I'm copying this from the
other (less serious) thread that I started in Gen. Disc., as it leans towards the sort of thing I am interested in looking at in this thread.
Vraith wrote:Hah.
Since this [the original question] was directly aimed at me, though I am aware other people have their quirks [lurch spring to mind instantly], I will respond with why I do what I do...[not exactly on topic, but still pertinent]
But first, I like the way people post...I think it tells me something [though not everything, or even lot] about the poster.
Even without that, the variety is good.
Notice the lack of indigo. This has a purpose in this post which I will highlight later with red and size.
I've approached this before in bits and pieces and comments, but I will list it now in a not-necessarily-complete and nearly-corporate-not-essay-like-therefore-easy-to-read-piece-of-junk with possibly-other-divergent-inserts/explanations:
--I stole the color idea from Hashi, and basically the same reason. Quick identification.
--I type as my brain thinks. In chunks, asides, and digressions.
My brain is not the only one that works that way. Everyone's does, to some extent.
--I can/could edit those out. But if I don't use it, I lose it.
--that loss is very often double for me. To edit, I must slow down.
Doing that, I lose not only what I edited, but things that might sprout, chain, or explode from them.
--the brackets, ellipses, slashes with multiple word chains, etc. are shortcuts I have ingrained in my fingers for rapid notation, brainstorming, implications to notice or pursue.
--some others ingrained are meant to reflect my inflection as if speaking.
--partly this is and attempt to convey to others. Emphasis MATTERS, even if the rules tell you not to.
--but the rules are for writing. This place, to me, isn't about writing. It's more conversation.
--this is also related to, as I said to Ali recently, the fact that I think best when speaking. I don't mean prepared speech, reciting/repeating/presenting. I mean finding/creating new thoughts, ideas, understandings. Where my mouth is already moving and I have no clue what is about to come out of it.
--so I have habits I've put into my fingers as an attempt [only somewhat successful] to enhance thinking by imitating speaking.
--so while I can conform to grammar/structure...in fact have some expertise in it...
--in addition to all the previous, censoring/slowing/editing/adhering follows a progression for me.
--boring, to annoying to enraging. [ok, enraging is a bit over the top].
--and I'm here for the fun.
----and it WAS fun to put here, even if more "serious" than the thread intended.
[[[I would mention that there's some potential humor tucked away in it....if we didn't all already know, cuz u. told us, that I am never, ever, even slightly funny.]]]
It's an interesting insight into a particular posting style. It shows that the style is more influenced by the poster's engagement with their own thought processes than by the attempt to completely communicate those thoughts to the reader. What this highlights for me is the (fairly obvious) norm, that when we post our highest priority is attempting to communicate our thoughts to other posters. What is less obvious (and maybe even more important) is that to communicate our thoughts clearly we must be completely clear about them ourselves.
My own experience is that the very attempt to articulate them clearly brings the unclear parts into focus, which may end up with me not posting or having to do some thinking or research before eventually posting. That eventual post will have none of the untidiness of the process, but if it did it might look somewhat like one of Vraith's posts.
u.
]
