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Meta note to authors: if your essay has a big TL;DR at the top of it, I'm going to read that, and then maybe read the rest. Probably not. If you can really boi

Meta note to authors: if your essay has a big TL;DR at the top of it, I'm going to read that, and then maybe read the rest. Probably not. If you can really boil down all of that text into 2 sentences, then delete the rest of the text. The entire purpose of essays like this is to take a position that I might not agree with, slowly introduce it to me, then convincingly make the case that I should change my mind. Sticking a big TL;DR at the top just invites me to take issue with your conclusions, and convincing me of your conclusions are the entire purpose of your essay. So folks who agree (and agree a lot) will read your essay all the while muttering to themselves about how right you are. Those that disagree will just blow it off, thereby defeating the entire purpose of writing it. The "art versus craft" discussion has potential, so I was intrigued enough to skim. I just didn't feel the article was well-formed and engaging enough, however, so I can't recommend it. Sorry.

scott_s 16y ago
I don't think that's fair. In the academic world we call it an "Abstract." In the bureaucratic world I've seen it called an "Executive Summary." Putting your conclusions first is also called a thesis statement: this is what I intend to demonstrate. I actual prefer it when authors just say that up front, and aren't coy about their conclusions. Some authors can pull off being coy about their conclusions, but it takes a level of craft (ha!) that most aren't able to muster.
- tjr 16y ago
  I find the attitude conveyed by "TL;DR" to be different than that conveyed by "Abstract" or "Summary". While in essence a "TL;DR" section is indeed a summary, using that term suggests to me that someone (in this case the author) questioned the value of reading the entire text.
- mechanical_fish 16y ago
  Academic papers have abstracts because a very large percentage of their readership won't read the main article. (For one thing, the abstract has traditionally been free to read and is indexed by library tools like PubMed, while the whole paper has traditionally cost a small fortune and/or required a subscription and/or required a trip to the library stacks and a very tedious photocopying session. What scholars used to do before the photocopier I have no idea. Maybe they had that tidy handwriting because they got a lot of practice.) (Even in the modern era, abstracts can be useful because scientific papers have a required format that makes them bulky and hard to skim. But, a hint: It's often better to skim the first few paragraphs and the last few paragraphs of a scientific paper than to read the abstract. The first section contains the references to prior work, which help you put the paper in context and give you hints about where to look next; the ending has the more-detailed version of the conclusions, with fun bonus features like attempts to pre-empt the obvious criticisms, speculation about what the work might really mean, previews of coming attractions, and sometimes even hints about where the bodies are buried.) Meanwhile, bureaucratic memos have Executive Summaries because they serve at least two audiences. If you delete the executive summary nobody with any political power will read your memo -- executives read only one sentence at a time -- and your proposal will die alone. If you delete the body you will lose all of the ass-covering detailed analysis that you carefully larded it up with, and six months later someone will accuse you of not thinking your crazy idea through. But essays don't have abstracts. It's like telling a story by first spoiling the ending, or telling a joke by leading with the punchline. If the story promises to be so boring in the telling that it's not worth following along, don't tell the whole story.
  - scott_s 16y ago
    I see no problem with it if the essay's primary purpose is to relay an argument for an idea as opposed to entertain the reader (and author). It's basically a thesis statement.
lyudmil 16y ago
My experience was even worse. After reading the TL;DR I thought the author's point was vacuous. In order to comment on it responsibly I had to read the whole article, knowing that very likely it wasn't going anywhere. I think if you're worried about how long a post is enough to add a TL;DR, you should probably edit it down.

scott_s 16y ago

I don't think that's fair. In the academic world we call it an "Abstract." In the bureaucratic world I've seen it called an "Executive Summary." Putting your conclusions first is also called a thesis statement: this is what I intend to demonstrate. I actual prefer it when authors just say that up front, and aren't coy about their conclusions. Some authors can pull off being coy about their conclusions, but it takes a level of craft (ha!) that most aren't able to muster.

tjr 16y ago
I find the attitude conveyed by "TL;DR" to be different than that conveyed by "Abstract" or "Summary". While in essence a "TL;DR" section is indeed a summary, using that term suggests to me that someone (in this case the author) questioned the value of reading the entire text.
mechanical_fish 16y ago
Academic papers have abstracts because a very large percentage of their readership won't read the main article. (For one thing, the abstract has traditionally been free to read and is indexed by library tools like PubMed, while the whole paper has traditionally cost a small fortune and/or required a subscription and/or required a trip to the library stacks and a very tedious photocopying session. What scholars used to do before the photocopier I have no idea. Maybe they had that tidy handwriting because they got a lot of practice.) (Even in the modern era, abstracts can be useful because scientific papers have a required format that makes them bulky and hard to skim. But, a hint: It's often better to skim the first few paragraphs and the last few paragraphs of a scientific paper than to read the abstract. The first section contains the references to prior work, which help you put the paper in context and give you hints about where to look next; the ending has the more-detailed version of the conclusions, with fun bonus features like attempts to pre-empt the obvious criticisms, speculation about what the work might really mean, previews of coming attractions, and sometimes even hints about where the bodies are buried.) Meanwhile, bureaucratic memos have Executive Summaries because they serve at least two audiences. If you delete the executive summary nobody with any political power will read your memo -- executives read only one sentence at a time -- and your proposal will die alone. If you delete the body you will lose all of the ass-covering detailed analysis that you carefully larded it up with, and six months later someone will accuse you of not thinking your crazy idea through. But essays don't have abstracts. It's like telling a story by first spoiling the ending, or telling a joke by leading with the punchline. If the story promises to be so boring in the telling that it's not worth following along, don't tell the whole story.
- scott_s 16y ago
  I see no problem with it if the essay's primary purpose is to relay an argument for an idea as opposed to entertain the reader (and author). It's basically a thesis statement.

lyudmil 16y ago

My experience was even worse. After reading the TL;DR I thought the author's point was vacuous. In order to comment on it responsibly I had to read the whole article, knowing that very likely it wasn't going anywhere. I think if you're worried about how long a post is enough to add a TL;DR, you should probably edit it down.