What do you do when you see a wall of text

[R_1]

We all have seen those before. So, what do you do?

[Ceebs]

If it's on AVEN, post this because @Philip027 isn't around to do it anymore.

 

[MarRister]

Depends what it is for, why I am even looking at it in the first place, and what the general topic is and my level of interest.

 

For some posts on here I will read some good walls, for others, I will read the first line then go fuck it nope.

 

Depends what I think I will get out of it. 

[Dagomir]

22 minutes ago, MarRister said:

Depends what it is for, why I am even looking at it in the first place, and what the general topic is and my level of interest.

This. Also, depends how it's written. If, in addition to being written as a block of text, it's also full of spelling mistakes, run-on sentences and such, then TL;DR.

[Guest]

I look at the overall wall to ascertain whether it is sensical or just endless rambling without any point. If it's sensical then I read it so I can respond to each point individually. 

[Sally]

Depends on who is writing it.  If it's someone who's usually logical, I may read it, but most logical people don't do walls of texts, they write in paragraphs.  

[Calliers]

 

[Jelle]

Depends on who writes it. There are some people out there (also here) whose posts I enjoy regardless of how long they are, but for most, I read such posts only to get basic understanding. 

[Guest]

I usually skip it because, in my experience, the point they actually wind up making could be done in a sentence. Succinct is better. 

[Calliers]

On a serious note, if I think I might not enjoy it I try to skim it and gain some understanding. If I don't I just back on out of there like Tow Mater from Cars.

 

Otherwise if it is by someone I enjoy reading the posts of, or it is in a topic I like, I read the whole thing patiently and then most of the time I will reply.

[Lilibulero]

My immediate impression of this is ' garbled rant, not paragraphed, usually ungrammatical and not punctuated. Wait till the poster has calmed down and revised it. Life's too short'.

Yes, judgemental.

[gwennol]

my brain immediately ceases functioning. unless i wrote that wall of text, then it makes perfect sense

[Calliers]

6 minutes ago, gwennol said:

my brain immediately ceases functioning. unless i wrote that wall of text, then it makes perfect sense

[bare_trees]

It really depends on who wrote it and the context.  Regardless, I'll likely skim it first to try to get a feel for it, and then possibly read it word-for-word if it doesn't appear to be some unhinged manifesto.

[uniQChick]

8 hours ago, alsjeblieft said:

Depends on who writes it. There are some people out there (also here) whose posts I enjoy regardless of how long they are, but for most, I read such posts only to get basic understanding. 

Sch***se, now I have to learn to express myself in only couple of words! ☺️

[daveb]

6 hours ago, JimmyJazz said:

Succinct

Agreed

[A User]

I try to read most/all of it if possible 

I like knowing exactly what it says

[Lord Revan]

It depends on why, usually I skim, but when I'm tired I just give up and skip.

[Itsa me a person]

On 5/14/2022 at 7:49 AM, bare_trees said:

Regardless, I'll likely skim it first to try to get a feel for it, and then possibly read it word-for-word if it doesn't appear to be some unhinged manifesto.

Yeah I do the same thing 

[Sally]

I used to answer long "welcome lounge" posts with no paragraphs because it seemed likely they were worried/scared/not thinking well, etc. and thus they needed a speedy answer so they felt seen.  But now I don't have enough patience for any long, no-paragraph posts or comments unless I know the member and they usually make sense.  

[daveb]

Even worse if it's full of things like "text speak", lack of punctuation and capitalization, and other things that make it harder to parse.

[Autumn ace]

Normally, the only person I get walls of texts from is my brother. Since I can usually figure out what he’s saying relatively quickly, I just skim and double back if I see anything really important. 
 

If it was someone else, I would try and do the same thing. 

[Sally]

3 hours ago, daveb said:

Even worse if it's full of things like "text speak", lack of punctuation and capitalization, and other things that make it harder to parse.

Yes, when a post/comment is 2 miles long and yet they're using "u" and "bc", that's just not on.

[Guest]

4 hours ago, daveb said:

Even worse if it's full of things like "text speak", lack of punctuation and capitalization, and other things that make it harder to parse.

Yes, I can't deal with such messages for the most part.

 

Generally with long messages I copy-paste to notepad, break them down to answer them.

 

But if it's just an endless, paragraph-less stream, I often just can't face it.

[awadama]

Scroll past it.

 

Too many people write massive BORING essays and say absolutely nothing. I'm not gonna waste my time reading that!

[Starry Sky]

Depends on what it is. Important or interesting, read the whole thing, but I’ll try to only skim and read the necessary parts whenever I can. My reading comprehension is poor so I often end up having to read it all anyway. 

[Sally]

I can tell it's going to be tough going when the essayists start with "When I was 3..."

[iff]

I'm not a fan of wall of texts. Unfortunately some times for novels, u find it a down point, that it makes the writing bulkier or heavier

[daveb]

Another thing that can put me off are certain text color and background color combos. Some are difficult because of my color vision issues, and some are probably not great for anyone.

[Sally]

Orange text color is very difficult to see.