# Enormous OPs **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [July 22, 2003, 10:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/enormous-ops/190112 "2003-07-22T10:47:50Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Tarantula](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/e274bd/32.png) [@Tarantula](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tarantula)\ **Post date:** [July 22, 2003, 10:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/enormous-ops/190112/1 "2003-07-22T10:47:50Z")
People that write enormous OPs suck. If you’ve got a point to make, make it. If it is valid or interesting I’ll figure it out, without a thousand fucking examples. And dialogues. Jesus H. That’s all. ---
**Author:** ![VarlosZ](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/d78d45/32.png) [@VarlosZ](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/VarlosZ)\ **Post date:** [July 22, 2003, 11:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/enormous-ops/190112/2 "2003-07-22T11:10:47Z")
People with short attention spans suck. If you don’t have the wherewithal to read a few paragraphs at a time, then wha ---
**Author:** ![Tarantula](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/e274bd/32.png) [@Tarantula](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tarantula)\ **Post date:** [July 22, 2003, 11:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/enormous-ops/190112/3 "2003-07-22T11:21:16Z")
People with short… Yeah well, you’re one too… ---
**Author:** ![Aslan\_of\_Narnia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ecd19e/32.png) [@Aslan\_of\_Narnia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Aslan_of_Narnia)\ **Post date:** [July 22, 2003, 11:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/enormous-ops/190112/4 "2003-07-22T11:24:47Z")
Do you actually read them? A lot of them require expansion, or they just aren’t as interesting. Often times a long OP is good, because it expands on the question/debate. Which would you rather read: Op1: Hey, what is your favourite talk show host? I think Ricki Lake rocks! Or Op2: Hey, what is your favourite talk show host? I think Ricki Lake rocks because her interviews always contain originial questions and interesting insights. Also, most of her guests are absoulute freakshows, which is pretty much always good. Imagine if every thread was like this: “Aerosmith rocks!” “Aerosmith doesn’t rock!” “Aerosmith DOES rock!” Some threads do read like that, and are usually boring or uninteresting. Some debates also boil down to the above “Suck” example. Real insight, if only a little, does help. Longer OPs tend to have more insight. ---
**Author:** ![dantheman](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dantheman/32/9421_2.png) [@dantheman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dantheman)\ **Post date:** [July 22, 2003, 11:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/enormous-ops/190112/5 "2003-07-22T11:38:51Z")
The only long OP I dislike is the one that rambles incoherently. It’s good to be concise, but if you need more words to make your point clearer, please do so. I’m reminded of the papers we sometimes get as submissions where I work. An author will have a 30-page paper, but the reviewers may feel that a couple of points need to be expanded upon, and the author then lengthens the paper to clarify those points. Brevity is good, IOW, but if it’s not descriptive or explanatory enough, it’s not very useful. ---
**Author:** ![Fin\_man](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/51bf81/32.png) [@Fin\_man](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fin_man)\ **Post date:** [July 22, 2003, 11:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/enormous-ops/190112/6 "2003-07-22T11:40:49Z")
Paraphrasing a grad school professor… An OP should be like a women’s skirt, long enough to cover the subject but short enough to keep it interesting. ---
**Author:** ![Wolfian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/7ea924/32.png) [@Wolfian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wolfian)\ **Post date:** [July 22, 2003, 11:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/enormous-ops/190112/7 "2003-07-22T11:42:33Z")
I prefer when the author of a long OP marks it “long” in his post title. Also paragraphs help. There is one OP floating around the Pit that is a stream of conciousness chunk that would make James Joyce scream for a period. ---
**Author:** ![Tarantula](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/e274bd/32.png) [@Tarantula](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tarantula)\ **Post date:** [July 22, 2003, 12:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/enormous-ops/190112/8 "2003-07-22T12:18:35Z")
I agree with all the above points. But Christ almighty, some of the brain-dump type posts are just shite… Anyhoo, that’s my lame-ass rant overwith… (until I get back onto my pet subject of ninjas… you can expect that one on Friday afternoon…) ---
**Author:** ![amoeba](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/bc8723/32.png) [@amoeba](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/amoeba)\ **Post date:** [July 22, 2003, 12:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/enormous-ops/190112/9 "2003-07-22T12:51:09Z")
as T said. give T da basicks, and T will flesh it out, or probe further. personally, I don’t have all day to read enormous posts. I usually try to look in terms of costs and benefits. The fact is, a long post isn’t going to benefit me. Although then I ask myself, what is worthwhile, and I know the answer is not spending the rest of my days reading enormous OP’s. ---
