Information

I think this is a general thing these days. Especially on the internet, people (mainly young people) just start off in medias res and assume that everyone reading knows the background of the story just because it is clear to themselves.

Whilst I sometimes huff and puff if someone is relating a story or a situation and they "start with Adam and Eve" (as the Germans say) it is far preferable to do that than having to ask questions, or getting comments starting with "it depends..." and/or getting told off for jumping to the wrong conclusions.

I try and summarise the basic situation succinctly before explaining the problem. Basic essay writing, really.

I agree BlueBelle bullet points are much easier to read and understand. I take your point though that the poster who rambles with their post may well be distressed.

choughdancer

Smileless2012

It can be frustrating but perhaps sometimes there's too much to include in the OP and if the poster is new, it can take time to have the confidence to open up.

This.

Fair enough, but omitting information may lead to totally different responses.

Smileless2012

It can be frustrating but perhaps sometimes there's too much to include in the OP and if the poster is new, it can take time to have the confidence to open up.

This.

Not perfect but often an easy way of getting information out is almost bullet point information which can be really helpful then they can put the meat on the bones as they go along
So something like
I have three daughters
Last year daughter one did a,b,c this led to
Blah blah
Then as people interact more info can be included but it means the whole thing doesn’t change
As it does when a long rambling original post says one thing on coming back something quite different is added to the mix and 75 posts down the line something else and now the third post is almost opposite to the original
I do think some of these rambling changing posts are a bit questionable although it could just be someone in a heightened state of worry or someone who is a muddled thinker, we re all different

Well clearly there is no such thing as a perfect post Grammaretto If a poster is asking for advice it is helpful to include relevant information at the outset so responders can offer help accordingly.

What's the perfect opening post then?

Sometimes it may be just click bait. There have been a couple of examples recently where the development of the tale has been so bizarre, that's the most logical conclusion. I accept that you also get some true stories where your reaction is to think "you couldn't make it up", so take your pick. As one well known gutter press newspaper used to say : "All human life is here".. and it sure is, in all it's many, varied guises

I'm sure all of us have been guilty of not providing enough information in the original post, adding more information, getting upset at all the questions and then wishing we hadn't posted in th first place

I was thinking about this yesterday. A recent opening post gave a little information and many including myself, responded. Then more information was provided and had I known, I would have responded differently.
It's so irritating.

Let's disagree!

Sometimes when posting you just want to dip your toe in the water to see who takes the bait.
You don't want to spell out the whole story in boring detail until someone shows an interest and then no holds barred.
excuse the mixed metaphors

I understand what you are saying Smileless2012 but often the information given subsequently completely changes the response I give.

It can be frustrating but perhaps sometimes there's too much to include in the OP and if the poster is new, it can take time to have the confidence to open up.

Idk on this one

Not just because of what is or isn't in the OP but because of the responses

Too little info and people want to argue about interpretations or just want more info

Too much info and people complain about a wall of text or don't read the whole thing or remember the whole thing leading to arguments over interpretation

Drip feeding leads to not all the commenters having read all the replies so then we have arguments between those who are or aren't up to date

Would need to be a forum wide effort to fix because I think it's the arguments that cause the most problems lol

Agree. Don't know why people do it.

It’s amazing how it changes Sodapop I gave some positive feedback on a thread recently then a bit more was drip fed and I didn’t think positive replies were justified at all and had to change to a negative answer it can be very annoying and misleading

Yabu and yanbu at same time

Op can post what they want but other posters also can say there is not enough info to provide relevant feedback

This drip- feeding often means that they are making it up as the responses come in.…

I couldn’t agree more. It’s a pain.