If everyone spent all day at their computers, and read each email individually as they came in, that would be fine - each one is okay by itself.
But people work, and people eat, sleep, and do many other things that prevent them from waiting for a mailing list. I may care about the issue, but reading emails on just one topic (a topic that, in spite of all of its merit, really can't compare to whether or not I put mozzarella or cheddar on my burger) becomes a lot less likely when it requires a lot of work to read them.
~A
On Thu, Jun 3, 2010 at 11:48, Abd ul-Rahman Lomax abd@lomaxdesign.com wrote:
At 11:28 AM 6/3/2010, Steve Summit wrote:
It doesn't matter how you justify a too-long screed; if its length prevents people from reading it (and it will), your message is lost. It's as simple as that.
Problems with this concept:
Length will not prevent all from reading it. Rather, those will read it who are interested. Others won't. The message is not lost, it's in the archive, and, in any case, I know for a fact that some read the long posts, and appreciate them. Some comment on list, a few. Others take the trouble of thanking me by email. So, you can blame them!
"Screed" implies an emotional state on the part of the writer. It's a snap judgment, if you don't read the piece. And this is one of the "assumptions" I wrote about that can interfere with understanding.
Basically, length will indeed prevent some from reading, but these are not my target audience, except for a few. (I.e., there are some who don't read simply because they don't have time.)
Underneath all this is a presumption that I have time to write more condensed material. I don't, generally. When I do have the time, and have a point to make, i.e., some message I consider necessary to communicate effectively to a broad audience, I do it.
So, practically speaking, the choice is between writing what I write, or not writing at all, not between writing longer or shorter pieces.
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