Paragraphs, people, paragraphs!

[dis ms.]

Is there something in the DIS guidelines banning the use of paragraphs?!

At least once a day I (attempt to) read a post that is just a big ol' block of text. My vision is bad enough without trying to sift through an eye-straining 25 lines without indentations or line spacing.

Then there are the run-on sentences. It makes me wonder if the people writing this way talk this way, as well. I mean, do they not pause for oxygen intake?

Don't even get me started on posts that are formatted like poetry stanzas. What's that about?

 

[Nik's Mom]

It doesn't bother me too much. I think we are all busy typing and not paying attention to grammar. Sometimes I feel like I'm just writing an e-mail to an old friend while on the DIS.

 

[robinb]

I'm with dis ms. I hate run-on paragraphs.

Paragraphs are your friends. Communication is the key. If I can't read what you wrote because you put it in one big chunk of text, or ALL IN CAPS or some other lazy way of writing I won't read what you wrote. If you can't take the time to write it, I won't take the time to puzzle it out.

 

[FreshTressa]

I
always write
about one sentence
per
paragraph
but the long posts
just make me skim and
not read the details
as much​

 

[LindsayDunn228]

Man I feel your pain. If I open a thread and it's just one long huge paragraph, I just skip it.

 

[Marseeya]

It doesn't bother me too much. I think we are all busy typing and not paying attention to grammar. Sometimes I feel like I'm just writing an e-mail to an old friend while on the DIS.

For me, it's not about the grammar at all, although being a future English teacher, I notice. Trust me, I notice. It just doesn't bother me and I would never ever correct another adult unless they asked.

The whole paragraph thing is difficult because all the words start to run together and it makes it impossible to read.

IMO, if you want to make your post legible for everyone, don't do anything special to it! No special colors or fonts, no enter at the end of every line, no long paragraphs.

 

[Cindy B]

It really bugs me as well. I can't stand one big block of text. The other one I hate is that the whole post in that whole block of text is one sentence. Its hard to read.

Yes, I know we are all in a hurry but proper sentence structure should still prevail.

 

[bicker]

I never get far enough into one of those monographs to provide feedback. I'm glad to see someone else raising the issue.

I feel it really is to the writer's benefit to take such comments to heart. Folks type stuff in because they want it to be read. If it is just one long paragraph, a lot of us will just skip it.

 

[Pixiedust34]

Trip reports written without paragraphs are extremely difficult to read.

 

[melanie18]

With a gigantic paragraph, I quit reading after the first few sentences. They are simply too difficult to read.

I agree dis ms, paragraphs, people, paragraphs!

 

[pirateofthecarolinas]

There's also one poster that was absent the day they taught capitalization! I can't read her posts. I would like to read them but it hurts my eyes. I skip all of her posts.

 

[KelNottAt]

Paragraphs and grammar. These are two of my pet peeves in reading these boards. Thank you, dis ms., for letting me know I'm not the only one.

 

[Missy1961]

I don't care about grammar, I don't care about spelling (I can't spell either), but the one long paragraphs posts drive me nuts. I can't read them. And I bet there is interesting stuff in there, but I have old eyes!

 

[Jeafl]

There's also one poster that was absent the day they taught capitalization! I can't read her posts. I would like to read them but it hurts my eyes. I skip all of her posts.

This is very common among teenagers, unfortunately.

 

[Holly]

I'm going to throw out some of these ,,,,,,,, and some of these ....... while we're at it, just in case anyone needs a few extra.

 

[dis ms.]

I figured I wasn't alone in my hatred of the never-ending paragraph.

As for run-on sentences, some people don't need to buy a vowel, they need to buy some punctuation! These are your friends--use them:

. , : ; ? !

I'm not trying to be the grammar police. It's not about that. It's about readability. As bicker said, if people want their posts read, they should make an effort to write readable posts. It only takes a half a second to hit the enter/return key.

 

[antmaril]

Man I feel your pain. If I open a thread and it's just one long huge paragraph, I just skip it.

Me too!

 

[SunFloridaDisney]

I agree. It is very difficult to read a big glob of words all strung together.

Same for ALL CAPS (which, isn't that supposed to represent SHOUTING?!!)

I try to separate ideas so it is easier for people to read what I have to say.

While the grammar and spelling mistakes are noticeable, I realize this is no biggie here. (Now at work, where my job is editing, I BETTER notice those things - )

 

[cardaway]

Not really keen on colored text and sizes either. Falls into the same "look at me" category as posts in all caps.

 

[bicker]

Hehe... me too. I see colored text, large text, or a special font, and I pass the message by, unless I recognize the poster.