There are certain things that help me decide if I'm gonna read a post or not. You may not care if I read your post. I think that is fair. But I put together a little list of what I look for.

I don’t want to criticize or praise any specific posters by name or obvious description (and if people start doing that, I hope the moderators will lock this thread). I’m aware that everyone is different and that things that I like to see in posts may not be as important to some other people or even most other people. But, I think most people write stuff on message boards so other people will read it and the Boards are just too big for me to read everything , so I do a mini-triage when I read.

Again, these are just things I look for in a post. They are mostly cosmetic, that is, the actual content of the posters ideas is not generally what I look at first. Your opinion may vary and I hope others will say what they like. I may be off here, and others may not care about the things that I care about, so take this for what it is worth.

Posts I like to read include the following:

The poster spells most words correctly, uses generally correct punctuation, and tries to use correct grammar whenever possible

This is tough for me. I’m a bad speller from way back, I use way too many commas, and I stick them in the wrong places. There are words I just can’t spell correctly. However, I appreciate it when someone at least makes an effort. Again, I don’t look for someone to be 100% correct, just that they have cleaned up obvious typos and put their stuff in relatively complete sentences. A little effort goes a long way in this area.


The poster breaks longer posts into shorter paragraphs based on subject

I like to read longer posts. But I can’t read long posts that are written in one long, dense paragraph. I mean, I could, but I don’t. I like to see them broken up. Its really my loss. I think I’ve skipped some interesting stuff cause I looked at one long paragraph with no “white space” (or in MP’s case, yellow space) and just said “forget it.” If the post is real long and covers several different but related subjects, bolding or using italics for headers helps, I think.


The poster puts listed information into, well, lists

I prefer to see lists with some sort of A,B,C or 1,2,3 designation rather than have the list stuffed into a paragraph. I think this is a hobby horse of mine, other people may not care too much. On the flip side, if you list stuff that should be a complete paragraph, sometimes your ideas get too fragmented. I like to read complete thoughts.


The poster uses a descriptive thread title

There are too many threads for me to read them all. So I go to the ones with subjects I’m interested in. I can’t always tell what a thread is about based on the title. So if I can’t, I skip it (usually). I don’t expect the thread titles to be books, but they should give me some sort of clue. Again, I’m missing great threads because of this, I’m sure, but there you go.


I’ve broken all these rules more times than I can count. In no way am I playing holier than thou. I’m not an English teacher. I’m genuinely interested in hearing what people like to see in posts. Does everyone read everything? If not, how do you choose what you read? What’s your criteria (if you have one)? I know the content of a particular poster is the major factor. We all have our favorites and those we don't like. But that is so varied and personal, it's best left out of this discussion.

Please don’t mention posters by name as in “Yeah, so and so’s posts suck.” I didn’t have any particular person or people in mind while writing. Anyway, I’d like to hear what other people think.

Originally posted by EandCDad
The poster spells most words correctly, uses generally correct punctuation, and tries to use correct grammar whenever possible

This is tough for me. I’m a bad speller from way back, I use way too many commas, and I stick them in the wrong places. There are words I just can’t spell correctly. However, I appreciate it when someone at least makes an effort. Again, I don’t look for someone to be 100% correct, just that they have cleaned up obvious typos and put their stuff in relatively complete sentences. A little effort goes a long way in this area.

This, my friend, is a run-on :D. Just thought it was funny, since you were posting about correct grammar.

I tend to agree with you; I am guilty of some of those things you mention, and you make a good point. In the future, I'll try to be more aware. :)

Originally posted by EandCDad
The poster uses a descriptive thread title

I think this is the biggest one for me. Given the time constraints imposed by the board's system, I only have time to do so much before it's going to mark everything as read and lose my place. And, frankly, there are only particular topics I'm interested in, so I too like to know what the thread is about. A generic thread title like "here's a thought" that continues in the thread itself to talk about FastPasses or Indy or shopping at Mervyn's or whatever specific topic probably isn't going to catch my attention. Sometimes, I might click on a generic topic anyway, but most times, I skip it.

I agree with your other points too. To the mods: since it's not a "rule" but a suggestion, would it be possible to include something like this (the points that EandCDad have raised) in the FAQ section of the boards? Might be helpful for newbies.

Originally posted by NMoreles

This, my friend, is a run-on :D. Just thought it was funny, since you were posting about correct grammar.

While I am fairly poor in my grammar and spelling, I think you may be incorrect. Although I think we have some teachers who could verify.

I was trying to write a statement similar to this one:

I cut the hedges, I pruned the trees, and I watered the grass.

I don't think you have to make those two or three separate sentences. However, I guess I could have broken up my comments on spelling from my comments on excessive and misplaced punctuation.

Again, my point is about the effort. I tried to write that with parallel structure. If someone makes an effort and misses a few things, that's fine. If someone doesn't even try, I'm not gonna try to read what they have to say.

