On Thu, Apr 16, 2009 at 1:47 PM, Azalais Aranxta <[email protected]> wrote:

> On Thu, 16 Apr 2009, chasy wrote:
>
> > I also think the collapse feature is a better remedy than
> > force-cut. Just my two cents. :)
>
> Collapse is much more awesome than force-cut, and I was
> exaggerating slightly when I said "three paragraphs" (although I
> know some people who write REALLY long paragraphs).
>
> But the only time I ever had to break a post up into multiple
> posts on LJ (for Lightningwar) it was 38 pages long in my word
> processor.  It fit into two posts with no problem.
>
> You can get 16-20 single spaced pages of 12 point text with
> fairly small margins into a single LJ post, and DW posts can be
> even longer than that.
>
> Can you imagine what a post that size would do to your reading
> page, uncut?  Particularly if it was written by someone who was
> very angry about some controversial topic and wanted to MAKE YOU
> READ IT OMG?


That's THEIR decision as the writer of the post. Not your decision as a
single reader.

You, as a reader, have existing choices: 1) Scroll. 2) Comment and ask the
writer to cut the text. 3) Create a reading filter that doesn't include the
writer. 4) Unsubscribe from the writer's journal.

I am 95% against auto-cutting of text entries, no matter what they say and
no matter why the writer didn't cut them. (The 5% is for accessibility; I
can believe it'd be difficult to work around for a variety of reasons.)

However, I do like the option for readers to collapse an entry (to the
writer's username and the timestamp on the post) on their reading page and
theirs alone -- in my imagination it works like Gmail messages in a
conversation.



> There really is a point at which there should be a force-cut,
> because otherwise there will be unnecessary
> defriending/unsubscribing.  Even if you totally agree with me
> about $ISSUE, even if it's fic and it's the best one you ever
> read, do you really want 30+ pages of text on your reading page
> in a single post?
>

Look, *I don't care* how long it is. The way I read my flist, I generally
*want* all those long posts in their full textual glory on that page. I
don't want to have to click a cut to keep going.

It's the writer's choice how to present that text. It's the reader's choice
whether to adapt the writer's presentation. I think that Dreamwidth as a
service should give the reader *options*, but stay away from forcing the
writer into certain modes of presentation.

How hypocritical is it to say "Here, have x-thousand characters of writing
space, but your readers are only ever going to see the first 140 characters
before being forced to click a cut. CHOOSE WISELY"?

~ Rachel
-- 
http://www.lastsyllable.net
http://bohemianeditor.dreamwidth.org
This is not the sig you're looking for.
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