Am I the only one here that is annoyed by long posts?
Just wondering about my aging process, that's all. It's probably just me and the dementia, lack of focus, or irritability etc. Please don't anyone take this personally, thanks.
Longer posts that are well-written and meaningful are fine with me. I think everyone knows the type of long posts we're talking about. They are usually give way more detail than necessary, have no punctuation or paragraph breaks, and are generally unpleasant to read. I don't feel bad about not reading anything that makes me irritable. If I were to respond, I would just probably give an irritable answer -- not something that someone looking for support needs. Fortunately, there are members here that do a better job than I would.
I've noticed for myself I often do a three-paragraph thing. Must be the way my mind works.
Nothing more to add, but I thought I'd better add another paragraph so I wouldn't contradict myself. (Being silly here. Sorry.)
Well, I'm a long poster, but I make no apologies for it. I try to provide a background and support for my suggestions, and I think that's important, at least in my perspective. Advice can be considered helpful or not depending on the poster's background and approach to solving the problem. Shoot from the hip answers aren't ones I would follow.
And usually the longer posts are in response to complicated issues.
But I usually don't read original long posts, especially if they're stream of consciousness or begin a diatribe against family or facility within the first few sentences.
On the other hand, those kinds of posts suggest it's time to put on the Sherlock hat and decide if the post is for real and the poster is seriously in trouble or if it's just another goofball playing games with us.
I'm certainly one that posts some doozies. But I do break them into paragraphs.
Also, not all of the members here are technologically savvy, and may not realize that their post isn't broken up or punctuated properly, so sometimes we have to give the benefit of the doubt.
We come here to vent, because as others have mentioned, most of us don't have anywhere else to do it. This is the one place it is acceptable to complain, whine and vent about the caregiving gig we've been handed or thrust into, without being judged for complaining about it (usually, anyway).
The way I see it: if you don't like a long post, don't read it. There's lots of reading material on here - you can avoid them if you don't like how long they are.
They say it's a sign of old age when you start complaining about the short-comings of "today's youth". However - I've noticed a trend in posts from the 20somethings and under. They almost never put any punctuation in their posts. I think it might have something to do with texting so fast and maybe not wanting to shift to the punctuation page. Although you can get a . (period) by simply hitting the space bar twice after the end of a sentence. I know my punctuation is not grammatically correct most of the time but I try. I also use " - " a lot to seperate thoughts. It certainly would make posts easier to read with some attempts at punctuation. So there's my old lady gripe for the week!
I don't mind a post that's a bit long if it's well written - as in, easy to follow, not rambling, and most importantly - doesn't repeat itself over and over. I'm 54.
I think you can tell how people think by their posts. The ones who write long, rambling posts probably have that kind of thought process, which is part of what causes them issues. If they would take five minutes, organize their thoughts (or go back and proofread what they wrote), they'd do so much better. Or even ramble in their first effort, then go back and organize it before posting. But with disorganized people, it's like verbal diarrhea. They just spew it out with no clarity or organization. And we, as caring people, have to try to make sense out of it.
I'm 65 and I hate long posts that ramble, don't provide the most basic information, or where you can tell the person posting is the cause of the underlying issue. They never want to hear that, of course.
Oh well, I am guilty, but not this time. On the dysfun fam thread I don't post every day but try to respond to others who have posted which makes it long. as well as sharing my stuff, I don't mind long posts. Sometimes people are just venting which is a legitimate function here I think,
turtlrunr - *please* don't be hesitant to post. The thing to keep in mind is that this is a very large, very diverse community. Some people here are younger, some are older. Some are currently caregivers, some are former caregivers. Some are caring for someone in their home, some are caregivers for someone residing in a facility. You're going to get a wide range of opinions and experience, and to be honest, that's a good thing, because it may bring to light viewpoints or ideas you hadn't thought of yourself.
Yes, we have a few that are rather outspoken and their responses can seem harsh - but for the most part, everyone gets along and is respectful to one another. Just overlook the occasional snappy post from someone who might be having a bad day. I'm sure I don't have to tell you, the caregiving game is not a fun one most of the time.
And as far as the long posts thing goes, all it's done is create concern about the length of posts - so now we see people saying, "Oh gosh, sorry for the long post!" instead of feeling free to post their feelings, vent, ask questions, etc. - and I'm tired of it. We shouldn't have to apologize for the length of our posts just because a few people don't like it.
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I've noticed for myself I often do a three-paragraph thing. Must be the way my mind works.
Nothing more to add, but I thought I'd better add another paragraph so I wouldn't contradict myself. (Being silly here. Sorry.)
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And usually the longer posts are in response to complicated issues.
But I usually don't read original long posts, especially if they're stream of consciousness or begin a diatribe against family or facility within the first few sentences.
On the other hand, those kinds of posts suggest it's time to put on the Sherlock hat and decide if the post is for real and the poster is seriously in trouble or if it's just another goofball playing games with us.
Also, not all of the members here are technologically savvy, and may not realize that their post isn't broken up or punctuated properly, so sometimes we have to give the benefit of the doubt.
We come here to vent, because as others have mentioned, most of us don't have anywhere else to do it. This is the one place it is acceptable to complain, whine and vent about the caregiving gig we've been handed or thrust into, without being judged for complaining about it (usually, anyway).
The way I see it: if you don't like a long post, don't read it. There's lots of reading material on here - you can avoid them if you don't like how long they are.
And separated........
By
Paragraphs........
Long threads.....
Whole other issue........
I'm 65 and I hate long posts that ramble, don't provide the most basic information, or where you can tell the person posting is the cause of the underlying issue. They never want to hear that, of course.
Yes, we have a few that are rather outspoken and their responses can seem harsh - but for the most part, everyone gets along and is respectful to one another. Just overlook the occasional snappy post from someone who might be having a bad day. I'm sure I don't have to tell you, the caregiving game is not a fun one most of the time.
And as far as the long posts thing goes, all it's done is create concern about the length of posts - so now we see people saying, "Oh gosh, sorry for the long post!" instead of feeling free to post their feelings, vent, ask questions, etc. - and I'm tired of it. We shouldn't have to apologize for the length of our posts just because a few people don't like it.
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