Too long, didn't read? WHAT THE FUCK?

[themostepotente]

tl;dr

Okay -- this is just assinine.

Came across this on gmth's journal. And Gina, count me among those that had no fucking clue what the initials stood for either. *G*

Forget rude. There should be a Darwin Awards for stupid fucking fandom assholes.

Do you know how many stories I would have missed out on if I based my reading on length?

Fic is NOT a cock. Length does NOT matter.

I mean if something looks promising and you haven't the time, why wouldn't you just fucking bookmark?

If anything I'm more off-put by shorter fics, but Christ I read 'anything' that catches my eye.

Fuck, FIND me a 100,000 word Snack fic and I WILL BE ALL OVER THE MOTHERFUCKER!

So now I have to ask...

Is length (long or short) off-putting to a reader?

--P

ETA: Okay, I'm a dumbshit. I didn't read all the way down. Apparently it applies to comments not fics. But I'm with Gina, I wouldn't be surprised if someone didn't use this for fic either.

Comments

[artimusdin.livejournal.com]

No. Actually, let me upgrade that to a "HELL NO!". I'm such a whore for long, epic-length fics, and I never can find one that is both good AND long. *sulks*

[themostepotente.livejournal.com]

The only pairing I steer clear from now is Snape/Harry, and only because people like to WIP Snarry, including myself.

I'll get back to it eventually.

[chuffing.livejournal.com]

I always thought that tl;dr meant that a comment was too long. As in, no one wants to reply to it because it's just a bunch of rambling on endlessly. I've never seen anyone use it in reply to fic. That's just fucking rude, and anyone that used it should be slapped about with fish.

[themostepotente.livejournal.com]

It does. I suck :P

I love that icon btw. Who's the artiste?

[inell.livejournal.com]

WTF? That's just ridiculous! If something is too long for you to read at the moment, you bookmark the darn thing and go back when you have time to be consumed by a fic! I'd love some longer fics for a few of the rare pairings I enjoy! Good grief...I've heard everything now!

Inell

[themostepotente.livejournal.com]

Yes, but just when you 'think' you've heard everything...

[lyricalnights.livejournal.com]

Depends on what I'm looking for at the time. Regardless of which, I bookmark likely looking fic and return when I'm in the mood for whatever I'm not feeling at the moment.

But, yeah, I was pretty floored by the concept of fic length as a feedback-worthy criticism. That's just stupid.

[themostepotente.livejournal.com]

Depends on what I'm looking for at the time. Regardless of which, I bookmark likely looking fic and return when I'm in the mood for whatever I'm not feeling at the moment.

Exactly! Bear in mind though, not everyone in fandom is as smart as you and me :P

[karasu-hime.livejournal.com]

I'll read both if the content is interesting enough!

[themostepotente.livejournal.com]

True enough :-)

BTW -- when you gonna draw Snack again? *G*

[raendrop.livejournal.com]

There are quite a number of fics which I hear are quite good that I haven't read because they're just too darned long.

[gmth.livejournal.com]

Yeah, same here. I have the attention span of a gnat on crack and don't do long fics. Reading or writing.

And Penny, the context I've seen that tl;dr thing used has been in response to long comments/posts on LJ or Journalfen or other blogging sites. I've never actually seen it used in regard to a fic.

(Well, actually I have, but it was a troll journal so that doesn't really count.)

[goldschlager.livejournal.com]

Length doesn't matter much to me, but I do find myself not reading things, even if they sound interesting, only because I don't want to start reading something until I know that I'll have the time to continue (um...is that the same thing?). So at busy times, yeah, I totally don't commit to long fics. But I do save them somewhere if I think I'll want to read them when I have more time.
It's not that I see it and say "too long, I'll just skip this one" it's more that I don't like starting things I may not be able to finish.
So honestly, what's really off-putting to me are WIP.

[themostepotente.livejournal.com]

You'll have some nice Lucius/Narcissa to read once inell and I start collaborating :-)

[orange-bastard.livejournal.com]

I love long fics, because then the magic lasts much longer :)

[themostepotente.livejournal.com]

Amen -- especially if it's Snackage :-)

[merrycontrary.livejournal.com]

For the longest time I just bookmarked everything long. Because I knew the day would come when that was what I wanted.

Now the time is here, but the links were lost with my hard drive!