**Author:** ![SkipMagic](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/skipmagic/32/20706_2.png) [@SkipMagic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SkipMagic)\ **Post date:** [July 22, 2003, 1:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/enormous-ops/190112/10 "2003-07-22T13:08:27Z")
I had an enormous OP last night, but after all the excitement died down, all I was left with was a summary. ---
**Author:** ![ultrafilter](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/3d9bf3/32.png) [@ultrafilter](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ultrafilter)\ **Post date:** [July 22, 2003, 3:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/enormous-ops/190112/11 "2003-07-22T15:56:59Z")
I don’t mind a long OP so much if it’s broken into short paragraphs. That makes it a lot easier to read. ---
**Author:** ![Mtgman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/b5a626/32.png) [@Mtgman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mtgman)\ **Post date:** [July 22, 2003, 5:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/enormous-ops/190112/12 "2003-07-22T17:06:41Z")
It’s me isn’t it? I knew it was too long. I should have realized you couldn’t take it all at once. I should have gone slower, drawn it out a bit. Just a little at a time. I’m sorry I hurt you. Enjoy, Steven ---
**Author:** ![Liberal](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/848f3c/32.png) [@Liberal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Liberal)\ **Post date:** [July 22, 2003, 5:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/enormous-ops/190112/13 "2003-07-22T17:29:24Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by amoeba \* > \*\*as T said. give T da basicks, and T will flesh it out, or probe further. > > personally, I don’t have all day to read enormous posts. I usually try to look in terms of costs and benefits. The fact is, a long post isn’t going to benefit me. Although then I ask myself, what is worthwhile, and I know the answer is not spending the rest of my days reading enormous OP’s. \*\* Damnation. I don’t know when I’ve seen a more bizarre line of reasoning. No matter what the content — and any other qualification notwithstanding as well — long posts just flat-out aren’t going to benefit you. Well, in what way, exactly, do _short_ posts benefit you? What sort of “benefit” are you seeking? Are you in a read-the-most-posts contest or something? ---
**Author:** ![dantheman](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dantheman/32/9421_2.png) [@dantheman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dantheman)\ **Post date:** [July 22, 2003, 5:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/enormous-ops/190112/14 "2003-07-22T17:39:31Z")
Short posts benefit me in that if they’re dumb and meaningless, they’re over right quick. 🙂 Of course, if I see a long post that’s dumb and meaningless in the first few lines, I won’t read the whole thing anyway. So in that sense, it’s about the same as the short post. Humm. I just nullified myself. ---
**Author:** ![amoeba](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/bc8723/32.png) [@amoeba](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/amoeba)\ **Post date:** [July 22, 2003, 5:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/enormous-ops/190112/15 "2003-07-22T17:40:39Z")
you’re right. I hadn’t fleshed it out enough. consequently, all I came up with was a strawman. (total crap. disregard) cheers Libertarian. ---
**Author:** ![Liberal](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/848f3c/32.png) [@Liberal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Liberal)\ **Post date:** [July 22, 2003, 6:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/enormous-ops/190112/16 "2003-07-22T18:56:27Z")
Quite all right. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Jaelen](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/a3d4f5/32.png) [@Jaelen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jaelen)\ **Post date:** [July 22, 2003, 8:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/enormous-ops/190112/17 "2003-07-22T20:41:12Z")
Sometimes, I compare my small OP with another’s enormous OP and get OP envy. ---
**Author:** ![joyfool](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/df788c/32.png) [@joyfool](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/joyfool)\ **Post date:** [July 22, 2003, 10:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/enormous-ops/190112/18 "2003-07-22T22:30:00Z")
And Aerosmith _does_ indeed ROCK!!! 😃 ::: waves at **Aslan** ::: ---
**Author:** ![Smeghead](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/f1d935/32.png) [@Smeghead](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Smeghead)\ **Post date:** [July 22, 2003, 11:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/enormous-ops/190112/19 "2003-07-22T23:50:32Z")
One word that will conclusively disprove the OP: Nostradamus. If you’re confused, search for his Pit threads. ---
**Author:** ![Lobsang](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lobsang/32/4067_2.png) [@Lobsang](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lobsang)\ **Post date:** [July 22, 2003, 11:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/enormous-ops/190112/20 "2003-07-22T23:54:02Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by VarlosZ \* > \*\*People with short attention spans suck. > \*\* It’s TV’s fault. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/enormous-ops/190112.md?page=2)