Long vs Short Original Posts

[Beverly]

When it comes to thread starters or original posts, every forum member has their own style. Some love to post one liners that are short and tot he point while others like to post article length wikis that act more like reference than discussion starters.

And, there are advantages to both styles of forum posts.

As a forum owner, you will value the longer posts as they are better for your on page SEO; more likely to get linked back to from other blogs and forums and a great teaching tool for members and guests of the forum.

However, a longer post will usually cover multiple sides of an issue, leaving very little room for discussion.

That's where one liner and short forum posts are useful as they allow forum members to jump into the conversation and add their own point of view, rather than being told how they should be thinking.

As a forum owner, which style of post do you prefer on your forum? And, as a forum member, which style of post do you usually make?

 

[Moonface]

I don't have a preference. As long as the topic creator has generated a decent discussion and got the ball rolling suitably, I don't mind if their post was short or long. For my own posts, I usually have longer posts since I don't like to start a topic with a simple question and nothing more. Rather I like to share my thoughts on the subject so that it doesn't come across that I perhaps made the topic to start a discussion that I actually have no knowledge or interest in.

 

[Beverly]

I don't have a preference. As long as the topic creator has generated a decent discussion and got the ball rolling suitably, I don't mind if their post was short or long. For my own posts, I usually have longer posts since I don't like to start a topic with a simple question and nothing more. Rather I like to share my thoughts on the subject so that it doesn't come across that I perhaps made the topic to start a discussion that I actually have no knowledge or interest in.

On one forum I go to, the forum owner will start super short discussions, such as just a question but that seems to work for him. So maybe it depends on the type of forum. For generic webmaster or admin how to topics, it's good to have some of both types of discussion starters, some article length and others shorter to get the conversation going. The shorter questions will get people involved more. At least, this is what I've found on most admin forums.

 

[ForumSource]

I don't really have a preference as long as it gets to the point. Medium is probably better though as it still has some length but doesn't require people to read through a wall of text to understand what's going on.

 

[Mikaya]

I don't mind either; but long posts are encouraged, because more time and effort are put into these, and are a nice read.

I usually make short posts. Not one liners.

 

[Forces of Steel]

A short-but-thought-provoking post will always win out against a messy wall of text in the end, to be quite honest.

 

[Soapbox]

You want to get your point across, either in 1 or in more paragraphs. Totally depends on the content and purpose of the post. I think as a guideline it's important not to start waffling and state your thought as effectively as possible. Often people do not want to bother reading 1000 words either. This is the age of speed 🙂