposed intellectuals talk and I am unimpressed random thoughts - 02/09/2012 02:53:21 PM 483 Views
Being well read does not make one smart, but does facilitate it to a great degree. Joel - 02/09/2012 04:32:05 PM 434 Views
I like the Starship Trooper approach random thoughts - 02/09/2012 05:04:17 PM 550 Views
I run very hot and cold on that one. Joel - 02/09/2012 06:28:44 PM 639 Views
The problem I'd have with that draft for votes idea... Burr - 03/09/2012 04:28:34 PM 566 Views
I am not so sure it would. Joel - 03/09/2012 05:45:39 PM 575 Views
What was that again about "you have a right to your own opinion, not your own facts"? Legolas - 03/09/2012 06:39:01 PM 592 Views
Ah, right; I had forgotten our previous discussion of conscriptions termination in the '90s and '00s Joel - 03/09/2012 06:48:28 PM 529 Views
If you worked with more engineers you might change your opinion on the science degree part random thoughts - 04/09/2012 03:00:16 PM 483 Views
Maybe; I would likely just conclude horse sense is uncommon everywhere, but less so in engineers. Joel - 05/09/2012 12:11:58 AM 406 Views
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