4 ms·

A TLDR already has a name, a "summary". Not only a mere extra 4 characters, it's not an acronym for a phrase but a word that says what it is. Amazing, really.

by geuis 14y ago

A TLDR already has a name, a "summary". Not only a mere extra 4 characters, it's not an acronym for a phrase but a word that says what it is. Amazing, really. The biggest problem I find with TLDR is that people that use it do so incorrectly. You don't put your summary at the end of the article. You put it at the beginning. I also find many writers who use TLDR explicitly are rather poor writers. Lots of spelling and grammar mistakes, and the inability to make concise, cogent points. And not knowing what cogent means.

pavel_lishin 14y ago
> You don't put your summary at the end of the article. You put it at the beginning. On the other hand, if it's a personal story, I would rather have it at the bottom, so as to avoid tiny spoilers.
gliese1337 14y ago
That biggest problem you find is your own creation- it is a result of assuming that "TLDR" is the same as "summary". While it may have the same literal meaning, clearly it is not the same as "summary", because you find it to be used differently. This is because it has a different purpose in discourse. Most synonym pairs are like this; you think they have the same meaning, until you do a corpus analysis and discover that they're used totally differently in practice. Truly perfect synonyms are extremely rare.
- Pitarou 14y ago
  I've never seen a TL;DR that wouldn't serve the reader better if it were put at the beginning, rather than the end.
  - repsilat 14y ago
    Often when I begin writing a comment the ideas I want to get across are only half-formed. Once I've written out a bunch of text exploring an issue I often hit themes and conclusions that weren't clear to me before I started typing. It seems bad to admit this, but I'm either too lazy to go back and rewrite or I just don't care enough about the audience to give them a well-formed read. Occasionally I think I'd feel "dirty" going back and putting the conclusion at the top, as though I'd be pretending that the insight came to me fully-formed, that my stream of consciousness just happened to dispense a perfect micro-essay on the topic. That said, many of the best comments I read are "well-composed", and the posts made without relfection or consideration probably contribute to the decline in tone. TL;DR: I'm conflicted.
Dylan16807 14y ago
Summaries usually have more detail. A TLDR is closer to a thesis statement, but somewhat more flexible/informal.
- kamjam 14y ago
  Let's face it, if you add a TLDR, your summaries probably don't need to have that much detail, I doubt you are targeting the kind of audience that needs that much detail (or patience)

by geuis 14y ago

pavel_lishin 14y ago

> You don't put your summary at the end of the article. You put it at the beginning. On the other hand, if it's a personal story, I would rather have it at the bottom, so as to avoid tiny spoilers.

gliese1337 14y ago

That biggest problem you find is your own creation- it is a result of assuming that "TLDR" is the same as "summary". While it may have the same literal meaning, clearly it is not the same as "summary", because you find it to be used differently. This is because it has a different purpose in discourse. Most synonym pairs are like this; you think they have the same meaning, until you do a corpus analysis and discover that they're used totally differently in practice. Truly perfect synonyms are extremely rare.

Pitarou 14y ago
I've never seen a TL;DR that wouldn't serve the reader better if it were put at the beginning, rather than the end.
- repsilat 14y ago
  Often when I begin writing a comment the ideas I want to get across are only half-formed. Once I've written out a bunch of text exploring an issue I often hit themes and conclusions that weren't clear to me before I started typing. It seems bad to admit this, but I'm either too lazy to go back and rewrite or I just don't care enough about the audience to give them a well-formed read. Occasionally I think I'd feel "dirty" going back and putting the conclusion at the top, as though I'd be pretending that the insight came to me fully-formed, that my stream of consciousness just happened to dispense a perfect micro-essay on the topic. That said, many of the best comments I read are "well-composed", and the posts made without relfection or consideration probably contribute to the decline in tone. TL;DR: I'm conflicted.

Dylan16807 14y ago

Summaries usually have more detail. A TLDR is closer to a thesis statement, but somewhat more flexible/informal.

kamjam 14y ago
Let's face it, if you add a TLDR, your summaries probably don't need to have that much detail, I doubt you are targeting the kind of audience that needs that much detail (or patience)