Do you have an easily triggered TL;DR reflex, or the attention span of a flea?

I remember pinchvalve once said Gen. Y'ers had the "attention span of a flea" with regards to getting them to pay attention to marketing material. I found that a bit offensive because I tune out advertising on purpose, it's not a problem with my attention span. If you want me to pay attention to it, good luck.

But this isn't about Gen. Y'ers or marketing stuff. This is about an informational website which is accessed by baby boomers and Gen. X'ers. Nothing age-specific about it, it's info aimed at medium/large business owners, and their executives, accountants and lawyers, who are not generally not Gen. Y'ers apart from one dude who hates us for our privacy and likes to slaughter his own chickens. So that's the background info.

My office is now breaking up pages to make them shorter, down to the point of splitting pages with maybe 2-3 "screens' worth" of very related material into multiple pages with "read more" and "next page" links, to avoid triggering what I like to call readers' "TL;DR reflex." They see a long page of text, think "Too long, didn't read" and move on. Now are people really this easily thwarted when they're seeking out information they're interested in? I assume they never read books, 'cuz they'd take one look at that chunky bastard and give up. BBC or CNN website articles or many newspaper articles would also be beyond the tolerable length, apparently. I, for one, hate websites that make me interrupt my reading constantly for no good reason to view the next piece of the same content on another page. If I were reading our website I'd find some of the new unnecessary page splitting infuriating. And we're not trying to drive up page views, there are no ads on the site - if anything, page views probably cost us more money.

So I'd like to hear from you about how easily your TL;DR reflex is triggered, or if you also work on websites, what you think about this. Or at least it gives me an opportunity to rant to someone other than the other IT guys who all agree with me.

I see what you did there.

As long as things are one, or several closely related, topic, I don't have a real problem with pages being long. I can read thousands of words at a sitting with no problem.

That being said, it's not the reading, but the excessive scrolling that bothers me in deep web-based materials. Particularly if the nav sidebar doesn't scroll with you.

It is so very dependent on the situation. What sort of information is it, and why am I reading it.

In general, I want to be able to be certain that a text has the information I want, and then be able to locate it as efficiently as possible. I do not like to flick through multiple pages to read information. I am more than happy to be presented with an introductory or summary paragraph and a single button to "read more" or expand somehow if it does interest me.

I do like things broken up with heading, numbers, bullet points, etc. to be able to find where the information I care about most is. A big block of text is a bit daunting.

I am happy to read things longer in print than in e-format. I am probably less busy, and it is more comfortable.

I didn't read the original post but I am pretty sure this has to do with cameras, so I defer to JG Pasterjak because he likes Flea from the RHCP and he likes cameras.

;)

If it's interesting and well written then people will stay engaged.

I didn't know JG liked the peppers. I knew he liked cameras. What was the original post about anyway? I didn't read it because it seemed to be too long.

Quasi Mofo wrote: I didn't read the original post but I am pretty sure this has to do with cameras, so I defer to JG Pasterjak because he likes Flea from the RHCP and he likes cameras. ;)

+1

I'm going for a bike ride.

TL, DR Just kidding.

I always assumed that spreading the info over several web pages was to increase "page views" and to introduce more advertising (for sites that feature ads on their pages). It annoys the crap out of me when I visit a site for info and each page is one paragraph long and you have to "click for more".

Ooh look! A butterfly!

If it's something you are trying to interest me in, you have about 10 seconds to catch my attention.

If it's something I am already interested in, then length isn't an issue but it better be well written and concise. Avoid catch phrases and bragging. Just show the facts.

"Read more" links and "page two" links are just annoying. I usually get to the bottom of the first page and go back to Google to find another vendor.

EastCoastMojo wrote: I always assumed that spreading the info over several web pages was to increase "page views" and to introduce more advertising (for sites that feature ads on their pages). It annoys the crap out of me when I visit a site for info and each page is one paragraph long and you have to "click for more".

+1

If its long enough that the info could be organized with a table of contents or an index, and its likely that I only need a specific portion of the data, thats one thing. But, if its an article that just builds upon itself, and doesn't make sense broken up, then its really annoying to have to view multiple pages.