Originally posted by NMoreles

I tend to agree with you; I am guilty of some of those things you mention, and you make a good point. In the future, I'll try to be more aware. :)

As you pointed out above, I am guilty of them pretty regularly, too. :)

That sentence, my friends, is not a run-on. It's a list, and that's one of the proper uses of the comma.

NMoreles: based on the part of EandCDad's sentence you put in bold, what you probably thought you were seeing was a comma splice, i.e., two independent clauses joined by a comma. Run-ons are often a related problem. Both of these errors can usually be avoided by learning how to use commas.

By the way, I agree with what EandCDad said. All that stuff matters. It doesn't matter as much as what you're trying to say (content), but if people don't read what you wrote because of surface errors and/or non-specific titles, then it doesn't matter what you've said at all, unfortunately.

Originally posted by Matterhorn Fan
That sentence, my friends, is not a run-on. It's a list, and that's one of the proper uses of the comma.

NMoreles: based on the part of EandCDad's sentence you put in bold, what you probably thought you were seeing was a comma splice, i.e., two independent clauses joined by a comma. Run-ons are often a related problem. Both of these errors can usually be avoided by learning how to use commas.

By the way, I agree with what EandCDad said. All that stuff matters. It doesn't matter as much as what you're trying to say (content), but if people don't read what you wrote because of surface errors and/or non-specific titles, then it doesn't matter what you've said at all, unfortunately.
Yes I wasn't reading it as a list; I was seeing it as a comma splice. Now that I went back, I was wrong. :( ;)

Part of making an effort in using good grammar is capitalizing properly. That means you should capitalize proper names and the first word of a sentance. I've met very educated people who do not capitalize the first word in a sentance when posting on message boards. If I never met them and didn't know their level of education I would assume they had a very limited (i.e. 2nd grade) education. It not only makes for easier reading (being able to quickly visually see the seperate sentances) but it also helps people to take you seriously.

I tend to be pretty forgiving and less judgemental about bad spelling and even minor grammar mistakes, but not using capital letters REALLY gets on my nerves so I skip over such posts. It's lazy and says to me, "I'm not going to take the time to format this properly." So I "respond" with, "I'm not going to take the time to read or even respond to this."

I don't care if someone uses proper grammar, capitalization or spelling, but for me to read a post, it has to be concise. I know that I often go overboard on being concise (see my post where I try to explain the MLB strike) but that's what I personally look for in a post. And the rest of the criteria I use for whether I'll read a thread/post or not changes almost daily depending on how pressed for time I am at any given time.

Originally posted by Bill Catherall
I tend to be pretty forgiving and less judgemental about bad spelling and even minor grammar mistakes, but not using capital letters REALLY gets on my nerves so I skip over such posts.That's funny -- I think everyone has pet peeves, and some things irritate people more than other things. Unless someone uses ALLCAPS, capitalization isn't such a "idiot indicator" to me.

The overarching theme in this thread though, still holds, and it applies to other online forums such as Usenet newsgroups and mailing lists as well. That is, in this world of (primarily) written communication, when the only means of conveying our message and our personality is through the written word, the impression people get of us is by the way we write.

It doesn't matter if we're famous movie stars, important politicians, retired snow birds, high school cheerleaders, supermodels or park CMs. If we write in a lazy manner, or we are poor spellers/writers, the paths to our inner selves (let's call it the veneer) is rough and unpolished, leading others to make judgments of us by the way we communicate. In essence, people judge our books by our covers.

Originally posted by MickeyD
I don't care if someone uses proper grammar, capitalization or spelling, but for me to read a post, it has to be concise.

You hit on one of my "things." I appreciate the writer who cares enough to boil it all down and hit the highlights. I enjoy hanging out with my friends and getting the two hour version of an event as much as the next person, but when I'm reading it, my eyes tend to glaze over. It can be the MOST interesting scenario in the world, but I just can't slog through it (especially if there are no paragraph breaks.)

Originally posted by EandCDad
Please don’t mention posters by name as in “Yeah, so and so’s posts suck.” I didn’t have any particular person or people in mind while writing. Anyway, I’d like to hear what other people think.

I kinda agree, but I really have to say, MY POSTS SUCK. I do an OK job, but not so great. I try to do well, but in thinking it over, I am kinda lazy when it comes to that. I do not plan out typing out my posts in WordPerfect anytime soon, although I knwo for a fact some people do. That's ok, I just don't do it.:)

I pretty much avoid posts without enough white (yellow) space. It's a pet peeve of mine here and elsewhere. At work I often quote the "Rule of Six" that a paragraph should not be longer than 6 to 8 lines. Online, I think even fewer lines are better - just makes things easier to read.

I'll usually wait for someone else to read and comment on such things before I make an effort. Again, I agree with EandCDad - probably my loss, but that's what I do.

Do I post well? I know we are not supposed to talk about names but I just have to know, so that in the future I can correct myself. :)

I used some of EandC's "rules", in my "6 Pillars To A Highly Successful Thread." (http://mousepad.mouseplanet.com/showthread.php?s=&threadid=9414)