4 ms·
TL;DR's should always go on top
- frooxie 14y agoNot if it's a story. I don't want the ending spoiled.
- fwr 14y agoExactly. You don't put an abstract on prose. I believe in tl;drs, but that shouldn't be a rule.
- ezequiel-garzon 14y ago"Abstract"! That's it! I'm not a native English speaker, and I was wondering what already existing (and more positive) term could replace "TL;DR". I had simply thought of "summary", but "abstract" seems more accurate. I guess people avoid it not to look pretentious... though the semicolon in "TL;DR" could also be perceived as such.
- namenotrequired 14y agoWhat DO you put an abstract on then? 'prose' is everything written but poetry.
- thwarted 14y agoI'll stop putting my TL;DRs wherever I want to when everyone else stops top posting.
- ColinWright 14y agoIf there's going to be a tl;tr then it certainly should not go at the top, it should be an integral part of the construction of the article. Good newspaper articles were always written to be iteratively deepening - it didn't matter where/when you stopped, everything that followed was more details or enhancements of what you've already read.
- beatgammit 14y agoTL;DR Use good journalism style. If I understand correctly, you're saying that if there is one, then there shouldn't be one? I agree that the article should be iteratively deepening, but that doesn't change where a TL;DR section should go if there is one. If there is one, put it at the top; if not, give me all the information I need at the top and explain later. A TL;DR is an alternative to reading the article. If I have time, I'll read the article (if the title sounds interesting). If I don't, I'll read the TL;DR, bookmark it and refer later if I think I might need more info later. It's like the title 2.0, not a different name for an abstract.
- mjn 14y agoIn more conventional terms, this seems to be an argument about whether to start with a summary Abstract, or to conclude with a summary Conclusion. There are reasons for each, and sometimes you might do both. The ones at the end, as I usually read them, are intended to be recaps summarizing the main takeaway, not literally intended as a substitute for having read the post.
- tluyben2 14y agoI like a 'TL;DR' button which scrolls with the page on the left side and whenever I think 'PLEASE KILL ME THIS IS BORING' I can press it and it jumps to the TL;DR part.
- kristiandupont 14y agoI love how the internet world thinks it invented the concept of summaries by coming up with a ridiculous abbreviation.
- methochris 14y agoSummaries should go at the bottom and recap the points u made. TL;DR's, by definition, are there because the post is overwhelmingly long but I still want to hear the point, so it would make sense for them to go in a quick access location. I like the TL;dr button idea that at any time takes me there, but that seems infeasable for most of the blogging population to implement.
- namenotrequired 14y agoThat's how it should always work.
- winsmart 14y agoTL;DR is for crappy writers and/or long-winded comments, which is why you see it a lot. It's merciful to the reader to put it up top. Screw the conventional construction of an article. TL;DR isn't a spoiler either, because most people don't write comments in a coherent linear way like a good story. It takes most people three paragraphs just to get to the meat of what they're trying to say. If you feel you need to use a TL;DR, you are a crappy writer and/or have written an unnecessarily long-winded comment. Put the TL;DR up top. Either that, or rewrite your comment.