[themostepotente.livejournal.com]

It's even worse when you lose your own fics.

[sapphyre-twins.livejournal.com]

I actually prefer the longer ones but will read both! :)

[themostepotente.livejournal.com]

Same here :-)

[starrysummer.livejournal.com]

Actually, I'm rather the opposite of you. Length, to me, is a big thing. I like short fics, I like things to be concise and pack a punch. However, I always felt like there were more people who loved long, epic, plot-centric stories than people like me. While there have been some novel-length fics I've loved, I read everything on the computer and the physical reaction to staring so long at the screen turns me off the fic, even if it is rather compelling otherwise. I'm commitment-phobic when it comes to fics... I'd rather read a bunch of short ones than one long one.

However, I would never ever comment to a story saying "oh, no, didn't read this, it was way too long." I might say that if the author personally asked me if I'd read the fic, but other than that, that's definitely a rude thing to say. I mean, I wouldn't comment to say I didn't read something unless I had some serious, detailed concrit explaining what wasn't working for me about their fic. And even then, I'd consider doing it privately rather than posting a public comment.

[themostepotente.livejournal.com]

I like short fics, I like things to be concise and pack a punch.

There is some truth to this. One of the shortest fics I ever wrote received the most comments. So it must have packed a punch :-)

[deirdre-riordan.livejournal.com]

I've still never seen the tl;dr thing used. I suppose I should count myself lucky, because it would probably cause me to become livid and capslocky.

And for the record, I love long fics. I love short fics. I love fics. Full stop. Length really doesn't matter to me if it's good. It may take me longer to get round to reading longfic and comment on it, but I relish it, and it all gets bookmarked in a special folder for when I have a few hours, because I can't stop once I start.

And heck, I like long comments too! I totally don't see the point of replying to something with a "tl;dr." If whatever people using that... phrase? abbreviation? are so pressed for time, doesn't it just take up more time to do that? Or are they on some jerkfaced crusade to stop people from writing anything over ten words? *headdesk*

[themostepotente.livejournal.com]

Well spoken. *G*

I agree with everything you've touched upon :-)

I like long comments also, especially positive feedback on something I've written.

[ponderosa121.livejournal.com]

I've never seen someone to tl;dr or tl:dr a fic, most of the times I've seen it rather wanky though and either on message boards or in reply to something like a posted article/essay/FAQ.

[themostepotente.livejournal.com]

The Pennster jumped the gun :P

Sending you an email, Ponds. Be on the lookout.

[scarah2.livejournal.com]

Yeah, I've never seen it used for a fic. I only use it for an excuse when people ask me why I didn't comment on their lj rants about how everything sucks.

Length is not off-putting, but WIPness can be. Like I'm one to talk. But sometimes you just want to be able to sit and read it all you know? Like waiting for the next installment of the source material isn't bad enough torture.

[scarah2.livejournal.com]

Duh I didn't see your edit, or else you just put it there. I guess your post was tl;dr :PPPP

[grackles.livejournal.com]

Wow. I love to read, the longer the better. The only time I skip anything that's long, comment or fic or whatever, is when there are no paragraph breaks. And even then I'll try to read it, but it has to be absolutely fascinating for me to read the entire thing if that is the case.

[themostepotente.livejournal.com]

The 'no-paragraph breaks' thing drives me apeshit :P

[shaldana.livejournal.com]

Depends what mood I'm in. I rarely, if *ever* read WIPs because I'm freaking sick and tired of getting in to a good long WIP only to have it dropped because the author runs in to IRL issues, dead muses or simply gets bored.
But, I bookmark them in their own little folder and watch LJ notices for when they complete. Then I sit down and blow hours up hours and go without sleep for a day or so just to finish it.
It's a hell of a lot nicer.
I read the HP_100 fics too though. I like the little blurbs just fine. My favourite, of course, are one-shots. I don't care how long they are - anything over 1000 words keeps me happy, for the most part, but I've read one-shots that are over 10k, which is my own little form of ecstasy.
Length... who gives a damn? I don't care if a chaptered fic has 10000000 chapters, of 100 words each, so long as the damn thing is completed.
Any time I find a fic that I want to read, and it's chaptered, I always flip to the last chapter, scroll to the bottom and look for the happy words, "The End" before reading.

[themostepotente.livejournal.com]

Depends what mood I'm in. I rarely, if *ever* read WIPs because I'm freaking sick and tired of getting in to a good long WIP only to have it dropped because the author runs in to IRL issues, dead muses or simply gets bored.

I would tend to agree. Especially now since I've put a Snarry WIP on hold.

Just worn out on the pairing right now.

[melpemone.livejournal.com]

With regard to tl;dr's use in comments, I've only ever seen it used in a sarcastic, joking manner - say someone gets overzealous on a subject, or gets wanky for more than a paragraph, 'tl;dr' is used as a friendly mock to remind them to keep on track, or to halt some wankery in its tracks. Which is why I was surprised to see your rantage - I've simply never thought of the expression in a nasty way.

Ah well, maybe I've just been lucky. :)

[themostepotente.livejournal.com]

In retrospect, I would not be surprised if some people did pass over fic due to length though.

Wankery? LOL! Love it! It's my word of the night.

[theladyfeylene.livejournal.com]

Length doesn't put me off. It all depends on my mood, really. Sometimes I like short, sometimes I like long. If something's too long, I just save it and go back later to finish.

[themostepotente.livejournal.com]

Bookmarking is such a wonderful feature, is it not?

[themostepotente.livejournal.com]

Reader friendly fashion, eh?

Like I hate when people don't fucking condense!

[reposoir.livejournal.com]

Yep. I know people who are concerned about length and don't read something if it is too long/too short. Frustrating because I write long fics (sometimes very long) so if someone comes along and says "Oh, I didn't read your piece because it was so long, but I'm sure it's good"- what do I make of that? That I'm not readable because I write long fics? It's frustrating, but it happens. Like you stated, it should be less about length and more about girth and depth and quality rather than quantity.

[themostepotente.livejournal.com]

Quality over quantity always :-)

[jetis.livejournal.com]

Am I the only one that thinks tl;dr is just fucking rude no matter where you use it? I mean, I don't care if it's fic or comments--if it's too long to hold your attention span, just move the hell on and shut up--don't make the person who took the time to write it feel like an ass.

Obviously, I've got some serious [read: anger] issues with this.

[tipgardner.livejournal.com]

Yeah! I'm with the Jet woman!

[xochiquetzl]

I put in 70 hours at work last week. That means a longer story is more of a commitment... or something. I do bookmark and read later, but I'm also more likely to bail if it starts to suck. The shorter a story is, the more likely I am to finish on the off chance it "gets better," a decision I sometimes regret, oy.

I really hate that "can't believe I read the whole sucky thing" feeling. ;)

[themostepotente.livejournal.com]

I put in 70 hours at work last week.

May I be nosey and ask what you do for a living?

[cathexys.livejournal.com]

i do have length issues but they tend to go the other way in fic and comments. i search out the long fic and i scan threads for long comments (and back&forth debates). i tend to read shorter pieces mostly only when they come recommended...

[themostepotente.livejournal.com]

I thrive on debate, and when I'm really motivated to post a lengthy response -- look out :-)

[tipgardner.livejournal.com]

I used to not care, but when I'm super busy I filter out long stuff 'til later. However, I DO bookmark them if they seem interesting. That comment is simply rude. It shows no respect, self restraint, decency or simply knowing when to keep one's mouth shut.

[themostepotente.livejournal.com]

Unfortunately, there are a lot of people that don't know when to keep their mouths shut.

[pervert-bitch.livejournal.com]

What? Are you crazy?
The longer the better!
Specially if the story is good enough to sustain the length. Or finishing it with rushed endings... What a better way to kill a story than having a rushed ending? Come one, if your story is already novel-lenght, taking time to write an adequate ending aint' gonna kill the readers, they haven been with you this long, right?
Obviously as much as I love long fics, that does not mean I would read anything large... some authors make me lost interest of huge fics that started promising but bah...
On the other hand... Incredibly good story that are also incredibly short... ergh! Makes me want a sequel.
It's that it was so good but it stopped too quickly. It's like a denied orgasm. It was getting good, and then... it ends! WHY!
Of course, I read anything good no matter the lenght, even if I wished short stories weren't so... I find myself loving drabbles and ficlets... because I already know they would be short and have a killing ending, good enough to satisfy me... like a good quickie...
Ok, I babbled enough now.

[themostepotente.livejournal.com]

Now drabbles -- drabbles I usually skip over.

100 or so words is not long enough.