# Longest post on these boards? **URL:** \ **Category:** About This Message Board\ **Created:** [February 6, 2003, 7:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/longest-post-on-these-boards/153170 "2003-02-06T07:54:31Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 12\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![I\_can\_t\_believe\_that\_s\_butter](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/8edcca/32.png) [@I\_can\_t\_believe\_that\_s\_butter](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/I_can_t_believe_that_s_butter)\ **Post date:** [February 6, 2003, 7:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/longest-post-on-these-boards/153170/1 "2003-02-06T07:54:31Z")
[http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?s=&postid=2947972#post2947972](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?s=&postid=2947972#post2947972) Above is the longest post I have ever seen on these boards (quite appropriate too). I was wondering if there exists an even longer one, out of curiousity. ---
**Author:** ![Troy\_McClure\_SF](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/troy_mcclure_sf/32/4150_2.png) [@Troy\_McClure\_SF](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Troy_McClure_SF)\ **Post date:** [February 6, 2003, 8:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/longest-post-on-these-boards/153170/2 "2003-02-06T08:16:42Z")
Heh heh… Lib’s got a long post. I’m sure there’ve been ones with more content, but scroll-wise, that could be it. I remember someone mentioning how they were proud when they get a “Post too long” error when trying to post, so there seems to be an upper limit. ---
**Author:** ![grimpixie](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/ecb155/32.png) [@grimpixie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/grimpixie)\ **Post date:** [February 6, 2003, 8:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/longest-post-on-these-boards/153170/3 "2003-02-06T08:52:23Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Troy McClure SF \* > \*\*I remember someone mentioning how they were proud when they get a “Post too long” error when trying to post, so there seems to be an upper limit. \*\* The maximum permitted length for a post is 20,000 characters - there is a link called “check message length” at the bottom of a reply box (not the quick reply at the bottom of the thread, but the one you get if you hit the “Post Reply” button) that will count the number of characters for you and tells you of the maximum. **Lib’s** post was only 6760 characters, so I am sure there must be longer ones - the search is on… 😃 Grim ---
**Author:** ![zut](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/zut/32/2875_2.png) [@zut](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/zut)\ **Post date:** [February 6, 2003, 4:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/longest-post-on-these-boards/153170/4 "2003-02-06T16:42:27Z")
The OP in the [GQ sticky thread](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?s=&threadid=149223) is 11785 characters long. Maybe that violates the spirit of **Joe K** ’s question, though, because a lot of that length is in the URL coding. I happened to think of this post because I’ve got an updated version of the same ref list that runs to ~20200 characters ---
**Author:** ![zev\_steinhardt](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/97f17d/32.png) [@zev\_steinhardt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/zev_steinhardt)\ **Post date:** [February 6, 2003, 5:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/longest-post-on-these-boards/153170/5 "2003-02-06T17:06:52Z")
As a former EMT, I very well recall **Cartooniverse** ’s [Everything’s Changed](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?threadid=87248) post (about his experiences as an EMT in downtown Manhattan Sept. 11-13, 2001), which, with spaces, has 36648 characters (and no URL coding). Zev Steinhardt ---
**Author:** ![I\_can\_t\_believe\_that\_s\_butter](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/8edcca/32.png) [@I\_can\_t\_believe\_that\_s\_butter](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/I_can_t_believe_that_s_butter)\ **Post date:** [February 6, 2003, 6:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/longest-post-on-these-boards/153170/6 "2003-02-06T18:02:40Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by zut \* > \*\*The OP in the [GQ sticky thread](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?s=&threadid=149223) is 11785 characters long. Maybe that violates the spirit of **Joe K** ’s question, though, because a lot of that length is in the URL coding. I happened to think of this post because I’ve got an updated version of the same ref list that runs to ~20200 characters \*\* Nah, that’s fine, I should have been more explicit in saying that I meant the length in scroll length. I kept scrolling **Lib** ’s post and scrolling and _scrolling_…😃 ---
**Author:** ![Moe](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/moe/32/2972_2.png) [@Moe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Moe)\ **Post date:** [February 6, 2003, 7:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/longest-post-on-these-boards/153170/7 "2003-02-06T19:34:52Z")
By far the longest one I remember scrollwise was back with the old software. The administration had experimented with making available the “members” feature which gives posting stats on everyone. Because of the crippling demand it put on the hamsters (who nearly died of heart attacks) it only lasted a day or 2, but one poster, I forget who, was able to copy and paste the whole list into a thread before the feature was disabled. Find that thread, and you have your OP answer. ---
**Author:** ![zev\_steinhardt](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/97f17d/32.png) [@zev\_steinhardt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/zev_steinhardt)\ **Post date:** [February 6, 2003, 7:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/longest-post-on-these-boards/153170/8 "2003-02-06T19:41:33Z")
There was [this](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?threadid=22048) thread where I asked for a list of all the legal Scrabble words that ended with A and **Satan** responded by posting all 2880 words (in a truly long post, list since snipped by **manhattan**.) And, since I was still a young and new Doper back then, and didn’t know any better, I responded by hitting the quote button and _copying the entire list_. Zev Steinhardt ---
**Author:** ![I\_can\_t\_believe\_that\_s\_butter](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/8edcca/32.png) [@I\_can\_t\_believe\_that\_s\_butter](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/I_can_t_believe_that_s_butter)\ **Post date:** [February 6, 2003, 8:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/longest-post-on-these-boards/153170/9 "2003-02-06T20:15:17Z")
You know, I thought briefly about doing that with **Lib** ’s post for giggles, but immediately thought against it. That would be jerklike. Heh, I just read that Scrabble thread, and **Wally** said that he misspelled one of the words. 😛 Thanks, all, for the answers so far. ---
**Author:** ![Moe](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/moe/32/2972_2.png) [@Moe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Moe)\ **Post date:** [February 7, 2003, 3:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/longest-post-on-these-boards/153170/10 "2003-02-07T03:15:13Z")
well, I tried to find it but alas could not. Perhaps I shall try again tomorrow. ---
**Author:** ![Moe](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/moe/32/2972_2.png) [@Moe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Moe)\ **Post date:** [February 8, 2003, 3:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/longest-post-on-these-boards/153170/11 "2003-02-08T03:04:19Z")
Okay, here’s the winner and runner up (not sure which is which though): [http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?s=&threadid=78920](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?s=&threadid=78920) [http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?s=&threadid=29678](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?s=&threadid=29678) ---
**Author:** ![I\_can\_t\_believe\_that\_s\_butter](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/8edcca/32.png) [@I\_can\_t\_believe\_that\_s\_butter](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/I_can_t_believe_that_s_butter)\ **Post date:** [February 8, 2003, 5:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/longest-post-on-these-boards/153170/12 "2003-02-08T05:42:54Z")
Thank you! 🙂