TLDR Really?

i have noticed a sickening trend on a lot of social networking sites and it is this acronym TLDR which stands for "Too Long Didn't Read"! yes we have developed into a society that can't be bothered reading anymore! my brother has mentioned it to me on several occasions that when he has been arguing on facebook (i'm not on facebook) he'll come back at someone with a paragraph of relevant information only to be greeted with the reply of TLDR. and what really annoys me is that these people are happy in not wanting to read! why? why are these people afraid of knowledge? what's wrong with TLRL Too long read later? hopefully this post was short enough for everyone to read!

reply to post by josephamccoy


i agree with you! to many people dont read. i actually have a personal library,and i have read 90% of my books.
( i try to keep 10% unread incase of an emergency!) but you have to admit that some posts on ats are basically short novels! hope my reply was shot enough!

reply to post by josephamccoy


I would also agree with you, however TLDR is usually depending what you want to read. I know there are a lot of things in life that can bore me and I'd rather not read it lol.

At first I was annoyed with the plague of TLDR on forums, but I've grown to appreciate it.

If I spend my time and effort trying to educate, and am met by swarms of TLDR, it just tells me that the audience spouting this non-sense simply doesn't grasp the necessary gray matter to understand what I'm saying. It's almost a blessing in that, they tell you they are blissfully ignorant, and wish to remain so. Saves effort and energy on my part.

Those who the message was intended for, will still receive the message.

EDIT: It seems TLDR came in around the time of those #ing internet memes. You know, the group of people who think they are cool by forwarding along someone else work as if they are the creative genius. The younger generation just seem to lack any sense of individuality and get along fine with the sheep mentality. Same goes for the First! crowd, and all the other memers. (sorry this turned into a semi-rant unintentionally)

To be fair, i don't think its solely that people don't want to read, or cant be bothered. When browsing the web, jumping from post to post and page to page, we are ingesting a huge amount of information. It wouldnt make sense to read every huge block of text that we come across. So a TLDR is handy. If you read the TLDR and it piqued your interest, then you can go back and read the longer version.

Personally, i like reading, but i appreciate a TLDR. I browse fast as i assume most die hard interneters do.

TLDR: "i dont like abbreviations"

Nah seriously, somtimes its used not to insult the poster its applied to, somtimes its just a slightly callous (and lazy) way to say that the post was a ramble and innaccurate or a bit too verbose.

I dont take offece when its used on my posts, often its constructive.

It was originally used to skip non relevant information when it is mixed with relevant info.

Example:

Paragraph 2

Off topic stuff, TLDR.
---------------------------

Nowadays people just use this and think they can voice their opinion, ESPECIALLY when they quote an OP!

i understand that TLDR can be used as a tool to explain to someone that whatever they've posted maybe too long (you don't see it hardly on ATS but when you do there is generally "i'll read it later" remark that follows). in my brothers experience the people who he's been arguing with just dismiss the text as being litertally too long for them to read and comprehend (yet they still argue their point after dismissing something that would otherwise prove them wrong). i really worry about the education level of people coming out of a supposedly educated society, because they at the moment don't seem very educated.