# Posting a lengthy thread, probalby in IMHO. **URL:** \ **Category:** About This Message Board\ **Created:** [June 29, 2010, 8:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/posting-a-lengthy-thread-probalby-in-imho/544980 "2010-06-29T20:43:50Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 16\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![LouisB](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/dfb087/32.png) [@LouisB](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LouisB)\ **Post date:** [June 29, 2010, 8:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/posting-a-lengthy-thread-probalby-in-imho/544980/1 "2010-06-29T20:43:50Z")
I’ve received an email that is lengthy; I copied the text and put it into a Word document and it takes two pages to hold it. There is no sign that it is copyrighted and I don’t intend to disclose the author’s name. The subject is a doomsday scenario built around the current oil spill and vast pocket of methane gas. If this sounds like the subject of a recent thread, forget it. ---
**Author:** ![amarone](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/e0b2c6/32.png) [@amarone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/amarone)\ **Post date:** [June 29, 2010, 9:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/posting-a-lengthy-thread-probalby-in-imho/544980/2 "2010-06-29T21:03:52Z")
I don’t see a question, but with respect to copyright, the copyright is owned by the author whether it is stated explicitly or not. ---
**Author:** ![Czarcasm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/czarcasm/32/4050_2.png) [@Czarcasm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Czarcasm)\ **Post date:** [June 29, 2010, 9:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/posting-a-lengthy-thread-probalby-in-imho/544980/3 "2010-06-29T21:12:07Z")
Just email the IMHO moderators and ask. ---
**Author:** ![Sage\_Rat](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sage_rat/32/399_2.png) [@Sage\_Rat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sage_Rat)\ **Post date:** [June 29, 2010, 9:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/posting-a-lengthy-thread-probalby-in-imho/544980/4 "2010-06-29T21:16:51Z")
I went through and looked at OPs to see which ones seemed to be of reasonable length and which ones would simply end in TLDR. Obviously, this is based on my own taste, but assuming my taste to be average anything over 700 words is TLDR. Ultimately, you’re almost always better to crop out the “factual” tidbits, list them as bullet points, and let people work from there rather than reading through the whole thing. ---
**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:** [June 29, 2010, 9:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/posting-a-lengthy-thread-probalby-in-imho/544980/5 "2010-06-29T21:37:09Z")
> [@Sage\_Rat](#): > > I went through and looked at OPs to see which ones seemed to be of reasonable length and which ones would simply end in TLDR. Obviously, this is based on my own taste, but assuming my taste to be average anything over 700 words is TLDR. > > Ultimately, you’re almost always better to crop out the “factual” tidbits, list them as bullet points, and let people work from there rather than reading through the whole thing. You can always include the whole thing in a spoiler tag, after filtering out the important bits. But have you checked to see if it’s on the web somewhere? If it’s been forwarded a few times, then it likely is available somewhere. A link to that would probably go over a lot better than posting a whole email. ---
**Author:** ![ivan\_astikov](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/58f4c7/32.png) [@ivan\_astikov](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ivan_astikov)\ **Post date:** [June 29, 2010, 9:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/posting-a-lengthy-thread-probalby-in-imho/544980/6 "2010-06-29T21:42:08Z")
It is online somewhere because I’ve already seen this mentioned, and it wasn’t in an email. Here’s one link. [http://www.aboutmyplanet.com/black-gold/methane-levels-spill/](http://www.aboutmyplanet.com/black-gold/methane-levels-spill/) ---
**Author:** ![Exapno\_Mapcase](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/exapno_mapcase/32/1051_2.png) [@Exapno\_Mapcase](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Exapno_Mapcase)\ **Post date:** [June 30, 2010, 2:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/posting-a-lengthy-thread-probalby-in-imho/544980/7 "2010-06-30T02:23:37Z")
Everything you write is (at least under U.S. law) immediately copyright in your name. Everything. You don’t need to do anything at all to make this true. No copyright notice has been required on a document since 1989 (because of a law passed in 1986). I’m sorry, but that’s more than long enough for people to get it. If you copy anything that is copyable written since then, it’s already under copyright. (Even Creative Commons pieces are under copyright. The only difference is that the author has explicitly allowed reproduction.) Your post is copyright under your name and was as soon as you wrote it and clicked to make it permanent. (It wasn’t registered, but that’s a different thing. Even so, you still don’t require any notice.) There already was a [thread](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=568341) that asked about a methane catastrophe from the oil spill. The answer was, of course, that there will be no such thing. ---
