The so-called "monster posts"

As I understand it, the OP's are suppose to be short, to the point, and clear enough to kick off a fruitful discussion. On more than several occasions, I have seen PNTs rejected on the account that they were too long or topic too spread out.What puzzles me is there is one particular member here that is notorious for introducing monstrous posts. Heck, some of these posts can go as long as 10 pages long. Yet, I continue to see these PNTs by this same person get promoted while PNTs of other users that are much shorter get rejected on the account that they are "too long".What gives?

Some OPs are well written and well focussed, even though long.Generally, I would prefer shorter OPs, but I am willing to accept suitably focussed and well written OPs even if a bit long.The OPs that are rejected often include long cut-and-pastes from other web sides, are too broad, or are poorly written to the point of being confusing. The request for shortening is partly a recommendation to help the proposer better focus the topic.The most important criterion is that the OP is likely to stimulate a good, well focussed debate on an appropriate topic. The long PNTs that you are referring to are often based on material in other threads where they were off-topic. That the new thread will help to keep another thread from wandering too far off topic, is sometimes a consideration.That's my take on your question.

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Re: Basic Fundamentals of THE Debate (RAZD and MurkyWaters only)Bottom line: I think the message 1 is way too long and probably too diverse (not that well focussed). RAZD seemed to want to make all his points in the one message, rather than having a discussion. I think, no way is that OP likely to stimulate a good discussion. To me, at least, it stimulates mind numbness.AdminnemooseusEdited by Adminnemooseus, : Changed one "to" to "too" (but not two "ones" to "wants").

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Some OPs are designed solely to be used as a reference point. RAZD for instance makes some monster 'OPs', but their content is full and they are used as references to discuss PRaTTs. They are usually quite focussed and the intent is clear.Other times a much shorter OP might be unfocussed or rambling etc which, if shortened might make for an interesting topic...hence 'too long'.

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we get enough monster posts later in the discussion. it's better to start simple, with a well thought-out argument, and reserve the lengthy posts for in-depth responses.

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