Do you generally read the entire post before responding?

[progmom]

Or do you react mainly to the title?

[Shell Beau]

1. I read it, but if it is really long, I'll skim through it!

[XNASA]

2. So what you're asking is "Do I react mainly to the title?"

;)

[progmom]

3. very nice.

;)

[johnnie]

4. I'll read it

As much as I can anyway. I have posted threads where I ask one thing in the subject, but say something else in the body of the thread and watch people answer my subject line..LOL.

[marzipanni]

6. heh,heh,heh

you little trickster, you.
Sounds like fun!

[sam sarrha]

5. how am i ever going to get 1,000,000 posts if i have to read everything ?!

:freak:

[bridgit]

25. preee-cisley...

:hi: :thumbsup: :kick: :patriot:

[AlGore-08.com]

7. Shoehorn!

[wtmusic]

10. great pic

I like Sally's little French tickle (look's like she's goosing Mel with the other hand)

[kick-ass-bob]

8. No.

:D

[ms liberty]

9. I always read the whole post...

Titles can be non-representative of the body of the post. This may be one reason I've been a DU'er for a really long time (like 3 yrs or something!) yet have less than 100 posts so far! (I am getting close to 100 tho, finally)

[marzipanni]

14. Gee, I thought my ~130 posts/year was a low count!

I most often read the whole thread because I really enjoy all the reparte, nuances of thoughts and insights in the replies.

[Telly Savalas]

11. No. Some people are simply too verbose.

In an ideal world, every post on DU could be read, but in many cases the poster tries to make a simple point, but winds up going on forever about it. In such cases, it's often the best option just to react to the title. In particular, in GD most discussion quickly disintegrate into flamewars anyway, so the best policy is to just ignore the message, and immediately respond with a vicious personal attacks. This line of reasoning could be applied to a lesser degree to other forums as well. GDP may not be as much of a flame pit as GD, but still posters can go on and on and on and on with their point, so often it's just best to respond to the title and skip the post. Even in the Lounge, a sanctuary for many DUers, this can be the case, so reading the entire post is often tedious and to be avoided. It's kind of curious that this happens, since Democratic candidate John Kerry was so often maligned for his inablility to be terse. Perhaps the absence of a sense of word economy at this message board can be attributed to him, or perhaps it is the case that his verbosity simply reflects the wordiness of the Left. In either case, it might be a fitting tribute to him to call this phenomena the Kerry Effect. What's curious is that this Kerry Effect isn't limited to the United States. If you read the Canada forum, you'll find it there too. A poster tries to make a simple point, but they ramble on and it turns into a 5,000 word essay. Personally, I feel this weakens the left, because it makes it hard to focus on our message. Although it could be argued that the left doesn't have a single clear message, and this is perhaps why we have such a hard time trying to articulate it in a succinct manner. It would be fascinating to see what George Lakoff would have to say on this, given his ideas on framing issues in politics. He would certainly argue that brevity is crucial when trying to frame the message. Perhaps he's arguing it here. DU is such a large community, it's not unthinkable that George Lakoff could have an account here and that he posts here and that he's one of the many who just read the title and respond without reading the text of the message. For all you all know, I might be George Lakoff. Or I might really be Telly Savalas. But this does give rise to the intriguing question as to whether or not famous people post at DU. For instance, do you wonder if say Howard Dean posts anonymously in the GDP forum, or if Jim Wallis posts in the theology forum, or if Joe Lieberman reads DU and gets his feelings hurt on a daily basis. In fact, I'm totally convinced that one of the Red Sox fans who frequently posts in the Sports forum is really David Ortiz. Um...what was the question again?

[progmom]

13. wow.

i love you.

[Telly Savalas]

15. Aw shucks

:blush:

[undeterred]

17. paragraphs, please!

:silly:

[ms liberty]

19. I'm impressed n/t

[Redstone]

26. Good to see that you're not one of the verbose people.

Redstone

[Telly Savalas]

30. Nope. I get straight to the point.

:silly:

[Beware the Beast Man]

12. Shall we test that theory?

:evilgrin:

[progmom]

20. please do!

:evilgrin:

[kick-ass-bob]

22. not much so far...

:popcorn:

[khashka]

16. Depends who is posting

Some people I will read everything they have to say... others not so much. That said, I usually reply to things that interest me. It really has to get me going on one level or another before I step up and say something. That's partly because I'm very shy and partly because there are people here who can state my point of view more eloquently and more forcefully than I can.


Khash.

[Rabrrrrrr]

18. I read the whole thing. I think it's just being repsonsible. Unlike a lot

of DUers who seem to catch one sentence or two, and then comment and make themselves look like assholes because they clearly didn't bother to read.

[GalleryGod]

23. Whole Post; Comes from Habit of Reading Term Papers and Tests

:shrug: a well thought out position-even if rambling-is fun to read and respond to:loveya:

[hyphenate]

21. I will usually answer the OP's post

and then go and read everything afterward. Sometimes I end up duplicating someone else's idea or response, but for the most part, it just means that GMTA!

[tjwmason]

24. I always read the whole post

But if things become more fun by taking the title out of context, then that's just irrisistable.

[bridgit]

27. your's are blissfully concise...

i therefore read no-less than 87% of your's :patriot:

[Crazy Guggenheim]

28. Do I generally read ..........??? Of course I do!! What the hell

are you saying? I'm a moran?? Huh!! Don't you call me illiterate again!!

:popcorn:

[underpants]

29. I voted for- Robb is a dingbat

:hi: