Or any other message board, but since the SDMB is the one we’re all on, I thought I’d mention it specifically.
Let’s say you have a friend, A. That friend has a son, B. The son’s girlfriend, C, is having an altercation with one of her college professors, let’s call him D.
B and D get together with A to talk about C, and then C gets together with B, and then D meets up with G, who is frankly somewhat of a shadowy figure that nobody knows much about, and you know what happened then?
No, you don’t, because you quit reading, because this looks like a damn word problem instead of an interesting anecdote.
So, PSA: When you are telling stories involving multiple people, please for the love of crap just make up names for them instead of assigning them initials.
Very much agreed.
In fact, I stopped reading midway through the second sentence…then I noticed the last part as I was hitting the back button.
I assumed it was going to be a story about how one of these people found out you were talking about them here.
I’d like to add something else that would be a nice courtesy here. When we are in the type of thread that lists lots of movies, particularly if it’s spoiling them (Last line from your favorite movie, Best death in a movie, Most unexpected Plot twist etc…) Bold the damn movie title(s) in your post. The problem is, I like reading these threads, but I want to be able to read about the ones that I’ve seen or don’t plan to see and it’s easier to pick out the movie you’re talking about if I can skim the post and see the bolded title.
I actually just glossed over the OP for the exact point you were making. I assumed it was just the beer making me too lazy to concentrate on sussing out who’s who.
It’s not that hard to make a descriptive link, people, just copy the youtube link like you normally do, type the descriptor “Funny Cat Youtube Video”, highlight what you just typed, hit the link button (looks like a globe with a two-link chain underneath) and paste. And done.
I thought about starting a Pit thread about that this exact thing before but then I thought it might just be me but apparently not. Then again, it is like algebra. Just make up some real numbers I want to scream at the teachers. Give it some real meaning no matter how fake it is. I can’t follow it otherwise.
I last about two sentences in those threads. Likewise for the ones that are needlessly long. You have got to get that quick hook in and cut to the chase. Add some filler if you need to for style purposes but make it count. Sometimes it makes me feel like I am trapped in a car ride with someone that just jabbers and jabbers until I want to puke.
Also, when someone in Cafe Society posts a thread about types of movies/songs/TV shows that fit a certain criteria, please don’t be an ass and throw up a list of 50 damned movies/songs/TV shows. Just list one or two and (a) say something about them and (b) leave it for other people to mention (and comment about) the other 48.
I agree, too, and I agree with the youtube link, too. Guaranteed if your whole response is just a youtube link I am not even going to click on it. I also hate when someone clicks to a purported news article and it’s just a video…grrr!
Anytime you’re describing more than 2 degrees of separation in an anecdote, you need to simplify it. “My cousin’s doctor’s sister’s monkey” is more easily and concisely described as simply “a monkey”.