**Author:** ![Gary\_Robson](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gary_robson/32/3448_2.png) [@Gary\_Robson](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gary_Robson)\ **Post date:** [June 30, 2010, 7:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/posting-a-lengthy-thread-probalby-in-imho/544980/8 "2010-06-30T07:26:35Z")
I can’t give you an exact number of characters or number of words, but there is a maximum size to a post on this board. I helped a member through a problem with a mangled OP by splitting it into two posts. I’m guessing that two single-spaced pages would be too much. And I heartily agree with **BigT** : if it’s online somewhere, just give us a link and a one-paragraph summary. ---
**Author:** ![LouisB](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/dfb087/32.png) [@LouisB](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LouisB)\ **Post date:** [June 30, 2010, 7:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/posting-a-lengthy-thread-probalby-in-imho/544980/9 "2010-06-30T07:45:18Z")
I’ll try to find it on line. I’m embarrassed to say this, but I intended to send my note to a moderator----I’m not at all sure how or why I posted it as a new thread. Probably just another senior moment. ---
**Author:** ![TubaDiva](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tubadiva/32/507_2.png) [@TubaDiva](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TubaDiva)\ **Post date:** [June 30, 2010, 4:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/posting-a-lengthy-thread-probalby-in-imho/544980/10 "2010-06-30T16:14:01Z")
Actually you’ve done us a favor – other people can see it, which is always a good thing, there’s someone reading this now and saying to themselves, “I didn’t know that.” ---
**Author:** ![Exapno\_Mapcase](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/exapno_mapcase/32/1051_2.png) [@Exapno\_Mapcase](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Exapno_Mapcase)\ **Post date:** [June 30, 2010, 5:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/posting-a-lengthy-thread-probalby-in-imho/544980/11 "2010-06-30T17:05:33Z")
[quote=“Gary “Wombat” Robson, post:8, topic:544980”] I can’t give you an exact number of characters or number of words, but there is a maximum size to a post on this board. [/QUOTE] 20,000 characters, IIRC. ---
**Author:** ![TubaDiva](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tubadiva/32/507_2.png) [@TubaDiva](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TubaDiva)\ **Post date:** [June 30, 2010, 8:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/posting-a-lengthy-thread-probalby-in-imho/544980/12 "2010-06-30T20:34:35Z")
20,000 characters is correct, and should be sufficient. ---
**Author:** ![Zoe](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/a4c791/32.png) [@Zoe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zoe)\ **Post date:** [July 1, 2010, 5:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/posting-a-lengthy-thread-probalby-in-imho/544980/13 "2010-07-01T05:48:11Z")
Geez Louise, Louis. Have I been posting in my sleep? ---
**Author:** ![GIGObuster](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gigobuster/32/421_2.png) [@GIGObuster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GIGObuster)\ **Post date:** [July 1, 2010, 5:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/posting-a-lengthy-thread-probalby-in-imho/544980/14 "2010-07-01T05:54:02Z")
> [@Zoe](#): > > Geez Louise, Louis. Have I been posting in my sleep? _I hear the secrets that you keep When you’re posting in your sleep.._.. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![LouisB](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/dfb087/32.png) [@LouisB](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LouisB)\ **Post date:** [July 1, 2010, 8:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/posting-a-lengthy-thread-probalby-in-imho/544980/15 "2010-07-01T08:59:22Z")
> [@Zoe](#): > > Geez Louise, Louis. Have I been posting in my sleep? A gentleman never tells; your secrets are safe with me. ---
**Author:** ![LouisB](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/dfb087/32.png) [@LouisB](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LouisB)\ **Post date:** [July 3, 2010, 2:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/posting-a-lengthy-thread-probalby-in-imho/544980/16 "2010-07-03T02:00:15Z")
Okay, here is a link [http://www.helium.com/items/1864136-how-the-ultimate-bp-gulf-disaster-could-kill-millions](http://www.helium.com/items/1864136-how-the-ultimate-bp-gulf-disaster-could-kill-millions). Or, just google “a cascading catastrophe”; the thing will come up—I suppose you read it right there or whatever. If anyone thinks it is worth a thread, just start one. I’m going to be really busy this weekend and then I have to go to court to finalize my damned divorce.