and that more than 143 characters (or whatever it is) are required to flesh out an idea here.

Easiest refutable point in my time here.



K&R

Not everyone is watching MSNBC.

I KNOW that's right

Posters can use as many of them as they like. They can also copy and paste blocks of text from their sources, provide links and so on. I realize that posting from a smart phone is difficult at times, but something to help us understand why the post was made is important.

DU is not Twitter. DU is not Facebook.

More and more will be using them. I just recently got my very first smart phone, an iphone! yay! Its awesome this new world of portable information.
But when I was at my studio I thought of catching up on DU and wanted to post and soon realized that its way different than sitting comfortably at home in front of a full keyboard and monitor. Not having tabs to work with is only one disadvantage. There is no quick way to go back and forth copying, pasting both segments and links, and then mastering this tiny keyboard. I'm sure I'll get better. But yeah, even if its not easy, a link at least should be provided.

(this is from my home computer btw)

I rarely make an original post when using it. It's almost impossible to copy and paste and typing long messages is a PITA with the on-screen keyboard and absolutely awful autocorrect feature.

So, I stick mainly to short replies to existing posts. There's a sort of responsibility when posting original posts that they have some actual content, I think. If I can't provide that, I don't post new threads.

Maybe that's a clue. I don't know.

Click the + in the right hand side of the toolbar; it opens a new tab. I'm embarrassed to say how many tabs I have open at any moment.

I also use a stylus to type. I have arthritis and it's just easier.

But I couldn't find any +. I know there is a double square symbol that works like History and I can pull up previous pages. That's what I do. I'll get the hang of it eventually.

I found out that the + is not there if I use it in the vertical position which is how I was using it. When its horizontal the + is there. Thanks.

cheers

Or a really crude butterfly

name of the country and if in the U.S., the name of the state.
Nothing worse than reading that there was a huge "explosion at Gables" with no more info.

Many of us won't click on blind links and videos based on an enthusiastic thread title.

Sorry, won't do it without more context.

That was the whole op.

smugly act like I'm in the know, and you're not?

And, there was context as well! Nicely done, Bean!

I guess I'm one of the people you're referring to. Sorry I have a limited amount of time. I read a lot of interesting things on here. Some long, others short. I think it's a great place to get up to date information before it makes the news. I didn't know there were any rules or etiquette. I don't have Twitter or Facebook. I didn't know that there was any snobbery against those forums.

I think they are referring to people who start threads with an o.p. that has no context. You see a thread title like "OMG! Joy is awesome!" and you open the thread and there is no content describing the awesome thing Joy said.

If someone posts an o.p. that says "Joy is awesome!" and then you open the thread and there is a clip from her show or a detailed post about the awesome thing she said you might quickly reply, "Yes, she is awesome!" No one's complaining about that.

Anyway, welcome to DU. I mean that sincerely. We're glad you are here and please don't hesitate to participate.

And it's hardly unique to this site.

I would like to welcome you to DU and hope your experience is enriching.

What I was pointing out there has been a rash of cryptic or uninformitive post and they did not start with one specific member. I am just hoping to remind others that not everyone is tuned in to the same thing at the same time. We all use this site because it is a great source for information. To keep it that way, we all need to be concise and complete in what we share.

Hope to see more from you going forward!

I also think for a forum like this to succeed and to help spread a safe and progressive forum it is important not to alienate newcomers.

Glad you're here!

Now to the subject at hand, far from trying to alienate you, what this OP is doing is helping you understand how to interact with other members of the board to maximize the impact of your message. There is a lot of information available on DU and for many people their time is limited so they try to maximize their intake based on their interests. A blind link with sparse info regarding it can cause people to pass it up to save time following information they may not really want or need. Additionally, and I'm not insinuating this is your case, there are people who post links either unknowingly or with ulterior motives to sites that may contain malicious software or other unwanted content. So having a bit of content and reference helps other members determine if the link is worth the time and risk.

Hope that helps you understand the spirit of the OP, and that it helps make your own experience here on DU more enjoyable and informative.

And I think to myself, "No. You are the only one who watched that program."

We need an SMH emoticon.

voices carry.

You can't expect everyone to be up on whatever is is you're calling everybody this week. Please use actual names when referring to people, it just makes it a lot easier to understand.

Thank you for saying this!

one thing that really irritates me is when just a link to a video is posted with no explanation....there are deaf and hard-of-hearing people who can learn NOTHING w/o an explanation. I really do not give a damn if you have "limited time." If you can not add an explanation then do not post anything....

I read DU mostly while at work and my company blocks at lot of sources with video. So when there is only a video link, Im screwed. I rarely read DU from home, after spending 9 hours on a pc at work, the last thing I want to do at home is spend more time staring at a computer screen.

I hate links to sites that require subscriptions. I can view 10 New York Times articles a month without paying for it. Give me a couple of sentences so that I can decide if I should use my one of ten on the poster's story.

So, original posters, add a few sentences to your link so we can tell if it's worth viewing!

Video tends to be (not always) very low information content. People who get their info exclusively from video are known as low information voters.

If you write out everything said from a half-hour (22 minutes) "news" broadcast it fills only a single newspaper page. You can read that in much less time, especially if you skim over stuff you already read about or is low interest.

And what of the images in video? Most often it is talking heads who look very much like other talking heads. Other times it is stock file footage or a video of a building front that you saw or can see in seconds in a still photo.

Some of us do not even have TVs.

in your part of the world, most of it is pretty searchable..

Some are pretty cryptic.

To be fair, this has been going on on DU for years. Many's the time when I open a thread and find nothing but a link and sometimes not even that!

Just thought it needed to be said.

I have decided to put these people on ignore.

Especially the ones with very low post counts who are trying to get past the MIRT threshold of 100 posts.

This is annoying.

It's like choosing which lane in the supermarket -- I always seem to choose the slow one. And when I post videos I always check if it's been posted before and find it strange that someone would post the exact same thing later. Why not check?

There's plenty of room to add more descriptive info.

I mostly skip over them now. Admittedly, I like informative thread titles.