Effective Posting Styles (And Suggested Improvements)

While a general consensus seems to be for short posts, some of the positive feedback I have had, from people who have actually changed their minds, is that long posts also work. Breaking it down into managable chunks with headers helps, keeping the tone light and professional helps.There are also aspects of different styles that tend to work against effectiveness.One of these is continued harping on some detail, as it seems to entrench the opposition rather than work towards solution.ie - rather than harp on the lack of definition of life (mea culpa) one could direct said person to an existing (or new) thread (on the definition of life) and see if he has anything to add to that thread. Long posts that ramble on with numerous erroneous statements compounding misunderstandings with false conclusions are not easy to deal with in simple one-liners.When the information is old hat to the reader, it can be a struggle to do more than scan it.When the information is whack, it can be a struggle to read it.In the end though, it is still a matter of leading a horse to the drinking trough and then seeing if they chose to drink.Enjoy.

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Hi Modulus,Picking this up from your post, even though it was months ago ... I think one of my faults is to try to answer all the questions in one post, which then increases in size in the next round as more points are added in response. Indeed, respecting the other opinion/s goes a long way to ensuring that your reply is not just a brush-off.If I could police myself I would say take one point to respond to -- the one you think is most questionable, and say that you can take up the others once this is resolved.Label your reply with the point you want to cover (ideally this creates a subthread focusing on this point)Then quote the point, rephrase it to ensure you understand it, say why you think it is questionable, and then cite backup links/information.If there are other points you want to cover you can repeat this process in a new post, but then you risk having the post you are most interested in ignored in favor of the second post.For instance, if someone espouses a YECetism, one could start by arguing that the age of the earth is shown by objective empirical evidence to be 4.55 billion years old.Enjoy.

Hi NoNukes, very busy of late but Opinions are due the respect of first understanding the viewpoint of the poster. If the opinion is wrong (in your opinion) then it is due the respect to address the who what where when why and how of it being wrong, rather than dismissal.If the opinion is misunderstood then it is due the respect of sorting out the misunderstanding/s and then dealing with the issue raised. It depends on the source of the bad argument: if it is ignorance then this should be addressed so that the argument can either be improved or dropped (if the person is open minded enough)Willful ignorance and delusions can be identified, and there is the possibility of eventually correcting them even if that opportunity is not taken at the time. Just don't put it under you bellybutton . . . Enjoy.

Just a thought ...The topic is effective posting styles, and in my mind one of the MOST effective elements of a good posting style is staying on topic, and not letting yourself get drawn off into side issues.Enjoy.

Hi Buzsaw, Sounds like the child throwing a tantrum on the basis that any attention is better than none. A post that elucidates a point so well that no response can be made other than applause would be effective.A post that displays nonsense for what it is, and takes that out of further contention would be effective.A post where people say "I wish I had said that" would be effective.A post that gets a "post of the month" nomination followed by a chorus of likes and seconds would be effective. A post that keeps articulating failed concepts without any justification would be ineffective.Enjoy.