# Plea for clarity in posting **URL:** \ **Category:** About This Message Board\ **Created:** [February 19, 2017, 4:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/plea-for-clarity-in-posting/780224 "2017-02-19T16:14:36Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 15\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [February 20, 2017, 12:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/plea-for-clarity-in-posting/780224/21 "2017-02-20T00:39:34Z")
No, and neither does the OP of that thread. Which is why she’s asking for other opinions. ---
**Author:** ![John\_Mace](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/john_mace/32/185_2.png) [@John\_Mace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_Mace)\ **Post date:** [February 20, 2017, 12:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/plea-for-clarity-in-posting/780224/22 "2017-02-20T00:48:17Z")
No, you didn’t mention that. But I doubt it’s true anyway. Still, one wonders: Who’s on first? ---
**Author:** ![cochrane](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cochrane/32/10441_2.png) [@cochrane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cochrane)\ **Post date:** [February 20, 2017, 12:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/plea-for-clarity-in-posting/780224/23 "2017-02-20T00:51:35Z")
I don’t know. ---
**Author:** ![wolfpup](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wolfpup/32/10618_2.png) [@wolfpup](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wolfpup)\ **Post date:** [February 20, 2017, 1:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/plea-for-clarity-in-posting/780224/24 "2017-02-20T01:01:02Z")
> [@D\_Anconia](#): > > A quote from the article. Hmm. Do you consider the opinion of Juliet Eilperin of WAPO to somehow be authoritative? Now you’ve gone off the rails on a completely different topic. I agree with the others: the post you cited was not at all the way you had characterized it. It was a perfectly reasonable post with a link, a quote, a comment, and a question, perfectly in keeping with what the OP is asking others to do. With which I also agree. In fact, on the subject of YouTube, I find video links so annoying that I rarely follow them. If the poster doesn’t explain their content and their point, I will likely not even bother figuring out what the post is about and will just move on. ---
**Author:** ![D\_Anconia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/67e7ee/32.png) [@D\_Anconia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/D_Anconia)\ **Post date:** [February 20, 2017, 1:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/plea-for-clarity-in-posting/780224/25 "2017-02-20T01:01:18Z")
This is happening more , for some reason. Someone will ask for a cite, and the response is a link to an article that is clearly labeled “Editorial” or “Opinion”. IMO, that shouldn’t cut it in GD/Elections. ---
**Author:** ![Dewey\_Finn](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dewey_finn/32/4222_2.png) [@Dewey\_Finn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dewey_Finn)\ **Post date:** [February 20, 2017, 1:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/plea-for-clarity-in-posting/780224/26 "2017-02-20T01:04:44Z")
But what you linked to is not an example of “someone asking for a cite, and the response is a link to an article that is clearly labeled ‘Editorial’ or ‘Opinion’”. **ThelmaLou** linked to that article to solicit opinions, not as a cite provided in response to someone else. ---
**Author:** ![D\_Anconia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/67e7ee/32.png) [@D\_Anconia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/D_Anconia)\ **Post date:** [February 20, 2017, 1:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/plea-for-clarity-in-posting/780224/27 "2017-02-20T01:14:57Z")
:shrug: IMO, a link, a quote of few words, and “what do you’ll think” is not the basis of a debate. Apparently, my position is in the minority here. I’ll drop it, then. ---
**Author:** ![Trinopus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/2bfe46/32.png) [@Trinopus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Trinopus)\ **Post date:** [February 20, 2017, 1:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/plea-for-clarity-in-posting/780224/28 "2017-02-20T01:18:40Z")
> [@D\_Anconia](#): > > :shrug: > > IMO, a link, a quote of few words, and “what do you’ll think” is not the basis of a debate. > > Apparently, my position is in the minority here. I’ll drop it, then. FWIW, I agree with this. It doesn’t happen very often, but people will sometimes (in GD) throw out something without really taking a stance on it. It’s like an invitation to someone else to open the ball with a pro or con position, but their own OP doesn’t do that. I don’t find it all that offensive, but it is a poor opening for a debate. ---