In reply to Toyman01:

+1 That's exactly how I am. I'll read multiple entire articles on Quartz or ArsTechnica because they are well written and interesting. On the other hand I rarely make it through an entire article on CNN or Fox because it devolves so quickly.

Good page design and text formatting help keep my attention as well. I don't like to be presented with 8 point font with .75 line spacing and 10 weird trick ads.

Another thing. If the page plays music or video automatically, you better be Youtube or selling music. Otherwise it's an automatic back button.

eastsidemav wrote: +1 If its long enough that the info could be organized with a table of contents or an index, and its likely that I only need a specific portion of the data, thats one thing. But, if its an article that just builds upon itself, and doesn't make sense broken up, then its really annoying to have to view multiple pages.

Very good summary there.

One thing for me that can definitely trigger a TL;DR reflex? A lack of paragraph brakes. If someone sends me several pages of text without any carriage returns in it, I'd want to just ignore it. If it's an email I need to answer, I often have to copy it into a text editor and split it into paragraphs to be able to cope.

your OP didn't make it .. if you don't catch my attention in the first few lines I roll on to the next post … assuming the answers get interesting enough I might go back and then read you're entire post … but I didn't in this case …

oh … and I'm anything BUT a genY'er

Truthfully, I'm way more annoyed by symbol speak than by length.

As in TL;DR being in your title and then not defined until 3/4 through a long block of text so you can use it twice.

But back to the topic, there's no need for more than a single "read more click here". If they are interested enough to make it past the first page give them the whole works; having to keep clicking is just plain annoying.

Also, long blocks of text are considerably more annoying when each line only has 14 characters on it squeezed in around banner adds, sidebars, or useless pictures. All that junk is fine on a landing or navigation page, but if I have clicked through to real content do me the solid of not filling my screen with unrelated chum.

I really hate reading something online and having to keep clicking a "next page" button and waiting for it to load. Give me the whole thing at once! I'm 30 FWIW.

I just turned 30 less than a week ago, for reference.

I hate, hate, HATE having to click "next page" or "read more." Put the whole damn article on one page. Making me click "next" causes me to lose interest, because I assume that the majority of your information is on that first page. Plus, it ruins my concentration (there's that lack of attention span) and makes my mind wander towards automotive things like looking for a Jaguar V12 on GRM to drop into a Fox-body Mustang.

GameboyRMH wrote: Do you have an easily triggered TL;DR reflex, or the attention span of a flea?

Yes, and its getting worse. Much of my day at work is spent scanning through documentation for nuggets of value--and that has totally crossed over into everything I read.

You misspelled the title, it's DSLR which stands for digital single lens reflex. As for triggers, it's been a long time but I think for Canon's people liked the Cactus triggers? Not sure though.

Sky_Render wrote: I just turned 30 less than a week ago, for reference. I hate, hate, **HATE** having to click "next page" or "read more." Put the whole damn article on one page.

I agree and I am 70 years old. I don't even like multiple pages for threads on a forum. I get to a post on page 3 where someone replies to a post by another person that was back one page one. The reply interests me but I have to go back to page one to see what the original statement was. I would much rather be able to just scroll up and down.

These posts are all too long to read on my smartphone. Please try again in meme form.

the TLDR syndrome only kicks in on me when people try to get me interested in prepper and other over the top paranoid tinfoil hat stuff. Those articles (and videos) run forever to get to some obscure point at the end that makes you go "WTF did I waste 10 minutes (or more) of my time for that?"

MadScientistMatt wrote: One thing for me that can definitely trigger a TL;DR reflex? A lack of paragraph brakes.

This. I don't care about grammar or spelling. If things aren't spaced enough, I cant focus on where I am (inevitably reading the same lines over and over) and if I look away, I'll be lost. On the other hand if I need to click "next page", I just don't give a E36 M3 and stop reading. If I click on the next page, I forgot what I read on the first page and cannot reference it. I am the epitome of the person you are talking about.

TL;DR.

i almost fell asleep reading the thread title, then just skipped to the bottom to post this.