**Author:** ![wolfpup](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wolfpup/32/10618_2.png) [@wolfpup](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wolfpup)\ **Post date:** [February 20, 2017, 1:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/plea-for-clarity-in-posting/780224/29 "2017-02-20T01:28:49Z")
> [@Trinopus](#): > > FWIW, I agree with this. It doesn’t happen very often, but people will sometimes (in GD) throw out something without really taking a stance on it. It’s like an invitation to someone else to open the ball with a pro or con position, but their own OP doesn’t do that. > > I don’t find it all that offensive, but it is a poor opening for a debate. Have you never been in the position of finding some controversial event interesting and worthy of further discussion without establishing a firm stance on it yourself? Those would seem to be the most honest kinds of debate propositions of all. Should having a firm position already established really be a prerequisite for raising a debate topic? The things that really annoy me are posts that are content-free, and posts in GD (like the one recently mentioned in the Pit) that aren’t debates at all but just thinly veiled rants\*. - ETA: Kudos to **Bone** for taking care of that one! 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![John\_Mace](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/john_mace/32/185_2.png) [@John\_Mace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_Mace)\ **Post date:** [February 20, 2017, 1:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/plea-for-clarity-in-posting/780224/30 "2017-02-20T01:35:21Z")
> [@D\_Anconia](#): > > :shrug: > > IMO, a link, a quote of few words, and “what do you’ll think” is not the basis of a debate. > > Apparently, my position is in the minority here. I’ll drop it, then. But that’s a different issue than what you originally raised. Personally, I agree that GD thread OPs should be more robust than that, but you mischaracterized it originally to make sit seem worse than it was. Perhaps don’t do that in the future and you’ll get more people to agree with you. ---
**Author:** ![BigT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bigt/32/12044_2.png) [@BigT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BigT)\ **Post date:** [February 20, 2017, 11:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/plea-for-clarity-in-posting/780224/31 "2017-02-20T11:37:56Z")
I agree in general. However, I0 think there are some rare times in less serious forums (like, say, Cafe Society), where you want the link to be a bit of a surprise. Though I guess you could just post something in spoiler tags to explain it. ---
**Author:** ![kayaker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kayaker/32/441_2.png) [@kayaker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kayaker)\ **Post date:** [February 20, 2017, 11:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/plea-for-clarity-in-posting/780224/32 "2017-02-20T11:42:38Z")
> [@kayaker](#): > > PM sent, return receipt requested. > [@ThelmaLou](#): > > To me? Nope. 😕 I never said it was to you. ---
**Author:** ![Mangetout](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mangetout/32/19_2.png) [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)\ **Post date:** [February 20, 2017, 1:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/plea-for-clarity-in-posting/780224/33 "2017-02-20T13:38:14Z")
> [@BigT](#): > > I agree in general. However, I0 think there are some rare times in less serious forums (like, say, Cafe Society), where you want the link to be a bit of a surprise. Exactly. It’s just not going to work if we have to say “The YouTube video below is a poor-quality copy of a VHS recording of Rick Astley singing his hit song _Never Gonna Give You Up_” ---
**Author:** ![ThelmaLou](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thelmalou/32/390_2.png) [@ThelmaLou](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ThelmaLou)\ **Post date:** [February 20, 2017, 1:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/plea-for-clarity-in-posting/780224/34 "2017-02-20T13:39:38Z")
> [@BigT](#): > > I agree in general. However, I0 think there are some rare times in less serious forums (like, say, Cafe Society), where you want the link to be a bit of a surprise. > > Though I guess you could just post something in spoiler tags to explain it. I completely agree. I’m talking about heated discussions where the posts are piling up like a logjam in a thunderstorm, people are posting in replies to each other simultaneously, and it’s happening so fast that one can’t follow the conversation. It’s just a request for awareness. > [@kayaker](#): > > 😕 I never said it was to you. It was a reasonable assumption on my part, given your post. There is a tendency on this board (and in life) for people to take things to an extreme: _Oh, so I guess that means that ALL \ NEVER does \??_. None of the sarcastic replies to my simple request surprises me in the least, and in fact, I thank you all for being [del]predictable[/del] true to yourselves (you know who you are). ---
**Author:** ![kopek](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kopek/32/337_2.png) [@kopek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kopek)\ **Post date:** [February 20, 2017, 2:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/plea-for-clarity-in-posting/780224/35 "2017-02-20T14:50:43Z")
> [@ThelmaLou](#): > > [SIZE=“1”] > > \*Replying specifically to someone and assuming it will be clear to whom. It might not be. While you’re composing your reply, one or more posts can intervene and your reply just hangs there in space. Can you either quote all or part of the post you are replying to (using quote box and shortening the post with ellipses, if necessary) or using _“@\ > SNIP > > Thank you. That’s all I got. Carry on. I see we’ve already carried on. 😃 The “floating posts” as I call them are the ones I sometimes find annoying; especially when they are basically one-line shots that out of context don’t make a lot of sense. In our collective defense, they don’t happen very often and in my experience are usually one of two or three regular posters; as a result I’ve learned to either track down the context quickly or just ignore. It isn’t some thing worthy of a rule or regular snarking but it does detract from reading in some of the threads. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/plea-for-clarity-in-posting/780224.md?page=1)